1st Club Run for 2008

It all started back at Urban Expresso for lunch. The Club had assembled and agreed to re-convene after lunch at the Woolgoolga rendezvous point for futher instructions. Eight Club members arrived at the agreed point. A range of vehicles were there including a WW2 Jeep on loan to the Chief from Marathon Spares, a couple of Classics, a CJ7 and the remainder XJs.

This photo shows a great sample.









The idea of the run was to check and/or clear tracks for Camp Coffs in March. Easier said than done after huge rainfall in the preceeding months, high temps and great jungle growth on some tracks. Lantana had almost overgrown some tracks that the Club has checked out in October. Starting at the Woopie Roundabout and the obligatory 'air down' the run headed up Gentle Annie Road on out past the bottom of Impossible.

This is the Chief in sunglass disguise piloting an immaculate restoration.



The group separated with the Chief looking for new tracks to take people out on while a few stout vehicles looked at the access road to Impossible.




This is the Chief going down a steep hill in the same Jeep. It is a little blurred due to the speed of descent.








There were many turns checking out the trails along Middle Ridge, Murphy's, Marshalls and Plum Pudding Roads and a road named after Zane for some reason.





Great roads and after the rain not too much dust made this a great outing.










Jerra and Jacko in the diesel powered CJ7. It powered over the toughest terrain on the trip.









Whoops Zane has an issue about overheating!!!!









You need to look at this sideways to recognise the Chevy Blitz front end that has grown up over the years. Some Jeeper told me a story about having winched it up there in the old days, but as he was a Jeeper and sound was coming out of his mouth I knew he was lying.










Well, this is one of the places we went to. Not sure who Ivy was or where she lived.









The next images are of Monica avoiding getting her photo taken. She had just been through a near death experience as her driver tried to manage a four wheel drift coming round a very soggy forest corner.











Hope to see more runs as we lead up to Camp Coffs.

Christmas 07 Run

It had all been arranged at the previous Club meeting just a few days before. Yes, it would be great to have another Club Run just before Christmas. All the younger club members put up their hands to say yes. It was all agreed that we would meet late (High Noon) at the Southern Golden Arches for lunch and then move out.

All went well until the fateful day, who was to know that the dedicated Club President, hit hard by a previous night Christmas Party would be lying in his sick bed. Calling on all his strength he finally manages to send a reminder SMS and send half the Club to the wrong meeting place.

A few strong words and 9 sets of traffic lights later the Club Run participants are assembled. There seems to be a few short. Heads are counted and only the 'old heads' are there. It seems the younger members only had enough strength to hold up their arms about going and not about actually turning up.

Off we set heading down the Pacific Highway until we finally got to some dirt out past South Boambee Road. A lonely and forgotten Series 1 Rover Table Top sat by the sit of the road as we went past.


This is where we were headed - mighty Boambee Peak and beyond.









We saw some of these along the way and there was mention of some sort of fruit but never you mind about that.











There were six on the run, a few FSJ's, a couple of XJ's and Ol' Red Dog - J10




This is Ol' Red Dog a bit mixed up either going up a hill or down one.

Adrien and Rachael doing some heavy moving up a steep Boambee hill in their FSJ.

This is an XJ that needed a little help up a hill.

Honcho was next but seemed to have a small problem. It wasn't this particular one but something very similar.

There was some deciding to do about this hill and a few more psi's were let out from some tyres.

I'm not a good student of Latin but either Maximus Ruinius or Ruinous Maximus had the next try and while not getting up the hill he didn't seem immersed in water either.

Jacko has another try with ominous consequences.

After an initial issue with brake lines Jacko seems to come down with a problem about steering in reverse down hill.

Jacko, the Chief and Adrien get to work and the J10 is soon down the hill and back on the track. Jacko will have a few days doing a work over but that's about Jeep life.

This was a nice place down the bottom of some hills. Open this photo to get an idea of how nice it is.

We then headed up some old trails and discovered a half locked gate. The gate was open and we drove in to discover an old friend Lowey getting ready for his next party after nearly busting his leg on a bike trail. Lowey gave us some tips about the hills around and offered a new place for a Jeep outing. I am sure it will be on Google somewhere.

October 07 Run

The Club line up for the October run was eight vehicles. This shot shows some of the lineup. The Chiefette is behind the door of the KJ. Two new club members joined the run, and a very big welcome to Karen and Dave.

