Hawkesbury River Run

August 2009.

AKA “Spot Greg’s New Shed”

 

Attendees:

Ken and Kerry Clarke – Jackaroo (Token Jackaroo #1) - Trip Leader with Helen and Allen ( The Neighbours From Hell)  from the SA Club as Ken and Kerry’s kids for the day

Adrian and Sue Cornish – Triton (Christened. This being its first club trip)

Alan and Robyn Ferrett – Patrol

Greg and Vicki Martineer – YumYum

Micheal and Eve Schmidt – Patrol

Robyn and David Hastings – Jackaroo (Token Jackaroo #2)

Steve, Clare and Mikaela West – Patrol – Trip Reporter

Alex and Julie Brew – Pajero

Nick, Darien and Geordi Joseph – Patrol

Colin and Gaby Ellis - Jackaroo (Token Jackaroo #3)

Paul and Jennifer Hopfe – Jackaroo (Token Jackaroo #4)

Rod and Michele Davis – Prado

Nicolette Westerhof with Carol and Chris – Prado

Alan and Sue Karam – Suzuki

George and Vicki Cottee – Patrol

John and Fay Vanderwel - Patrol

Peter, Jessica, Annabelle, Que and Lexie Baird – Jeep Visitors

 

 

A good cross section of 4WDs, with the Patrols just numbering ahead of the Jackaroos.

Well the day got off to a bad start for some with the Hopfes apparently suffering a flat battery before even leaving home for the day. The next disaster to befall someone was the Musk Stick Draw for Trip Reporter, and due to the sheer number of Attendees, it was a double short musk stick, with Alan Ferrett and myself the unlucky drawers and with a second draw…… I bow my head in defeat and write this report.

The South Australians declined a rematch of the Tug-a-War event that was held in the Flinders at Easter… don’t know why, just because it was 2 against the rest…

And so after creating Chaos and havoc in the Dural Maccas Carpark we departed northward for our first destination, Marra Marra NP and the track that the Jackaroo Club looks after for the NSWNPWS. Mr K Clarke made a minor navigational booboo and nearly led 16vehicles astray. Due this procession north the first of two common radio calls were heard, “there’s a shed for Greg” and “Vicki Cottee, do you need some rocks?”  Due to an agreement with our NP contact we were limited to taking in 10 vehicles, so people quickly partnered up with others for the next leg. I elected to stay behind and watch over the vehicles parked on the road (truth be known I was eyeing the patrols off for spares…). The Canoelands Ridge trail has become a little rough, needing  low 4WD in two places, but at this time of year, the wildflowers put on a great display, with the reward of great Hawkesbury view at the end. All was going well until I get a call on the radio saying Dave had injured himself by slipping off a rather large rock that then proceeded to trap his shoe and foot under it. Help was at hand, with excellent First Aid from Alan Ferrett , the shoe and foot soon recovered. Alan Karam piggy-backed Dave to Tweety and Robbie. Some swelling and scrapes would appear to be all Dave will be suffering from, the bruising yet to come. From the comments I heard, Dave was very lucky.  A good example of the need to always go with mates, and for all partners being able to 4WD. The excursion into our MOU area seemed to be well received, and hopefully generate more workers for our next MOU effort in October.

From Canoelands we headed to our first Ferry crossing for the day, Wiseman’s Ferry with Kerry providing a history lesson. After a short comfort stop we lined up for the ferry, at this point only the large ferry was operating, but the second smaller ferry was quickly brought into action. Due to “foreign vehicles” managing to get within our line up the convoy was spread over 4 ferry trips to cross the Hawkesbury, we then fell into small groups for the final leg to St Albans for the lunch stop.

Lunch was taken on the banks of the Macdonald River just below the pub, we listened to the sounds of a band playing.   After lunch and Ken’s traditional bray of “5 minutes” we headed out of town and back towards Wisemans ferry, only this time down the other side of the MacDonald River and to Webb’s Creek Ferry. It was time, again, to play “Spot Greg’s New Shed” and “When will Vicki get a new caravan?” At Webb’s Creek we were only separated into two groups for the crossing. After a regrouping at Lower Portland we headed out to Sackville for our final Ferry crossing. Yet again the convoy was split into two groups, only this time the regroup occurred at the little shop just past the Sackville Ferry, where we all enjoyed an ice-cream.

The final stop of the day was Ebenezer Church, Australia’s oldest church. A short walk around, then it was time for the group photo.

 

The convoy broke at Windsor, with calls of thanks to Ken over the radio.

Thanks Ken and Kerry for the effort.