Category Archives: 4WDing

4WDing, Family Life, Geocaching, Out and About, Scouts

Yorkes again ….

November 18, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

I have wanted to get back to Yorke Peninsula and clean up more of the ever increasing geocaches that are appearing there. This weekend was my opportunity with Rachael and the Bleden Venturers looking for transport across to Yorkes for a different sort of clean-up weekend.

The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) have a Marine Debris Survey Program that has been going for a few years and the Venturers offered to assist by doing a survey on Gleesons Landing and Daly Head Beach at the western side of Yorke Peninsula.

Gleesons Landing is well known to me as all shifts in the Metropolitan Fire Service hold a 4 day camping break each year although I haven’t been for a few years. It was good to get back.

We finally made it to camp at 11:30 pm and the place was deserted which meant we had the pick of the campsites. The kids spent about 30 minutes setting up camp and were soon in bed. I was ready in 3 minutes since I was sleeping in the roof top tent. This gave me a chance to go for a wander around to the point and grab a geocache. 🙂

Saturday morning and making sure the kids were OK, it was time to hit the road. The plan today was to grab finds and do a lot of the walking geocaches in the Innes National Park. The temperatures were in the mid 20’s so perfect for some long hikes.

Considering the walks, I made 21 finds for the day and saw some spectacular coastline in the process. I had made my way across to Stansbury and camped there for the night. It was a little windy but slept well.

There was only a half day to go geocaching as I was due back at Gleesons Landing to pick up the kids at lunch time. Still managed 16 finds in the morning.

After picking up the kids, it was a quiet drive home as they all slept – they must have been tired.

It was a good weekend for them and me as well. Even our Japanese billet enjoyed the camping experience and I am sure she will remember her stay in Australia.

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4WDing, Geocaching, Out and About

Geocaching up north …

November 4, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

Today was going to be the warm one and it certainly was. We broke camp early with the group splitting up. My plan was to spend the day geocaching, camping somewhere on the northern Yorke Peninsula.

There were a few more caches to find before getting to Quorn. One involved a walk in to a lone grave from the old mining days. It is believed to be linked to the Comstock Mine.

Following on from Quorn there were a few caches to grab through the Pichi Richi Pass. At one point it involved walking through a few hundred metres of high grass so I was always looking for the elusive snakes that may have been lurking.

After crossing the railway line to venture to yet some more remote graves, there was a train whistle. What a bonus, to actually see a train travelling on the old Pichi Richi Railway. After grabbing the geocache, I followed the train down through the Pass, getting some more photos on the way.

It was really starting to warm up when I got to Port Augusta with strong northerly winds. I continued to geocache through the afternoon when the temperature started to tip 41C. This really had worked up a sweat so grabbed a shower at the BP roadhouse before heading south towards Port Pirie.

There were blue skies above but over to the east it was black and thundery and on checking the weather radar it wasn’t looking much better to the west and it was heading my way. I don’t think I would be camping out tonight.

I remained in Port Pirie until dusk geocaching, but the weather had made it to me. It was still hot and the winds were still strong and you could see some rain coming down but it never reached the ground. What did make the ground was lightning. It was time to head south.

The farmers that hadn’t already reaped their crops were out in force trying to get what they could in before either the rain or lightning got to them. The lightning show continued all the way to Port Wakefield and normally I don’t mind a lightning show but it is different when it is hitting the ground around you as you are driving.

So instead of sleeping out in the scrub in the rooftop tent, it was home in my bed.

$The \"Wreck\" at Pt Augusta$

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4WDing, Out and About

Argadells …

November 3, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

After a chat with the owners of Quorn Caravan Park, it was time to head out to the Argadells and meet up with the rest of the High Range 4WD Club members. The first surprise was a bitumen road where I remember a dirt one for Ardenvale Road but it soon turned dirt but it wont be long before it is all tarmac.

Arrived at the Argadells Homestead and another chat before moving to the Springs campsite. On opening the first gate I heard some chatter on the CB radio. They were already heading off to Mt Arden. Let them know I wasn’t far away and I soon caught them as they were pulling out of camp. I took up tail end charlie.

Being a mixed group of vehicles from soft roaders to high clearance ones, there were going to be some challenges ahead. I have already done these tracks back in 2009.

The first couple of tracks were not too bad with only one challenge in a gully with a drop off the side and we soon made it to the ridge line with some great views.

