25-27 January 03
The weekend started early for Julie and I, slipping out of the big smoke mid afternoon for an evening bbq and catch up with the Petersens in Maryborough. On arrival, John informed us that he had received a call from Greg and Cathy advising a change of venue for the weekend due to a bushfire threatening the area near Woodgate. Our new destination was now Inskip Point near Rainbow Beach making Maryborough a little out of the way, but it was great catching up with John and Jenny. We were also lucky enough to receive a tour of the impressive “SubaXtreme” facility.
Saturday morning saw a 7am meeting at Auto John's Six Star Motors with ourselves and the Petersens rendezvousing with Auto John and Val Schliff in their serious looking Outback wagon and Jody and Julie Reid and family in their MY02 SubaXtremed Forrester. The Mighty Brumby almost looked out of place with all these shiny new vehicles.
We arrived at Inskip around 8.30am and after having a little trouble locating Rik and Co. who had arrived Friday evening to secure a campsite, it was time to set up.
Sound simple enough, however very soft sand and an Outback with a camper saw John Petersen put on a very impressive display of rooster tails whilst not actually moving. After several attempts and tyre pressure adjustment, Greg Bryant in his new Navara lent a hand to skull drag the Outback and camper to more solid ground.
Next victim was Auto John with his Outback and camper with similar results and solution. Jody took and alterative route and had no trouble but in true Jody style made several attempts to reverse his camper back to a point so he could take the same track as the others but was unable to reverse back far enough through the soft sand without jack-knifing, so he had to settle for getting through unscathed.
After setting up camp it was time to catch up with the others and meet some new members. (It had been 12 months since our last club trip so for us, there were a number of that were new to us.)
The Subacrew consisted of;
Rik Close – Unmistakable MY83 Wagon
Greg, Cathy and Alex Bryant- 02 Nissan Navara
Dwayne Boyton- `91 Brumby
Brian Beckwith- `83 60 series Cruiser
Stephen and Lisa Hislop - `92 L Wagon
Phil and Caleb Woods- `00 Forrester
Dave Martin and John McKenna- 01 Rodeo Honeymoon Suite
John and Noeleen Leach and family-`91 L Turbo Wagon ( Saturday only)
John, Jenny and Francis Petersen (& friend Emily)- `01 Outback
Jody, Julie, Jessica & Sidney Reid - `02 Forrester
John and Val Schliff- `99 Outback
Graeme and Julie Laws- Mighty `86 Brumby
And Arnold and Pat Schoemaker and Arn's aunty Maryke in the Monster Dyna who arrived late Saturday after travelling back from Woodgate after heading up midweek.
The rest of the day saw everyone do their own thing, some choosing to go for a beach drive, some choosing to relax on the beach and wait for happy hour. Dave Martin saw the opportunity to lie around under a car and lent Steve a hand to fix his exhaust (cat) that was rubbing on his tail shaft compliments of a stump on Friday night.
Sunday morning was welcomed with a morning swim and leisurely breakfast. It was then decided that a drive would be appropriate so mid morning most of us set off. Pat and Arnold had a relaxing day on the beach as they did not want to take the camper off the Dyna and anyone who knows Pat, knows that the mermaid in her comes out when she is near the water all she wants to do is swim.
The
rest of us headed down Rainbow Beach to where the lagoon “use to be” for a swim.
There were a heap of cars in the area and the sand was very soft as a
consequence, which saw a couple of our guys bogged. Having said that, it saw a
lot more “real 4wd’s” bogged to the axles.
After an hour or so there it was time for an ice cream, so it was off to the Cherry Venture. We drove passed all of the “real 4wd’s” and headed over the boards to the other side. I was in total disbelief as we drove out on the beach on the Double Island side, there would have been 40 vehicles waiting to go over to Rainbow.
We all
parked behind the Cherry Venture and had an ice cream and a bit of a look around
the old wreck. It really is rotting away quite quickly.
Time to head
to Freshwater so this was an ideal opportunity for Auto John and myself to get
bogged. John P towed out Auto John and I dug myself out and Julie enjoyed a nice
hot sand shower as she helped push me out.
There is always an easy way and a hard way to get somewhere. Most of us chose the easy way, straight down the beach to Freshwater however there is always a couple of guys who insist on doing it hard. It is no surprise to me that John Petersen and Jody led the hard charge with Phil and Brian in hot pursuit along a very soft track behind the dunes.
We had another swim and waited for the adrenalin crew to arrive.
It was then time to attack the Freshwater track, somewhat of a mistake on such a busy day. The track resembled a car park for most of its length with too many vehicles in both directions on such a narrow track.
It was at this point I realised that C.B. radio etiquette has slipped somewhat in the Subaru Club since our last trip with one member airing his apparent frustration with the traffic, by using coarse language over the air. Now any that knows me knows I am by no means a wowser and 20years in the construction industry means I can keep up with the best of them, but there is a time and a place and fellow club members with young children in the car (not to mention fellow CB users) should not be subjected to this sort of behaviour. Everyone gets frustrated, just most of us do it with our finger off the button. (That’s enough from Graeme’s Soapbox.)
With the Freshwater track behind us we all headed back to camp via Rainbow Beach for a late lunch and a well deserved swim. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the beach with a few cleansing ales and the evening air was filled with retro sounds, compliments of Jody’s cd collection.
Monday morning saw a most of the Brisbane members departing around 10am with the exception of the Schoemakers and us. (I heard they drove down the with a cast of thousands and waited for the Tewantin ferry for the best part of 3 hours.
The remaining members had an enjoyable morning relaxing and swimming in the beautiful surf. The large waves decided that Julie Reid’s bikini top was an unnecessary accessory, removing it much to her horror and the amusement of every one in the water with no one able to offer assistance, including Jody, due to uncontrollable laughter.
Mid afternoon saw the Maryborough crew hit the road leaving the Schoemakers and us, with the rest of our time at Inskip being spent at the beach with practically no other campers around, which was great. The only down side was that with no one around, the horse fly population could spend quality time with us. They were particularly fond of Pat much to her dismay.
We headed home mid morning Tuesday driving down the now deserted beach, which after Sunday’s drive was absolutely wonderful.
Thank you Greg and Cathy for a great weekend. It may not have been Woodgate, but it was a good call as it is better to be safe than sorry.
Hopefully it wont be another 12 months until our next trip.
Graeme Laws SC430