How Expendable is the Co Driver or Do You Have a Dog Handy?

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DAY 507

We both slept very well last night, it was a very warm night again, I am fairly sure that the temperature has gone up as Andy bought a fan heater to take the chill off us at bedtime and first thing in the morning. If you remember a good few weeks back Andy bought a pedestal fan to keep us cool and then the weather turned cold, so here we are in reverse!

Anyway, sandwiches packed, we are both breakfasted and the Patrol is eager to hit some dirt today for our practical 4wd session, so at 8.15am we are heading out of town and towards the Cotter Dam where we are to meet the rest of the team.

The morning is just lovely, the sun is coming up there are hundreds of cyclists out on the roads enjoying the morning and as we are heading down Coppins Crossing Road what do we see, but a most beautiful Wedge Tailed Eagle sat on a fence post, the sun was just glinting nicely off its feathers as it sat there proudly observing the landscape, on a post at the side of the road.

Of course we did not have a camera handy, and of course by the time we turned around to go back the Eagle had flown, that has been the case every time we have seen one on this trip, we have seen loads but that perfect photo of one is still evading me.

We arrive at the Cotter Dam to find a few others, we all seem to have mugs of hot tea in our hands, we stand around and chatter while we wait for the others who are not so far behind us.

By 9.00 there is a course laid out so we all head off for a briefing on what our fist exercise of the day is to be and that would be to learn the position of our wheels! I know there is one at each corner all the usual jokes apply. However of course we are learning the real importance of lining up the wheels and driving over the points that identified as giving you the best route around or over an obstacle be it rocks, pothole or mud etc.

Again of course common sense applies but the skill comes with placing your wheels in exactly the right spot in order to ensure that you have the maximum amount of your tyre on the ground and therefore giving you the maximum amount of traction, which in turn helps to stop you getting stuck.

Very soon we have a bobble hanging on the front bull bar along with bits of red tape in certain areas over the bonnet, which help in this exercise to line up the markers placed on the ground for you to drive right up to in the centre of the wheel.

Both Andy and I do the exercise as we share the driving from time to time and lets face it a day 4wd in the dirt can be very exhausting with all the concentration and not to mention making sure at all times you have at least one hand on the wheel. All of the wives here are getting involved and do the exercises, although one of them has said that she does not do the driving as it is her husbands thing, however by being there she is also learning and understanding the fundamentals of 4wd and therefore when they are off road somewhere remote then she will have the knowledge which puts her in a valuable position to help out if necessary. After all, in Chris’ words, “the co driver is the one that always tells you which gear you should be in!”

That exercise goes well, valuable learning and all too soon there is another course plotted and this time we have traffic bollards placed in varying position, no not entirely for slalom but close.

The object here is to drive through the centre of two positioned bollards all the while concentrating on the next position that you need to be in for making it through the next placed bollards. “Easy!” Well maybe not quite that easy, once you have driven through, you then have to do it all in reverse and then when you have done that you have to engage 4wd and then do it all again.

The difference with engaging the 4wd is that you have a larger turning circle which then makes positioning slightly harder. This is all good practice and goes well for the both of us, all the bollards remained where they should be.

We have a practical lesson in vehicle recovery using a snatch strap, we are told how easy it is to bend a chassis if you use too much force, i.e. if a Nissan Patrol is pulling out a small Suzuki then the appropriate snatch rope has to be used otherwise the force will be too much for the Suzuki. (Andy can explain this bit!!)

We learn about the elements of recovery that become dangerous, the ultimate being your safety, the safety of your passengers and any bystanders (although out in the bush any bystanders are usually from one of the vehicles involved in the recovery).

What the potential is for a piece of recovery equipment to become a projectile missile and how to combat that, all the while making sure that the people physically involved in the recovery are safe and the passengers are well out of the way and perhaps safely behind a tree if there is one!

We have learnt how expendable the co driver is, now I know why men like to do the cooking in the big outdoors, just to make sure that they know how to fend for themselves when their co driver went missing in the river crossing whilst trying to attach the snatch rope which meant diving under the water to place the snatch rope on the hook up points! Now I know why Andy wants to buy me snorkel and flippers for my birthday! Or was it because it was a crocodile infested river and again the co driver/navigator has to be the one to get out and assess the situation while the driver keeps their hands on the wheels at all times, apparently this is where having a dog might come in handy.

