2011-11

November 2011

SUBARU 4WD NEWS

Meetings of

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC.

are normally held at

7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the

Rotary Hall, 55 Sandgate St., South Perth

Subaru 4WD Web Site: http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC

P.O. BOX 434, SOUTH PERTH, W.A. 6951

SUBARU 4WD CLUB NEWS

2011 COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT: Tony Richards 9386-7705 [email protected]

SECRETARY: Phillip Read 0438926274 [email protected]

TREASURER: Keith Wilcox 9344-6830 [email protected]

SOCIAL ORGANISER: Tom Minto 9382-4678

TRIPS CO-ORDINATOR: David Peck 0402177886

EDITOR: Joy Unno 0429473709 [email protected]

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Rob Griffiths 0411249933

Jim Wilcox 6467-7063

Keith Low 9459-3358

Ian Johnson 9448-5419

MERCHANDISE: Tony Richards 9386-7705

WEB MASTER: Karl Boeing/ 9341-5087

Rob Griffiths 0411249933

[email protected]

4WD ASSOC DELEGATE: David Peck/ 0402177886

Tony Richards 9386-7705

M’SHIP CO-ORDINATOR: Keith Low 9459-3358 [email protected]

PROPERTY OFFICER: Peter Andruszkiw/Simon Newton

Club member of the year 2010: Rob Griffiths

LIFE MEMBERS

Fred Offer, Keith Anderson, Jonel Householder, Ray Stewart,

Ian Johnson, Peter Andruszkiw and Ron Caunce.

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of W.A. INC

Fellow Members,

Annual Dinner A hearty thank you to all Club members who attended the Annual Dinner. The Banquet Room that we had to ourselves worked well and there was plenty of good food. Additionally, a number of members staying over had their accommodation upgraded. Overall, I thought it was a great evening.

Club Member of the Year Congratulations to Dave Peck on winning Club Member of the Year! Well deserved. Dave is the Club’s Trips Co-ordinator and, in this position, has been (and is) responsible for the setting of the Club’s trips programme. He also lead a number of successful trips. On top of this, he is also a 4WD Association Delegate and has always been willing to assist the Club and its members whenever he can.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Nov 2011


THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY

THOSE HELD BY

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB OF W.A. INC.

Please send articles and photos to the Editor by the Thursday before the end of the month (earlier is better).

Email: [email protected] in Word format or plain text

Subaru 4WD Club WA Website:

http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Nov 2011

AGM/Committee The Club Annual General Meeting and Club elections will be held immediately after the November general meeting. Please consider putting you hand up to join the Committee.

As this was only the first year of my current term as President and the Club Constitution permits a 2 year maximum term, I am pleased to offer myself for re-election.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Committee for their support over the year. The Club has enjoyed another good year, with a stable membership and a full programme of trips and socials, including an extended trip to the Kimberleys.

I would also like to thank Subaru Australia for their continued support of the Club.

Membership Renewal The Club year ended on 30 September. Please renew your membership. Only financial members can vote at the AGM.

Upcoming Trips We have Breakfast/Coffee by the River, the 4WD Show and the Pinnacles/Lancelin Trip coming up in November. It’s all good!

Tony Richards.


Hi All,

Firstly let me say how surprised I was at being elected club member of the year, you may have gathered as much by the way I was speechless on the night of the presentation. I would like to thank everyone for the hon-our and it is something that means a lot to me as I get a great deal of enjoyment out of being in the club. Thanks for all the great places you have taken me and all the new things you have shown me and for being such a great bunch of people.

It was good to see some new trip leaders with Adrian tak-ing people around Wilbinga last month and Phil putting in so much work into organising the Subarogain - thanks guys. A couple of other people have approached me wanting to find out what is involved in running a trip. If you are interested but maybe a bit intimidated about leading a trip (as I was) why not ask one of the experi-enced trip leaders to show you the ropes.

If you have a favourite spot you would like to share or somewhere that you have always wanted to go to let one of the committee know and we will see what we can do.

