Slip Slidin' Away

---

Blog Day 1003

It is a while since we last wrote and I am not going to bore you all with normal life, work has been busy as usual, Andy has been away for a few weeks, I decided that I wasn’t going to have a dull weekend at home, no, the keys to the V8 are all mine and with a weekend in the snow and mud going begging, how can I refuse?

The object of the weekend is not only to have some fun but also with a serious edge to do some driver training, I thought I should just do this, give the truck a decent run and of course good opportunity to get it into 4wd.

It was 6.00am when my alarm went off, it would have been much easier if Andy was here, I would have had a cup of tea and a warm living room waiting for me, but not today, I am on my own and get up to a cold apartment and make my own cup of tea!

Having got everything ready the night before, I was soon dressed, flask full of hot water, case closed and I headed downstairs to the truck. With the engine nicely warmed up I headed south to meet the rest of the group down at McDonalds in Conder, and never having driven to this part of the ACT before, the familiar golden arches were a welcome sight as were the few 4wd’s already in the car park, I knew I was in the right place.

I was really looking forward to the trip, but had no expectations on what this was going to be like. I knew some of the people that were coming on the trip but there were a few unfamiliar faces, and being that the 4wd club is a family club, there were a few children coming along too, so it can’t be that bad, can it?

Following a bacon and egg McMuffin washed down with a chai latte, we all gathered outside, ready for our briefing, there were 17 4wd’s in all different shapes and sizes, all geared up ready for the weekend ahead.

At 8.00am, our allotted departure time, the UHF set to channel 20, usual convoy procedures follow with someone at the head and Charlie always takes the rear. We headed south through Tharwa and into the Namadgi National Park, the weather does not look promising today with large drops of water falling on the windscreen, but no matter I am out to enjoy the Great Australian Outdoors with some good friends and very likeminded people.

At some point we head off the road (black top) and hit the dirt, no sweat here, we all stop to make sure we have everyone in the convoy, then John jumps into the passenger seat of my truck, knowing that I had not driven this one in 4wd before, extra tuition is always a good thing and John being our Club Training Coordinator and a qualified 4wd training instructor I was appreciative of the shared knowledge, not to mention of course that John is a strapping bronzed Australian God (he told me to say that!) although at the time I had not realised that he was such a god.

In no time at all I am comfortable with how to engage 4wd in the beast, easy peasy as we wind ourselves through dirt terrain with small stretches of black top and eventually we hit the Snowy Mountains Highway and head up toward and through Adaminaby.

I was enjoying the drive this morning, it was still relatively early, the clouds were threatening, it was a cool day and we soon found some snow scattered across the mountainous landscape that rolled around us from the road, I was listening to my favourite playlist on my Ipod and a Led Zeppelin track, Kashmir, came belting out of the speakers, there was just something amazing about listening to Kashmir accompanied with a drive through the snow covered mountains.

While I was, busy singing along to Kashmir, we rounded a bend and on the left I saw Sawyers Hut! This is the very place that Andy and I stopped and had lunch one day when we had come out of Kosciuszko National Park, I now knew exactly where I was and of course realised that I was missing Andy being with me on such a trip, but he was having his own work adventure on a tropical island, a complete contrast to what I was doing.

Not long afterwards we pulled off towards Selwyn Snowfields, by now it was raining, but enthusiasm was not dampened, we queued at the National Park Kiosk, and after about 5 minutes we were all told to drive straight through, I am not sure what negotiating took place at the head of the queue!

Our first main stop of the day was Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia at 1,488metres is in the Western Snowy Mountains of the Great Dividing Range. By now we have driven into fairly heavy fog, but no problem because we are all in touch with UHF Radio. We find ourselves off the black top again and heading up toward the dry dam and a ski hut, where we stop for morning tea.

Some of the children on the trip take advantage of the snow conditions and are soon having snowball fights, whilst others grab boogie boards to slide down the snowy slopes, the rest of us grab our food and drink and head for shelter. Despite the snow there is also a lot of water here, we have to step through some running water from a spring to head up to the hut.

