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Murchison Offroad Adventures
Murchison OffRoad Adventure park tour aka "It's a long way from Pippidinny".
Report by TigeR. ====[Installment #1]================ DAY ONE Once upon a time, a CQ ride from Pippi to Yanchep and back was a big outing; but Bob Dylan was right, the times they are a changin' and there was a lot of wind blowing going on as well - but that's another story. Col called it and they came, a reccie to the Murchison Offroad Adventure park. These parks are pretty commonplace over east, but this place is a first for WA certainly on this scale .. all 300,000 acres of it. The expectations were that at this time of year it was gonna be hot, dusty and rocky - but it was certainly going to be some new terrain to ride in - we were excited. Unfortunately Andrea had to drop out at the last moment, his insightful life views from a French/Italian perspective would be missed; "I'd rather eat my own sheet than go to MacDonalds" being a recent crowd favourite. It's a long haul to the Murchison and back, so it was down to a bunch of eight hardy souls who rocked up or would that be foolhardy? ... only time would tell. We set off early on Friday AM for the long drive up; why is it always easier to get up when you don't have to go to work? I'm sure Andrea would have a good perspective on that. The three vehicles had a rendez-vous at Cataby; we had the baboon-mobile with the infamous three hairy ones; the H-mobile with H, ColMc, Pounce and 400kg of steak to cover brekkie for Col Mc for the week end, and rounded out with Tommy from Norn Iron and myself from the South heading up in Tommy's Hilux. Rumours of a re-enactment of 800 years of Irish history in the Hilux were greatly exaggerated. There had been some confusion over the choice of baboon-mobile in the morning and some people were trying to coin a new phrase with a Roley in it, but I'm having none of that. Roley and myself keep our battles on the track ... that 7th place was going to be mine this weekend! The trip continued on North, passing the bumper crop of wheat for the WA farmers this season. Good to see them get a break at last. We had another regroup at Northampton where ColMc & H relieved the town of it's pie supply, and one fuel station of it's premium unleaded supply. Off North we went again, through the millions of acres of wheat. Soon we turned off onto the dirt for the 55km drive out to MOA. Here Pete decided to re-enact the pioneer wagons heading west in the US, well at least re-enact their speed; I'm sure we could hear the ribbing from inside the car through the dust clouds. Hopefully there wasn't any Indians ahead ... we could be circling these wagons for the whole weekend. We eventually made it out to the MOA, and a great welcome from Bev. One of the highlights of the weekend was the hospitality from Bev, Mal and family but more on that later - we had a buggy tour to get into. We unloaded, grappled for the best sleeping locations and parked the bikes in a convenient spot ... on the verandah of course.  Keep your bikes close The buggies were rolled out and the anticpation was building. We got the safety talk, this sport is dangerous, keep well back out of the dust, stay in single file. All was carefully noted of course.  Roley contemplates what's ahead  H soon to have a starring role  Pete - where's the horse for this wagon?  Roley, 7th place will be mine!  Gentlemen, start your engines!  We're out bush now... We proceeded out for a test drive around some tracks to familiarise with the buggies; particularly the 650cc ones with were left hand drive with the gear shift on the right. And pretty soon we were into it. These buggies were a hoot, the tracks were sandy on a firm base. Lots of dust, plenty of sliding around. As we became more comfortable, the competitive natures came out. H and Col Mc proceeded to do a reenactment of Mad Max ... once a racer ... At one point Pounce emerged through the dust clouds from deep in the bush, after making his own cameo appearance in Mad Max scene 27 - buggy mayhem.  Mad Max or Mardi Gras? H goes too far  Stars of the movie: Did you see the bit where ...?  It was a good laff Col B, cruising at the back decided to do his reenactment of Walkabout and went straight on at a crossroads; with Daniel sent in hot pursuit - which was always going to be interesting with Col B with foot flat to the floor. We all got back to base safe and sound; covered in dust and smiles all round. The cold beers were cracked open. This was a good start! ====[Installment #2]============== BONUS FEATURE: DAY ONE ---> Welcome to the deleted scenes from Day 1. --------> Scene 23: CQs get pulled in by the cops (Voiceover from Director: OFF) On our merry way up the NW Coastal Hwy, marvelling at the spring blooms - Tommy and I spotted a cop car in the distance - with none other than the Baboon-Mobile pulled over into a layby. Whatever the reason - it certainly wouldn't be for Pete speeding; maybe it was a vet inspection for the wagon horses. H followed suit pulling into the lay-by. Tommy & I contemplated making a run for it through the bush; because that would have made very good reading in the ride report but decided that the subsequent explanations to the local constabulary could be somewhat problematic - and the scene may have been deleted. We dutifully followed H (played in the movie by Mel Gibson) into the layby. The call of nature was very strong for Tommy & I so we made a bee-line for the toilets. What we didn't notice was; Pete being breathalysed. It was 11am I guess, they like their grog in the country. We also didn't hear the following conversation: Copper#1: Who's the driver of the Hilux? Col B (pointing to Tommy): It's him. Copper#2: Why are they running to the toilets? Col B: They just need to flush their stash. We re-emerged unaware of our potential pending prison sentence to Col and the coppers having a good laff. They're a friendly bunch in the country I thought as I climbed back into the Hilux.  Col B "Hehe They're asking Tommy about the stash" ====[Installment #3]============== A few beers were sunk on the Friday night, before settling in for the night. I woke early in the morning to the peace and quiet of the bush ... ah, the serenity. I then removed my earplugs to hear an orchestra of snoring from the various cabins. Ear plugs are your friend on trips like this.  Our home for the weekend The barbie was fired up for the obligatory fry up for the brekkie and then the donning of the gear and final checks on the bikes before the tour.  