Look out for a couple of new trip promos for the Black-wood River in January next year and the Central Circle tour in July.

Cheers David

TRIP CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT Nov 2011


Let’s do ------------BREAKFAST !

(or Coffee and Cake if you prefer)

This Social event provides the chance to enjoy a lateish breakfast in the company of other club members. The venue is the “Lo Quay” café, situated right on the water-front at Wilson.

The café has a range of breakfast options including muesli, porridge etc as well as hot breakfasts. The latter dishes range in cost from around $16 to $21.

The morning I checked it out, the place was well patron-ised, even in Winter, so springtime is likely to be busy. I have booked an outside table. Call me on 9382 4678 if you have any queries.

Date: Sunday 6 November

Time: 9am

Location: 215 Fern Rd., Wilson (cnr Bridge St.)

TRIP PROMOTIONS / INFORMATION



PERTH 4WD SHOW Fri 18th-Sun 20th Nov

This is an annual event. We need members to "man the stand" for the 3 days. Come along and enjoy the company, the people, the 4WDs and what's on offer.

This is an annual event. We need members to "man the stand" for the 3 days. Come along and enjoy the company, the people, the 4WDs and what's on offer. There are 6 "shifts" and I am looking for 2-3 members per shift:

More info is available on the 4WD website:

http://perth.4wdshow.com.au/index.phtml


PINNACLES/LANCELIN 26-27TH NOV WEEKEND TRIP

The idea is to travel on Indian Ocean Drive to Cervantes stop-ping to view the Pinnacles, camp overnight then meet up with the people at Lancelin on the Sunday to play in the dunes on the way home.

We will camp at the Pinnacles Caravan Park in Cervantes - http://

www.pinnaclespark.com.au/ . Please make your own booking. Unpow-

ered sites are $27.00. Onsite vans and cabins are also available - see

the website.

Time permitting, we may also have a quick look at Wedge Island (for

those, if any, on the trip) who have not seen it.

The Pinnacles Desert

This unique desert is about 19 kilometres south of Cervantes and three

kilometres inland from the beach. The desert covers about 404 hectares

and is 60 metres above sea level. In the abstract desert landscape, thou-

sands of huge limestone pillars rise from yellow sands, some jagged and

sharp, others resembling tombstones, and the tallest is up to four me-

tres.

The formation of the Pinnacles is a fascinating tale about the unique

wind and rainfall erosion of limestone created by prehistoric marine life.

It is thought the Pinnacles have been covered by shifting desert sands

and then revealed at different times over the millennia, and have been

exposed for the past few hundred years.

Put your name down on the website or contact Tony on 9386 7705.



XMAS PARTY Christmas Lights

in the Valley

Saturday 10 December

Robert and Wendy have been busy again synchro-nising

thousands of lights to music for the Christmas Light Show.

We’ll be making the usual collection on behalf of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – so bring some gold coins.

Venue: Robert & Wendy’s place

Time: From 6pm – Lights start around 8pm.

Bring: All your BBQ meats, deserts & drinks.

Rob & Wendy will provide Nibbles & Salads

Check out the cool vid on the website! http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au


BLACKWOOD RIVER RAMBLE

26TH - 29TH JANUARY

Australia day next year will be on the Thursday 26th January so we are going to take Friday off as well and make a 4 day long weekend out of it (till Sunday 29th).

We will be going to one of Ian’s secret campsites on the banks of the Blackwood River (between Bridgetown and Nannup) and will be bush camping so you will need to be self sufficient. I doubt that fires will be permitted during the summer so plan on using gas to do your cooking.

The Blackwood is the longest river in the south west and flows through Boyup Brook, Bridgetown and Nannup finally reaching the ocean at Au-gusta.

There is the opportunity to do a spot of fishing or canoeing and I will bring the Canadian canoe along for those who want to have a go. Otherwise there are a number of scenic walk trails along the river and there should be some good bird watching (there are special bird hides at Nannup) or you could just sit back under a shady tree and watch the world go by.

