4wd monthly

While you keep buying it, they'll keep loading the ads!

Would you buy the mag if it cost $20....

Thats why they have Ad's..The DVDs arnt cheap to produce either (well over $20K for the short trips alone.)

Gavan

Hi Andrew,

it's a bit rough blaming Roothy for track closures, when you state, "Unfortunately there seems to be an increasing minority who take their cue from the antics of Roothy and his mates and the result is an ever growing list of track closures.....".

There have been people hooning around in the bush for decades. Fire trails and National Park tracks have been locked up by the score in my area and they were just good bush tracks. No big wash outs, no cost for maintenance to anyone but it's easier to lock them up than figure out who is responsible if someone feels the need to take legal action, for whatever reason.

If "land managers" use the excuse they can't afford track maintenance when they close tracks, they're blowing in the wind. Many, most, tracks don't need maintenance. If tracks become too rough, that reduces the number of people using the tracks and eventually nature takes it course.

4WD Action is read by a lot of people but the vast majority of the readers would be responsible four wheel drivers and tourers. The dvd is not marketed as a training manual, although there are a lot of expert tips and knowledge passed on to the readers. I subscribe to the magazine, I watch the DVDs and sometimes I even buy another of their magazines between issues. Sometimes some of us do things as part of a trip that may not be the most politically correct thing to do but I don't purposely choose to destroy the environment. This is my land. I feel the 4WD Action crew love and appreciate what this fantastic island has to offer as I do

That's my opinion,
eighty matey.

Hullo eighty matey

I agree that there have been people hooning around in the bush for decades. What I guess I am saying is that 4WDs are more accessible and popular and hence the potential for inappropriate use and more damage is there.

And I would hope that the majority of readers would be responsible drivers.

We know that some people and particularly the young, are very influenced by role model behaviour. Take a couple of recent examples from the magazine.

Around the traps, at least with the company I keep, there has been quite a lot of discussion about the Graham Cahill debacle on the Hay River Track, as they ”battle torrential rains and tyre-sucking mud”. Another one is the video taken in the Vic High Country “If it’s mud you like, it’s mud you’re going to get! Deep ruts and loads of winching”. What an example to set for new 4WDers looking at the video. As a consequence, I suspect that a significant minority of readers would think it was quite OK to trash tracks.

And what wonderful evidence for those who want to close more tracks.

Repairing these tracks costs money, increasingly scarce money, money that could be spent on other aspects of NP care that have a higher priority, possibly on things that need to be done just once to get an outcome, rather than every year after they have been damaged once again by 4WDs.

I would like to continue to access the remote and wild parts of Australia, to experience and savour the isolation, quietness, grandeur and beauty they have to offer. I don't regard it as "my land" - rather that it is "our land" or, in ways that some people would see it, it is the "land's land". I don't regard access as a right; rather it is a priviledge, one that I need to continue to respect.

Cheers
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I hear what you're saying and I agree to a certain extent. I frequently get frustrated that the actions of a minority result in restrictions for the majority of responsible people in any number of areas in life.

I am the father of a 22 year old and a lot of my mates have kids aged from 15 to 25. Over the years we have spent an incalculatable amount of time camping and four wheel driving with our families. When we were first learning what our vehicles are capable of we have done things that I now believe were irresponsible. A long time ago I realised that the passengers strapped in my back seat were taking in everything that was happening and I made a concious decision to make every effort to do the right thing at all times. Monkey see, monkey do.

The 4wd Action team must be torn between being the responsible father and producing an action packed DVD every month. How many viewers would be excitedly waiting every month for a DVD of Roothy, or Graham, tarvelling along graded roads through National Parks? I don't think many would be keen on that.

I loved watching the Hay River run. I wish I was there. They waited until they got permission from the landholder to proceed, but could you imagine what it would be like to plan a trip, possibly for twelve months in advance, and spend a lot of time and money to get to a remote location in the (normally dry) centre of Australia and to be inundated with rain. The whole area has been wet since that time, so whichever way they went they would have been filming vehicles ploughing through mud. It was a credit to the vehicle preparation and the drivers' experience that they actually got through. This is extremely remote country and, wet or dry, survival is not a matter of luck. I'm sure they would not have taken any chances with people's lives. The fact that the track cut up is a result of the weather conditions at the time.

I don't work for 4wd Action, or have any connection with the company. I just don't like people being criticised if I believe it is unwarranted.

eighty matey.

"it's a bit rough blaming Roothy for track closures"
If I'm not mistaken wasn't it their magazine crew that rolled a car in the Woods Point area which they were then unable to recover themselves (Ill equipped) so called the Police to assist. As the Police had trouble recovering them safely it was then decided afterwards the track was too dangerous & as a direct result closed.
On one of the magazine issues they have a photo near Innamincka of their car parked in front of the Road conditions sign clearly stating they were closed. Next photo's are of them bogged in the mud just before Cordillo. The sanctimonious simpletons are certainly not helping the cause not that they are the only mag who needs to reasses the content.
Cheers Craig...........

Hullo eighty matey

I think we have got to the stage where we both understand each other's point of view and that they won't change :-)

In closing, I feel the need to clarify a couple of points. I haven't mentioned, nor suggested, "graded tracks" - how boring! What I have said is that trashing tracks is, to me at least, not on. There are plenty of situations that one normally comes across that will need skill and the right vehicles / equipment to negotiate. On the other hand, selecting already marginal tracks that have been badly affected by wet weather, driving down and destroying river banks to access places designated, for good reason, as off limits, taking your dog into a NP - seems to imply a touch of arrogance.

As to Hay River - yes, it made a good spectacle. You say "They waited until they got permission from the landowner". I am not so sure they got it. From what I have heard, if I was Graham, I wouldn’t want to ask a favour from Lindsay for the foreseeable future. And, btw, judging by the video, Lindsay's body language was pretty clear.

But you bring up an interesting point about whether to proceed in spite of poor weather and/or conditions, one that has had quite an airing on this and other forums. As someone who used to sail offshore, the weather is the final arbiter regarding the decision to sail or not to sail. It doesn't matter how much preparation has been made for months beforehand, leave booked, supplies purchased, etc, if the forecast is for bad weather, the plan is either aborted, heavily modified or deferred. It is very disappointing, frustrating, etc but that is life.

The same could be said about 4WD trips - plans made, dates agreed, vehicles prepared, everything packed, mates at work told where you are going, etc - maybe even having got to the edge of the exciting bit and then the b.... weather breaks - bugga :-( Now to the decision - do we push on, knowing that significant track damage will ensue and possible major and expensive vehicle recoveries required (refer to Simpson Desert crossings over the past year) or do you have a plan B (or C) and put that into action. Your call.

Cheers
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I don't disagree with most of what you say. Many times I've been in a position that I've had to follow my head and abort. There's been many times I've put to one side what my head said and had a real buzz from the ensuing adventure. Then there's the times I've followed myn gut feeling...... I must be really in touch with my body!!

At the end of the day, I'm really glad we are all individuals and , to a certain extent, we have the opportunity to make individual choicfes. How good is that?? That's the reason all them people are coming here in crappy old fishing boats.

Hopefully I will bump into you on the road somewhere and we can have a cuppa and a yack.

eighty matey.

eighty matey - a cuppa and a yak - I'll look forward to that! :-)
Cheers
Andrew

RockyOne ...Nice reply


My 2 cents worth.. Roothys not Perfect , but The 4wd action crew including Graham do more then their fair share of getting FAMILY's touring and EXPLORING our great country .

Which is what this site is all about.

Gavan

The government doesn't lock us out, the bogans do!