Brekky prep MOA has been in operation for under a year, and they have put a lot of effort into setting up the various tracks for the 4WDs and the buggy tours. The tag-along bike tours are a more recent addition so they are still fairly new to this - with the other tag-along tours being more of a cruise along and take in the scenery - as opposed to your typical CQ ride being a scoot along and try to avoid ending up in the scenery. Young Daniel rocked up to lead us on the tour and was quickly inducted into the corner man system - which was new to him - but he was keen to learn. He was calm and relaxed unaware that with H & Col Mc - this would be a push-it-on tour. We headed out along the tracks that we had been on the buggy tour the night before. These were your classic station tracks that you see on the Aus Safari - a dark red sand layer on a hard surface. The dust was bad, but once you hung back all was good. These tracks were a hoot to ride on, almost like being in snow. The beauty of riding with a bunch who know each other really well is that people just slot into their usual positions - most people were happy to hang in those positions - but H & Col Mc, hot from their Mad Max roles continued the same on the bikes - working their way to the front and keeping the heat on Daniel - who was having to keep his poor little CRF-230 wide open to keep them appeased. The pace was certainly down on your typical CQ ride.  A stop at a 1930's camp using by Aboriginal station hands pretty basic! We stopped at various photo-opportunity spots, got on to some hard packed windy, slidy 4WD tracks - which were really good fun. We were getting close to the lunch rendez-vous when Daniel told us we were about an hour ahead of schedule, so he took us cross country through some different terrain. We had to backtrack a couple of times to re-muster the group. The heat of the day was creeping up, in the slow going the only non-Jap bike in the field started to overheat - guess it doesn't get very hot in Austria. We reached our lunch spot on the banks of the river - the river had stopped flowing about a month ago, so a few went for a play in the riverbed before the cool drinks & goodies turned up - the rest retreated to the shade.  A rarely spotted member of the Pounce family  Col heads for the riverbed  Pounce and Tommy have a play in the rocks  That river sand is seriously boggy After some refreshments we headed on again. Tommy managed to find the only metal stake on the property which bounced off his bash plate and bending his gear lever and giving him a little lie down. The SOTD award was achieved. We stopped at some more picturesque spots.  We went down by the river ...  A couple of hot baboons Things were really hotting up now - so a beeline was made to get back to camp and sink a cold beer before heading back out on the back of the utes to a waterhole. This was bliss after a hot day on the bikes.  To the waterhole  Wild hogs?  A salute to absent friends Pete surmised that there would be catfish in this hole - so beware. A few minutes later Col exclaimed "I've been bitten!" quickly followed by Pete jumping 2 foot out of the water with a shriek - as everbody scrambled for the shore line. That left a lone laughing Pounce in the water who revealed the offending creature a long pointy branch - you have to pay that one. We headed back to camp - what to do on a hot afternoon? .. sink a few cold beers and talk schiesen - before Bev & Mal rocked up to cook up a big barbie as the sun set and the stars came out and the riverbank fire was cranked up - it's not a bad life. It was a close call who was to get ROTD - but it went to H for his smooth passing with a gentlemanly wave - as opposed to Col Mc who roared past like a road-train kicking up a mini-tornado in his wake. On reflection after the ride, the consensus was that a tag-along tour doesn't really suit a group like the CQ. What would be ideal would be a series of enduro arrowed one way tracks of varying lengths and challenges. With 300,000 acres the mind boggles as to what could be achieved. During the afternoon over the cold beers, we got to see the softer side of Col Mc who regaled us with his love of dragons (it must be a St. George thing) and cooking (the recipe for a perfect custard) ... you really get to know a person out in the harsh bush with only the bare essential for survival (i.e. generators, fridges, tiled verandah, hot & cold showers, full cooking facilities). Over dinner Mal, Bev & Daniel recounted what station life was like, coming across poachers , dealing with various levels of bureaucracy to get permits for this and that. Hats off to them for having the courage to take this on - they deserve to succeed. The beers flowed on into the night - more schiesen was talked - as the fire roared on. A few paced themselves to be up for a dawn ride. ====[Installment #4 - The Epilogue]==== 5:30am, a knock on the wall. Pounce called a dawn ride, and when Pounce calls a ride - it happens. There was a huge turnout for this final blast - there was Pounce, there was me - even Acid Gloves Eddy snored on. We were out on the trails by 6am. We rode side by side on the station tracks - just like Charley & Ewen - but I think they got off private property once or twice. We followed the signed 4WD tracks - The River Rd - which suprisingly went along the river. Some parts were the boggy river sand - that kept you awake. It then turned into a nice windy track out towards the fastly drying "Sludge pit" and back through to some 4WD technical tracks. On "Butt Clencher" - I clenched a bit too soon and just saved tumbling back down the short but steep incline. Luckily only Pounce saw that ... and his helmet cam ... Doh! By 7am it was getting hot already, so we headed back meeting the "almost dawn ride" boys Peter, Roley and Tommy out for a blast. We made do with the final couple of hundred kilos of bacon and stuff for the big brekkie before the clean and pack up for the haul home. On the way out we bade our farewell to Bev & Mal and hit the long road home.  Thanks! Thanks to all involved. Col for organising it all (again), the drivers, Tommy for hauling me & the bike up and back. We had a good laff - saw the beginnings of the future (or a large part of the future) of our sport. This sport needs more pioneering souls like Bev & Mal - who just go out and do it. That's it ... now it's time to "put kettle up" and reflect on a great weekend. |