If you wish to be more indulgent there are a lot of attractions in the area to appeal to those who like a bit of food and drink and we will probably drop in on a few as we tour around the area.

For more information or to register your interest contact David on

0402 177 886 or email [email protected]



LANCELIN SAND DUNES

SUN 27TH NOVEMBER

Peter A. will again be leading our annual, excellent day out at the Lancelin Dunes.

This is a trip for all members in all model 4WD Subarus (except unlifted

Libertys or Imprezas). Outbacks have had a few front clearance prob-

lems in the past, so if these owners have any concerns please contact

the trip leader. Also it pays to remove the plastic splash tray under the

engine if it has not already been replaced with a sump guard. Prospec-

tive, new and existing members are all invited to learn the capabilities of

their vehicle and their driving ability.

We split into groups depending on experience and start off easy, pro-gressing to something more challenging. It is a fun day in a safe area with experienced members who will give you advice on all facets of driv-ing on sand including tyre pressures, choosing the right gear ratios and how to get out after getting stuck in the sand.

Bring: Full tank of fuel, lunch, drinks, snacks, tyre pump, tyre pressure gauge, hat, sunscreen and camera.

Contact: David P on 0402 177 886

or put your name down on the web-site.



CENTRAL CIRCLE TRIP 2012 We are in the planning stages for a trip starting on June 30th and finish-ing on 28th July 2012.

This will involve going along the Great Central road to Uluru where we will look around for a couple of days. The idea is for those who are constrained by the school holidays to fly in and meet us there. Then via the Luritja Road to Kings Canyon and the Mereenie Loop Road through the West MacDonnell Ranges to Alice Springs. The school holi-day people could then fly out of Alice Springs to return home in time.

Then following the Old Ghan Railway Heritage trail taking in Chambers Pillar to Finke, through the Painted Desert to Cooper Pedy then down Googs track which leads from the Trans Australian railway to Ceduna (and has been likened to a miniature Simpson Desert trip). If anyone would like to express an interest in joining this trip or there is somewhere you would like to go on the way please let me know. David P.


Photos: Max Jones Uluru (top) and King's Canyon (bottom)


CLUB CALENDAR

November 2011

S M T W T F S Tues 1st: Committee Meeting

Sun 6th: Breakfast Lo Quay Tue 8th: AGM/General Meeting

Fri 18th-Sun 20th: 4WD Show

Sat 26th-Sun 27th: Pinnacles/Lancelin

Wed 30th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

December 2011

S M T W T F S Tue 6th: Committee Meeting

Sat 10th: Xmas Party

Tue 13th: General Meeting

Thurs 28th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 28 30 31

January 2012

S M T W T F S Tue 3rd: Committee Meeting

Sun 8th: Beach Run TL: Peter A.



Thurs 26th-Sun 29th Jan: Blackwood Rv TL: David P.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31


Potential members are most welcome to come along on any Club activities before joining. Please phone the Trip Leader for further information.

Register with the trip leader if you are wanting to join a trip or social. Also contact the trip leader if you have to cancel, as we don’t want to wait for someone who does not turn up!

Some trips are ideas only and may be subject to change. Some of the later trips need trip leaders – volunteers please.

SCHOOL AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

School Holidays: Dec15-Jan31, Apr 6-23, Jul 7-23, Sept 29-Oct 15

Public holidays: Dec 26 & 27, Jan 2, Jan 26, Mar 5, Apr 6-9 (Easter)

February 2012

S M T W T F S Tue 7th: Committee Meeting

Sun 12th: Ascot Waters Picnic


1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29

March 2012

S M T W T F S Sat 3rd - Mon 5th: Cliff Point LWE

Tue 6th: Committee Meeting

Sun 11th: Breakfast & Botanic golf



1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 28 30 31


TRIP & SOCIAL REPORTS

Wilbinga Sun 9th Oct 2011

Written by: Karen Taylor & Gracie Bear ( Gracie cheked mi spelllin n grammeh )

