November 2012

PO Box 655, South Perth, WA 6951

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Missing: Reward offered for anyone with information leading to where 2012 disappeared to. What went even quicker was my overseas holiday that I was so looking forward to. It’s now a memory, but a very good one, and I hope that age doesn’t diminish it too much. Although Karen and I thoroughly en-joyed travelling to Europe, I still prefer driving in the outback

as a holiday. Many thanks to Vice President Peter Belcher for looking after the meetings while I was away.

The club stand at the 4WD show proved very successful in attracting potential visitors to the club. This was predominantly due to the organisational efforts of Michael Gilbert and the assistance of Peter Cole. Great job guys. And a big thankyou also to those members that gave up several hours of their time to be at the stand during the show. Michael has arranged a visitor’s day trip for No-vember 25 to Wilbinga and Guilderton, which judging by the interest shown at the show will be a big day. By the time you get this magazine the trip will be over but we hope to see a follow-on effect with many of the visitors attending the December meeting. I ask members attending the meeting to help David by assisting in greeting and talking to the visitors to make them feel welcome. Last year I left the Christmas wishes until the December magazine. But due to the magazine schedule, the message was out of date before it was received. This can’t be helped, but with that in mind, I will wish every member and their family a very joyful Christmas and hope the New Year brings all that you wish for. Please also spare a thought for those members that are going through very difficult times at the present. The club’s Christmas get-together is at Manning Park, Spearwood on Sunday December 2. Hopefully I’ll get to see most of you there for a pleasant day in the sun.

As I said, this year has flown by and before we know it the New Year will be here. That means it’s time for you to start considering playing an active role in the management of the club. Although the AGM is not until March, there is only one meeting (February) before it. There are several committee roles com-ing up for election, including the President and Secretary. With the recent changes to the election process, in that each committee member must hold just one role, and considering some committee members have submitted their in-tention to discontinue prior to their 2 year term expiring, there will be a good selection of roles for you to choose from. Regardless of the role you choose I guarantee that you will enjoy the experience in having a more influential role in how the club runs. Start inquiring now with the person that is currently fulfilling the role you may be interested in. Time to hit the dirt road, Martin Archer

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WHAT THE? 5 star

camping, but

where is the

home theatre!

Thanks Pat O,

for this great

pic.

Got a funny

pic to rival

this? Send it

to the

Editor.

Snake Facts

When snakes strike they have near 100% success

rate.

There are up to 3000 snake bites each year.

Between 1 and 4 deaths

each year, most from brown snakes.

With many snakes bites only local effects occur

because either not enough venom is injected or the snake is non venomous.

70% of snakes lay eggs

others give birth to living young.

Next month - Treating

snake bite

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With the weekend weather predicted to be perfect, six vehicles assembled at

the Baden Powell camping ground for some four wheel driving and conviviali-ty. Trip Leader, John Holbrook, accompanied by friend Laura and John Snr ar-rived early to select a suitable area to make camp. The popularity of the Reserve was indicated by “FULL” signs against many of the camping areas. The Baden Powell camping ground was well populated, but oil & gas engineering expert Laura found an area which she assured us would be out of the odour zone of the conveniences should there be an atmospheric inversion during the night.

By 0940 hours tents, tables and swags had been set up by the overnighters, the airing down done, the formalities completed and the briefing delivered. The var-ious routes had been reconnoitred on the previous Monday by our Trip Leader and Michael Gilbert to ensure we had a good look at the scenic offerings of the area, plus a few challenge for those who felt so inclined. Daniel sportingly of-fered to eat most dust by going “Tail-end Charlie”.

The convoy set off with our Trip Leader followed by Michael and Marion in the

(Continued on page 8)

Now

that’s a

rut!

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Triton, visitors Peter and Tanya and daughters Ashley and Jamie-Lee in another Triton, Richard King in the ‘Cruiser, Craig is a Patrol and Daniel and his mate Nick in a Patrol.

The first challenge was a relatively short rutted climb from one contour road to the next contour road at a higher level. All attempted and all successfully nego-

tiated it. Our visitor, Peter admitted to plenty of experience on the beach, but absolutely none in these conditions. He was amazed at the ability of the vehicles in front of him to negotiate the seemingly im-possible hazards, but even more amazed when he succeeded in doing likewise. All thought that it was a pretty good effort so we came back down again and had another successful go. Af-ter some more touring and hill climb challenges, we came to one of the several gravel quarries in the area. For the adventurous, there were some very steep, but short slopes to enable them to show off their undercarriages. It was then time to head back to camp for lunch, but on the way was a steep downhill with a severe ser-pentine scour. All decided to go down instead of taking a longer al-ternative route and once again there was the bold few who turned around and went back up again.

