Bellthorpe State Forest Run 2008

We arranged to meet at Woodford. On arriving there was a RBT unit in town getting cars both ways - we were all fine.

The crew was Bill Greenwood in his tidy l-series (with parts of my old wagon on it) Steve & Darren in Steve’s Liberty, Dane (hopefully a new club member) in his EJ powered Brumby and me in my Liberty. Where was Dave Martin you ask? He had a weekend with his other friends in (Real 4WD’s) LOL so I was trip leader

 After having a pie, we headed out towards Stony Creek Road. First stop was the day use area. We went down to the water hole for a look. It has been done up since last time; now there are steps into the water and a wall to level out the grassed area.

We all left with Bill as “tail end Charlie”. It was a fine day with not a cloud in sight. Even with all the rain the tracks were in good shape. I wasn’t sure on the route we would take so I took the first track to the right - it was a bit slippery in places (hehehe.) There was some bunting tied to a tree. I thought it was a bit strange, I hadn’t heard of a rally there in a while. We proceeded on under the tree top canopy of the forest which is why it was so wet on that track. There were a few small creek crossings to negotiate but we got through with ease. At the other end of that track we saw more bunting! After following the track for a while we came across our first obstruction - a small tree down. We made a ramp over it but we got a bit close to the embankment with only inches to spare. The track was a bit overgrown from all the rain, some places it was hard to see the track. Then came the tight turn around this tree. The track was on an up hill. It was very slippery with rounded rocks all over and a tree on our right. I was first to go.  I got some of the way around and slid into the tree (just touched it) but with a bit of fancy driving I got out. Dane went next and he did the same thing - but went a bit harder and hit the tree. He tore off one of the torno cover lugs and put a small dent in the guard. Then Steve gave it a go but it was too slippery. With the higher low range he didn’t want to go any faster, so we did some road work and got rid of some bigger rocks. On the second go he got through but clipped the tree as well which made a scuff mark on the guard. Then came Bill. He only had one go with the same result. All four of us touched the tree. We did that loop and came back to the main track. We followed it to the lookout area where we normally take pics and have a break over looking the Glasshouse Mountains and Bribie Island. Then we headed north toward Bellthorpe Range Road. After following the track for some time we stopped for a feed and a chat, then continued the climb onward and upward. We were at the section where there are heaps of larger rocks on the track. Some were loose but we all got up ok. A short drive led us to the very steep downhill (This is where I took my stock Brumby and tore my sway bar out two years ago).  I had a look and proceeded down the hill without any trouble. Dane had no problems either. When Steve came down he dislodged a large rock. It rolled down behind him, hitting his tyres and suspension as he drove. Steve only realized what had happened when he reached the bottom. Bill made it with ease. The track started to climb again and we were all going along fine till I saw a large tree down across the track. On closer inspection, there was no way around it and only one way back - up that very steep hill. So out came the bow saws (that’s why you should always have one in your recovery gear). After 20 minutes of cutting, lifting and dragging, the track was clear. Yahoo!! Then up to the black stuff. After a chat we only drove 200 metres before leaving the bitumen again and starting another downhill run. Coming across a small steep hill I saw a large goanna about 1.5 metres long. At the top of the hill we saw him again climbing up a tree. Then we went on to finish that loop track. We doubled back up that steep hill to the bitumen then down to Beerwah. We finished the day with an ice cream and a chat then said our good byes.

                                        Jan Kancelarczyk   SC598