TR: Robe sand 4wd trip 21JAN-24JAN11

El_Freddo

Forum Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
2,399
Location
Bridgewater, Vic
Car Year
1988, 1990
Car Model
EJ22'd L series; Targa Brumby
Transmission
Locking FT4wd 5spd Manual, 4.111:1 diff w 1.59:1 low range & front OBX LSD ;)
Here's the account of our much anticipated weekend of sand 4wd'n - only about 8 or so months in the making!

In attendance was:

Pezimm in his dark lifted foz
Phizinza in his green outback, basically stock other than the rear cargo sleeping/storage area
Bboypebs in his beige 2 inch lifted, 29 inch tyre wielding brumby with webber
Roger in his 'cruiser - no idea which series as I still don't understand the whole landcruiser series thing. Either way he's done a great job on this offroader
and myself in Ruby Scoo with our new engel that was on its maiden voyage - passed with FLYING colours :mrgreen:
We also picked up some tourists in one of those decked out troopies with the pop top camper - very nice. New D4D V8 diesel too, went like the clappers!
Sagey and his "missus" tash were in attendance too, they were warming a seat each in roger's ride initially before moving around a bit in the convoy from time to time.


Friday:
Pezimm and I met up in Baccus Marsh a little later than planned. I'd traveled from bendigo that morning and lakes entrance the night before! We cruised through many of the small towns that were effected by the recent floods, the height of the water in some of these areas was mind boggling! We wish them well in their cleaning/rebuilding.

We stopped off in one of the last victorian towns - Casterton - before we hit the boarder and filled up in Mt Gambier. Here's a pick of the subi's at lunch - compare the cargo carried (I had some stuff for oz day too, should've left that in benders!):

p1210064rs.jpg


Phiz and Roger made their way to Robe without any issues from what I can remember. They found a suitable campsite in the dunes at stony rise. Before Pezimm and I headed out there we grabbed a large pizza (which was cut into 16 pieces using a sqaure/diamond grid instead of the traditional pizza slice - go figure!) - we spied this new cruiser wagon, caption reads "got lift?!":

p1210066rs.jpg


^ That's a stock shorty patrol behind it!

The night was a good catch up from the 2009 queens birthday weekend trip. We also "fixed" two of my CV boots - one rear one died due to age the other on the front was JUST replaced and tore through the centre of the boot - I'm thinking I didn't place the shaft side of the boot in the right spot before tightening it all up, probably tore it as I drove down the main street of Lakes :(

Here's our super technical fix:

p1220079rs.jpg


^ a couple of shopping bags wrapped around after repacking with some grease, held in place by some cable ties. Worked a treat on the rear, the front suffered from suspected heat from the cat converter and only seamed to be in some trouble once I got back to bendigo. Its still on the subi now...

With that sorted and some crude jokes going around we settled in for the night camping in swags or under tarps, except for Phiz and Roger who had some pretty awesome sleeping/storage setups in the back of their offroaders!

Saturday we got going relatively early then was kind of held up before we headed off to the beach where we ended up waiting for Bboypebs who was travelling down from the Keith area - he had some driveshaft issues, seemed to be a common theme for the start of this trip! While we waited we got some pics and played around in the sand:

The early convoy crew before bboypebs arrived:

p1220076rs.jpg


Phiz and his worst pick for a place to stop... Gave the "max tracks" a go, they worked ok with a help from a push but we really needed to have 2 sets for the front and the rear:

p1220091rs.jpg


Once Bboypebs arrived after some miss direction (my miss-interpretation of the beach name) we were all together and moved off headed in a southerly direction towards beachport.

On a high point above the beach waiting to re-group so that all could enjoy the view:

p1220112l.jpg


Here's the view we enjoyed from our vantage point from the previous pic, breath taking:

p1220113rs.jpg


On this beach we found some new companions that were a little stuck in their trooper camper. We helped out Manu and Rolf with their situation and offered them to join us on the rest of our trip if it fitted with their plans:

p1220114rs.jpg


They joined our convoy and moved along well with us. Good times had with the radio chatter after giving them a crash course on how to use the 2 ways.

We did some more 4wd'n without incident before we stopped for lunch - once we'd found a suitable location:

p1220127rs.jpg


The aim was to head to beachport - well that's what we decided after playing around in several areas. Our biggest issue was where we would be camped for the night - caravan park or beach/dune campsite...