Lunch took the usual format; reliving the morning’s activities and discussing the merits or otherwise of modifications or proposed modifications to the vehi-cles. By 1300 hours we were on the road again. Between them, John and Mi-chael managed to get us lost several times but we eventually found all sites on the programme. Blame for taking incorrect turns was laid at the feet of Mr He-ma, because at this stage he hasn’t produced detailed maps of the area.

It was noticeable that there were quite a number of fallen trees across the tracks.

(Continued from page 6)

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Possibly a result of the reduced rainfall in recent years taking its toll. But we were equipped when no alternative route was available. Michael pulled out his chainsaw, and with the ladies pitching in to remove the sawlogs, the convoy was soon on its way again. Several more hill climbs of varying difficulty were avail-able for the willing and all proved to be willing and all negotiated them success-fully.

The travels along the river showed how popular the area is with plenty of canoe-ing and swimming activities. This is probably the perfect time of the year for water activities in this area, with the water at a reasonable temperature and a steady, but not strong flow to keep the river pools flushed.

Peter had the misfortune to have a tree branch jam beneath the Triton. It was removed with a team effort. On the way back to the camp, his transfer case re-fused to engage, possibly a legacy of the jammed branch. Lots of expert opin-ions, rocking the Triton back and forth, a few beers and a few prayers later the Triton finally engaged in 4wd low range. Subsequent to the trip, Peter told us the problem was a $30 part. Back at the camp, Richard departed, as he had to be back in town to meet Nicole’s rescued canines. Peter and family were also due to depart, but he de-cided to have the Triton taken back to Perth on a carrier truck. The only suitable vehicle available, one that could not only carry the Triton, but also his family,

(Continued on page 14)

Craig lends a helping hand.

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The club had a great show this year. Everyone worked very hard to put it

all together. Everything ran smoothly over the 3 days.

During last years show I noticed the Land Rover club was offering a visitors

day trip within a couple of weeks of the show. This became the inspiration

for our visitor trip this year. Now a reality, as of today we have 25 visitors

cars confirmed for Sunday. This is a great result for the club.

The computer system again proved to be a big time saver enabling us to

accurately record 59 new visitors to our stand, it's worth mentioning we are

the only club at the show to use this type of system. As a direct result of

our efforts at the show followed by the visitor day trip we are expecting a

large numbers of visitors at our December meeting, some of them my even

join. A special guest speaker has been invited Nick Underwood to share

some of his 4 wheel driving adventures to inspire our visitors.

A big thank you from me to all that helped man our stand over the 3 days,

and specials thanks to Peter Cole who was on hand to help me setup and

pack down the equipment.

Michael Gilbert— Club show organizer (another pic on page 15)

4WD SHOW 2012

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had to come from Bunbury. It was scheduled to get to the camp at 2000 hours; it finally arrived at 2150 hours, but only after our Trip Leader and Peter went out as a search party and were fortunate to intercept the carrier truck as it was head-ing back to Bunbury, having given up trying to find us.

The cooking was done and the meal devoured. Just as dusk was upon us, the ‘Red Terra’ Landcruiser turned up with Glenn Bignell aboard. Glenn had a number of excuses as to why he had not arrived earlier to partake of the day’s activities; he had work to do around the house, he had shopping to do, he didn’t want to get his car dirty, etc. We chose to believe none of them. He finally ad-mitted that he had come because he could not resist the opportunity to sleep un-der the stars. So he pulled out a packet of snaggers and a bottle of red. In keep-ing with his philosophy of not getting anything dirty, he persuaded Danny to cook the sausages then ate them straight from the pan. It was a beautiful clear night, with the stars twinkling through the tall pine trees. As is usual, we sat around as a group and discussed the day’s activities and solved a few of the world’s problems. The clear sky meant that the temperature quickly headed south, so most rugged up to combat it. Laura and Marion slipped off to read 50 shades of grey or something similar. The men sat around

(Continued from page 9)

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sitting rum and beers and occasionally showing off their latest camping gadget.