Thus it’s a good idea to hook the snatch rope on and wrap it around the bull bar prior to entering the water and indeed we have seen many an off roader do this whilst on our journey.

We move to a different location to practise our hill starts, it is not as easy as you think and of course we all remember back to the hill starts that we did when we learnt to drive, except that back then we weren’t in a remote location or on the steepest hill possible where the only thing stopping you from sliding back down a hill is how skilful the driver is!

Well before we had lunch we stopped at the bottom of this steep hill, it was steep it had lots of corners and of course the terrain varied from solid to gravely to very rocky and with plenty of ruts and “Whoaboys” 4wd technical term for a huge hump in the road that exists to channel water away from the track in heavy rains and of course a safe place to pause when you are assessing your next move or reverse back onto when you have slipped down the hill.

We all park up and walk up to the first point, make an assessment on the conditions and move to the next, we probably walked .5 kilometre to do this exercise but of course you do feel the value of it.

Soon we are all back in our vehicles, 4wd engaged and words of encouragement from the co-driver who has also made the assessment we are off to tackle this monster. Well it was not so bad after all, it was a fun drive up it, quite bumpy and plenty of “Whoaboys” to tackle, however up the top we reach a parking area where we stop for lunch, we chat about the exercises so far and admire the stunning views towards Tuggeranong, Tidbinbilla and the surrounding areas.

Before we head off, Chris takes the Automatic drivers to one side to explain the hill stall start procedure, Les takes the Manual group so that we are all fully briefed before we set off.

Well as the saying goes, what goes up must come down, so we did the hill we just came up, we had to tackle that to get down, which of course was just as exciting as coming up it. Again in 4wd but this time we mainly use low gear to hold the truck instead of relying on the brakes entirely.

Of course now we are all at the bottom, we suddenly find Chris sat in the back of our Patrol, we are going back up the hill to do our stall start on the hill. This is where the teamwork comes in, with Andy driving I need to relay instructions on how to carry out the stall start procedure on the hill, so as soon as we are in position I relay the instructions calmly and Andy is soon reversing with care back down the hill to make the manoeuvre again, we do this a few times and then head back to join the others.

As I mentioned before these guys have done the hard graft so know what they are talking about, they know how easy it is to panic in a situation like this and when panic sets in common sense can easily fly out of the window, the guys stress the importance for the driver to remain in control and calm and also to be able to keep passengers calm and get out of a situation that could otherwise be tricky or in fact dangerous.

Andy and I will come out over Easter weekend so that I can practice the same manoeuvre and we can practice all that we have learnt this weekend,oh and use this as an excuse to come up here for a picnic.

Our final exercise of the day involves a bra, ok get your minds out of the gutter, I am talking about a car bra. These are quite helpful when you have to tackle a river crossing. We thought that because we now had a snorkel that of course we would be able to tackle a deep river crossing. Of course we can but there are other things to consider like protecting the electrics and if you are halfway across the river and the fan kicks in it will pull the water in and thus push the fan into the radiator, which of course means substantial damage.

The river is not as deep as we hoped however we carry out the exercise anyway just to show how it should be done and of course willingly Andy volunteered. While we were preparing, I was watching a dog who was interested in us, however the dog was on the other side of the water and seemed scared to enter it, finding a way round without getting his paws wet was not too much trouble but was about to take a jump when it realised there was some water in front of it and thus slipped but steered clear all the same. Eventually it made it over to us, only then to be recovered by its owner who picked it up and waded back across the water.

A final briefing was had followed by a team photo, but of course we thanked Les, Chris and Clem for all giving up their weekend to train people like us to not only enjoy the countryside, but to respect it and enjoy it safely.

Everyone departs and head back toward Canberra, Andy and I had a great day, we enjoyed ourselves as well as learning a lot. It is important that the both of us know how to handle the Patrol in 4wd and know what to do in sticky situations, if anything happened to one of us then the other needed the ability to keep us moving and that includes being able to pack up, hook up and drive the trailer.

A quiet night was in order, we are both exhausted so no time for cinema this week, bedtime came early.

Easter next weekend so we hope to get out and about exploring!

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Photos

Toyota FJ45
This little shorty crossed the creek as we just getting ready

Going weak at the knee's
This is what we want,V8 Turbo Diesel

The Team
Canberra 4wd Club

me
With my new bra on, how nice !!

Dashing out
To check her wheels