The run was designed to be 'placid' but did include some corrugated tracks where recent rains had eroded the surface.

New members were briefed on radio and convoy procedures.






This is club visitor Deb peering down a hole where most of the club run have gone. Only a few small screams where heard and Maudje was recorded saying, "Don't worry, it's only a small bat.."










This is the hole.....wellll, not really but it was nearby


The run commenced at Coffs Harbour and headed west to Coramba and Nana Glen. Off the bitumen and up along Nana Creek Road to re-visit the old gold mining areas in the hills to the west. There is a link to more information about Coffs gold mining history on this page.


We came across this friendly reptile fella on one of the stops to peer down some really deep shafts. Club President Cowboy told a story told to him by his grandfather about a rock that took a whole day to reach the bottom of a shaft.

The friendly fella took a liking to a Grand and seemed to be sizing up a meal of fresh Jeep meat.

Heading further west we visited the old creek at the bottom of the hill. Now here is a nice place for morning tea. Well, we didn't stop there but continued up to see whether the road still joined onto Bella Spur Road to the south.











It eventually did but only after Cowboy had to get out the tools and clear the way. One worker and two happy supervisors.

After a few more hills we eventually got through to Lowanna for a lovely sitdown lunch. On the left hand side of the photo is Max. Max always sits near other people when there is lunch. At last Camp Coffs Max sat next to other people for four days. He said it saved on bringing food and he only had to carry a fork.

The run finished after some adventurous down hill work back to Nana Glen.

September 07 Run

The September Club run started peacefully enough. At the Club meeting on the previous Wednesday it had been decided to do a scenic run. Don't worry too much about the tyres but focus more on the scenery. (See later the part at lunch time about what Jeepers do best)

The meeting place was Urban at the Jetty Strip. A great new restaurant for Coffs. Great coffee.

The run briefing was conducted and it was told that it was not going to be a scenic tour but a "moderate" run to show what Coffs has to offer.

We all agreed to meet at Korora for any final details as well as tyre stuff. I think there were the same people at Korora as at Urban but.....

The run was virtually in two stages. The first stage was a run into the steep hinterlands of Coffs in the shadow of Bruxner Park Flora Reserve. Then along some guttered tracks where the recent rain made for some trouble. Blokes with low tyre pressures and lockers seemed to do well. Only one snatch required to get everyone out.

We then went through the old gold mining trails around Coffs where the jungle has re-claimed most of the story. The old timers talk about thousands of people living in the hills digging and sweating for the precious gold. We have the history of names and trails around to remind us. "Convincing Ground" Road was named for the purpose it served. After Sunday service anyone who had a dispute with someone else walked to the Convincing Ground and someone convinced someone else about who was right or not.

This was a Stage point in the run and we then went across the upper reaches of the Orara Valley to a creek for lunch and some more work. However due to some mischevious navigation we ran out of roads...yahoo... and had to just keep on going.

There are some satellite images of the run and you can open these up for the road details.

See the post below for the rest of the story

After the arduous hill climbs and descents we went on some moderate roads to a place west of Coffs and stopped for a great lunch by the creek.













This is a group of Club Jeepers having lunch. Well, not everything is about food. It is also about telling lies. You can tell when they're lying when their mouths are open and sound is coming out. Today they are telling lies about how tough Jeeps were in the old days before Plastic and before Classic when Jeeps were made as tough as stone.





This is Gus thinking about the stories he just heard and trying to work out how they really did build Jeeps out of stone. Click on the image to see the story come to life.










Then something happened that all Jeepers like. We ran out of roads.













Terrible things happen when you run out of roads. Mostly they happened to Max.


Whoops




More Whoops









Saved by Ol' Red Dog


The water from the engine area came from the creek, the stuff running out the door is most likely tears from Max










Most of us built a bridge after that and moved on to some hard hill climbing but I didn't get any photos of that as I was too busy hanging onto the steering wheel.


I don't think they make trees like this anymore.










Now you might think that Max and the little bit of water on the inside was the saddest story of the day. No that would be the story of Chris (Elmo) being discovered in the front seat of a Nissan heading to the same place on Upper and Downer when the Jeep Club came along. He called out something about a cut-off switch not working but that's for the evidence to prove.

Most Club members think that Max will be busy draining, and then some more draining and refilling. Max said he isn't even going to sell it.


This is a great strangler fig picture which was just around the corner from where everyone else stopped.