It was pretty dry but our spot didn't have much passing traffic to stir up the dust, we hit the sack around 2.30am.

Friday: Vic and I headed over to the new rockcrawling tracks to see what the competitors had to tackle with vic concluding they were not very "wagon friendly" and myself saying they were too hard for me to tackle but we were looking forward to watching the action on saturday and sunday in the Q ROCK 2003 comp.

On the way back we called in to the organisers tent to see how many competitors had entered and were disappointed to learn that only 3 had put their hands up so far but it was still early so we decided to come back that night to check again.

We arrived back at camp to find that the other members who had arrived that morning had gone out for a drive so phil and i went out to try a couple of tracks as phil had fitted low gears to his toyota mid wheel base.

First up we did "phils folly" and with both of us having crawler gears it was a pretty slow trip around, its amazing how little you spin when you can idle up the steep bits.

Next we tackled "wreckers run" where i nearly flipped it backwards on the rockface, several more tries saw it doing the same thing so i had to give up and go round it, phil then just drove straight up it with the front locker keeping the front end down on the ground, phil, vic and paul have previously driven this rock face but i have tried it at least 20 times with all sorts of angles and speeds with the same results...no lockers, no go.It looks like i'll also have to invest in a front locker to ever get this rockface!!

We then headed over to the gorge and the shortened tray made it easy this time, i didn't touch the clutch or any rock walls :>)

It was dark by the time we got back to camp and i was in trouble as i had the food in the fridge [and the scotch] and had been out all day !

After dinner i headed over to see if anymore competitors had entered but none had so i said i would enter to make up the numbers if no one else turned up next morning.

I returned to our big campfire and checked to see if chris would like to be my spotter, he was keen so with that settled we all enjoyed a night around the "bush television".

Saturday: Up bright and early so chris and i could check in but only 4 competitors had turned up, we put our name down for the comp and received a bit of a stirring about the size of our "fan club" from the other competitors as we waved to nearly 30 vehicles from the club as they filed past on their way over to the competition area, we then  headed over to show chris what we were about to attempt , we both decided this was not going to be easy!!

The competitors were greg and mick in the double locked suzuki tube buggy on 38 swampers in outlaw class, Then in modified class there was richard and bubs in the double locked  hilux rockcrawler on 37 MTR's, dave and ??? in the hilux with rear locked and a front LSD on 33bfg's, jason and ??? in the locked suzuki on 31 bfg's, shane and chris in the GU ute with rear LSD on 35 centipedes and dale and ???, a late starter in an MQ wagon with a Rear LSD on 35centipedes.

TRACK 1: I had removed my winch during the week so made arrangements to use the rescue winch on the first rockface without extra penalty [as i would have had to use mine if it was fitted and lost the 50 normal points]

Then greg and richard both drove the rockface and both had to tie their rigs to a tree on the top corner to stop them rolling over as they dropped back over the edge and made the rest of the track no worries, dave drove outside of the track to get around the rock face so he DNF'd, jason was winched out and DNF'd, we winched up the rockface then tied a strap to the tree and drove sideways off the top bank with chris hanging on to the strap and lowering me over the edge and i was stuck to the seat, talk about "pucker factor", this was the first time we had tried this sort of thing !

By the time the strap reached the end we were over the worst part and there was a large boulder holding the truck up so we just kept on driving and pushed the boulder out of the way and we were on the level again.

We continued along the creek bed to the trees, we didnt fit through on the angle so we leaned the tray up against the inside tree and used it to pivot on and continued on to a rock ledge which we tackled at an angle with no worries and we dodged around some more trees and large boulders to the finish.

I didn't get to see how the dale went but he damaged a door and a sill on this section.

TRACK 2: We had to tie off to a tree at the start as we had to drop over a bank on an angle, then cross some large boulders in the creek bed, do a sharp "U" turn, then through some trees and more large boulders and finally came to a double ledge before the finish, greg and richard both drove over the stump on the left of the ledge knocking the witches hat off the top but otherwise their tyres made it fairly easy for them, i didnt see dave until the ledges and he made it after a couple of goes.

jasons clutch was smelling bad by the time he got to the ledge as he had a lot of trouble on the boulders, i think he was towed up the ledges but i was away getting my truck to the start.

