Crusty Quinns

  A Ride Report - that wot happened...
The RTRA took my baby away!
Message Board The Riders Events Ride Reports Photos Notice Board FAQ Login

      #540  
 
South West Safari
Date 20/Nov/11
29 Riders AnthonyD, CRFAndrew, CRFMat, DannyMck, Darryl, DavidG, DazZ, Dennis, DRZ Dennis, DRZGreg, DRZWayne, GasGasLex, Griff, Jacko, Joynesy, KLRTodd, Nairny, Peter450, RailwayBob, Rusty, Shrek, Steve570, SteveG, Stuart, TrevorW, TTRRichard, Wayne525, XRDean, XTAaron
Rider of the day Not awarded
Stack of the day Not awarded
What a great turn up for the South West Safari, for the first time in memory we needed to use a cornerman system whilst driving out to the start point of a ride.
We started early on the Saturday morning meeting up just after 0600am at a local truckshop. The entire carpark soon filled with utes & trailers whilst inside the shop the owner made a brisk trade in coffee & food.
Driving off in convoy we headed out of town, our group stretched our over a kilometre in length down the highway. SteveG led the way out to a family farm thankfully leaving a car at various country corners to help guide us to a quiet grove of bluegums where we could unload.
Some riders had ridden out to camp by the beach the night before and were already there & waiting... The group unpacked, got ready and the photos were taken while all was clean & before any injuries had been sustained..
GasgasLex led the way out of the farm and onto a gravel road which fast became a limestone rocky track that took us towards the ocean.
A decision was made to attempt the limestone Spectator hill while everyone was fresh so we headed to it, Gasgas skipped up it ready to take photos. The views back along the coast are superb and in no time the brothers Mark, Stuart & David zipped up the hill. Down below the larger adventure set up bikes balked at the hill climb and waited down on the beach. About a dozen riders got to the top before we noticed that the channel to the ocean had been opened half a Km away... this was amazing timing as 3 days earlier a reccy drive had confirmed that the channel was crossable. Well there was no point in continuing along the limestone cliff so we headed back down to rethink our route, this pleased the few punters who were still struggling to get to the top. A quick ride to the channel confirmed that it had indeed just been opened up, the offending front end loader still there as evidence...
SteveG led the way back behind the farms along fast winding fence trails that got us to a bridge further upstream. A short commute on the black stuff took us to another fenceline track that had a few muddy bog holes along it, someone fell into one apparently and perhaps a photo may surface of the spectacle..
The muddy track became a long winding fenceline track with varying terrain, one minute soft sand, one minute limestone rocks but it lead us to a fishing shack at the edge of the huge dunes field that many Crusties have had the pleasure of experiencing now. When we got there DRZDennis had already arrived in the fuel dump truck, had dismounted his bike and was long gone out on a ride. We stopped to refuel & eat then hit the dunes.. Some riders on the smaller capacity bikes stayed at the fishing shack or kept to the beach. Dennis showed up looking happy as he had been out taking photos, we all took off towards the biggest hills we could see. A lot of winding thru hills & radical dropoffs lead us to the big momma. The group rode around the face of the dune and one by one gathered on the crest of the biggest hill.. A this point Darryl decided to join in by flying up the hill on his 625 Kato but found as he crested the top that it was a razor back that dropped down at a even more severe angle some 45 metres into an abyss. In a split second he threw himself off the bike that somersaulted but stayed on the crest while rider rolled down the other side.. Thankful soft sand is a great cushion and no on was worse for wear. We rode around the dune for a while and then moved on to the Bowl for some more hijinx. Bikes were disappearing in all directions as groups of excited riders meandered off on the white cornucopia.
The sun was pretty fierce out on the white stuff so after awhile we gathered back at the shack, helped Dennis re-mount his bike on the ute and rode off along a slightly different track that headed off down a sharp incline towards the ocean..
The track of black dusty sand gave way to more limestone and headed uphill away from the ocean, this wound back & forth with many a sharp stick slapping riders heads. The brothers Griff had a puncture & stopped under the merciless sun to change it while everyone else parked under trees for shade, half an hour later we continued back along the fencelines dodging the occasional roo.
Back at base we refuelled, some riders had had enough and headed home while half continued on into the hills. SteveG led us onto a track that went from a 4x4 track into a overgrown 'Nam jungle. Vines were draping down over the bush and the trail had become a invisible single trail switchback. It channelled us one by one towards the cliffs above the ocean where the views were mighty impressive. Along the coast the track ended up back at a natural harbour with its holidaying residents. We continued along the zig zag path until we got to the back of a farm late in the arvo, Steve showed us thru the farm as a shortcut to where our cars were parked then continued on the ride with a few hardcore followers.
Back at the cars DRZShrek showed us his MX boot which had a hole in it, something had punctured his boot and there was blood oozing out but the big fella didn't want to spoil the ride for the others so he never mentioned it.. I believe that evening he went to the ED dept for treatment of a gashed foot.. A long drive back to Albany we unloaded the cars & squared away our gear then jumping into the shower to get spruced up for dinner at the local Thai restaurant, it had been a 13 hour day of sun & fun. My GPS tells me I did 284 kms on the Saturday and another 50 on Sunday..

sunday morning saw seven riders keen for a shorter ride not too far out of town.once again there were lots of nice trails, some hard ground with huge ruts and hills, beautiful beaches in all directions,farm fence line trails,and sandy coastal tracks.one large hill had us skidding and sliding our way to the bottom being carfull not to lose controll when darryl came tearing down at speed we thought his brakes had failed. he then turned around and shot back up and came down again even faster. well done darryl.we got back to lexes place, packed up and left by 11.30. thanks to lex and jullie for having us at there house and putting on such a great event.well done. jacko.



Crusty Quinns® - born in WA in 2000 - V1.3.0-17/Apr/13