On we continued, but for once actually stopped for a group photo, mainly because Manu and Rolf insisted on one for their Australian trip:

p1220135rs.jpg


After the group pic we were off to Errings beach where I left the well worn ruts only to get bogged down right near the water. This beach was very soft. We managed to get Ruby Scoo out without the need for a snatch which probably would have ended in two vehicles stuck.

Many videos were recorded - I think I've actually got more footage than photos for once (don't know if this is a good thing).

On the Southern side of Norea Correna there is more dune track work rather than beach work, it can become a little boring at times but is still quite relaxing none the less. Here's a pic of Pezimm's foz and Phiz's Outback on one of the tracks - a quick snap out of the driver's window while on the move:

p1220156rs.jpg


In one of the dune areas where there are "drift dunes" we got another group photo with the vehicles this time:

p1220164rs.jpg
 
Later in the day while pushing time trying to find a suitable campsite we came across a rather "large" drift dune on the track - the top of the track disappeared under the drift of the dune with one of those cornice like edges at the top of it. I had a couple of cracks at it trying not to bottom out the rear tyres on the guard's edge, I ended up not making it and rolling the folded edge out to create a knife like edge that was ready to shred a tyre. Some BFH work sorted that out after I'd tried another line that wasn't the best idea of the day. This is how it ended up, right on the edge of a gully that the dune was filling in:

p1220265rs.jpg


After everyone showing me how to do it I had to just go for it and got it on challenge two of the second round. A few cheers were given before we headed off to our campsite.

We ended up camping in one of the larger campsites on the edge of Lake George. From here we split up for a little bit, some went to town, the rest of us went to watch the sun go down:

The location selected with the beach track in the right of the pic:

p1220276rs.jpg


And the sunset enjoyed with our new friends that we introduced to timtams :twisted: Guess what they purchased first on their next supermarket visit...

p1220271rs.jpg


Once again, many good times around the dinner table before it was time for shut eye.

Sunday we didn't really have a game plan but decided to head back to robe and muck around in the dunes on the way through. We stopped for a very refreshing swim before we hit the first good area to play in the dunes:

p1230005rs.jpg


Once in the dunes again we had a good session in an area that was like a large sand bowl where we had some sand drags up a dune. Not meaning to brag, but after almost making contact with Russel's cruiser I pipped him at the end of that race to win. The next one saw a couple of poor starts with a couple of good runners at the end. Again Ruby Scoo came out well to out do Russel's cruiser only to then meet some subi competition from Phiz. Unfortunately it wasn't Phiz that won :twisted: Ruby may have hit the rev limiter a couple of times up the dune - no time to change gear!

We continued on with a beach track rather than head down the dune that I got stuck on near that gully the day before. This is the view from where we were before the decent to the beach:

p1230016rs.jpg


From here we kind of moved quickly between me getting bogged on beaches while scouting them out for the convoy - not good since the tide seemed to be coming in leaving us with the softest sand on the beach. We stuck to the tracks after round three of that game...

At Norea Carrena we headed back to robe via the main dirt road, re-grouped on the main beach that was busier than a shopping centre carpark! We decided on our game plan for the night - camping out at the gums after some shopping. Once camp area was established Bboypebs and myself headed out to do a loop via Stony Rise track and one of the beaches that is easily accessed from the gums' track. Sagey and tash came for the ride with me and Pezimm rode with bboypebs in the brumby - a little rougher than the foz I'd reckon!
Sagey had a drive of Ruby Scoo to try out an EJ'd L series, I think he might have some new plans now :twisted: Tash then had a go as well after some arm twisting:

p1230029rs.jpg


We decided we would have a movie night on our last night. Macca (my laptop) ended up being the viewing platform of choice after much bagging out - only to have the DVD crap out half way through the movie. We also had some rain so we setup some tarps that the majority of us ended up sleeping under for the night where we really appreciated our tarp building skills during a downpour!

Here's the setup:

p1240033rs.jpg


The next morning Pezimm and I did the same loop from the night before but headed into Robe to air up before saying good bye to everyone and heading home. We headed through Naracoorte, Horsham and split up at B'rat when I had to head to cobaw and Pezimm to Melbs.