The ridge track had some tricky rocky areas but we soon all made it to the top of Mt Arden, including the soft roaders. The views from here were spectacular overlooking Lake Torrens to the west and Port Augusta to the southwest.

The tricky bits were still to come with some rocky sections that tested out the soft roaders on the descent down from Mt Arden but all got through unscathed before stopping for some lunch. After a mild morning, it was starting to warm up with the temperature up around 32C.

A side trip to the South Gorge with a chance to get out and have a short walk to enjoy the view and then it was on to Buckaringa Gorge. It was still early so a few of us decided to go to the northern part of the property and tackle some of the more exciting tracks.

These tracks were a lot more rocky than the others we had tackled as well as a lot steeper. When we made the ridge, there was a bloke hiking the Heysen Trail that goes through here. We were impressed that he was doing it given the heat this afternoon.

After going over some of the tracks we had traversed this morning, we found a different track to descent off the ridge coming across some goats and kangaroos as well.

Back at camp, cooked up a chicken stew then it was time for some beverages around the campfire, before hitting the hay.

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12 of 12, 4WDing, Geocaching, Out and About

August 12 of 12 …

August 12, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

A clear start to the day, not as cold as expected and we were soon on the road heading to Axedale. Today we were meeting up again with the Central Victorian Geocachers for a 4WD trip through the hills around Bendigo. The event for the day was CVG 4×4 Adventures #3 – Fosterville. In all there were 8 vehicles attending with around 30 geocachers.

It was pretty easy going early on with a couple of hill climbs and descents. Then we came to the mother of all hills and there was a new cache at the top – On top of Fosterville for the seriously insane! We were not set up to drive up this one as you would have needed some serious clearance and winching. So it became a heart starter with a climb to the top.

Continuing on again we came to an issue with washed out tracks which were not suitable to all our vehicles so a change of plans saw us not get some of the new caches that had been placed out for the event.

A stop for lunch at the Gunyah Picnic Area with another 22 caches published in the area for the Event and we were off trying for as many “First to Finds” as we could. We managed to get 10 FTF’s 🙂 – not a bad effort for the day.

The sun was getting low and we had one other task for the day. My GeoBuddy Garry was on track for his 5000th find and we found It’s all about the NUMBERS Challenge #1 as this milestone. It was time to head back to the cabin but not before grabbing some more geocaches on the way.

Another 12th of the month is finished.

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4WDing, Geocaching, Holidays, Out and About

A Town like Alice …

June 21, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

Today was a “rest” day of sorts. This meant that no long distance driving but take in some of the sights around Alice Springs.

I started at the northern end of town and drove what is left of the old Stuart Highway into the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve. One of the popular spots for the locals is Wigleys Waterhole but there was no-one there today.

Next onto the old Telegraph Station with a walk along the Todd River and up to Bungalow Hill to take in the view.

Up to Anzac Hill for lunch which has commanding views over the town and the MacDonnell Ranges.

I traveled west along the West MacDonnell Ranges and through Honeymoon Gap to the old Ghan Rail Line.

It was interesting that the track alongside the old rail line was in better condition than the Old South Road. Also managed to take in some of the track used by the Finke Desert Race.

After visiting the Ewaninga Fettler Cottages and Ewaninga Reserve it was back to the Heavitree Gap Outback Lodge to feed some very hungry Rock Wallabies.

Tomorrow is a 940 kilometre drive to Glendambo.

$Wigley\'s Waterhole$

$Flynn\'s Grave$

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4WDing, Holidays, Out and About

Big Drive today – Alice Springs to Mataranka …

June 13, 2012 Scott 1 Comment

It was a cool start today for the big drive with overcast skies and a few drops of rain but this was short lived with clear skies for most of the day.

I didn’t make too many stops today as there was a mission of getting to Mataranka and a soak in the thermal pool – a drive of 1065 kilometres which was achieved in 11 hours with fuel stops.

The fuel gauge went down a little quicker in the first leg to Tennant Creek as I sat on 125 kph (the speed limit up here is 130 kph). For the second leg I dropped it back to 115 as the roos were starting to appear but they are only little ones. 🙂

Tomorrow is an easy drive of 400 km into Darwin.

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12 of 12, 4WDing, Geocaching, Holidays, Out and About

Coober Pedy to Alice Springs – June 12 of 12 …

June 12, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

What a great day for travelling – clear skies and not too warm and no wind (although there was a little cloud around Coober Pedy). Today was another big day on the road with a 700 km drive from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs.