Inside the hut a fire is on the go which soon gets us all warm, we sit around eating biscuits and drinking tea, whilst John runs through his training exercise, explaining how to use snow chains, recognising the signs of hypothermia, the benefits of Alpine fuel and of course how to drive in snow and mud.

Incidentally if you happen to find yourselves up in this area of Australia, if you have a 2wd vehicle then you must to carry snow chains to drive here, if you have a 4wd you don’t have to. The training session took us up to lunch, it was nice and warm, we were sheltered from the poor weather outside so there was no reason to move yet.

By the time the afternoon drive commenced, the fog was thick and for the first time today I actually put the heating on in the truck, it was bitterly cold out there.

I am not quite sure which road we actually headed out on, I couldn’t see much with the fog, I knew that I had a vehicle in front of me and kept an eye on its tail lights, I could see tail end Charlie’s headlights in my mirrors, so while I could see both of them I was in the right place! We were heading in the direction of Tumbarumba and down a very winding mountain road.

A call came out over the UHF to say that 2 Semi Trailers were heading in our direction, that was a call for us to get into a safe spot on the road where both trucks could come past us safely, it seemed a while but eventually they both came past us, I am sure appreciative of being given the room, they were logging trucks and had their trailers on.

I cannot even say that the scenery was stunning, in places it was as I am sure that it all was but with the fog hanging heavy there was not much to see.

After a while we turned off onto a dirt track and all 17 of us pulled off in to the side of the track and reduced tyre pressures to 30 psi (we usually drive on 40 psi).

One by one we all set off and start to navigate the slippery track, not too much of a problem but I struggle to get up an incline, I can get so far up, but then I start to get stuck, the conditions really are not that bad, but I cannot get over the one point. Before long I have 2 more experienced drivers walk up and instruct me on the best way, it works, I am through the slush mud and up over the brow of the hill, my adrenalin is already pumping as I make my way to catch up with the others, by now we all realise that the conditions dictate the tyre pressure to be lower so down to 20 we go.

John, who is heading up the training trip with his wife Cheryl decides that he should sit with me on this run so a call over the UHF requests my presence at the front, slowly I drive past everyone taking extreme care not to slip into someone else’s 4wd on the way through. At the front of the queue, John jumps in and we head off. John has the map so he talks me through the conditions and look for our next turn off.

Sadly the track that we want is overgrown, it looks as if it had not been cleared for years, with a significant amount of growth and fallen tree debris across the track, and it is a no go. So we continue.

Eventually we reach a T junction (of sorts!) a quick check of the map reveals that we need to make a very tight turn right, no problem though as I pull forward and reverse back to make it round, feeling quite confident in my ability, I start to head down the track, but in no time at all, I feel the wheels slipping on the greasy surface, I don’t think that this is going to be easy, stupidly I touched the brake, big mistake, removing any traction that I may have had, the truck starts to turn to the side and we start slipping sideways down the track and slowly but surely I am steering into the side, fortunately it is soft mud where it looks as if a grader has banked the track debris to the side. I stall the engine, I glance sideways at the long stretch of steep incline beside me, the fear now has me, my heart is racing as I ponder how to get out of this.

It was hard to find logic in my head at this point, I felt as if I had two wheels hanging over a cliff edge (not that I know what that feels like and I really don’t want to!) John is telling me to reverse out of my current predicament and calmly issues instructions for me to ease my foot off the clutch, turn the wheel hard right and press the accelerator (not the brake!). “Are you kidding me?” I exclaim, my clutch leg trembling with the fear, by now my adrenaline is really pumping. There is a moment that I think “I cannot do this, what am I thinking? Why did I not bring Andy? I suddenly wanted my navigator and co-driver position back,” but I can’t, this is here and now, another brief moment I wonder if I should switch places with John, after all he is experienced at these matters.

I am breathing easy now, my trembling clutch leg and a little voice in my head tells me to pull myself together, “I can do this” all I need to do is get this 2 ton truck down to the bottom of the hill safely. And the 16 vehicles behind me are going nowhere until I move! Not much to worry about really.

