I got an invitation from Ian (GU4500 – Overlander forum) to join him just south of Osterley to get some firewood. As he was spending a few night down there with his family it was to be a day run this trip. Armed with directions I departed home a tad before 6 am.
The run across to the base of the hill was down with minimal fuss, just a few animals to dodge.
The climb was the normal slow affair – I’m very thankful I’m not heading that way loaded, that’s for sure.
Realising about now that it’s a tad hard to phone anyone when you’ve left your phone at home, I stopped into Arthurs Lake to use the phone box. Thankfully I didn’t wake the missus (as I don’t think I would’ve heard that last of that), and she let Ian know that I was on my way. To get to here took about one hour.
Departing Arthurs Lake it was a quickish run across to the Lakes Highway, although I only spent about 700 metres on it before turning down towards Liawenee. The road turns instantly to gravel and the speed drops accordingly.
It was a good run across to Penstock Lagoon where I took the time to make myself a cup of coffee.
From here it wasn’t long before I dropped down into the valley and past Waddamanna. There is some great views down to the old power station, and for anyone travelling this area the power station is open from 1000-1600 daily. I’ve been there a few times with the kids and it’s well worth the effort.
Turning onto Bashan Rd it’s across the river (via the bridge or lower level crossing) and you start climbing up the other side of the valley. It’s long and slow along with being very tight, but it rewards you with some great views over the area including back onto the power station.
Once up to the plateau you can generally increase your speed a little bit more as you flow through open farm country. Eventually you come to the T intersection where right leads you to Bronte and left takes you down to Osterley. Obviously I turned left!!!
Again you are quickly into a drop down into another valley, generally back into 2nd gear moreso due to the amount of corners rather than the steepness. Opening up you find yourself in the town (well it used to be) of Osterley. There is much there now days compared to days gone past which is a damn shame.
I took the time to drop into the cemetery and visit my Grandmother. The grounds are still beautifully looked after which is a credit to the gentleman that takes the time to mow them. As far as I’m aware he does it out of the kindness of his heart. I tidied up a little and then continued on my journey.
Another 10 minutes or so saw me catching up with Ian and from there we drove in. A short while later we found a couple of good logs so these were quickly cut to size, split and loaded into his trailer. Filled it perfectly actually. We found another good one which mainly filled my trailer, however the weather was really starting to come in bad.
We continued down the track as Ian thought it might have looped around. Unfortunately it didn’t look like it did, and the drop down into the valley (and subsequent climb) looked real bad especially considering we were towing normal trailers with standard hitches. A 400 metre reversing effort ensued, providing some light-hearted amusement along the way. To be fair it was a tight track and we were reversing the trailers up a decent wet slope.
Knowing what we had come through had us concerned, as we knew we had to get back through it to get back up to the old house. Except this time we had loaded trailers and the rain was really coming down. I got to the bottom of the hill and all I could see was wet mud. And the water was literally running down the wheel tracks to the bottom (oh crap!).
So I put the old girl into 3rd low and went for it. 1/4 of the way up the hill I knew I was in trouble so the rear locker got engaged real quick. Helped a little, but I still ended up stuck. Front locker engaged and I got a tad further. It took me 6 attempts to get out of there, and thankfully it went all the way to the top. For anyone stuck in that situation, what I did was go until I couldn’t anymore. I would back up just enough to get the wheels out of the ruts, then go again. Kept doing the same thing until it worked, with some serious work on the wheel – driving it from side to side. If you reverse too far (especially with a loaded trailer) you generally never get that ground back – and if you do it isn’t easy.
Anyway I radioed to Ian and suggested he drop tyre pressures – he was already doing it. I went down to offer moral support with the camera and was rewarded with him getting stuck. He tried a number of times but it wasn’t playing the game. By now I had ditched the camera as it was way to wet.
I filled in the ruts with wood whilst he dropped the tyres further. I believe he ended up with 16psi in the rear, and 12psi in the front. Thankfully when he attempted again he managed to get all the way to the top in the first attempt – albeit with mud and wood flying everywhere.
Ian’s wife had spent the morning cooking up a roast in the camp oven, as well as some potatoes and bread etc. And jeez it went down real well. I reckon it took my 1/2 hour to warm up again I was that frozen. Watching the radar the weather wasn’t doing us any favours. However there appeared to be a clear patch coming so we decided to wait another 1/2 hour.
After 1/2 hour it was still raining lightly however as time was getting on we decided to head out. Ian disconnected his trailer and we headed in a different direction to the morning’s run. I don’t think I could’ve got up that hill again with more weight on board, and I suspect I’ve done the passenger side engine mount when I went up earlier on…
We found some great pieces so I hook up the strap and Ian dragged them all out. The weather decided to actually be nice and stopped raining for a little while. Again we cut them to size, split and loaded the wood into the Landy and the trailer. Ended up with a nice load.
The suspension handles the load quite well. Ian decided to play silly buggers and put the strap onto the front of the Landy – PRETENDING that he was pulling the Landy out of trouble 🙂
Just as we finished the rain came in again, signalling it was time to hit the road. I thanked Ian and started the reverse trip. I don’t think I got into a higher gear than 3rd until the top of the plateau, and even then it was for only small distances.
Climbing up out of Waddamana there was evidence of how wild the weather had been since I drove through this morning. I stopped again at Penstock Lagoon for a beverage and it was bloody freezing.
I finally made it out to the highway and the subsequent turn towards Poatina. The run across the top between the Lakes was quite entertaining. I’d get up to 90km/h down the hill and crest the top back in 3rd gear doing about 40km/h!!!
I eventually made it to the start of the drop back down towards home. To make matters worse it was raining and the fog gave about enough visibility to see 20 metres. I started off in 2nd high but quickly had to change back to 1st as the vehicle was running away too much. Even in 1st I was having to brake quite often to slow it down. Anymore of a load and I’ll be back in low range!!!
Slowly but surely I crawled my way and finally made it down to Poatina, where I could at last start to speed up a little. Funny thing is it was just after Poatina when I passed the first vehicle of the day. Yep – I had driven all that way and not passed a single vehicle.
I crawled into home at about 1930h after a bloody long but productive day. It took me about 3 hours to unload the vehicle and trailer, as well as clean and resharpen the chainsaws. Worked out between the Landy and the trailer I got 2.5 metres of firewood. The trailer had 1.4 metres and the Landy had 1.1 metres.
Not bad for 1/2 a tank of fuel ($50) and some chainsaw fuel and oil (approx $10 worth). Considering that 1 metre cubed costs $70 delivered I’ve come out ahead by $115 – and that’s if you get what you are meant to (they have a bad habit of delivering less than they’re meant to).
cheers
Chris