So Daz comes up to me at the party “Hey man, do you fancy a trip to Loveday soon?” “Sure mate, but you have to organise it. I’ve got my own stuff to work on”
A few weeks later after Daz’s and Champ’s efforts, we found ourselves meeting up to head out to Loveday 4x4 Adventure Park.
Our group was Scotty and Champ in the Pajero, Pauly and sons in their Challenger, Daz in his Challenger and our other mate Mark and his lad who would be steering my 105 for most of the weekend. So basically the Mitsubishi club and a lone Land Cruiser.
Loveday is in the South Australian Riverland, where N and I did a short trip last year.
Loveday seems to be the default choice whenever someone gets a new truck, it’s only 2.5 hours drive from Adelaide and the closest opportunity to test the off road chops of a 4x4. So this isn’t my usual tale of exploration, but just some mates having some fun in the dirt. Lots of pictures, not many words up-coming.
Champ and I had spent one evening after work this week smashing out new suspension, brakes and a couple of other jobs to the Pajero. A slight lift meant it was ready to rock, see how nice and clean it is, yeah, that didn’t last...
An easy drive up, over the bridge at Blanchetown, you get your first view of the Murray River.
Onto Barmera, where you turn off to head out to Loveday. Sign your lives away, pay your fees, head out to your riverside campsite. We set up quickly, had lunch and then hit the trails.
The trail winds through various parts of the property, with various artificial obstacles along the way. They are all optional, all have a chicken line. This area is very flat so they aren’t many natural challenges.
Scotty was keen to get into it in the Pajero.
Safe to say, he was enjoying his new purchase!
Mark was next in the Toyota (why wasn’t I driving? As I am normally driver, photographer, organiser, etc, it’s actually just nice to step back and do less. Also, like many of us I have very few photos of my rig ‘in action’ so it was good to get some of those in the bag. Anyway, Marky ‘quite’ likes driving that truck...;)
Next up was Pauly’s turn. Coining the phrase ‘The Challenger line’... I suppose this is the benefit of having a vehicle with a smaller footprint, there are more options for the lines you can take.
“Having fun mate?”
Champ had a go at the wheel lift competition in the Paj.
Challenger number 2 accepted the challenge.
Again easing himself in, avoiding that big hole.
We wound on through the bush.
The next obstacle presented a sterner challenge. Scotty was straight up in the Pajero, slow and steady soon saw him spinning to a stop on the sandy surface “a bit more momentum mate, and then just pin it through the last part”.
Clearing the easy part, this awaited.
New to off road driving (but an ex dirt biker, so a good eye for terrain) Scotty was interpreting my instructions literally. Pin it he did!
It was clear the Paj didn’t have the wheel travel to walk through this section, plus the soft surface meant which ever wheels had traction had more to do. Always slow as possible, but the flip side to that expression is as fast as necessary. Sometimes that means flat out and let the momentum bounce the truck through the sections beyond its capabilities. The soft sand meant the chance of damage was minimal. Scotty was justifiably chuffed with getting through this section.
Pauly was through next. He has a front axle locker to compliment the factory rear LSD. His slow and steady approach worked up until the big holes. Cross axled, the Challenger ran out of tractive effort despite the locker.
Champ tried to guide him out, but at the end of the day the Challenger, like the Pajero, didn’t have the clearance or the articulation to make it through this section. In the end I backed him up straight and increased momentum saw him clear the section, with some banging from the roof rack revealing the TRED traction boards had worked themselves a bit loose.
Mark burbled the Land Cruiser through next. Again making it look easy, although for someone who only off-roads infrequently Mark is about as good a driver as you will find. Again seeing what your own truck can do from the sidelines is a great experience.
A couple of other guys had caught us. Coming through in their older Patrol and newer Pajero.
The Pajero driver got out, came over and sheepishly said “traction control...” which we all know and it’s an impressive thing to watch, of course it robs a significant amount of satisfaction from clearing a tough section. Or maybe I’m just bitter. I know how limited that model Pajero is in sand without traction control.
Daz didn’t mess around in his Challenger.