On the seemingly atmospherically uncertain morning, of Sunday the 9th Oct, at roughly 8:30am, seven, sexy, sumptuous, Subaru’s, slowly sauntered into the designated meeting point, one by one, all For-esters, into the ‘The 10th Light Horse Memorial Trail’ car park. So we all accumulated, in eager an-ticipation of Adrian’s ‘Tour De Wil-binga’. We had two guests joining us in a brand spankers Silver Turbo Foz driven by the lovely young cou-ple, Mr Dana and wife Tavia from the U.S.A. With only three out of the seven scoobs non turbos, the Turbo owners outnumbered us N/A own-ers on this trip.

A further 35kms North to get to our prescribed turn off near Wilbinga. and we let our tyres down to about 15 psi before hitting the sand. After cruising through coastal green scrubland we spotted some lovely Smokebush, Banksias, Acacias, Xanthorrhea’s, Pigface and what looked like an occasional pink orchid perhaps, not sure. There was the odd Hawk/Eagle soaring above, and we saw a few ‘Lazies’ ( sleepy Blue Tongue Lizards ) and fresh kangaroo tracks. While on the tracks, I tried to keep an eye and an ear open for our American ‘newbies’ behind me in

convoy. By the middle of the day they were getting down n dirty with the rest of us, with smiles on their faces. I heard Dana say to Tony at the end of the day how much fun they had and they look forward to becoming full members. So welcome aboard Dana and Tavia, glad to have ya.

Coming to a large ‘bowl’ of


sand, we had our first ‘play’, GRIN. We all had a go around the bowl and up a tall sided dune to the Nth East, which had a flat large flat sandy plateau on top with a great view. Adrian had fun doing a ‘crabbing’ power slide ( driving diagonally ) with all four wheels spinning away. Heading oceanward towards our morning tea destination, the tracks started to break and divert into all directions, so much care was needed to ensure we didn’t lose anybody. Eventually, we reached the large open sand bowl shaped indent in the scrubland. We had another brief ‘play’ then sat down to have our morn-ing tea break. Tara, my friend decided on a quick dip in the ocean. Liam, Charlie’s boy started diggen away with his lil spade on the beach, having a ball in the process. We all joked that perhaps Charlie had been training Liam to act as a recovery boy to help get his dad out of his fre-quent bogs hehehe. Soon, we were under way southwards, heading towards the famous ‘Fig Tree Camp’, but encountered a nice challenging

vegetated hill with four track choices to make. Phil got stuck and needed assistance to get out, so Adrian and Charlie jumped to his rescue. With a lil digging and careful placement of some Sand Traction Boards he got free and took the Chicken Track. It was now my turn, so, being the gal that I am, I did the hardest track, coz I love a challenge. No luck first attempt but ‘YAY!’ I did it easy the second time! Soon, we came across the ‘Fig Tree Camp’. Again we all tackled a few dunes and I conquered (after three goes) a challenging track declined by the others. With a grin still on my sand speckled face we coasted along more nice sand tracks and came across four young men on trail bikes




in need of mechanical assistance which I duly provided with my Socket Set. We weren’t mobile again for very long when it was Charlie’s time for a lil drama. He asked over the UHF ‘Guys I think I might have a flat’. While we were all parked fixing the flat tyre, Tony mentioned something looking a bit loose under the rear of my car. So I checked and yep, those hill climbs I did must have dislodged my rear tailpipe from two of its four rubber bushes that hold it in place. Getting even more dirty, I got under there and reconnected them, with Mervyn, Tony’s second uncle supervising my work. Once fixed, Mervyn coined the nickname ‘Mrs Fix It’ for me hehehe. So, we soon took off, keeping an eye on Charlie’s tyre as we drove to our lunch destination not far away. We eventually reached the large open sand bowl, similar to the other ones and set up base for lunch. It was a popular spot with a few ‘heavies’ to the north and south of us, with tents, even trailers and few kids running around enjoying themselves. Soon we were all munching away and sipping our drinkies and socialising beautifully under the annex tent that the guys put up. Some of the younger members decided on a play in the breaking surf, the rest of us natted away in the shade of the tent. It was yet an-other wondrously successful social outing. Thanks guys!

