Good day all
Some of you may remember that the
York Penninsular 4WD club took a journey/trip to KI in October 2006.
I posted the lead up to that trip in post 38898 and promised part 2 of same at a later date.
Well here it is.
Before you read it though I must say I had a terrific time there with the group regardless of the 'evil happenings'. (LOL)
Read on:
Day one on the Island at the
camp site.
Well by the time I finally get set up its dark and those porta-
power packs that were supposed to be packed and were in fact still in
Melbourne in the place where I wouldn’t ‘forget them’.
That side of things was just another disaster to contend with (how bad is this trip going to get).
I am thinking – its dark, about 9.00pm, everyone else has setup and eaten and now drinking. Hmmmmmm! What to do for tea. A stubby will have to do.
Then I hear ‘would you like to join us for tea’ ( Mrs Muddy Doe)
It took me 0.00000000001 of a second to say yes and all was sweet. (Thank you Mrs Muddy)
Have a few beers by the fire and crash into bed after two days of travelling hell (LOL –
well now I do anyway).
BANG! CRACK!, SNAP! – wide awake about 1.30am and its blowing a gale.
B l o o d y hell – struggle out in the nude running around like a cut snake battening down the hatches so to speak, then realise that the full moon that I can see like day by, is also showing off my ‘bitz’ to all and sundry.
Next morning our Captain/President/Trip Leader is running around in a tizz asking anyone and everyone - have you got an angle grinder.
Turns out he has one of these new fan dangle aluminium Hawse’s for his new Amsteel Blue plasma winch rope, and it won’t fit on his poxy Nissan B-Bar without a tad of ‘adjustment’. It therefore follows (in his mind) that no ali hawse means no plasma rope being fitted. You can just imagine the state he is in by 10.00am.
Anyway as I have one of the aforementioned Hawse’s fitted and a an Amsteel Blue plasma rope fitted along with the appropriate hammer-lok, and with a angle grinder on board he finally resorts to tormenting me with his problem/s. (I am last on his list cause of the Toyota/Nissin thing)
A quick inspection by a Toyota owner/driver (myself) of the offending Nissan disaster determined that a little ‘bending’ of the B-Bar projections would suffice, which I did for him.
Why me – cause wouldn’t you know it, he had such a good time in the ‘ultimate’ the night before , he has allegedly pulled a muscle or ricked his back and is walking around like a cripple. Others swear blind the Ultimate was a ‘knocking and a rocking’ during the night but good old Roachie was full of denials. (as usual)
Back to the Hawse – Its thicker than the fairlead it replaced so the bolts don’t fit do they.
Well did that cause some angst, but not to worry has I had a spare set from when I fitted
mine and that was something I didn’t leave in
Melbourne.
Job’s right, all done and now we have to put the rope on.
The ‘captain’ was placed in his drivers
seat to operate winch and stear the ‘thing’. I fitted the rope to the winch barrel and then hooked it to Muddy Does TOYOTA Prado as a winch point, to give it some tension to wind it on the winch nice and tight and neatly.
Site Link
Yes Trendsetters that’s me guiding the rope onto the barrel so there is no uneven build up etc etc.
Yes! there is No rope damper or gloves, and if you don’t know why then don’t bother asking cause I am not explaining.
By the end of the first day in
camp we have all settled in and I have my gear functioning in a usable fashion whilst compiling a list of things ‘to do’ when I get back to
Melbourne.
Camp Photo
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ken_3149/album/576460762365884928
Next day our Intrepid Commander rounds up the troops and off we go to the Eucalypt still/factory and Honey
Farm.
Good trip had by all.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeel when we get back this is what our Intrepid Commander discovered.
Site Link
Man! Can he
delegate – blame that is. Yep! One of the kids wore that one, and here’s me under the false impression that the ‘buck’ stops with the
Commander/Captain/King/President etc. Ooooo no!, not in the Roach nest.
The wind is still blowing a gale mind you.
That night at the
camp fire, everyone around and I am standing in the vicinity of Pesty when I hear a R I P P I N G sound. Damn! One of those tents must have let go.
Nup! You guessed it, Pesty had an internal pressure that was greater than the outside atmospheric pressure. Whatever affected Pesty obviously was catching cause Roachie came down big time with the same ailment. Thank goodness it was blowing a gale. (whatever caused it lasted all week and the ladies never batted an eye)
Next day we are tooling around the Nth West coast sight seeing when Mrs Roach chases me up for a couple of AA batteries for the NEW digital camera. I had a pack of those if nothing else. Supply the 2AA’s and make a note of same. What are you doing she ask’s – Oh1 just making a note or two for future reference on the
forum.
