What type of 4wder are you ?

Mornin' Lionel

Now what brought this on??? Nostalgia?...LOL

Maybe I wouldn't own up to your perceived hoon ways of the earlier years but in essence, ever since I started with this 4x4 thing in 1977, it has been one long adventure. And adventure is what I am still looking for and plan for out of the way treks every year.

Been there and done that with 4x4's. Bush bashing, mud racing, around the block, exploring and making tracks. Even spent 5 years on the wallaby dragging a 27 footer road block around. Said never again!! But now I have a trailer in the mirror....lol

Once I thought that I would put a time frame on the adventures by 4x4 but I seem to extend that every year. Still, here may be 5 years left along these lines but will my old trojan 4x4 last that long? Cannot even consider anything newer so I tread carefully with the old beast. If it carks it then that will be the end of 4x4-ing....maybe?........lol. Our 'other car' is but a toy 4by.

Anyway, you have a good day. I have to go an continue painting the south fence.


Cheers

I'm going the same way as you Lionel.

I've been on trips where blokes have a go at something for the challenge. Invariably they get stuck and you spend hours getting them out. Seemed fun at first, but gets very tiring.

I've sunk a car once. Spending a week lifting carpets and drying everything out was once too many.

Trips through the mud? Results in an hour at the carwash and $20 worth of $2 coins.

These days, if I look at a track and it looks too hard, I reckon it probably is, and avoid it.

Last trip I did was April just gone. Nice day out, but the final section down Trigg Track was painful. Not immensely difficult, but after about 20 switchbacks in a row and I had myself asking myself, is this really fun? Essentailly 20 three point turns in a row.

Having driven tracks for the sake of driving them, it's lost interest for me. Driving a track to get somewhere or see something is what having a 4wd is all about for me now.

Cheers,

Jim.

Lionel,

Headed the same way.Have had the caravan for about 12 months and the first trip was bloody near divorce material.The wife kept wanting to stop and look at things which I,ve now figured out is what you are supposed to do.
However still have the swags and camp oven etc just in case.

We still find the most enjoyable times are free camping in the bush rather than in parks every night.


Cheers

Me thinks this stems from a couple of threads of yesterday or the day before.

I'm with you Lionel. The Jerry is the 1st 4bee I've actually owned, and in the beginning it was all about seeing how good I was and the car. Still enjoy a challenge but we/I have gravitated more into the touring side of things. There is no fun or future in having to fix damaged body or mechanical parts. Life is too short and money too hard to come by.

Yep keep looking at CT's and wondering will I be able to store it at home, will I use it enough to get our money's worth etc. Until then the tent will do.

We need another Perth/WA EO trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In my younger days I headed for the great outdoors with all my 'essentials' on my back. An interest in geology often meant that I carried a lot of extra weight home in my backpack - rocks. A few years later (and a bit older and wiser) with a bad back and bad knees I saw the light and got a 4wd and ever since have carried all my gear 'in the back'.

That first 4wd (LandRover) caused me to have several of those late night strip downs but a few years later (and even more older and wiser) I got rid of the LandRover and started to enjoy more time in the great outdoors rather then in the garage.

These days I am only interested in back country touring (and any rocks I find at the side of the road).

I spent all my "wild days" hanging desparately onto the handlebars of the likes of Honda 750s and Kwaka 900s. (geez I loved that 900!!!....had it for 13 months during which time I clocked-up 51,000klm..... only sold it to go back to PNG for a 2nd stint).

I didn't get my first 4x4 until 1990 (at age 35). It was a brand new blue Maverick petrol which I proudly paid cash for (after having just returned from another 30 month stint {my 3rd} in the PNG Highlands, I was all cashed-up for the 1st time in my life....hahahaha).

So, I virtually went straight into the "touring" phase of 4x4ing and am still doing the same thing; although I've become a bit more adventurous as the years have progressed I s'pose.....

I've never been into the crash and bash. If I see a big mud hole and there is a convenient track around it, that's the way I'll go.

Roachie

Great Post Lionel, invokes a bit of thought. After 20 years of
pedalling a 4by sprayrig over rough country the joy of climbing over, around or through obstacles wears off. So does the fun of getting out of bogs, being hung up on rocks, & getting out to restart the motor after the oil alert turns it off on the steep stuff.
But the outback trip is still one of joy. Still trying to fit too much in
not enough time, but the feeling you get in a good free camp at
sunset with a cold beer & good company is unsurpassed. Even in this day & age one can get into a good wagon & C/t for not much
loot & enjoy such pleasures. I seem to get by without most of the
"necessities" most think compulsory, & I wear my "minimalist" tag
with some pride. Our next step may be a van, but while we are still able to handle the C/t, will stick with it. The faithful Jack will
last another 15 years, may be too old to travel by then, but we
hope not. We will continue to do a "Big trip" every 3 years &
wander around in between. Lifes GOOD.........oldbaz.