A great time had by all! Thanks for those who made the trip, without you it would have been rather boring, I doubt I would have been out there on my own at all. For those that didn't make it, I'm sure we'll be organising another trip sometime in the future, for now you can live vicariously through us and our trip report ;)

Cheers

Bennie
 
Sounds like a great trip was had by all :raz:

The stock shorty patrol looks like it's been lowered when it's behind the lifted cruiser :twisted:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
A most excellent report Bennie!!!:ebiggrin:

Are we going to get to see some video too???

I'm jealous of the beaches there, I have yet to be on a beach with that clear-blue water.:biggrin:
 
always a good report and great pics Benny! really! is the go with the chopped up milk crates? did they work or did you just piss your self laughing:lol:
 
Last edited:
Are we going to get to see some video too???

Hi carljwnc,

Let's see how I go with my first video upload attempt:

This is me trying to get up the troublesome big dune by the gully. First attempt, no success.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L70YvIrr4S8"]YouTube - Subaru Forester takes on big dune at Beachport, SA[/ame]

But on the second go, success! It was a matter of holding throtle all the way up...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhEozEOPCKY"]YouTube - Big dune at Beachport, SA - 2nd attempt[/ame]

Enjoy!
Pedro.
 
No worries fellas - the trip write up is something I enjoy doing and is the icing on the cake for me, kind of like the finishing off of the trip for me. Sometimes I get tied up with other things before I get to post the trip report but I try not to have this happen.

Glad you've all enjoyed the report. Wish I was still there - Ruby needs some maintenance since this trip - namely the troublesome drive shafts!

None the less I had a blast and that's what matters in the end (that and Ruby Scoo made it home!)

Eden: the plastic things that look like chopped up milk crates are an aid for traction in the sand. Worked reasonably well, two things that can be done to make them more effective are: 1) have one on each wheel and 2) have some sort of anchor to bite into the sand on the end of the plastic furtherest from the wheel...

Cheers

Bennie
 
so did he use them just on the back whheels or start from the front? in my experience you should always (9/10)use the front wheels to "pull your self out".
 
so did he use them just on the back whheels or start from the front? in my experience you should always (9/10)use the front wheels to "pull your self out".

We tried on the rear wheels twice as the subi was headed into softer sand - not good for getting it moving. We ended up putting them on the front wheels, partially burying the rack under the sand to help anchor it. With us pushing on the front of the subi it was childs play. And as I said in the report, 4 of them would have been ideal - they pack up reasonably small too ;)

Cheers

Bennie
 
The film!

Ok everyone, after a long wait, its very overdue, but here it is (finally - after 5 upload attempts!!!)

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpuSM73UH2g"]YouTube - Subaru sand 4wd, Little Dip NP, South Australia[/ame]

Enjoy!

Cheers

Bennie
 
But, I've got to :poke:you, offroad'ing'subarus.com???:p

Don't like being poked by another male :rolleyessarcastic:

But yeah, check it out - this is where half of the crew that turned up came from...

Good times, I would love to get back there with the scorpions and the honda springs in the rear - Ruby Scoo should go really well!

Cheers

Bennie
 
Don't like being poked by another male :rolleyessarcastic:

Oh come on...you know that is NOT at all what I meant. I was just giving you a bit of :censored: about misspelling the name of our beloved forum.

The :poke:emoticon, although titled 'poke' has absolutely no sexual connotations at all, it means poking you in the eye with a stick, like come on now, why did you do that?
 
I was just giving you a bit of :censored: about misspelling the name of our beloved forum.

carljwnc,

I was in Robe with Bennie and the rest of the guys... What he meant to say was that most of the other guys joining us in Robe were from another forum called offroadingsubarus.com. Check the link at:

https://www.offroadingsubarus.com/

The forum names are only similar by coincidence!:iconwink:

Cheers,
Pedro.
 
carljwnc,

I was in Robe with Bennie and the rest of the guys... What he meant to say was that most of the other guys joining us in Robe were from another forum called offroadingsubarus.com. Check the link at:

https://www.offroadingsubarus.com/

The forum names are only similar by coincidence!:iconwink:

Cheers,
Pedro.


Well, my apologies, I was not aware of that site.:redface: Looks pretty cool too.:cool:
 
Back
Top