Monthly newsletter of the Mitsubishi 4WD O wner ’s Club of Western Australia Inc. 1985 May 2014 Issue 330
HOLLAND TRACK DRUMMOND COVE COLSON TRACK BLAST FROM THE PAST Proudly sponsored by
Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of Western Australia Inc. PO Box 655 South Perth WA 6951
Meetings: 1st Wed of each month except January Manning Senior Citizens Centre 3 Downey Drive Manning www.mitsubishi4wd.org.au email: secretary@mitsubishi4wd.org.au Publication issues:editor@mitsubishi4wd.org.au President: Peter Cole Vice President: Craig Perry Secretary: John King Treasurer: Bridget McPherson Editor: Martin Archer Environment: Stephen Kalynuik WebMaster: Michael Gilbert Trip Coordinator: Guy Lehmann Training Officer: Richard King Membership Officer: Peter Fry Insurance/Propoerty: Glen Bignell WA 4WD Assoc.Delegate: Linda Bickerdike Social Chairperson: Pat O’Dowd
Click here to got to the club trip calendar
discouraging to hear some of the reasons given for people not wanting to assist by leading a trip. On a purely statistical basis, and I know that this is a very simplistic approach, with over seventy memberships listed on our website and with say a dozen day trips and six weekend trips for a year it should only be necessary for each membership to take on one trip every three to four years. Yet we collectively allow someone like Guy, with much assistance from Wendy, to continually pick up the reigns and drive at the front of so many trips. I would ask all of you to please take some time to really consider how you can make a significant contribution to the club year by volunteering to be a trip leader, but please go one huge step further and go directly to Guy and volunteer your services before he has to make a request. For those with limited or no experience in trip leading you can also do your part by volunteering to be a co-trip leader. This type of "buddy" system is designed to build experience in a supportive way, and to "future proof" the trip calendar. ! If I had anywhere near the artistic talents of our Editor Martin, this is where I would insert a huge poster image of "YOUR CLUBS NEEDS YOU!" but I don't have the talent so I can't. Pity. (Check out the next page Peter. :)Martin)
Now that the winter rains seem to have finally arrived one might think that outdoor activities such as those associated with a motoring club would become a little less popular. Glancing at our calendar and the associated trip lists on the trip notice board at the May members meeting would quickly dispel such a notion. The monthly day trip, to Dryandra, listed over a dozen members attending. Two weeks later our Environmental Group is holding a clean-up and maintenance day at Byford with nearly thirty members listed, and at the end of May trip leaders Bruce and Judith Brinkley will be taking over thirty members to Warriedar for the long weekend. So in the space of a month over half our membership numbers will be attending a club event. This does not include all those members and visitors at the monthly meeting at the start of the month, and for those on the committee there is also a meeting for them to add to this tally. The most fortunate part of all this activity is that we will achieve this remarkable level of activity with only three trip leaders and three co-trip leaders for the month. We can add in the June day trip with Richard King as trip leader, which may or may not be to Julimar, and the "biggie trip" for the year which Rick and Sue Irvine will lead to Lorella Springs to this flurry of activity and then we encounter a bit of "trip leader turbulence". Our Trip Co-ordinator and his Trip Planning Group are still experiencing a lot of difficulty in securing volunteers to lead future trips. As if the actual trip calendar is not hard enough to organise there is always another mountain to climb to list someone other than TBA to actually lead a trip. If you take the time to peruse the list of members available through the website you will recognise that we are blessed with a good number of proven trip leaders and a significant number of experienced four wheel drivers yet to get involved in leading trips. I do not envy Guy in his task to approach people directly to ask them to come to the front and lead. It must be somewhat
