Mudslinger's Corner

It’s been a while since my last outing and also have forgotten to post it. But anyways – this time we went for an area out near Captains Flat.

Somewhere deep in the hills is some fancy looking weather station! At the time being part of winter we even found a little snow.

So we mucked about a little bit and then buggered off again.

Here is a pic of my cliff-jumping buddy….

Another nearby road had got a little interesting. So I took this video because it was sooo fun because the road was a bit lumpy!

Which got my little echo a bit on the dirty side – but hey that’s half the fun of these drives – coming back into town showing more mud & dirt than most 4WDcars will ever see in their lifespan!

And here’s a few more clips just for the sake of it!

Ok – it’s been a struggle to keep things up to date – but anyways – time to catch up on recent activities…

My friends and I are beginning to make a habit of this….

I forget where we went – but it was somewhere in a national park

Saw some big rocky bits of nature…

Found some dam among some trees.

Saw some really tall trees.

Paused for a break and then buggered off home….

Edit: and how could I forget some video from the trip…

With these drives that we are going on we are more frequently including a hike to try and keep ourselves healthy (or so we think anyways).  Only this one took us a bit longer due to Andy’s wealth of knowledge informing us to expect a 2hr return hike through relatively level ground – instead we endure a 4hr expedition over steep hills!

We also let Andy navigate which got us lost at one point. Also this time round we got a couple of extra friends joining in.

We eventually found our way to “Brandy Flat” in Namadgi National Park.

Skippy says hello.

We walked a lot.

And walked a lot more.

Had some fun trying to catch pictures of the moving scenery – kangaroos are fast little buggers.

And finally had to trek back down the hills. Our snack and water supplies were starting to get low.

Even saw what could be Canberra’s remaining water supply – as the City has been in regular water restrictions for some time now.

Unfortunately no videos for this post – only scored a couple of crap shots of kangaroos snoozing in the shade. From this hike I didn’t even have the energy to sneak up and wrestle a kangaroo like Steve Irwin would.

We all got back in time to checkout the Skyfire Event that was on the same night.  – Will post some footage of that in one of my next posts.

Turned out to be a very exhausting day after all that!

To start off the morning for this particular day – one of our mates needed help getting home from a wild night before. He had trouble starting his VW Beetle as it’s engine had flooded. We attempted to push start it but ran out of energy. So I volunteered my trusty little Toyota Echo to pull start it!

We managed to get it going and he was on his way.

Anyways, on with the drive….

For this trip we went to Namadgi National Park for a hiking trip (we kinda need some exercise!). We got to a particular location where we had a pretty good view of hills, trees, grass and other natural stuff.

We saw a number of kangaroos relaxing under some shady trees.

Our hiking destination involved traveling to some rock where the anchient native aboriginals were creative.

Had a bit of a snack while simultaneously fighting off some vicious huge flies – the kind that are a bit too big to fit up your nose yet the little buggers still try to get up there!

After getting back to the car we drove a bit further along to find some old hut of historical importance. Apparently some old guy used to live there.

Inside it had some old reading material – probably used to plug up the windy gaps in the wood.

The news section was a bit out of date though.

And to top it off – some random video footage from the day…

After the last drama of my friend losing his car off a cliff – He tried to invest in a Toyota Hilux but due to circumstances the local car dealer said no. So what does he end up with? Another Yaris!

So we decided to break it in by doing another Sunday drive but to avoid a repeat of history we chose to go to somewhere other than Bulls Head where he lost the last one.

So we head to Wee Jasper instead!

According to my friend the road there was supposed to be all sealed.

In which it was to a small degree. But the majority of the roads were dirt! We eventually got to the Wee Jasper Picnic and Campsite area with a warm welcome.

Had some lunch and enjoyed the fresh air.

According to the map we thought heading along further to Tumut was going to be smoother, but the roads were much the same – rough and dusty!

On the bright side we got to see a lot of good scenery.

The cars got a bit dirty – this time it’s dust instead of mud.

When we finally got to Tumut we saw how some country town businesses try to attract the city folk.

And to top it off – like the first Sunday drive I took some video footage of the experience. The crazy voices you hear are another friend and I saying random stuff into the 2-way walkie talkies to our friend in the Yaris. Half the day’s entertainment was moo-ing like cows through the walkie talkies throughout the day.

So far the saga continues… Just took a while to update the story…

For some back history this involves the following previous posts:

• Episode 1 – Bloody Sunday Drivers!
• Episode 2 – Following the nature trail – literally!

And now the aftermath:

In order to retrieve the Yaris that has gone feral in the Native Australian outback – a tough crane was required.

From the picture it seems the Yaris only needs a few bits replaced and knocked back into shape – but after a intimate inspection by the insurance company declared the little car that tried as a complete write off.

My friend (the poor owner of the Yaris) has had his sights set on obtaining a Toyota Hilux 4WD for future adventures – however current funding means he could only go for another new……. Yaris!

Stay Tuned for the next episode when we “Attempt to find the beaten track”.

As a revisit of the Sunday drive my friend and I did a week before – my friend decided to head out again – this time with another friend (the idea was beginning to get popular that our other buddies expressed an interest in joining in). This second occasion I couldn’t attend but I got to hear all about it…

They left in two cars just like last time – but came back in one. The poor little Toyota Yaris took an unexpected slide off the side of a cliff!

Luckily nobody got hurt – however the car itself will need to wait a few days for the towing service to drag it back up the slope.

From the photos I’ve been given – the car seems to have mostly survived in shape – however later analysis will need to determine it’s fate.

The impact was at low speed so it wasn’t enough to trigger the airbags. Looks like it might only require a little panel-beating to solve most of the damage.

My friends had some extra dramas on the way back to civilization – the remaining car (an old Ford Meteor) busted a tyre and the spare wasn’t fully inflated thus forcing them into a long slow roll to the nearest service station to pump up the tyre.

*** UPDATE ***

My friend tells me the Yaris has been towed and assessed and it is declared a write-off.

Using just our basic small hatchbacks A friend and I decided to go for a drive

Blue car: Toyota Echo 3dr Automatic

Red car: Toyota Yaris 3dr Manual

At first we started on paved roads…

To a place where roads were not paved and mobile phone reception cuts out…

It rained a bit so my mate’s car got a little dirty…

And so did my car! I think I lived up to my online nickname from online games as “Mudslinger”

Found a place to have lunch.

Drove further into the countryside to find a place of historical value – apparently an old hut used to be here until the major Canberra bush fires – a new hut is built in it’s place. Apparently it also houses an old iron stove that used to be in the Prime Minister’s Lodge from the old ancient early days.

And then we drove back home….. The youtube footage is the bits and pieces of the trip.Overall, I think we did something cool – we took plain simple two-wheel drive cars to places where a lot of yuppie 4WD owners would be afraid to take their own big beefy machines to! Seriously – how many 4WD’s actually ever get to see this kind of action? The statistics aren’t good, most 4WD’s spend their life picking up the kids from school. Apart from being able to carry multiple people – not that many get to do the things they were designed for (like towing big trailers and caravans, battling muddy or rough road surfaces, etc…).