Straight through. This dude really is Rad, 24/7.
Another tour through the scrub.
Led us to the next test.
Steep, deep and soft.
Only Mark was willing to attempt it in the Land Cruiser.
A couple of goes but this is precisely how far he got each time.
No front locker while simultaneously asking big questions of the rear axle. In the end he backed out.
We had a chat about it “you are going in that big hole whether you like it or not, I would run it tight up the right side and hope the left side rides high, but in the end you are still risking body damage, we don’t have to go that way...”
That’s an abbreviated version of the conversation. I wasn’t sure the truck would make it no matter who was at the wheel. I could see has Mark had a steely look in his eyes that meant he didn’t like being beaten and he thought it was possible, part of me felt the same, but really, what was the gain? His son Chris asked is they were going again “not my car...” was Mark’s response. True, but it really just summed up there was not much to gain, plenty to lose. I’m not a bragging rights kind of chap, if something is tough and needs to be done then get it done, if you are all having a great time, don’t ruin it by going too far.
This was the last of the challenging obstacles, although there was plenty more good driving to be had from the rest of the day.
This rare, caught in the wild shot of a Y62 Patrol on the dirt... Traction control was working overtime through this section.
Followed by a nice Y61 TD (this is the one to have, with the 4.2 turbo oil burner, as opposed to the 3.0 DID. If this had been the engine in those last of the line that was run out here last year, I might have given it some serious consideration).
Also Prado.
We found this abandoned ‘High Lift’ jack.
A quick weight comparison with the real deal.
The trail eventually pops out at the ‘Spectacle Lakes’ where there are 4 different hillclimbs to test your mettle.
This is the worst. We were all about 4x4'd out by that point, so we headed back to camp.
Well all except Scotty, who was keen to get his Pajero properly dirty.
A couple of us ducked out to have a beer while we picked up firewood from the tavern (firewood collection is illegal in many parts of SA). These looked like fun, the black one looks brand spanking...
We settled in got the night.
At said party Daz and his wife had been sitting in our OzTent chairs, and consequently now have their own. Mine is the older version on the left while Daz has the updated version on the right.
So a normal level of eating, drinking and talking followed. You know how these things go...
My first thought on awaking the next morning (the overcast skies had kept the temperature pretty even and I slept on my sleeping bag with the swag roof half off and just the mesh to keep the bugs out) was, damn, only one night in the bush, shame.
To be honest, Loveday doesn’t have the greatest camping, but it’s not too bad.
The previous day I had shown the kids how to light a fire with a flint. I tasked them with re-lighting the fire this morning using the flint, annnnddd that kept them occupied plenty while we made breakfast.
Strike camp. First, to the dunes.
Then to mud.
Scott’s off road driving skills were improving quickly. A few basics on the first day. Now the questions were few and far between. His ability to judge the throttle input and momentum required for each section, was already at a good level. I drove the Paj a little yesterday, good truck.
Pauly’s Challenger was on more worn tyres (my old BFG’s!), and had a little less clearance than the Pajero. It ceased forward motion about here.
One of the guys already here had his snatch strap ready to go on his TD Patrol, he gently tugged the Challenger out.
Back to the Tavern before hitting the Training Track.
Remember this from yesterday?
The Training Track is another set of man made challenges, just in a more compact area.
Then, this happened.
Champ proving what an excellent bitumen driver he is...
I sent down the Max Trax.
Pauly went down to get him out.
Maybe we should have headed the warnings...
Time for a bit more fun.
Time was pressing on, so we called it. The Pajero, unsurprisingly had some severe wheel vibration issues on the way out. With no car wash nearby, I suggested to the brothers they venture up to the nearby Lake Bonney.
Find a concrete boat ramp and drive the truck in and wash out as much of the mud as possible. They managed to get most of the mud and the lake over themselves, but got the job done.
We aired up and headed for home, some quick and heavy rain showers knocked the dust off the (outside at least) trucks.
Bonza weekend. Everyone seemed to have great fun.
I just got the call to sit down and help plan the next one...
Till next time. Thanks for reading along.