Coming back to the Lorella Springs trip, it is only a a month to go before the intrepid group with Rick and Sue at the helm, steer a path all the way up through WA to the destination of Lorella Springs in the NT. With all the final planning being completed it certainly looks like it is going to be an enormously enjoyable experience for all the participants. For those of us not fortunate enough to be going we can, I am sure, look forward to as comprehensive a trip report as we received from the Canning Stock Route trip last year. Might be a bit of a high expectation though , considering that Pat is not going on the trip to provide notable events and John Snr is not there to report them. Still, the list of members attending is full of characters who I am sure, will all be vying to win the Piston Broke Award for 2014. Now for a blatant Sponsor Plug: Had a little trouble starting the old diesel the other morning (car not spouse) and thought I’d better check the battery. Discovered I have had it for six years, quite a good run actually. Checked around for prices to replace the old one with exactly the same type. As we have a sponsor now who deals in batteries, I thought I should drive in and check it all out. So with Club Membership Card in hand I went to check out Rex Goodchilds store in Jandakot. Quick load test showed the 670cca battery was only producing 450cca. Got a great price, so upgraded to a larger type for a lot less than I would have paid elsewhere for the original capacity battery. Retail staff were very friendly and knowledgeable, great service.. Don’t forget to check them out before you experience that little grrrrrrgrrrrrgrrrr that usually happens on a cold morning when you have a tight schedule Peter Cole President
President’s Report
Be a valuable member of the club Become a Trip Leader it’s not so hard
Contact the Trip Coordinator for advice and suggestions
trips@mitsubishi4wd.org.au
News Behind the Meeting May 2014.
once up and running, will be a guide to all drivers of the levels of expertise required to traverse many tracks across the State.
Meeting News
Gymkhanas from years ago are being reintroduced Funny how a standard process of site familiarization for the clubs to interact and compete. ..eg Dowerin takes on a different level of entertainment value last year...to be even better this year. as each person adds their own personality to And that’s in his spare time.... the job....easier when the hat fits?? Where’s the camera when we want it.. Peter Cole filled the Trip Reports role this night. Don and Jean Swift were welcomed to our club. Ledge island to Guilderton They bring a wealth of prior 4WD experience Wow ..story...or saga? from their many years of membership in another 11 vehicles 8 of them Mitsubishis... that’s novel to begin with. (brand?) Club. This particular area had not traversed by our club Our attention was then focussed on the quality before...will it be again? and ease of use of the new sound/ technology Hmmmm... ? A day of records I’d think. system’s inaugural unveiling..so easy even Mr Secretary could fathom it...apparently? The Club’s thanks to Tony and Michael for pooling their research to arrive at our solution.
At Meet up minus a few kilometres... first casualty ..one vehicle didn’t make it to the start. I trust the progressive photos of the electrical disembowelling makes it to the Website. What People Do Segment. Only to discover the Craig Perry fault lay with the Well...president of WA “professional” work 4WD Assoc for past 7 yrs done on the vehicle and on the Committee for in the week previous. 11years ! Craig then, in listing through the activities involving Lucky it happened before getting stuck on the beach. the Association, he delivered “what he did”... There are 30 clubs in WA all requiring attention. The Assoc also deals nationally looking after At Meet up plus 200m...lead car couldn’t get into both the rights of 4wd drivers to drive 4WDs and 4WD to monitor the regulations imposed on an owner’s At Meet up plus 300m loud rattling underneath rights to modify and adapt recreational vehicles and “bits were banging around underneath. so they are safe to go off road but yet still remain ...centre bash plate bolts had not been replaced during work on car. within regulations. As association president, Craig works closely with DEPaW and Trackcare establishing both track adoptions (there are 11 at this stage) and coordinating occasional one off projects with DEPaW funding eg repairing the old stockyards at Dryandra in aged materials so the essence of the stockyards is preserved. Track classification is an important project that,
500m in one and a half hours....? Got to be a record. Then No 4... Although pretripped only a week previously, this trip was a demonstration much can change in a week... Tide times of course are always checked but does everyone know to check tide heights too?
