11th July Appin. 8.30am at The Park at Appin. Call Matt for inquiries. Day Trip.

1 August Porter's Road chicken route

22 August Birralee. Also named Dusthole Ridge and "Winchbreak". Day Trip.

September Watagans. Night drive. Maybe weekender if all goes well. gotta install those hellas...

as seen in the paper one May day: The worst road ragers are people who drive black cars, according to US acadamic Liz Joyce. She says drivers of red cars are second in the road rage league, while owners of white cars are conservative. Brown or beige cars are most likely to be driven by road hogs...

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Kimberly - Nathan tells: So far the plan is leave Sydney on 16/7/99 to arrive at Alice by 19/7/99, from here travel Tanami track to Hall's Creek (no date). Probably turn left at the Creek. up to Wyndamm, Kunnunara (not swearin) then down The Gibb River road up to Mitchell Plateau then back to The Gibb River road down to Derby and Broome and somehow we get home at the end (unfortunately)... It's all pretty well play it by ear. We have eight weeks and one day from the 16/7/99 to roam the wild in the Kimberly region.

Darwin - Katrina tells: At time of writing, most of the travellers have already left for Darwin. Peter and Katrina are meeting up with the others at Jabiru. Passes have been organised for Arnhem Land entry which will be picked up on arrival. NEWS Tuesday 27th July 1999 Card arrives from Ray in Darwin dated Sunday 25th July 1999. Pete and Kat have made it to Jabiru (they left Friday 23rd morning from Sydney). Ray has caught no fish as yet. Barramundi hopeful. Crocs are a bit of a worry and the NT is overrated.

Wishing everyone a fabulous, healthy and safe trip. Looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing photos. e d e

President's report

Hi there,

First of all welcome to the new committee. I'd like to thank last years committee for their fine efforts. There's a few new faces in the committee which will give the usual members a break. Maybe a few new ideas might arise who knows. I'm fairly green to my new position so bear with me.

Last year was another good year, a good number of trips were had, also a couple of new members have joined us, jeep owners at that (which is good to see).
The bank balance is looking healthy which comes in handy for our social events; which brings me to say thanks on behalf of the club to those who helped prepare the AGM. Also thanks to Larry and Co for the hospitality and the fine wood, muchly appreciated. A good time was had by all except for Keith giving us a bit of a scare. I hope things work out OK.

For those who are heading off on the larger trips North and West have a good and safe trip BUGGERS!!
Anyway thats enough sucking up for one report. See you all later.

MATT

KEEPING UP THE JEEP TRADITION or I can't believe I said I could do this job

Hi Everybody,
Wow this is mighty different having a voice on paper - luckily (and thankfully) Nathan (get a Mac) will make sure things don't get out of hand here at the editors offices. I have introduced some new and old stuff (and everything in between) with this issue and hope it is of some interest. Welcome to every one in the new committee who will be seeing the club into the coming century. v i v

Yalwal 20-21st May 1989

Finally a weekend trip, after two day trips that turned out to be two of the hardest trips that we attempt. This trip was decided to be an easy trip (at least we hoped that it would be). The weather, well it was forecast to be a showery weekend, more on that later. In attendance: Mark Maryanne - Hilux (Jasmine Shannon) Ray Raymond - MQ Patrol, Adam Gary - Landcruiser, Ed Kathy &endash; Landrover. Having set the meeting time for 8.30 we still ended up 1/2 hr late, which meant that the route that I had chosen to take was thrown out to try to make up some lost time. I'm not to sure that the other way was to be any quicker but soon we were looking over Tianjara Falls which with all the recent rain was flowing fairly well. After a short stop it was onto the track that eventually leads to Dangera Dam. This was to be an uneventful drive until we arrived at a creek that is notorious for a boggy bottom. Due to the angle of the exit I decided that the creek was to be given a miss. It was then only a matter of heading for camp, via the main roads in the vicinity. One obstacle lay in our way, Yalwal Creek which was still full with the run off of the recent rains. Normally tyre deep it was now running bonnet deep. Two vehicles were already at the crossing, one on the other side, ( a Maverick LWB) and a SWB waiting on this side. After some conversation the Maverick turned around to cross the creek once more, I think he was having fun. After a chat they decided to cross once more, then it was out turn after some vehicle prop, mainly a strap on Eds vehicle just in case, and a blind on Adams. Made it across and moved up the exit to give Ed some room but halfway across the motor decided that there wes too much water and coughed and spluttered before dying. It wasn't long before he was dragged clear but water had found its way into the gearbox and it was decided to tow him the 1/2 km to the campsite. At the campsite we set about repairing the old landy & setting up camp. That evening we mucked around on the four wheeled kikes that Adam had brought along, fun with a capital F. While here some other vehicles drove past and by the sounds that came from the other side of the river the track has changed once again. That evening was a quiet affair with a 10.00 walk looking for some of the night feeders that inhabit the area. The only animal seen was a Sugar Glider, after a while it tired of the mottley crew of light yielding himans & climbed high enough to escape by gliding to another tree off in the dark. The walk back was uneventful & most of us retired early to get some sleep before the next days activities. �

In the morning, we made the decision to drive Eds truck to the river without oil in the greabox to give him another attempt, this time with the proper precautions, a blind, no fan belt, WD40 and the gearbox properly sealed. The strap was ready again just in case and when I was across he made his attempt this time the crossing was successful although when across he grounded his vehicle on a rock (must of been the exhiliration of the moment). Everybody made it across this time and while Ed checked his truck we had a talk to some owners of three WW2 Jeeps. These vehicles were accompanied by six wheeled Pinzguaer, a very capable vehicle in the bush, though not so comfortable on the road. It would have been very easy to spend time just talking to them but time was quickly getting away, so we bid them farewell as we headed for the dam. The dam being full was releasing its excess water over the spillway as we headed for the plateau above the dam. From here we headed south till the loop track, which was fairly slippery at times, till near the crossing that stopped us uesterday, a couple of trees across the track made a almost unpoassable barracade. There was no way around them they had to be cut. With some shouts coming from the other side of the creed we thought that someone had become stuck in the crossing though when we had run to the crossing it was discovered that they must be having trouble at a humungous rut out of sight (unfortunately). Back to our obstacle, and out with the chain saw and straps, soon had our path clear. Not much further a rutted hill gave us a bit of trouble but we were soon at the hill that we had come this way for. Steep, long and with some loose sections to add to the diffuculty made those that had not seen the hill before wonder why we had come this way. For most it was easily overcome Ed having some difficulty though finally successfully getting to the top. Time to head for home as the time was getting away with still a few hours before we got to Nowra. Everyone had a good weekend, most of us learning that with the right preparation that it really is amazing where you can go. The weather, we had a bit of drizzle Saturday night, but for the rest of it you could not have ordered better. M.H.R. Footnote: although we did not drive far into McKensies it looks like a lot of the track has changed, with the crossings a lot deaper than before. BACK to TOP �