Fair dinkum she went purple and tried to give them back. No way Jose’, just a another nail in the ‘missin-nissan’ drivers coffin (ROFLMAO x 10 by this time)
Later on I enquired how they went (the batteries that is). Roachies son Nick informs they didn’t work so he tested them and they only showed 1.6V each so they must be dud’s. (Like father like son) Later on camera is identified as a DUD.
About day 4 Roachie rounds up the troops minus myself and heads/leads off to seal bay. I have been told and verily believe that it took 3 times as long as it should. Roachie was adamant that some b l o o d y kids had switched the sign posts around causing him to take the ‘scenic route’
By this time I had noticed that Roachie had been called ‘Russell’ a few times so I couldn’t help myself and asked why. Oh! They used to call me ‘Russell Coite’ in the bank at Yass.
(I now know why)
Wind is still blowing and getting stronger.
Next morning I notice Pud in an extremely animated conversation with Roachie and Roachie responding by gesticulating wildly with much pointing and looking into the bush area alongside of the
camp.
Well trendsetters, apparently good old Pud arose, exited his Ultimate, stretched and walked into the said bush for his usual morning P e e. Now I have never been to able to ascertain exactly what happened except that the stick he used on previous mornings as an aiming device apparently came to life in the form of a big fat copper head snake.
Didn’t see Pud in the bushes again after that.
Fair dinkum they talk about fisherman stories –
well by the time we left KI that snake was the mother of all Anaconda’s.
Wind getting stronger.
Next Day most head off to visit another
lighthouse and I get myself ready to
test out my new tricked up winch as
well as visit an animal
farm up the road.
About 11.00am as I am about to drive off the wind doubles. Tents are flying, Shower tents are twisting and ripping and chairs are blowing. So I try and secure what I can as best I can when thump! Alongside of lands Roachies shower tent. (Not his doing this time).
However during the light house visit the troops pull up for lunch when across the radio waves comes the admission – Help! I forgot the bread to make the lunch sandwiches
Yep! It’s the ,Captain & Tennile’ at the centre of things again, with good old Toyota driving Pesty to the fore, and rescued them with a spare loaf of bread. Must have been like Jesus on the mount.
At night around the fire I had notice that Roachie disappeared about 8.30-9.00pm and didn’t reappear. So I put him under surveillance and right on que along comes youngest son Zac about the 8.30pm on the mark and asks his dad to take him down to the CT to go bed.
Guess what! Pesty is on the ball and has also twigged to this, and asks the question – how did you train Zac to do that Roachie. Again, strenuous denials.
Bushfires erupt about this time and KI is covered in smoke. Pesty, Muddy and another gentleman who are all members of the SA equivalent of the Victorian CFA head to town and volunteer their
services. (and they did a great job I might add)
The word is that the fires are
miles away, no danger to us and just keep our ear to the ground so to speak. I am at the Pandana Pub about 4.00pm and run into one of our fellow campers who tells me that our Captain is agitated and rounding up the ‘wagon train’ for a quick exit due to the fires. So back to
camp I head through fauna that was decamping from farms bush etc etc due to the upsurge of smoke. Matter of fact, so dense in
places had to slow to a crawl.
It turned out to be a wind shift that just dumped a chit load of smoke all over us, frightening the bejesus out of the wild fauna. ( and Roachie).
Why was I at the pub –
well after day (1) and the issue with shower hose lengths, plus the wind belting the absolute chit out of the shower and
toilet tents I came to the conclusion there HAS to be a better deal out there somewhere.
So I just enquired at the pub - did they have showers for public use for a fee. Yes Sir we do $2.00.
So from then on everyday about the 4-5.00pm mark I called past the pub and indulged in a red hot shower for as long as I wanted to plus the use of the
toilets etc etc.
As a matter of fact the owner (nice lady) decided that seeing as how I was one of those ‘fire-fighters’ from the main land I could use the facilities for free.
Now the icing on the cake of the trip was the second last day Roachie is hovering over the Troopy with its bonnet up looking at things and makes the remarkable statement to the following effect:
‘Look at the size of that air box, beats that p i s s y thing on the Nissan and look how they have run the dump pipe and exhaust down the side and not down the middle in the way of everything like on the Nissan’
I am a tad stunned by this and respond with a weak –
well get a Toyota.
He replies I think I should have. End of conversation re same.
Next day on the return ferry I tell Pesty this about this and he says – Oh! Yeah he has told me that he wished he had bought a 100 series instead of the GU and I never let him forget it.
Now other than our intrepid leader being the centre of attention ( as he should) I had a fantastic time on KI, met a lot really nice new people wouldn’t have missed it for quids, despite all the dramas I personally had with equipment etc.
Recommend KI to anyone.