As some of you know last Wednesday Careen (SWMBO) and myself decided we were going to
Robe for a few days leaving Thursday morning. Members Borgy and Littleborgy (dad and brother) came the following day.
By 6:30 am Thursday Careen and myself were driving out the driveway and not looking back. On the way visiting some friends in
Murray Bridge before making our way down to
Robe.
After having a look in
Robe we set up
camp at Stony Rise
camp ground in the
Little Dip Conservation Park at about 3:30pm.
After we set up
camp we both drove down to the beach for a bit of a loo. The sand was very soft, even though the tyres were down to 18psi it was till hard going. Went back to
camp after watching the sunset over the sea, went back to
camp and called it a day.
After a cold nights sleep (about 3-5deg) the sun warmed up the camper so it was time to get out of bed and wait for Borgy, Littleborgy and the tribe to arrive.When they turned up they set up
camp and we (all three viechles) went for a drive down to the beach for a few photos and so Brad's (Littleborgy) two daughters Zoe and Katie could have a paddle.
After about 15 minutes we all jumped in out 4by's and went to drive off. They weren't going anywhere, All three Nissan's were stuck right down to the chassis
We all broke Dave's (Borgy) number 1 rule on beach driving, never park below the track!!
We all tried to get our own cars out and almost succeeded but only got about 10meters up the beach and that's as far as it got.
All the tyres were now down to 12psi. Brads unstuck his wagon and got in a position up on the track to snatch me out. He snatched me out but only until I got stuck again. Then Brads got stuck again, we were stuffed.
It was hopeless trying to to dig three cars at once so we concentrated on one at a time.
The ute was first being the lighter one, thought it would be easier. We dug out the chassis and diffs, put a length of wood under the front wheel and gave that a go. It just didn't happen. The opposite wheel to where the wood was spun and dug deeper.
Then decided to try Brads Patrol. It was up on the track so thought that would be the next best one. Brads dug out under the chassis and diffs and about 2 meters in front and put 2 lengths of wood under the front wheels. With four of us pushing and Dave driving, got it out. Phew.
We then used three snatch straps joined together and Brads dragged the ute out, Dave drove the up on the track and with three snatch straps dragged me right off the beach. We then called it a day and went back to
camp.
Saturday started
well. It was a nice day again and had planned the night before to tackle the
Robe -
Beachport run.
Brads and myself drove into
Robe to receive some local knowledge on the track as none of us had been there before. How silly of me, I didn't even think to
check the trek notes on EO :)
We left the tyres down to 12psi, just seeing how we go. The track seemed pretty easy, only a couple of
places needed 4L.
Driving along a beach and I saw an exit so I took it. Went left up a slight
hill and strait down again with all the weight on the left front and popped the tyre off the bead.I wasn't going anywhere, tried forward and back but didn't move. Bull bar was wedged in the sand. Dad snatched me out in reverse very easily (again). Little did I know the next exit was easier and the proper one.You get that being the trip leader (guinea pig).
We lifted the front up with the highlift and got the tyre pumped back up again, this time up to 20psi. It took a bit of mucking around trying to seal the bead but we done it. We decided to have lunch on the beach and pump all the tyres up to 20psi, we weren't risking that again.
Back on the track again and Brads had trouble getting over a
hill, four attempts later I gave him a gentle snatch over.
Too easy.
With the track being a one lane track I came nose to nose with a Rodeo duel cab. With there being three of us he said he would move off the track. There was scrub either side of us he backed up a little bit and found a
clearing. It was a bit tight but very do-able. He had to park up on a bit of a sandy bank that sloped down to the track and $I had the same on my side. We both drove up the sides slowly, then we both uncontrollably slid sidewards down toward each other my bull bar sitting an inch away from
the tub of his ute. With his passengers panicking a bit he decided to back up a bit because forward for him wasn't an option. I could have probably moved forward but thought I might slide into him as the sand was loose.
He started to back up but soon realised out mirrors had crossed over and were going to clash. Good old Nissan mirrors were able to be pushed right back and I ended up backing out. Easily in the end. That was close.
With about 4klm to go the left front tyre came off the bead again, didn't stuff around this time just put the spare on and away we went. Got to
Beachport re-inflated tyres and drove back to
camp via the black top.
I went to have another go at fixing the tyre back at
camp and noticed the valve on the inside of the rim had a chunk taken from it. It must have happened when I tried to get out of the bog when it came off the first time. Oh
well you get that.
We were all planning to go
home on the Sunday but Dad having a heart attack around midnight made it inevitable. I drove him into
Robe while mum called the ambulance. If it wasn't for them and the doctor who was on call he probably wouldn't be here today.
Dad is still recovering in the Flinders Hospital and should be out in the next couple of days.
All in all it was a very memorable few days and would like to go back one day with a few lessons learnt
Cheers Luke