After lunch, I hopped in my car and did a few laps of the local area, up various shaped dunes and hills. Much to our entertainment too, as some ‘heavies’ ( Patrols, Landcruisers etc ) decided to join me, but they were nowhere near as capable on dunes and sand as our lighter Subes. Some of the other members joined me on our final ‘play’ and the most specky of all was Adrian who deliberately drove up a huge dune back-wards, with his arm resting casually on the door sill as he did it, all in front of about 5 other strug-gling ‘Heavies’ in the area hahahaha. Once we had our fill for the day, we headed towards home. Thanks Adrian for organis-ing and leading an awe-some day out, we all had a ball! See you all out there again soon…..Happy and safe motoring….



Quaalup Quest – Friday 23 September PM – Gordon Inlet/Hood Point.

On Friday afternoon, a few of us (Tony & Jeanette, Ray & Jo and Keith Low) decided to go to Gordon Inlet and Hood Point. Karin and Carsten (proprietors of Quaalup) had recommended that we visit the “water spouts” near Hood Point. So, we made that destination our objective.

As Ray and Jo had been to the Inlet in the morning for a spot of fishing and whale watching and were happy to lead us back there, we set off following them. Despite having been to Gordon Inlet only that morning, Ray became temporarily misplaced and went past the turn off to the Inlet. Thankfully, the error was quickly detected and we were soon heading towards the Inlet 9kms away. As the track was fairly badly corrugated, progress was slow. However, we arrived soon enough and, after letting tyres down, we all made our way onto the Inlet. The Inlet, which was very wide, was for the Gairdner River, which we had crossed coming into Quaalup. However, it was not open; the river stopping several hundred metres back for the beach.

Once at the beach, we caught a glimpse of some whales. Jo and Ray said there was a better viewing spot was fur-ther down the beach. So we drove on a bit and, sure enough, soon had a good view of the whales, just where the water changes colour. We stayed watching the whales for a while. From the whale viewing spot, we went further down


Tooregullup Beach to an exit point where we accessed Doubt-ful Island Road (4WD), then heading south-east towards Hood Point. As we went along, we took in some great ocean views and scenery. After a bit of difficulty locating the track to the water spouts (it was not marked on the map), we eventually ar-rived at a car park with a sign “Blow holes”. After a short walk down a path, we arrived at the coast, which was rocky. But, alas, de-spite some nice views and a reasonable swell, no water spouts or blow holes to be seen [checking later with Karin and Carsten, it seems much larger swells are required before anything can be seen]. From there, as it was getting late, we headed back to the homestead along Doubtful Island Road, taking in Doubtful Island Bay and House Beach. House Beach was very pretty with grassed camping areas and a good sandy beach. Some people were setting up camp when we arrived and more came while we were stopped taking it all in. Talking to one of the arrivals, we were told that this spot was being used that night by the Jerramungup Football Club, who had just won the grand final for the third time in a row. I’m sure the party would have been sight to behold later in the evening! From House Beach, we proceeded out along Doubtful Island Road, ne-gotiating water, bogs, potholes and corrugations as we went. We arrived back at the homestead at about 5.00pm. Tony R.

Quaalup Trip Report Saturday 24th Sept. Roz & Carl

After a chilly night we woke to a beautiful sunny day. 9 of us drove a few kms down the road to pick up the bus to take us to Pt. Ann. Car-sten helped us on board and it was off to see the sights. The bush was

alive with colours from the many wildflowers. After a short time we ar-rived at Pt Ann and were lucky enough to see a whale not far from



shore. The water was very clear and the beach was snowy white .Seven of the group went with Carsten to a lookout above the beach but Jeanette and I stayed behind and enjoyed the scenery.