I have to trust John’s advice and judgement, he is the driver trainer and I know that he would not be telling me to do something that is not right, a call comes over the UHF from his wife Cheryl “are you ok?” to which John excitedly replies “Cool!” not sure that was the response that she expected. Anyway I pull myself together and realise that there is only one way out of this and I am going to have to do it.

Slowly I release the clutch, turn the wheel hard right and squeeze the accelerator, in no time at all I am heading down this hill, and this baby is sliding like a bob sled in its icy run down a mountain! I can feel the rear end fish tailing and as we slide from side to side.

I now realise why John had referred to himself earlier as a bronzed Australian God, as I screamed “Oh God” now hurtling from one side to the other of this very greasy dirt track. John explains that as I long as I have control of the vehicle, it will do what I need it to do, my concentration is as powerful as this V8, I am willing in my mind to get down to the bottom of this track.

All I can hear is the roar of the V8 engine, the calm tones of John’s instructions as he tells me how to position the wheels and “keep driving, keep your foot on the accelerator” the steering wheel fights me as I steer into the skid and try and correct the direction of the vehicle, many times I turn sideways on, and at one point I thought that the back end would come round and I would end up going down the hill in reverse.

Nothing else in this world mattered at this moment, I find myself driving up the bank, I can hear John’s voice, “keep your foot on the accelerator” I didn’t know where we were going to go, and suddenly the vehicle corrects it’s position and we are heading straight back down the track!

To each side of me there is bushland, ditches, streams, boggy areas and the occasional drop that is could be a metre or so high, but I don’t look, the only place that I am looking is the track, I need to look at where I want the vehicle to go, if I look over to the edge, then that’s where I will end up.

The occasional section has fallen debris which offers some respite as we gain traction, fallen trees have just enough cut away for a vehicle to pass through.

I don’t even know how long it took, but suddenly we are spat out at the bottom, the terrain is different, there are stones which provide drainage and not to mention traction. We pull over to allow the others to catch up, not too far behind me is a small 4wd ute with a couple of 19 year olds, followed by Cheryl, John’s wife. I am relieved to see some others come through.

After a while it was apparent that there was a problem, 5 vehicles had not come through, so a couple of people went back to check what was happening, it appears someone was stuck in the mud and a recovery effort was underway, eventually one by one they started to appear.

So it was back on track again, I continued as the lead vehicle with my co driver and navigator John and off we went, but of course the track revealed some more bad stretches of greasy mud, again the bob sled run was on as we were sliding from side to side down the track, trying and succeeding to keep control of the vehicle and try to maintain its position in existing tracks which once they trap the wheel they will take you where you want to and need to go.

The fog was falling, and so was darkness, we were later than anticipated, that bad hill had delayed us, but the important thing was that we were all heading out together.

I round a corner and suddenly a Brumby leaps onto the track in front of me, but fortunately I have plenty of time to slow and stop, this Brumby does not want to move it just stands tall staring straight at us, it has no intention of moving, we have a standoff, John jumps out and walks toward the brumby, it disappears into the bush, we move on.

Suddenly the black top appears dimly below the fog, we breathe a sigh of relief and pull over, close behind the two young guys in the small ute appear. As we are down on 20psi, it is time to re inflate the tyres, fortunately, before Andy went away, he fitted a compressor to the truck, so all I had to do was attach the gauge, press the switch and attach it to the valve et voila, my tyres are back up to 40psi, well ok maybe not that quick, about 5 minutes.

Gradually we have 17 vehicles back together again, the fog is hanging around us, it is dark and we are all keen on getting to Tumbarumba for our overnight stop. Dinner is booked for 6.30 but we will be late, there are only four of us staying at the Tumbarumba hotel the rest of the group are in cabins at the caravan park or the Union Hotel just up the road.

The drive to begin with is heavy going and tiring with the fog hanging over us, however we soon drive out of it, but there is lightening flashing in the distance, it lights up the skies.

