Lancelin Day in the Dunes

• Date - Thursday 30th Decmber 2004

• Trip Leader - Wes Sutton

• Tail-end Charlie - Peter Baker

• Trip Notes - Jan & Roger Freegard

After replenishment at the Lancelin Bakery 5 vehicles set off at approx 9.45 lead by Wes, Laura and Cody. Roger, Jan their granddaughter and an Aunty on holiday from the UK were 2nd in line, followed by John, then Lynne, Sharon and Dylan (visitors) and Peter as tail-end Charlie keeping a close eye on the ladies. We headed up towards the dunes, dropped the tyre pressures and proceeded for the next few km on sand and stoney tracks being diverted on the way by a closed road due to a bush fire in the distance, until we reached an area of large sand dunes which necessitated dropping the tyre pressure even more. As we were the only vehicles there we were able to make the most of our sand driving skills, or lack of them, and it was a good opportunity for Lynn and Sharon to try out their vehicle with a certain amount of encouragement from Peter.

Lunch was enjoyed on the beach where we formed a line of vehicles to try and prevent the wind from blowing us and our food away. Entertainment was provided by the wind/kite surfers who were performing some amazing feats. Wes, Laura and Cody, Rog and Tamzin braved the ocean. Cody was having great fun with his radio controlled car.

After our leisurely lunch we set off into the dunes once again and made our back through sand and stoney tracks up to a beautiful view point which the army use for training. The young people got quite excited over picking up brass cartridge cases and most vehicles were a little heavier on our departure. Laura was taking the opportunity to take photographs throughout the day and hopefully got some nice shots. Unfortunately on our way back down from the view point Lynne had a puncture thanks to a large pointed rock, but our gallant Peter and Wes soon made short work of putting on the spare and hoisting the damaged tyre onto one of the roof racks. As we wound our way back through various bush tracks we spotted some emu's, quite a few 'roo's and a couple of eagles.

After inflating our tyres we hit bitumen just south of Lancelin, said our 'goodbyes' , thankyou's to Wes and made our way to our
various homes.