Trip leader Rick also bogged.. and with gentle waves..... washing his wheels??? After about 45 mins of bogged entertainment. The others hopefully took advantage of being at the beach, left them to it and enjoyed themselves. Only way to rescue Rick was for Richard King to circle through dunes, get to the harder sand Rick was aiming for, attach 2 x snatch straps and success. Video showing perfect manoeuvre by Richard. And yet another example of the advantages of members experience and willingness to assist. Planned lunch was only 2 hours late. So with alternate tracks stopped by gates , dunes, bush, on the whole.. it was a different, unexpected, interesting trip. The group finally achieved the Guilderton lighthouse and turned for home. Great photos, lots of laughter but also maybe lessons learned.. without lasting damage to anyone. Cars 11 beach nil or maybe .5 ?? Report By Judith Brinkley
Kids Convoy 2014
Western Patrol Club Inc : Convoy for sids and kids
Sunday June 29th 2014 Our club is keen to support the Western Patrol Club in their fund raising effort for the Sids and Kids WA charity. We would very much like to see as many club vehicles as possible attend this event and show the general community that we, along with every other 4WD club in WA, can get together and make a significant contribution to a very worthy cause.
The convoy registration web page, www.kidsconvoy.org, is now up and running. Please go to the web page and complete your registration, and then send an email to me at , president@mitsubishi4wd.org.au, and I can record your registration.
It is our intention to assemble for the convoy as a club, and proceed as a group to the finish point at the Kwinana Motoplex. Bring along your wallet as well, there will be heaps of raffle tickets to buy with great prizes to be won. All part of the fund raising for the day. You might be lucky and go home in a different car to the one you started with !!!! More news and updates at the June Monthly members meeting.
Each month we will feature an outback track with the intention of inspiring members to lead the way for a club trip. This month we feature the Colson Track with information kindly provided by Stella Weldon with the assistance of Judith Brinkley
COLSON TRACK by Stella Weldon Where is this track and why was it built and who was Colson? I knew where it is but not why and who and I did not know anyone who has driven this route so was curious to find out. Maybe this should be on the trip list. It is not the usual route across the Simpson Desert. The Colson Track was built to provide access from Alice Springs to the Colson Oil Survey Lease in the Southern part of the Northern Territory. The lease was named after Ted Colson who started his crossing of the Simpson Desert from Mt Etingambra. This track is not maintained although it has regular use. The trip route leads from Alice Springs to Birdsville a distance of about 682 kms. Motorists leave Alice Springs on the Ross Highway and might stop in at Emily Gap and Jessie Gap and then after 33kms turn south east on the Newmery Road through the Ferguson Range to Ringwood Station Homestead and Numery Station Homestead. Past here you must have a Permit. This is the start of the Colson Track running 290kms approximately to the French Line and then 22 kms south crossing the WAA Line 34kms to the Rig Road (sand track). The Rig Road continues south between sand dunes and salt lakes to the Inside Track where drivers decide to turn north to
Birdsville 219kms or cross the Warburton Creek 26kms onto the main Birdsville Track on the edge of the Stony Desert and either go north to Birdsville or south to Marree. The French Line is so named to remember the French Petroleum Company that undertook geological surveys in the 1960’s in this area. However, they were not the first to explore the possibility of oil reserves in this desert. Ted Colson was the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert in its entirety. He was born in South Australia and lived for a time in Western Australia and in Victoria before returning to South Australia to work on the construction of the railway line extension from Oodnadatta. He began his exploration career by exploring west of the Goyder River, then later; he joined the Terry expedition as a camel man and then became a guide to Dr AP Elkin on his anthropological study at Charlotte Waters. After this he took on the abandoned Blood Creek Station near Abminga where the buildings now are in ruins and only the corellas screech at the spring. In May 1936 he left Blood Creek and travelling along the 26th parallel to Birdsville. The journey took 36 days in total as after staying in Birdsville he deviated slightly on the return taking a slightly more southern route. He received no public recognition for this feat, although his notes and photographs were retained by the South Australian Department of Lands. His aboriginal assistant on the journey, Peter Ains, described him as “good fellow, strong, a good bushman who handled camels well and spoke aboriginal dialectics; a good mate”. For the rest of his life he continued to explore and to study aboriginal culture and died after a car accident in 1950. A memorial cairn was erected at Birdsville in 1973. Peter Ains died in 1986 and a memorial stone was erected at Oodnadatta for his part in this journey. It was not until 1962 that the first motorised desert crossing was made by geologist Reg Sprigg with his family. What is the track like to drive? I refer to notes from 4WDrivers submitted to Westprint News in June 2013