We all soon trickle into Tumbarumba, a call out over the UHF to remind people that were we will meet for dinner and we all head off in different directions to check into our accommodation ($45 for a single room at the Tumbarumba Hotel, for the cost don’t expect much but it was clean and fully equipped with a fan heater and electric blanket, a blessing on this cold and damp night!)

A quick telephone call to Andy and then head down to dinner and there it is, a single gin and tonic waiting at the table for me, this is a blessing, I have been hanging out for this g&t since I started my slippery journey down the hill!

Everyone was in good spirits as John, not only our driver trainer but also our club chairman, gave his speech and talked about the experiences of the day and completely unknown to me, presented me with a Special Present for an Anxious Moment (SPAM), and let me tell you that it was an anxious moment sat waiting at the top of that hill for the courage to move that truck.

I needed to open my present there and then and of course if you have not guessed it by now, a tin of Spam, this is great as we ran out of our Emergency supply of Spam a long time ago!

A quick shower after dinner, I fall into bed and sleep comes easy after a long tiring day.

It’s early my 6.30 alarm is still an hour and half away, my mind is replaying the events of yesterday, and I am still looking forward to the day ahead of me, but I also want a bit more sleep!

This morning John, Richard, Robyn and I were chatting in the hotel over breakfast, Robyn told me that as soon as she saw me slide down the hill sideways, she pulled up the handbrake, put their Patrol into neutral, slid out of the driver’s seat and said to her husband Richard “You can drive!” It appeared that a couple of others did the same, I have to say maybe I would have done the same too? Had I not been the first person down that track, what I would have thought? I am pretty sure that I may have wanted to bail out too! But without Andy, who would I have bailed out to?

It was seriously a white knuckle drive for passengers and drivers alike, suffice to say though that we have some exceptionally experienced off roaders amongst this group, and most if not all of them had those sideways moments.

Sunday is an easier day, the sun is shining brightly, and signals a clear crisp day, before we all meet up, John, Richard and I head up to the local Caltex to top up with diesel, unfortunately the filler cap was frozen up, but fortunately the filler cap for the second tank has some shelter from the frosty morning so I managed to fill at least one tank! The good thing being that filling the second tank puts a little bit more weight to the rear of the vehicle and thus providing a bit of balance. I notice that I am filling up with Alpine Diesel, a benefit in this region as the diesel won't freeze.

At 8.00am everyone is at the front of the hotel and raring to go. Following our breifing we head up to Tumut where we pick up the road toward Wee Jasper and into the Brindabella’s.

Today the clear skies bring the magnificent Australian scenery with it, again with everyone in convoy we head onto the dirt, reduce the tyre pressures, only to 30psi today, the drier conditions make the difference. High 4 selected and away we go, the occasional slippery muddy section and a few grazing cattle to negotiate.

Morning tea was a terrific setting on the Brindabella Valley Road next to the river, a welcome respite from our early start, and if you read our recent blog Shooting Wombats you may recognise that this is where Andy and I drove out to one evening to look for Wombats one evening.

Back on the track again we head back up the steep incline of the Brindabella’s and toward Canberra, our trip is nearing its end, although Andy and I have taken this track several times before I have a renewed respect for its conditions.

Some areas of the track are muddy, the winter sunshine does not reach them on the wrong side of the mountain and thus remain slippery, with a very long drop off to the side of the track, it is a worthy reminder of how easy this terrain can catch you out.

The fog catches us again, and slowly all 17 vehicles wind our way through and out to the other side, everyone regroups, re inflates and we all say our goodbyes and one by one we head back on to the Black top and the various parts of the ACT that we are all living.

I arrived home just after lunch, plenty of time to get some washing and grocery shopping done in preparation for the week ahead and only 3 more sleeps before Andy arrives home. It's about time he came home anyway, the truck needs a wash!

Until next time.

---

Photos

Regrouping....
before hitting another patch of the bad stuff

Comments

[Tony & Wendy]

Well done you!
What a star you are Caroline. I can appreciate that jelly leg feel from the days when I rode off road on the KTMs. Downhill slippy stuff is scary. You did it girl, no stopping you now. Andy had better get used to the passenger seat! Wendy x