Stop, Get Out, Look, Think, Assess & Decide

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DAY 506



We both feel tired this morning after our late night last night, however there is no time for lazing around in bed as we have to be on the south side of Canberra by 9.00 today as we are having a weekend of 4wd training. I expect some of you may be asking “Is that not like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted?” Well, you may consider that it is, however it is never too late to hone those already acquired skills.

On our journey we have undertaken some fairly serious 4wd such as driving on the beach, across the Savannah way, rough tracks, river crossings etc. However we never bit off more than we could chew as we always had our safety to consider and also to be sure that we did not put our Patrol into a position where it could easily be damaged, as it was our only means of transport and more often than not we were miles away from anywhere, if we got in to trouble.

So 3 people from the ACT 4wd club kindly gave up a valuable weekend with their families to teach some newcomers to the club those all important skills about 4wd.

Each of our instructors had lots of knowledge and we good in their own field, Chris was an ex military man,20 years in the Australian Armoured corp,and ended upas an instructor,what he didn't know about,towing,driving and winching wasn't worth knowing,tanks being his speciality, our second instructor les was very mechanical and new every detail of an engine and its mechanics,and could explain the workings of a transfer case so it was easy to understand, then there was Clen, he was just a nice level headed chap who who lots of all round experience and btween them you would be guaranteed a good trip.

At 9.00 we are in a workshop with two other couples and a young chap, he was on his own as his wife could not make it, all of us eager to learn some new skills.

The first thing that we learnt, which funnily enough Andy and I already adhered to without really knowing the mantra of “Stop, Get Out, Look, Think, Assess and Decide”, we always did go and investigate before attempting anything and of course this does not just include those creek or river crossings that you have to wade through before embarking in the water, it is also about how steep a track is and do I really need to attempt it, do the weather conditions worsen the condition of the track and thus make it too slippery to handle safely?

There are all sorts of things to consider which are probably too numerous for me to mention here, however another good thing to consider is “If I cannot walk up it, over it, down it, then I cannot drive it!”

Of course we know that a lot of it comes down to common sense and knowing your ability, but these guys standing at the front of us with the white board and various diagrams are well experienced at 4wd, they have been out there and done the hard yakka, they know what they are talking about and we are all wise to listen.

I had often wondered what a differential is and now I know, I even know that our Patrol has two differentials and a transfer case, I know how all of the cogs work together to give you the 4wd ability and I also know what the potential is if you don’t take your vehicle out of 4wd on the bitumen.

We learn about safe loading of our vehicles and the importance of the centre of our gravity, the heavier the vehicle is up top the more likely it is to tip over.

We don’t just learn about how it all works, but of course the other finer elements of safety and the enjoyment of the countryside without damaging it. Of course vehicles get stuck in the mud, but we learn to think about what we can do to get the vehicle out without resorting to deep gouges in the mud or even what we can do before the snatch ropes come out.

Although we were well prepared for our journey around Australia, somehow this days training session gives me the feeling that we weren’t prepared at all, of course we were prepared, I had done my homework and researched all I could before we had arrived over here and then as you get yourself prepared and talk to people you find out more important information.

We had a recovery kit, first aid kit, made sure that we had plenty of water and food supplies at all times and we knew how important it was to have the correct tyre pressure in different types of terrain, but you would be surprised at the number of people that just come over here, hire a 4wd and think that they can just hit the dirt, and of course people perish in this harsh terrain all because they did not know that you could deflate your tyres by a few pounds of pressure and engage 4wd and hey presto you are out of that mud.

We all listened intently, as each one of our hosts of the day went through everything that we needed to know, but of course the real learning comes outside when you put the theory into practice and this is what we will do tomorrow, hit the outdoors.

By 5.00 we were all exhausted, so much information had been given and by then we were all in information overload, so it was time to head off back to camp.

There was no energy left to even consider a swim tonight, the thought was there but that was it, so we stayed put had an early dinner and tried to settle down to a movie, however we gave up halfway through two movies as being unsuccessful, the first movie we had a job to make it work and it gave up entirely about 40 minutes into the film, the second movie was a very second rate movie on DVD and neither of us could bear to watch it any more.

Exhausted we went to bed to get a good night sleep in ready for our day of practical 4wd.

Until then folks!

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Photos

Chris Fenton
An excellent teacher, 20 years in the Australia Armoured corp,whath e doesn't know about towing,driving and winching isn't worth knowing. he is very big and scary,but a lovely chap

The Lodge
The front of the lodge,where Kevin Rudd resides

Comments

[lurpak34]

Amazing what you can do in a 4WD, eh?! I remember a guide taking me up a volcano in Iceland once - the slope was almost vertical, but he was totally unfazed. Help, I thought, but I survived.. No, I'm not telling about dishevelled Australian girls. Cor, she was delicious.. Ha ha!