After filling up and a quick drive around town it was time to head north. The landscape around here is a bit of a moonscape with all the diggings – you wouldn’t want to stumble around here in the dark.

Made the diversion to the Breakaways and was surprised to see no-one else out there.

The further north I went you could see the results of the good rains over the last few years with plenty of growth in both the trees and the grasses. The colour of the soil also changes to a deep red.

Continuing along the Stuart Highway through Cadney Park, Marla and then crossing the border into Northern Territory. Of course there is the obligatory photo at the border. 🙂

While at Marla, I checked wotif.com as I knew that accommodation would be scarce in Alice Springs including the caravan parks due to the Finke Desert Race having just finished. Although there were a lot of cars and bike returning south, the locals were cleaning up with their rates and minimum stays. I managed to book a room in a B&B for only $10 more than what the caravan parks were asking for an unpowered site. My digs tonight would be the B & B Pathdorf.

It is almost as soon as you go over the border that the rocks start to rise from the ground with a lot of Ranges starting to appear. Next couple of towns are Kulgera and then Erldunda.

I had filled the tanks at Coober Pedy thinking that I had plenty of fuel to get through to Alice Springs. From previous experience, when the low fuel light came on there was about 10 litres of fuel left which equated to 80 kilometres travel. At about 80 kms out from Alice Springs, the low fuel light came on. I slowed it up a bit and took it easy into Alice Springs.

After arriving in Alice Springs, it was a struggle to find a petrol station that was open and eventually found one with only 4 litres of fuel remaining.

Through Facebook, I found that a work colleague was in Alice Springs as well so we met up in town and had some steaks at Bojangles Saloon – this place would look right at home in the Wild West and the meals were good too.

That is it for today. Tomorrow will be a bigger day as I have 1000 km to drive to get to Mataranka.

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4WDing, Geocaching, USA 2012

Reno 4WDing Geocaching ….

March 24, 2012 Scott Leave a comment

Well I thought I would sleep right through but no. It was 3:00 am and I was wide awake. Mucked around for a while before dropping off again for another hour and awake again at 4:30 am then again at 6:30 am. Oh well I might as well get up.

Richard “Jeditrekr” was picking me up for breakfast and then off to do some Reno 4WDing Geocaching. Breakfast was at Hog Wild Cafe and if you wanted to fill up the stomach and the arteries, this is the place for you. It was pretty popular for early on a Saturday morning and I tried to pick something on the menu that wasn’t going to be a mountain of food. I think I got it right with the Sunshine Bread which in its simplest form is toast, bacon, eggs, onion and potato but still a plate full.

After filling up, there was time to grab a couple of geocaches before heading to the Meet ‘n Greet prior to the 4WD Trip. These events have been a bit a bit of a tradition for the 3 years I have been coming to Reno. The local cachers put on an Event to coincide with my visit. This year it was called Fun in the Dirt (Meet the guy from down under).

There wasnt a bad turn out for a Saturday morning with 8 4WD’s turning up with 14 geocachers. One of the attendee’s was the Worlds #1 Geocache Finder. He is Alamogul with over 64000 finds – unbelievable. After meeting everyone – some old faces and some new, exchanging pathtags it was time to head east into the hills.

The caches we were going to were out the back of Hidden Valley Regional Park. As we drove up the first valley, the ground was littered with thousands of shotgun shells – an ominousness sign of what was to come. The first cache was Gunpowder Butte. We had only just got out of the cars and the bullets were flying. We were unsure of where they were going but soon found they weren’t being shot in our direction.

As well as geocaches hidden in the area, it is the local haunt to go and shoot anything that doesn’t move and I am sure things that move are aimed at as well. There were only a couple of groups set up when we went in but 3 hours later when we came out just about every spot was filled with shooting groups setting up all sorts of targets. Nothing quite like the smell of gunpowder and the constant bang of rounds going off.

We drove through some spectacular country similar to the Flinders Ranges if it wasn’t for the snow on the higher peaks. There were no challenging roads but there were some challenging climbs to some geocaches. they certainly tested out the heart and the lungs.

This wasn’t a big numbers run but there were 2 “first to finds”, some good company and some great scenery.

