On the weekend we led a club trip via Coololla Way, Poverty Point, Pettigrews Track and Teewah Beach.
4 vehicles started the trip with us in our Landcruiser Troopy, 1 Rangie until lunch and 2 Disco's,
Most of the trip was easy as everything was so dry. Even the Noosa
River crossing was lower than previous trips. During our lunch stop, it peed with rain, so much we thought about calling the trip off but we decided to continue in near dark conditions at 130pm – real strange. At
the beach end of Pettigrews track there is a
hill that is at times challenging to some as it is steep soft sand with tree roots. This was worrying me a bit before the trip as it was quite hard to get up with the roots and general steepness on loose sand but there was a very narrow chicken track if all else failed.
First up was us of course being trip leaders, no problem and when I walked back, there was a perfect set of tyre tracks all the way up which shows that I had no wheel spin. Next up the TD5 Disco which had a mulititude of multicoloured lights glowing on the dash (typical Landie problem that the dealers are having trouble fixing) 3 goes and it was the chicken track for him. Next up the new Disco 3. After 3 goes and different settings on the various traction aids, it was the chicken track for him as
well. The Rangie had gone home by then, maybe he did not want to be embarresed by a real basic as they come Toyota which had just cruised up the
hill like it was not even there.
Next onto
the beach for the run to the
Noosa river. All OK until we find a dead Landie - an old Series 2 LWB with a Holden motor not going. We looked under the bonnet, saw it was a black hole with grease so hooked up a tow rope instead of trying to fix it - this was the easy and cleaner option. They had a 3 month old baby and had been trying to get someone to stop for 3 hours with the tide coming in. 30 mins later we came to
the beach exit so swapped the tow rope for a snatch strap around the chassis - everywhere else was very suspect. Off we go in the Cruiser in the very soft sand and 100m later, made it off
the beach first go towing the dead Landie. Not so the TD5, he had 2 goes not even towing. The Disco 3 had taken off when we started towing as he was running late and needed to go but we assume that he had no problems..
Makes you wonder about the electronics these new vehicles have when a basic Toyota with a stuffed LSD and 750-16 tyres can out perform them with no problems at all in those situations - especially as the rear tyres were at 60psi - all day (recommended pressures for the load we always carry. They did heaps more track damage then we did like we did none and they gouged big holes. Sand and traction control in our experience = trouble.
All in all a good trip with a good deed done for the day
Stevesub