We camped that night on the Rig road around 20km from the Colson track junction. The next morning we travelled up the Colson to travel the last part on the French Line. We found this section of the track to be very poor. Approaches from the east were ok as previously mentioned; however the sideways lurching was extreme on the descents – not at all pleasant for driver or passenger!!! I would actually hate to contemplate travelling from West to East and having such rough ascents – it is very punishing on the vehicles. Also check out www.outbacktravelaustralia.comau
References:
A full account of this feat is recorded in the book The Simpson Desert Mark Shephard page 87 published in 1992 by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia library reference ISBN 0 0 909112
News Behind the Meeting
11 8. The book is out of print, however, a copy maybe available at a Council Library or Historical Society. Westprintnews.com.au HEMA maps and my previous trip notes from two trips Tony and I did across the Simpson Desert; one was with the Mitsubishi 4WD Club of WA
Map extract from Hema’s Great Desert Tracks (North East)
Trip Leader: Bob and Bridget McPherson When: 18th - 21st April 2014 Location: Holland Track, Mt Holland to Coolgardie Participants: Linda & George Bickerdike, Judith & Bruce Brinkley, Eddie Chalk, Peter Cole, Richard King
Holland Track Easter
Day One - minus one
McPhersons met up with the Bickerdikes to travel down together on Thursday, catching up with Eddie in Beverley. He had actually passed us at our meeting spot in Armadale, thinking he was running late! Looking for a free camping spot overnight not too far from Hyden, we called into Gorge Rock Pool between Corrigin and Kondinin, a great spot with a natural pool in the rocks used as a local swimming pool many years ago. However as it was still early we decided to travel on to Jilakin Rock, near Kulin. Again a great free camp spot for anyone travelling in the area, with wood fire, bbq and small shelter.
Day One Arrived in Hyden in time to visit the local bakery and for Eddie to visit Wave Rock. Brinkleys and Richard arrived not long after us, with El Presidente the last to get there – however, everyone was well within the time frame and we left Hyden bang on the planned midday. We stopped at the start of the Holland Track for the obligatory group photo and to air down the tyres a little. Another convoy of cars just snuck in ahead of us, and we thought this would be shades of things to come with heaps of vehicles/convoys out there for Easter. However, on the whole it was a lot less busy than we had anticipated, only meeting one convoy of 8 vehicles coming the other way for the whole weekend. We travelled the track ten years ago and soon saw how badly degraded it had become in that time, with massive ruts and sometimes the ‘runaround’ was as badly rutted with third or fourth tracks
Award presented in April
being forged. We got to Mt Holland for our first night camp. Another group was there, but with such a large area, we easily found our own spot and had the camp fire going in no time. Visiting the Brinkley’s chariot we all admired the handiwork in the back of the vehicle – very ingenious Bruce! Also their new Ostrichwing was ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ over. They must have been dying to try it out, as they disappeared to bed about 7.30pm! Meeting News cont...
Bob and Bridget's Magical Mystery Rock Tour - Day Two - Sunny and warm No guitars, drums, or weed.. maybe a few pills... for high blood pressure, GORD and dicky knees.. but there were Blue dots Pink ribbons Orange spots Red signs...but only as markers along the track! However..there must have been something in the smoke the night before because the Brinkleys were still asleep at 7:30am... A full eleven and a half hours... perhaps the consequence of having worked
on their camping setup till 1am Good Friday prior to rising at 5 for 6:00am Perth departure. Radio Chatter: Now some go pub to pub. Some go furtherest mainland points N. S. E. W. George admitted he had taken an ice cream crawl.. to every Maccas in Tasmania.