When the others returned some of us ate our lunch and then it was off to another spot along the beach for another look at the whale which turned out to be a Mum and baby according to those who had viewed them

from above. We had a scenic drive to Mt Barnett where Wendy, Richard, Tony and two Americans climbed up the mountain. The rest of us stayed and chattered and enjoyed the peaceful surround-ings. The two hours

passed quickly and the mountain-eers were down and we were off to the campsite. When the other group arrived back from their long drive we gathered around the

campfire outside Nina and Ian's chalet for drinks

and nibbles. Lots of talking about the day's events and people comparing photos of whales and wildlife in-cluding many bobtails and a snake! We dispersed to have tea and then back to the campfire to enjoy the

warmth and company. It was a wonderful way to end a perfect day.

Thanks Nina you did a great job again.


Monday 13 June

Today we had a free day in Derby to prepare ourselves for the trip. The caravan park is very good with lots of shady trees which attracted many birds. People were doing their own thing today which included washing, topping up with provi-sions, water & fuel. The latter was $1.86 at the BP so filling the tank & the jerries came to over $150. There are few attractions in Derby. I think everyone went to the jetty the water is very muddy and although no crocs were spotted, swimming was out of the question. The Prison Boab Tree is not far out of town and a bit further just along the Gibb River Road is to the Mowan-gum Aboriginal Arts Centre where aboriginal art is on display and for sale. That was quite interesting, it is a relatively new centre, built with Royalties for Regions money, so that is where some of that money is going. Chris was asked (being the wetlands Queen) whether she wanted to go to the Derby wetlands. She said no as it was not natural. Tony had a go at trying to fix the rear hook that holds his second battery down. He spent an hour and a half trying to do that and managed to break my ratchet screwdriver (which he has since replaced) but did end up tighten-ing it up. Time was spent at the visitors centre and the road conditions were checked. Bell Gorge was supposed to open on the day that we get there and Dimond Gorge at Mornington was also supposed to be open on the day that we get there. There was some suggestion that Mitchell Falls might be open by the 20th, which is the day after we get there, so there is a little bit of hope that we might be able to do Mitchell Falls. Chris wanted to go on a walk that was signposted just out of town so she and I did that at dusk, we managed to complete it just before dark. Eve-ryone did their own thing for dinner with some of us going for Barra & chips.

Tuesday 14 June

We had a departure time of 8.30 but before that I had to go off and get a new O ring for my gas lead and Wendy wanted some peas. I was lead-ing and away we went up the Gibb River Rd. There are quite a few sec-


tions of bitumen, a section of upgraded bitumen, a 110 km limit then on to the gravel and a 100 km limit, plenty of dust, so we spread out, getting to Wind-jana Gorge about 10.20. We claimed a spot and set up tents. There were a few people there then. Had morning tea and then we went on an hours’ drive to Tunnel Creek. We all went in to Tunnel Creek, a few of us, Wendy Tony, Jeanette and myself went all the way through, wading up to our waist, Tony having to strip down to his underpants. It was worth the effort though, the water was waist deep, just at the last section. The rest of the time the water was

probably no more than knee deep. Had a good look around and saw a freshwater crocodile in there and more pairs of eyes reflecting off the torches. Saw some water coming in cascading down a small waterfall and there is an opening in the mid-dle where you could see through to the sky. Out the other side there were some aboriginal cave paintings under a section of rock. It took us

about two hours in total to walk through and back again. Came back out, probably at about 2.30, had some lunch and got cleaned up a little. We then thought we should get off if we were going to have some time to walk the gorge. But just as we were leaving Tony and Jeanette met a friend Sandra Clark, her Nuel Dee cast was on tour having a familiarity look at the local terrain the play is set in and so they had a chat with Sandy for about 15 minutes. On the way back we stopped at Lillimilura Police Station, which featured in the movie ‘Jandamurra’. Got back to camp probably about 4.30. Some of us walked into Windjana Gorge and I saw one freshy heading off to bed as the sun started to go down.