Fat & lazy bugga variety with an aversion to walking anywhere I could drive too!

These days the 4wd isfor getting tosomewhere to fish, or towing the boat - or launching & retrieving the boat etc.

I have an aversion to driving in 4wd for the same of it, i.e. the type of thing we see so many young ones doing - and destroying their vehicles willingly in the process.

Ok I've driven thrumud and flooded creeks - but usually to get the boats and tarilers / vehilces secured (tied down) in the yard at the marina before a cyclone arrived - i.e. because I HAD too - not coz i wanted too.

I guess I had firearms too wheni owned the farm and they are a tool of the trade - you use it when you have too - not coz it is fun and you want to.

I got banned from 4wdAustralia forums for saying as much - that a vehicle shouldn't be an enterianiment means within itself - it SHOULD be a means to an end - somethng to get you to some place for an activity or whatever.

I just can't get into this extreme 4wding and competition 4wding...- who in their right mind deliberately busts their pride and joy 4wd?

I guess I'm old too - it is touring or fossicking for rocks or gold or fishing etc then I'm all for it, even for those on minesites,or conservation dept - where it is part of the job.

Were it up to me - I would lock all these competition and extreme 4by nuts outta all public lands and restrict them to comeptition tracks etc specifically designed on PRIVATE land.

I don;t think theres any excuse buggering the environment and tracks for fun - IF you have to get thru for work or some legitimate activity, then fair enough - but theres enough idiots out there destroying the bush every day and getting more and more tracks locked up and websites / magazines that promote such activities publicly i won't support.

Cheers

What type of 4wder are you ?
I am a nostalgic seventies 4wder . My 4by has to have a square box shape , a quarter pane glass , and leaf springs . Hence why i love the 75 series . I 4wd to get to places . I dont go to places to 4wd . Thats why i have never been to landcruiser park . Driving up a track to see how far you can go does not interest me one little bit . More of a tourer that needs occasional 4wd i guess .

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh as time goes by...
my first 4wd was a pajero back in the early 90s and it was taken camping into all the tightest deepest wettest dirtiest places you find on weekends then cleaned out on sunday night so I could go to work on monday.
late 90s upgraded to a patrol and ct and went further afield and more and more remote for piece and quiet.
This year we got our first van and a F250 to tow it and we are off soon for a five year lap around the block and if the kids dont find us we wont be coming back

Hi All

I spent over 26 years as a Supervisor in the Government doing
Pipe Line Easement inspections, I had my Arse in a 4wd nearly
24/7, luckily for me they were Tax Payer Funded, I have lost count
of the vehicles I have nearly destroyed, and most were traded
with in 18 to 24 months, at that time I also owned my own 4bys,
which when we had time available we would go camping up the
Beach, we are Fishing Fanatics, and every chance we get we
try to go up the beach if conditions are right, I am also very fussy
about the way I look after our 4wd's, that reflects on the tradein
dollars we get when we do change overs, I like to trade them
about every 4 years, but that will stop when I retire from the
business next year, also my youngest Lad lives on a Property
where water is short (only tank water) he will come over to our
place, and his 4wd will be covered in mud ect, I cant stand it,
so we will give it a clean up, with a Gerni and he will be on his way
again, yep I know I'm a silly old bugger.

Cheers
Daza

I'm 47 going on 18, unfortunately I can't resist that steep hill or that boulder and still have to have a crack at it. Although I will drive around mud if possible because i hate cleaning the stuff off the car.

Lionel,
We love the Vic High Country and spend as much time up there as possible. Nothing too hard, mainly easy to medium classed tracks. To get to that fishing spot, camping spot or great lookout is our reason for getting the 4wd.
Got it bogged the first weekend I had it and when I stuck my head out of the window to see wheel placement, accelerated and got a face covered in mud made the wife and kids laugh!
Places like Bright,Pineapple flat, King Hut, Lake Cobbler,Jamieson, Howqua River.I could go on for ages is the reason we love it. Basically drive till the phone loses signal then find a nice spot to setup and enjoy.