Hobart to Launceston, to Devon to Strachan and back to Hobart..all in one day ....and went back to where they started.. for a rounding off ice cream. Linda?... Well she knew where all the clean toilets were. Us? We were on a Rock Tour. Bob put us on notice that he was in tourist mode and was going to explore all of the rocks listed on the Holland Track route.... and we did. For your info Thursday Rock looks the most interesting. A POTY competition seems to be developing between Peter, Bob and Bruce. Potentially “my photo will be better than your photo”. In club days past it used to be said that the coming year’s committee was discussed at New Orleans.. well this trip we were tossing round new ideas too. Radio Chatter: How about a Photo Of The Trip award? POTT ... Hmmm seems consistent with the theme! Rules: To be shortlisted by the trip leader and that short list to be displayed in a drop down box (created by Rob Nankiville maybe? Rob?) in the Trip notes.. And the winning photo to be voted on by the rest of the club (Somehow? Rob?) and awarded at the following Club meeting?. The other ideas tossed around at the previous night’s campfire was an “Equipment cum anything 4WD op shop table” at each club meeting. The men had been discussing how many left over bits and pieces float around at home.. DIY ers all have odd lengths of useful aluminium, canvas walls, superseded chairs, tables etc that could move on to a new home. Too good to give away but Gumtree too much hassle. Pricing negotiated and completed between the parties and a gold coin to go into a jar on the table... perhaps for RFDS? They seem most appropriate to a Club always “out there everywhere”. Items sold or unsold to be removed end of every meeting. Another idea was with the Club library's useby date
looming, perhaps the contents could go the same way instead of just going in the bin or elsewhere. Stopped for morning tea and there developed a "my awning is bigger than your awning" competition. By now Bruce had realised his submersible pump was not sending water to his tap mounted in his “set up”. Out came the electricians... rejigging of wires and bingo .. water on tap! Oh the joys of a diverse membership. As pointed out by Richard the faucet had an added advantage of a self ‘drip collecting’ style.. a curved
end that can be turned up...ie an ex laundry tub extendable one. One stop for a photo shoot of some very rutted track where many had been seriously playing in the mud when it was there last.. had Bruce climbing onto the roof of his car. There he found , where he had left it unsecured, the Fairydown snow rated quite expensive (but a jag at $10 at a 2nd hand spot) tent still perched up there.. hadn't bounced off in all the bumps!!! With Peter again being scout seeking alternatives, next night’s camp was a spot prior to Cat Camp called Blazed Tree Camp & Centenary Rocks. We turned left deep off the road to an open patch with the ground a deep red but sandy texture... no dust. This great camp spot for future reference is in the Explorer Series – Holland Track...with waypoints. Lovely days still, warm, full moon, intentions of sleeping under stars. Then the wind strengthened, and strengthened,
and strengthened. Gusting. The Ostrich wing was wanting to take flight. Richard K with great knowledge and experience “been here before” “be gone in an hour” ..unfortunately he couldn't decide which hour. Still didn’t stop everyone sitting round a steady fire talking till late...which was probably only 9pm. Agreed by all disturbed sleepers at breakfast the next day, that it died down about 1am. We had a late start today with most taking the opportunity to have a cooked breakfast over a restarted campfire. Murphy's Law on the Holland Track ..."you'll never meet oncoming traffic where there is a bucket load of room". There was not as much traffic as anticipated though, nor was the track wet and slippery. A problem for the Trip Leaders then was to judge the time required to travel an uncertain track versus a relatively fast though dusty route. Stopped for a short while helping with a tyre change for someone stopped in the middle of the track. There were a couple of breakdowns on the “verge” but all with plenty of helpers. A few track bikes went through enjoying the challenge of not waiting for a passing lane. Took turns being Tail End Charlie. Rearrangement of cars meant a different back end of a car to have in your photos!
Having made good time, we stopped early for the second night with time to read books, men talk, fire going and camp ovens putting out aromas.