Wednesday 15 June

We got up early as usual and went down to the gorge at about 7.45 and walked into the large sandbank and saw 3 freshwater crocodiles starting to get onto an-other sandbank in the river to sunbake. One small freshy came really close so I was able to get some good photos and videos.

We left Windjana at 8.30 with Robert and Wendy leading, push-ing directly for Mornington, we want to make sure that we got to the turnoff by 11 o'clock, in time for us hopefully to get in, because they only take a limited number of cars. The dirt roads were quite good with a just a few vehicles coming towards us. We drove through the Napier Range and saw the Queen Victoria's head shaped rock. The scenery along

here is very good through the ranges. We got to Imintji roadhouse about 10.30 for an ice cream. They don’t sell unleaded here but we were aware of that. We then pushed on to Mornington turnoff and got there almost on the dot at 11 o'clock. They have a booking phone at the turnoff and, yes, they had room, so we were in. At the turnoff we refuelled from jerries, had morning tea and then headed off. Along the way with me at the rear I got a puncture and Tony came back to help me and then shortly later Tony had a punc-ture so I helped him. The pair of us got in at about 1.30 eventually about half an hour behind the oth-ers. There are a number of water crossings and the road had just been graded and so it had a turned


up stones and that is part of the prob-lem when you grade roads, you have to watch out for that particularly in the Kimberley. Once we got to Mornington we paid our fees and had lunch. After lunch we had a little bit of a chat just sitting around enjoying the beautiful weather and crystal clear skies. There was

a light breeze and we were sitting in the shade. Mornington itself is really very pleasant and nicely set out. We were camped on what they call the ‘Oval’. And just a nice, tidy number – 4 cars fits in there perfectly. It is grassed and the pegs went in, which is always great. Anyway, back at camp, we then plugged both punctures. Had a lazy

afternoon put up the tent and I did the walk along the Annie Creek trail just behind our camp and saw lots of birds including a blue winged Kookaburra and a purple crowned fairy-wren. By then time had moved on and I had hot shower (luxury), a few nibbles and then cooked dinner.

After dinner, we went and sat around a fire that they had down by the office and talked to fellow travellers. Our crew drifted off un-til just Jim and Tony and I were left and stayed until just after nine o'clock and then we all headed back and hit the sack.

Keith W.


“Woman killed by tow ball” On 21 August, a 29 old woman was killed by a tow ball when it sheared off the back of a Toyota being snatched backwards out of heavy sand on a beach at Drummond Cove north of Geraldton. The tow ball was cata-pulted back through the windscreen of the towing vehicle hitting her in the throat (she was in the passenger seat) and killing her. See - http://www.abc.net.au/7pmtvnews_(wa)/2848604.html/?site=westernvic. See also Rob Robson’s Four Wheel Drive segment in the West Motoring on 17 September.

While the event was called a “freak accident”, I do wonder how freakish it really is. This recent occurrence is far from the first time that most of us will have heard of someone being killed or injured (or property being damaged) in similar circumstances. There was a death in Tasmania in 2009 - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-12-02/towing-accident-behind-football-party-death/2359652 and another in Queensland in 2010 - http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/broken-tow-rope-like-slingshot-killing-boy-in-back-seat-20101214-18wa0.html.

While it was reported that the tow ball was rusted, this makes no differ-ence.

IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD A TOW BALL BE

USED AS A SNATCH POINT!

Standards for recovery straps can be found at this website:

http://www.cams.com.au/en/Safety/~/media/Files/Safety/Alerts/Vehicle%20Snatch%20Straps%20-%20Mandatory%20Standards.ashx

Instructions for use of recovery straps can be found at this website:

https://juststraps.com.au/pdf/Snatch%20Straps%20Industry%20Guidelines%20Final%20March%2008%20Amended%20pdf.pdf

Tony Richards

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

2011-11

Documents