Rob

Sound s like I probably fit into a similar category as many others on here. In my early 20's loved going up the bush, particularly to the High country and loved the 4WDing. Steeper and boggier the better.....but....it kept me broke trying to keep the maintenance up, even to the old 40 Series SWB. Zeka Creek in the winter before the tracks closed. Door handle deep bog holes..... - area now closed!

Over the years, I became more interested in seeing parts of the bush that were inaccessible, even by 4WD and this opened up a completely new world for me and bushwalking, paddling and ski touring became my preferred 'escapes' into the wilderness. I used to spend a great deal of time camping in little hiking tents on the Main Range and in the High Country as well as taking school groups on various adventures as a teacher.. If you really think you can see everything by 4WD, you're kidding yourself. The BEST of it can only be seen on foot or skis.Camping beside Mt. Speculation watching the sunset or sunrise over the Crosscut Saw, Mt. Cobbler and the areas around the Razor just cannot be experienced in your 4WD.

So, my 4WD has become a "means to an end" and often carries me to the start and finish of bushwalks, gets me into snow covered areas in the High Country for a ski tour. Things have changed somewhat over the last few years, as with kids, this type of super lightweight activity is just too difficult and I have taken a greater interest in the 'outback' and seeing other areas (other than my beloved mountains) for which the 4WD and Campertrailer is a great combination.

For those of you who are able, get your bum off the seat and go do some walking. You'll be better off physically, as well as being able to see those areas that so few people see. I'm constantly amazed at the number of people I see travelling and supposedly 'seeing' the country, but who won't make even the slightest effort to walk to the best sights in the area they visit. I guess they go home and expouse all the areas they've 'done'. The "been there - done that brigade".

Cheers,

Mark

We bought our first 4by about 5 years ago mainly to get out into the "back blocks" before we are too old to make it. The CSR was the main attraction at the time (something I wanted to do since I was a young kid listening to the stories of the drovers who use to use the Canning) however it hasn't stopped there, we just want to keep on going!!!!!! The bug sure bit hard.

We are probably past the age of the hard core 4x4ing but do enjoy some medium (I guess) tracks whereby the vehicle comes out the other side in one piece.

Cheers

D

4 wheel driving for me has been a way of life, initially as a means to get into the High Country to hike, fish, ski & canoe then for the challenge of going anywhere & everywhere. At work we've always had a dozen 4x4's to to choose from & for a bit of fun got into competitions for a while. Over time the history, people & places became just as important as getting there particually on the remote outback trips. Joining clubs added another dimention making many friends & now putting a bit back in on hut & track working bees then trying to keep them open with 4 Wheel Drive Vic. Unfortunately the best years of 4 wheel driving in Australia have passed but still can't think of anything better to do next weekend :-)
Cheers Craig.................

Started in 4 wheeling almost 5 years ago now. Caravanners before that.

Started off with a half size drawer unit, so had a 6th seat available, for carrying kids friends etc. Got more interested in off roading – made full drawer unit for rear behind Milford – all made to come out easily to cater for town use – never did come out though………LOL

Got tired of erecting tent every day for 1 –2 weeks on off-road trips. So this year sold caravan and bought off-road camper.

4wd destinations based on love for: sand, clear starey nights; sitting around a fire; fishing, solitude; outback Oz landscapes……

Never been a bush basher. Unlike 4wd cowboys out there who negotiate obstacles with speed, for me the classiest thing is to negotiate an obstacle with control, no wheel spin, at low speed, with no damage – not always possible of course!

i like touring/exploring the desert regions following the old explorers routes (carnegie etc) love the remoteness without the crowds.
every couple of years or so my old mates over there in bairnsdale (vic) tee up a trip like to cape york,and next year the gulf at limmen river and rosie river, i now have a kimberley camper trailer which i take on those trips with them, but usually just swag it on the desert trips.
i'm 55 now so gearing up for retirement in 5 years,only got myself to look after so shouldn't be to costly to live,not into restaurants/van parks etc.

cheers, sparra

There is an extraorinary difference between rushing off to see some great area for 3 of 4 weeks and then going back to work and LIVING on the road.
During that 4 week trip you can put up with a lot of inconvniences that you would prefer to avoid on a long term basis. These differences are not necessarily obvious until you do it.
We live 'on the road' for 8 or 9 months at a time every year, but don't want the restrictions of towing and still want the total freedom that a capable 4x4 gives.

There is no one in the world luckier than us.

Cheers,
Peter.
OKA196 Motorhome