Then it became... my new table is bigger than....! sigh ... Judith
Bob and Bridget's Magical Mystery Rock Tour - Day Three - Sunny and warm
Leaving our site the next morning showed the value of compass or GPS and the Trip Leader’s ability to concoct quickly. Bob went the wrong way. He said it was a test but we all failed too....because we only realised direction was wrong when we met him coming back towards us!!! And even after that we came out and headed the wrong way. Maybe we’d have started to recognize the scenery.. eventually.....but without a GPS we'd not have realised that we were heading back to Mt Holland. Radio Chatter: George “we've forgotten how to use the sun.” Bridget, “but if it's raining?” George, “then judge direction by which side of the
car the rain is hitting!” Bruce, “hey if it's raining.. you've left WA” Brinkleys had a new oven. Unlike Glenn who was producing fresh bread in no time on his trip.. they forgot to even turn it on till the third day. Guess what .. it also was electrically challenged! Another call for after hours electricians. Cold cooked pies heat up quite well on the dashboard in the sun. So many places to camp between Agnes Gnamma Hole (though the gnammas were all dried up) and Diamond Rock. Comparable to wide open, hard sand parkland and lots of trees, but with so many tracks in and around this area, without the little green HT arrowed signs or GPS navigation it would be a challenge to choose the correct track.
Slow lunch. Lots of easy chatter. Left about 2:30. Thursday Rock biggest of all the rocks we saw. Reminiscent of Karalee’s openness and height . Climbed to the top for a walk around. There is the obligatory cairn at the top but also a relevant one at the bottom... the lower one is to indicate the concealed exit through the undergrowth to the carpark area. Trip Leaders called us all together for a democratic vote. Camp here at Thursday Rock or continue to Victoria Rock for the night? Hot, tired, and needing to shower before any possibility of a repeat of last night’s cool winds. “Here” took the vote. Lovely spot. Able to spread out. Campfire... which it turns out would not have been allowed at Victoria Rock. Advice: on using the club’s new trend in camp showers...the Hozelock Garden pressure sprays • Temperature is critical! Must be hot enough so that the fine spray is still warm by the time it hits your body. Not so hot that you have to stand, waiting for it to cool down! • Never hold in front of your chest aiming upwards before turning on.. shoots up your nostrils before you have time to react. • Use a face washer or scrubber or something to remove the dirt..but if you forget...don't worry..it'll always wipe off on your towel. And finally.. • Be prepared for stinging March flies, you are a very large, naked, target ! Oh but so clean! Judith Bob and Bridget's Magical Mystery Rock Tour - Day four - Overcast but clearing and warm Not my day for notes but in the light of possible loyalty, Bridget may not record this... Bob admitted as we stopped to photograph us all at the end of the Holland Track, that he hadn't put his car into 4WD the whole way. Maybe we could make the Holland Track the next Ladies Day?...or simply be very thankful there was no rain! Judith
Day Four
How do I follow two days of Jude’s entertaining trip
notes?? – note to self, don’t try! Everyone was up and packed early-ish, with the sight of big black clouds on the horizon, first blimp in the sky all weekend. We called into Victoria Rock for mornos and only three people actually climbed the rock – I wonder why? And then the very last Rock of the Tour was the Pioneer Cemetery in Coolgardie...the carved tombstone of John Holland.. the man who blazed the track and his wife Agnes...who let him do it! A great Easter Weekend of bush and campfires. We are, however, very aware how different the story would have read if we’d had heavy rain. Not sure we would have got through some parts at all!
Bridget
Drummond Cove Easter Long Weekend Trip TRIP LEADERS: Guy and Wendy LEHMANN Everyone arrived at various times during the week up to Friday. We found the Drummond Cove Holiday Park staff very accommodating. The only downside was that we all backed onto the Northwest Coastal Highway, so there was quite a bit of road noise, but you didn’t notice it after a while. A few people took advantage of the swimming pool as the beach was quite a walk through the dunes.