Sunday. The sun rose on another beautiful day, with its rays filtering through the slight smoke haze resulting from the remains of the numerous open fires throughout the campsite and which seemed to hover around the upper foliage of the trees. After breakfast we decamped, with Craig, Danny and Glenn heading back to Perth. Michael and John decided to do some exploring to look at other possible campsites for future trips – somewhere along the river, but a bit more private than Baden Powell. A couple of sites were identified.

On the way home we detoured through Waroona, especially to have lunch at the “Pinjarra” bakery on the main street. Lane Pool is a lovely area within easy reach of the Metropolitan Area so expect another trip there in the next 12 months. John Holbrook Snr

Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club stand 2012 4WD Show

Got something to sell?

Send the details to

editor@mitsubishi4wd.org.au

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February - T Shortland March - B McPherson

May - M & T Harrison April - G Bignell

June - M Archer July - M Gilbert

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August - B McPherson September– P O’Dowd

November - P Cole October - M Archer

December - YOU????

Your

Photograph

Here?

This award will be given to the

member who provides the

photograph that best

represents the club’s motto

“Outward Bound”

Submit entries to

editor@ mitsubishi4wd.org.au

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Benefits of Membership

Traveling safely in a group with expe-rienced trip leaders.

Opportunity to explore the beauty of remote and unique places in Australia.

Family activities including camping, sightseeing trips and other social events.

Driver education, promoting awareness of correct four-wheel driving tech-niques.

Accessing the collective 4WD knowledge of other Club members. Gain invaluable technical info on your vehicle and trip prepara-tion tips.

Monthly club magazine mailed to members. Club members only website, trip details, image library, trading post, forum and latest news.

Club shop and library at regular monthly meetings.

Discounts for members at selected out-lets.

Why Join? You will have the opportunity to develop new skills and to learn more about your 4wd. Traveling with the Club will allow you to undertake trips which you may not be confident of undertaking alone. The club organizes a range of activities for its members including driver skills training both for novices and more experienced drivers, social functions, regular monthly

day trips, week end and extended trips.

Tell Me About The Club The Club currently has approximately 67 members consisting of singles, couples and families. We are a family oriented club which promotes safe and sensible four wheel driving and the enjoyment of our natural environment. The members are very friendly and love participating in four wheel drive trips and the various so-cial outings that are organized during the year.

Where & when are the Club meetings held? On the first Wednesday of each month (except for January) at 7.30pm Manning Senior Citizens Centre Cnr Ley Street & Downey Drive Manning WA 6152 Do I need to be an accomplished 4 wheel driver to join the Club? No, the Club caters for all experience lev-els. We have a Training Officer who runs training days during the year and the Club trips are also graded according to their degree of difficulty. New members/visitors are provided assistance and coaching, if necessary, while on Club trips.

For more info feel free to contact David Jones membership@mitsubishi4wd.org.au Or visit: mitsubishi4wd.org.au

Visitor

Information

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Do I need a Mitsubishi 4WD to join the Club? We welcome all brands of 4WD's however Mitsubishi Pajeros are driven by approximately 60% of members. Other members drive Toyota Land Cruisers, Nissan Patrols, Land Rovers and other makes of 4WD's. As we mostly drive larger 4WDs with dual range, the majority of our trips aren't suited to "soft road-ers" as low range 4WD is considered necessary.

When does the Club run outings? The Club usually has at least one organized 4wd trip on the last Sunday of each month. These out-ings are run by individu-al members and overseen by the Trip Co-ordinator. Events are varied and in-clude day events, camp-ing weekends and long distance trips over several weeks.

What do I need to do to join the Club? New members are always welcome at the Club. You will need to attend at least 2 club meetings and par-ticipate in 2 club outings before nominating to join. This gives you a chance to see if our club suits you as well giving us a chance to get to know you.

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Our Club Proudly Supported By

CLUB CALENDAR

DATE DESTINATION DETAILS

Dec 2 Christmas Party

Dec 5 Club Meeting 7.30pm Details inside Mag

Dec 9 Maintenance Day See flyer inside

Dec 16 Day Trip—Lancelin

Dec 26—Jan 6 Fonty’s Pool See club website

Jan 26 Evening at McBeg See club website

Feb 6 Club Meeting 7.30pm Details inside Mag

March 1-4 Northcliffe Explorer Camping

See club website for

further details

CLUB MEETINGS 7.30pm. FIRST WED OF EVERY MONTH (except Jan) WE LOVE VISITORS