Scouts Weekend Trip Report

In September the club ran a joint trip with the 1st Maiden Gully Scouts group where we were able to show the kids from the group some 4wd’ing in a safe and fun environment.

Day 1

Friday 14th September 2018

We left the Maiden Gully Scout Hall at about 5.30 in the evening and headed directly to Glenpatrick Campground on the Elmhurst-Glenpatrick Road at Glenpatrick

Arriving and setting up their tents in the dark was a bit of an adventure for the Scout group, so we lit things up with our driving lights and light bars and they could see what they were doing. Comfort was the order of the day for Naomi (caravan) and Jim (camper trailer) but Steve stuck with his swag – so we had all styles of camping covered.

Day 2

Saturday 15th September 2018

At 10 on the Saturday we set up Naomi’s recovery gear on a table & spent some time with the Scouts – seeing if they could guess what the items were used for (poor Leo wasn’t allowed to talk much here – he’s spent far too much time in a 4WD and had a pretty good idea how most of it works). A few of them applied their logic skills and were able to nut out how things were used – I even was asked what the difference between a 4WD and a ‘normal’ car was – tested me out a bit!

After a winching demonstration (and the obligatory ‘tug of war’ with the Scouts) the kids were divided into 4 groups, with the plan that they would swap cars every so often (in order to experience different driving styles) and we lined the cars up behind Steve who had kindly offered to lead the drive.

Many thanks to Steve for this – his knowledge of the Mt Avoca area held us in good stead. We spent time on Emery Track, Fraser Track, Waterfall Track, Schmidt Track, Gollop Track and North Glenpatrick track. We stopped at Mt Avoca for a lunch break along the way and the Scouts were very intrigued by our ovens and enjoyed their hot lunch.

One thing that Steve & I really want everyone to be aware of – we both made it through the day without any recovery being necessary, but Jim got himself stuck at the bottom of a creek, and had to winch out (see photos). The kids did a fantastic job – being fully aware of safety issues – and managed to get Jim safely recovered.