Saturday 25 June 2011

Elmer Fudd's Looney Tunes

Note the recycled Easter hat modeled by "Bugs"!
We saw the posters for Jilliby School's car rally while out and about on some of geocaching picnic days. It sounded like a fun day, so we entered.

Nick was scheduled for a night-shift on the day of the rally and wasn't going to join us but changed his mind (after confirming expected duration time with the organisers). It was just as well he came as three adults for clue-deciphering was definitely better than two - and we still went awry more than once!

We had a lot of fun though - all for a good cause - and we were glad we took part. We didn't win the overall prize but thankfully we didn't come last either! There was a prize for the best-dressed car/crew, which we shared with Hocus Pocus (who dressed as witches and fashioned a giant broomstick to their roof-rack, complete with black cat)!

Our share of the prize included $50 of 7-Eleven fuel vouchers, which Elmer definitely appreciated!

Sunday 19 June 2011

Whoops!

Our first real-time recovery experience ...
We enjoyed Yengo National Park and the surrounding area so much that we returned the next day for more exploring.

Lured by the promise of a geocache, we had driven down a very wet track (fortunately) without issue. After finding the cache we spotted a dryer track for the return trip, thinking it would be better than our original route. However the track edge gave way very soon after we turned on to it, so it didn't turn out to be better at all! In fact, it was all a bit scary as Vaughan and I were quite high on our side - and even when the angle wasn't so steep, Vaughan undid his belt to get out and promptly slid into the downside door!

Fortunately Nick had packed all the recovery gear, so we were able to winch out fairly easily. Vaughan operated the winch control while Nick wound out the cable - and then Nick took over the control while I steered Elmer and Vaughan became our camera-person. We watched the "footage" (complete with Vaughan's commentary) when home again - he did fine work!

After all that excitement, we checked out a camping area and may well return to stay there. I initially thought the access to it was down the very wet/soggy track and had wondered how we would get the trailer down but of course, it had a proper track in very good repair - der!

Saturday 18 June 2011

Devil's rock

Yowah rock stack influence is still evident!
One of our geocaching day-trips took us into Yengo National Park to see some Aboriginal rock carvings and grinding grooves.

We went up through the end of Yarramalong and via a dirt track into the National Park. The last bit was 4WD only, which was an interesting drive.

It was another 250m steep walk from the parking area and well worth the effort. The carvings were quite clear and the views were gorgeous. We stayed up there for quite a while - it was such a beautiful place. (If we go again, I'll try to remember to take my drum).

There were no facilities, so we were glad we packed the camping stove. We perched it on Elmer's back tray and had our sausage sizzle in the carpark before heading off again, to explore some of the convict construction along the Great Northern Road later in the afternoon.