Four Wheel Driving with Pete and the Megabeast

Pete's "megabeast" four wheel drive is pretty much ready to go.... so we spent the weekend out getting it dirty with a bit of help from the Coffs Harbour 4WD club. On Saturday we went out for some driver training ("We" being Pete, Joyce, Alan Bailey and myself). We started off learning how to use the snatch strap and Pete's you-beaut winch. A club member kindly backed his vehicle into a creek so we could drag it out.

After this we practised stops and starts on a hill (nice technique which involves purposely stalling the car).

Then it was off to the bush to try out our skills. Now I will admit to murming something like "you don't mean we have to drive up THAT" when I first saw the hill. But we did, slipping and sliding all the way. When we got to the top.... we had to drive back down and that hill suddenly seemed even steeper. It wasn't easy to start - the instruction was "when it starts to slide sideways and you feel like you are losing control... point the nose straight down the hill and accelerate." My instincts said "HIT THE BRAKES".... but I had to work hard to overcome that. I managed ok, and got to the bottom safely. It was Joyce's turn next... she did have a bit of a play with the brakes and quickly found the megabeast rearranged sideways across the track. Oh well!

One of the more experienced club members offered to let me go into his 4wd as he tackled a steeper, more difficult hill. It was a matter of going VERY fast up the VERY rough and slippery hill - and after a couple of attempts we made it. What a hoot!
Pete didn't stop grinning all day!

On Sunday we went out on the Coffs Club's annual "Lady's Day" drive. We thought it would be a bit tame...nope! We went out the back of Coffs and up into the hills on the muddy little bush tracks. These hills were incredibly steep - we had to crawl up and down them in low range 4wd in first gear (and occasionally 2nd). Pete was pretty thankful for his full harness seat belt.

Eventually we all came to a stop in a muddy gully at the bottom of a very steep, very slippery hill. The front vehicle took several attempts to get up the hill and then used snatch straps to pull the next two vehicles up. Another vehicle got through and then it was my turn. I was just ever so slightly terrified. The only way to get up the hill was to drive as fast as possible at it.... skidding all over the place. We went flat out, and got within half a metre of the top when we lost momentum. I did the right thing and stalled the beast so that I could put it into reverse and slowly back down (for another run at it)... only there was a very loud bang.... the diff had broken. Bugger! Fortunately the members of the club have a 'never say die' attitude - and we winched the vehicle the rest of the way up the hill and then put it into 2 wd for the rest of the trip. We managed fine - though we did have to use the snatch strap several times when we just couldn't get through the mud or up a hill.

We had a brilliant day... and the megabeast is in getting repaired today (fortunately Pete had the beast booked in to have diff locks fitted - so fixing yesterday's problem won't add much to what was already going to be done).

Pete and I agreed it was the most fun we had had for a long time - and we can't wait for the next outing!

Hanging out at Pete's yet again

Well, it was Sunday and what else could we do but go to Pete's and have some roast cow (very yummy thanks mum) and fiddle around with Pete's camping gear. We put Pete's new tent up - a humorous hour or so spent reading instructions and pretending to know what we were doing (and Mum and Dad had this weird 'erection' thing happening). Anyway, we got the tent up and down and..... miraculously.... back into the tent bag.

I used the visit as an excuse to play with Pete's AMAZING camera..... so please, enjoy some of my photos of Pete's incredibly beautiful garden... that garden is absolutely food for the soul!!!!

Yes, I know the rotten orange is a bit gross.... but it's interesting don't you think???

Thanks Pete, it's great fun to borrow your camera!

Hanging out at Pete's

On the weekend I had the most wonderful experience of hanging out at Pete's place with Pete, Lachlan, Mum and Dad. It was a misty, cloudy day and we had a wonderful roast (one of Pete's cows did the honours) and some fun family time together.

Pete has a new camera which is just brilliant (it's a digital SLR).... and I had a heapload of fun taking photos out in his beautiful garden. The camera is so good, it made some of my photos seem professional.

While we were at Pete's, Lach and Dad did some work in the shed.... bloke stuff I think.... involving angle grinders and welders.

We even had time in our day for some family pics (ok, it was just an excuse for me to use Pete's camera.And finally.... isn't he just gorgeous! Gotta love that Yock!

Thanks Mum, Dad and Pete.... a terrific way to spend Sunday!