FRIDAY 18 APRIL 2014 Drummonds – Day 1 By Glenn 10:10 8 vehicles left Drummonds Holiday Park for an adventure on the Northern Beaches. Trip leaders were Guy and Wendy with Paul, Matt and Sammy Ryan as Tail end Charlies. Stop number one was at Coronation Beach – a DPAW run camp site on the beach front with toilets and shelters for day users.
We headed South to check out the Oakagee River mouth. To gain access we had to backtrack on the bitumen for about 1km and take a sharp right turn on to a gravel track, through a gate and through farmland (lots of cows) and on to the river mouth approximately 2 kms south. On the way, Paul got to recover a 4x4 commodore crossover – out of their league.
At the river mouth Guy, Wendy, Martin, Karen and the kids performed rece’ duty and found the river mouth – via the river bed. Craig Perry and Trevor and Elaine Best who arrived late at the camp site found us at that point and came ablaze with hard tyres and promptly bogged down… oh well!.
Tyre pressures were adjusted and off we go, except for some! Trevor & Elaine and John & Lyn were left struggling – out with more air and Maxtracks – no problem! Elaine was left with trying to find the Maxtracks!
Back to Coronation Beach again, for lunch this time. On the way our little Alexis observed that the cows had the big fan (windmill) on to keep them cool – how smart?
After lunch we headed off to Bowes River… 10 vehicles now. We made contact with John & Viv who were 3kms up the track already – 11 vehicles now. The 20km track heading to Bowes river was relatively easy to travel with some skylarking by Craig and Trevor in the sand hills. The Oakabella River was dry and Woolawar Gully crossing was a little damp.
The Bowes River was very full and the sandbar was closed, so we crossed the sandbar to the adjacent carpark where tyres were inflated to highway pressures.
The group split up where some went to Horrocks for a “look around” (as we do) and others back to camp to liaise later for happy hour.
A great day out – thanks Guy and Wendy for a great day out! Glenn Bignell.
SATURDAY 19 APRIL 2014 Saturday was a free day with no set 4wd trip. Most people made their way into Geraldton for a look around, or lunch.
SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2014
Day trip from Drummond Cove
CONTINUED PAGE 22....
Mitsubishi 4WD Owner’s Club of WA From the Archives Our club is now 28 years old. Thank you to Stella and Tony Weldon who have preserved the club’s history by keeping copies of the club’s newsletters and other documents all of which extend over the 28 years. Unfortunately Stella and Tony are no longer in a position to maintain the records so they have kindly passed them on to me to preserve. My aim is to gradually scan all the information and preserve them electronically. As I do so, I’ll pick out any interesting information and reproduce it in the current magazine. Some of the original newsletters are photocopies obtained from the Battye Library. However there are some originals and these will be held in safe keeping. Battye Library A fitting way to commence this series of articles is to reproduce the very first newsletter. Newsletter No 1 was produced in June 1986 by Robin Silver. This is a single page newsletter, and appears to be made on a typewriter. Bear in mind that 1986 saw the first 386 computer released by Compaq, overtaking the Commodore Amiga 1000. Computers were very expensive in comparison by today’s standard and word processors were relatively simple. Aldus Pagemaker was released for the Macintosh computer and later released an IBM version. This essentially began the desktop publishing industry. But I have digressed, so let’s get back on the subject of the Newsletter. It’s interesting that methods for nominating people for positions in the club haven’t changed over the years. The opening comments of the newsletter show that Robin scored the Newsletter job through casually mentioning an interest. The first newsletter also mentions the nominations for the club motto chosen from two suggestions. ‘Outward Bound’ was chosen as the prefered choice. This would later change to We’re Outward Bound so as not to contravene copyright for the Outward Bound organisation. The newsletter is reproduced on the following page, but in keeping with Robin’s final comment, I wont write anymore because you wont read it! Martin Archer Editor
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Mitsubishi 4WD Owner’s Club of Western Australia