We finished around 1:00 pm, Richard dropped me back at the Grand Sierra Resort and there rest of the day was easy going, even having a massage to relieve my back. 🙂

$Wild Horses at Blocko100\'s Camo Can #3$

$At Blocko100\'s Camo Can #3$

$View from Good \'ol Rusty$

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12 of 12, 4WDing, Geocaching, Out and About

November 12 of 12 ……

November 12, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

We were up at the Thomas Hill Hostel sitting around the camplight (camp fires were banned) for the “Come Remember with me” geocaching event and someone said it has turned midnight and shouldn’t I be taking pictures for the 12 of 12.

I didn’t realise it was that time again – this last month has flown but then again I have spent a bit of time all over the country in the last month.

I looked up at the sky and saw the full moon with a jet trail just under it. There was photo number one. 🙂

Not long after it was time to head up into the roof top tent and grab some sleep.

Woke up not long after dawn but couldn’t get a good photo so back to bed for another couple of hours sleep.

Went inside to find the big table full of laptops, GPS’s and mobile internet devices. There must be a lot of nerds here or geocachers or both.

After everyone updating GPS operating systems and loading the geocaches it was time to do the drivebys on the caches within the property. These would normally require a lot of hiking to get.

Didn’t take long to see our first snake but missed getting a photo – it was a 1 metre brown snake.

We headed out on the various tracks which 12 months ago were wet and slippery but today dry and dusty. I was out caching with Honeysucker, Skippy and Semik. Out of the 6 caches we did at this time, I had found them 12 months ago except for one.

Back to Thomas Hill for lunch then headed out to grab a few more very clever caches involving the use of water, air pump and magnets. We were joined by Scoobster and Dazzatron for these ones.

Time to head home then it was out for dinner at Jenny’s brothers to finish this months 12 of 12.

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4WDing, Geocaching, Holidays, Out and About

Fun in the Sleaford Dunes ….

October 28, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

This was our final day in the Lincoln area and it was going to be a fun one especially for the Nissan drivers (oh that would be me :-))

Today we were going to tackle the Sleaford-Wanna Track through the sand dunes. Everyone had been building up confidence in their driving abilities over the week and it would be put to the test for many before the day was out.

Again the wind and the rain were prevalent today so the sand was firmer than it would normally be so the first bit through the Wanna dunes was fairly easy going for all. There were a few clearance issues for some of the lower cars but all got through OK.

At one point where there was a memorial for someone who drowned in the area, there was a pod of dolphins frolicking in the surf. Not long after this we found a lunch spot near Salmon Hole then made it to the end of the dunes at Lone Pine.

We were going to head back the way we came as it didn’t take as long as expected. That was before we descended on Tinah Beach.

We had passed it on the way in and now that the clouds were dispersing and the sun coming out, why not go for a drive on the beach – it looked firm enough.

We stopped for a line up of vehicles for a photo and maybe we should have turned around there as the Ford Territory got bogged as they tried to move off, so I got to pull out my first vehicle.

While we were pulling Helen out the radio came alive. Barra who was leading the charge in his Toyota Landcruiser up the beach had become bogged as had Carolyn in her Nissan X-Trail and CJ in his Mazda Tribute.

After pulling out Helen, I let some more air out of the tyres and headed up to the others. There were 3 that hadn’t continued further up and I had to leave their tracks and go around them in the soft sand which was fun but I made it.

CJ just needed a little digging and some manpower and he was moving. Carolyn was a bit more of a priority as the tide was coming in on her vehicle. The bulk of the group worked on her car and I continued up the beach to Barra. He was stuck fast.

He had been trying to turn around and come back but got stuck. That’s OK, he has diff lockers. The only problem was that it buried him even more. It would have been easier to cover it with sand – it was that deep.

It was going to be a tricky pull as he was only 20 metres from the soft dunes, so a pull at an angle was required. We started digging him out and after about 15 minutes put on 2 straps and attempted a pull. I moved him a little but not enough for his tyres to get grip.

Half an hour or more later of digging with the rest of the group as they had freed the other vehicles and there was clear air under the car and a ramp out of the hole. A couple of decent pulls and Barra was free but not for long.

He attempted another turnaround and down the car went again. This time he waited for me with the straps before trying to dig himself deeper. From the GPS log we had spent 2 hours on the beach for a total 2.7 kilometre drive.

Despite the challenges today, the club all pulled together and helped each other out, learnt some new skills and told stories of the day over drinks that night at the Port Lincoln Hotel. We held the final dinner for the trip here which topped off a great week.