Gnangara Pines

Saturday 26^th November 2022

Attendees:

Tony & Burgo – Ranger (Trip Leader)

Richard – Pajero

Rob – Vitara 

Keith and Kirk – Ranger

Penny and Spence – FJ

James – BT50 (Visitor)

Ki – LC 80 Series

Simon – Patrol (Visitor)

Jeff – LC 79 Series

Derek – Hilux (Visitor)

We all met at Centre Way, and Gnangara Road.  It was meant to be 8:30 for 9:00am start, but we were all there by 8:30.  So after the introductions & preamble stuff (including at least one dad joke) we aired down and headed off around 8:45.

We started straight off into soft sand, and piles of dumped stuff – Richard, maybe another clean up in our own backyard??  I had pictures, but they were rubbish (😊)

We spent most of the day exploring soft sand tracks, with Keith as tail end Charlie.  Makes for a safe trip when both ends are covered by Rangers 😊.  

One of the tracks lead us to what appeared a small sandy hill.  I tried to get up and failed, so reversed down, only to get bogged down to the chassis.  Two snatch straps and a Vitara got me out (thanks Rob). 

After letting the tyres down further to 18PSI, and this time choosing 4 Low, I made it up.

El Presidente got bogged on his first attempt, which made me feel a little better 😊 

The rest of the group made it up easily after we had shown them the way.

Following a stop for morning tea, we made our way towards the Lake (which isn’t accessible any longer from the tracks) and made it through to the big sand pit.

On arrival we were confronted by a group finishing some Eureka 4Wd Training. 

We decided to wait for them to finish before we ventured out and had some fun in the sand hills.

This was an opportunity for a chat while waiting, until we found we were standing in sands infested by ticks (gotta love these lil’ guys).

It was decided it might be better to get back in our cars and just play on the other side of the pit until Eureka finished.  Then we were all able to tackle the various hills.  Some were quite smooth, but others had us banging heads on the window etc.

El Presidente got bogged again (sorry Richard), and Rob and his Vitara came to the rescue…again!

After lunch and the obligatory photos of the lined-up cars, we headed off.

I think it would be great to revisit the Pines after some rains.  It was clear there would be a few puddles and bog holes after a bit of rain.

Thanks to all who attended for a relaxed half day of exploring, and to Keith and Kirk for being tail end Charlie.

Lessons learned by Tony:

• Don’t tell tree jokes in a pine plantation.  It leaves people rolling their eyes and wanting to branch out on their own.
• Remember to put the car in low when going up sandy hills.
• Listen to others and drop your tyres to 18 PSI from the get-go.

Don’t stand around in sand next to bushes…it Ticks off the locals 😊

Story by Tony.