Honour Board Inc. 1986
President 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013
Ian Lockhart Award Ian Lockhart Ray Edwards Ray Edwards Stuart Baldock Robin Silver Geoff McKeown Lindsay Hill Terry Kitchen Terry Kitchen John Bromberger Reg Hill Mervyn Ward Mervyn Ward Peter Baker John King John King John King Rick Ellis Rick Ellis Paul Ryan Paul Ryan Paul Ryan Paul Ryan Martin Archer Martin Archer Peter Cole
Arthur Pearce / Keith Fleming Ray Edwards/Pam Fleming? Ray Edwards ?Reg Hill/Pam Fleming Judith McKeown Dorothy Hill Terry Kitchen/Mervyn Ward? Bill Harvey/David Whitaker David Whitaker Gregg Wilcox Tony Weldon Maxine Gosney Peter Baker Lester Cousins John McKay Terry Keesing Lester Cousins Wes Sutton Paul Ryan Martin & Karen Archer Tony Weldon Neil Hewer Trevor Theunissen John King Michael Gilbert Rob Nankiville
Club Member of the Year Award
Paul Ryan Tony Weldon Guy Lehmann Judith Brinkley
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Mitsubishi Club Byford Environment Group (McBEG) Date: Sunday 25 May 2014 Time: 09:00 for a 09:30 departure We plan to finish work by 3pm and go for a 4WD drive through the park to the homestead site to see what’s been happening there Main activity: Rubbish pick up Weeding of prior seedlings planted on airstrip Block off illegal access to the park. What to Bring: Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Tea (N.B: No BBQ facilities on this trip) Water to drink Wet weather gear if it is raining Leather gloves for rubbish pick up Garden hoe, rake if you have them First Aid Kit Recovery Gear CB Radio - In car preferable but Hand held if not We will provide: Rubbish bags and some implements to pick up rubbish Drag chains if we are dragging logs Nice to have: Trailers; If you have a trailer that you could bring on the day, can you please call me at 0420 561 135 – we only need two or three trailers but note that if you bring one, you probably won’t be going on the drive through the park at the end of the day as you probably don’t want to drag it along. CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO REGISTER
Drummond Cove Easter Long Weekend Trip
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Quality Automotive Repairs Services and Engine Tuning Air Conditioning Repairs Brake and Clutch Repairs Tyres and Batteries Suspension Repairs 4WD Service and Repairs
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A FREE car wash and vacuum FREEwindscreen washer additive We will drive you to your home or work.
Modern well equipped workshop with highly skilled tradesmen.
e We started the day at 10am with Guy & Wendy in the d Cov d Trip n o m m n e u k lead followed by Richard & Helen, Ian & Raylene, John Dr g Wee ED n o L & Kathleen & Jacob, John & Viv, Martin & Karen & Locky & r Easte CONTINU Alexis, Trevor & Elaine, Glenn, John & Lyn. The weather was overcast and cool and there was a little light drizzle early on in the drive.
Our first stop was at Lynton where the group walked around the ruins of the old convict settlement and homestead. Port Gregory was the next stop for a look at the beach and jetty. Then it was off to Lucky Bay with John & Viv leading the way.
We all lowered our tyre pressures before reaching the beach and proceeded to drive past lots and lots of people camped along the beach and dunes. It was fairly easy driving apart from when John & Viv and Guy & Wendy stopped at our proposed lunch spot on a rather sloping beach front and got a little stuck. The rest of the convoy followed Richard & Helen to a flatter more open area where we set up for lunch. The day ended up very sunny with a light breeze and reasonably warm so some of the crew had swims while some just relaxed and chatted. This surely is a very beautiful and popular holiday spot.
The convoy then split in two and one lot stayed put and the other lot drove out along a track behind the dunes and proceeded to Hutt River Province where they were given the right royal treatment by Prince Leonard’s son and daughter Graham and Princess Cheryl. Hutt River Province seceded from Australia 44 years ago and is headed by Prince Leonard who is now 89 years of age.
Eventually everyone ended up back at the caravan park for the obligatory ‘happy hour’ before tea and then the after tea gathering. MONDAY 21 APRIL 2014 Once again everyone headed off at various times. Some stayed an extra few days, some headed North to extend their break some of us had to head straight back to work!!