Harvey Staples Line Day Trip

Trip Leader: Paul Ryan

When: 26th February 2011

Location: Harvey to Staples

Participants: Stamps, Malcolm, Rick, Craig & Michael as tail-end Charlie. Visitor: Daniel










 

We all met at the car park opposite the Caltex service station cnr Uduc Rd & South West Hwy ready to set off at 9.15am as planned. Paul welcomed all members and visitors and carefully explained the planned activities, routes, convoy and communication procedures.

A short distance down the road we turned off onto the gravel and headed into the hills. As the road had plenty of corrugations Paul suggested we air down early to smooth out the ride.

It wasn’t long before we came to our first obstacle… a log across the road, most of the group went around but Daniel decided on a different strategy to try to go over it. But unfortunately he became wedged on top. Craig was directly behind so he was able to quickly winch Daniel off the log and back onto the track.

On the last trip in this area Paul had come across a large hill that we were now heading for. One small problem,the track we were on was closed to all vehicles ! We all turned around to find an alternative route. It took us about 30mins and we were at the top of a very large hill.  Half the group lead by Paul started to walk down the steep track to make a plan for the descent. When that group returned,  we all decided that this hill was not worth the risk today. 

We managed to turn around making a group in reverse order so Michael became trip leader with Malcolm giving directions to the next hill he had marked on his GPS. This was a deep rutted track down into the valley. Once at the bottom we looped back to rejoin the powerline track. A few kms down this we turned off a track to our left.  

Just before the next junction we met up with Landcruiser Club. Fortunately they were coming in the opposite direction. Once they’d passed, we headed along the fence line adjacent to a farmer’s property and followed it back to our lunch spot in a wooded and shady area.

After lunch we headed out the back of this area down a very scratchy track with loads of over hanging dead ti-trees … but which led to a excellent hill climb. 

Halfway up Ben who was driving Malcolm’s car is bogged and requires a pull from Craig. Apart from this we all managed the climb. Once at the top we regrouped, headed down the hill past the lunch area and onto a track that headed back to the main road where we aired up at about 2.45pm before heading home.

Thanks Paul for another good “Lock and Lifted” trip.

Trip Notes:  Michael Gilbert