Well the day was shaping up as one to be remembered, the skies were cloudy, threatening more rain from the two night’s before and all the focus was about “had the great dry which was the summer finally been broken”, “Had there been enough rain to create mud”, “How much mud would we find”, “Would the GQ’s get bogged in the mud and all the GU’s come to the rescue likes knights in shining armour”……… Well maybe not the last one but you get the idea.
By 9:00 the meeting point was now well attended with Patrols ready for battle and another curious looking mob, the wannabe’s Landcruiser club: AKA the Prado club.
Differences put aside we headed off south for a twenty,….. no make that thirty,……. no make that fourty minute drive (which Dogman assured us didn’t take this long to travel last time he went there) to meet up with Selfy, and a couple of other keen starters at the Wellington Dam carpark.
The group was then split into two groups, those who knew the way and those who didn’t. A select few chose to follow those who did know the way and therefore followed Selfy, leaving the rest to follow Dogman with a rendezvous scheduled for later that morning.
Selfy and his wise followers started off with a nice hill climb following the Pipeline track. Selfy had not quite prepared his vehicle for the rough terrain though, with a spare tyre becoming a rolling obstacle down the hill. Yachty, who was directly behind, showing great chivalry, promptly dispatched his missus to retrieve the wayward tyre and may or may not have instructed her to tie it down for him as well, and possibly get him as well as the others a beer, but the details are a bit sketchy on that.
Our journey continued onwards with a tour of the local camping and swimming spots along with a bit of history thrown in for good measure. By about 11:00ish a familiar voice was then heard on the two way, saying something about having zigged when he should have zagged, so the obvious question then came from Selfy:
• Selfy………“Is that you Doggy? Are you lost?”
• Dogman…”No”
• Selfy………”Where are you”
• Dogman..”I’m not sure”
A short time later the two groups then caught up at the top of 4x4 hill with cameras a buzz. Our trip was then littered with small hills and some resemblances of wet and sticky dirt, but the much elusive mud did still evade us and our tread patterns. A fairly steep descent then threatened to offer a good challenge in the opposite direction with Plumber and Dogman taking up the challenge, but both vehicles making the climb without much fuss.
The day also happened to coincide with the AFL’s Indigenous round, with the highlight being the Melbourne Demon’s one point win over port Adelaide in Darwin. The Eagles and the Dockers also played, but with little to no interest. The message stick was then seen to be put to great use by way of trees left by locals with instructions about where to go and where not to go. Mostly about where not to go though, and with a quick about face and regroup which saw us back on track thanks to some local knowledge of his own, Selfy then led us to one of the two major hill climbs of the day. A hill with ruts big enough to swallow the flyin GQ whole saw Selfy be the first to tackle the hill climb, with all but two vehicles successfully following.
The decision was then made to follow the pipeline track out to the highway were we would call it a day, however one hill climb still remained, which severly tested all of the 3.0L’s to the max according to Selfy who supervised the section.
Bitumen back in sight, the mud would elude us yet again, but for another day. Lying in wait for some un suspecting traveller to fall into it’s trap and be mesmerized by it’s allure, only to be karcher’d off the next day over a beer or two with tall tales of heroics and bravado, Like the one that got away……….Oh that’s bad I know, but any way.
It was a great day out and any excuse’ll do. We’ll find the mud next time.