With the strap firmly attached to a tree we dropped over the edge and made it over the boulders easily but on the "U" turn a rock rolled over and sat up under the sump, chris worked his "A" off to get me free without damage and we again had to pivot on a tree to get around but then had a clean run up the double ledge, i didn't expect it to make it and nearly hit the tree i had aimed it at but a quick reef to the left saw us around the tree and up to the finish.

Poor old dale damaged his two left doors on the stump at the ledges as he had a few tries to make it.

TRACK 3 :We all had to tie off to a tree shortly after the start and greg also nearly rolled coming out of the creek bed before he took the hard way over a couple of huge boulders that were bigger than his buggy, he put on a good show for the spectators and did the huge ledge no worries and continued on to the finish.

richard and dave also didnt have any dramas but when jason tried to drive the huge chest high ledge he rolled it over on its side, roof, and side and ended up with the wheels against the side of the tree.

they had to drag the suzuki backwards on its side to get it clear of the tree, i dont think there was a straight panel left but he was o.k.

Our turn next, great after watching a roll !!

We started off down the track to the bank and tied off to the tree as we dropped over the bank, [why do they put all the drop offs on my side ? ] then i was through the creek bed and got hung up on some rocks for a bit, we cleared them and dropped into the gully which had the good old wizard suspension working to its max to keep the wheels on the ground but as we exited the gully on the angle we had six foot of air under the front left wheel apparently,  the crawler gears meant i could keep up a slow steady pace until the front finally came back to earth.

A few more boulders to cross before we came to the huge ledge and it didn't matter which angle i tried it on the bullbar still hit long before the wheels had reached the rock face, we ended up skittling the witches hat getting up and had no problems to the finish.

Dale managed to break the front diff in the MQ  just before the huge ledge and had to DNF.

That was the end for the day so we made our way back to camp where once more i was in trouble for staying away all day [ at least i am getting good at something :>) ]

We joined a couple of dozen others for a drive down and back up the rock gorge under lights and then headed back to camp for another excellent night around the campfire.

Sunday dawned cool and clear again and chris and i headed back to the competition area with todays tracks promising to be much much harder, the Q ROCK organisers had made the tracks progressivly harder and tracks 4 and 5 were designed to stop all but the most capable rigs.

TRACK 4: greg was working his buggy hard but managed to drive it eventually, richard made it 3/4 of the way before laying the hilux on its side for a DNF, with a lot of helping hands it was righted and he drove out with a bent door and front guard.

Dave made it about 20 metres to the rockhole before DNFing.

We made it about 10 metres and got well and truly hung up on the rockpile with the tie rod trying to hold all the weight of the front of the car up and the side rails jammed solidly on the rocks, we were towed out backwards for our first DNF.

Jason and Dale were out due to damage sustained on saturday.

TRACK 5: Used the first 25 metres of track 4 before exiting hard right out of the rockhole.

Greg had an excellent run but had a bit of trouble at the tight turn at the top of the rock face but a lot of shuffling got him round and he completed the stage.

Richard did well until lack of clearance got him hung up getting out of the rock bowl so they left it there as a backdrop while the presentations were held.

We gave it a miss as we didnt have enough clearance to make it over the first rockpile as we'd found out on track 4.

RESULTS:

Outlaw class:
1st place - Geg Hieck / Mick Jenkins

Modified class:
1st place - Richard McMullen / Buddy Dryden - Hilux LN65
2nd place - David Burton-Bradley / - Hilux RN106
3rd place - Shane Gerrish / Chris Brame - Patrol GU ute
4th place - Dale Pyritz / Matt Trim - Patrol MQ wagon
5th place - Rhett Bryant / Luke Richards - Sierra soft top 
 

My damage was a slightly bent trailing arm, tierod and bullbar.

My thanks go to Chris Brame for being my spotter and all the other competitors who made it a fun weekend.

Congratulations also to Rock Crawling Queensland for putting on a well run and organised event.

Also thanks must go to David Laidler of Manar tourist park for his help and use of his awesome rocks.

After the presentations we headed back to camp to lead a trip around "Bare Bum Boulevard" with Phil in his double locked toyota mwb and wally in his double locked GQ wagon, this is a great little rockcrawling track that runs along the side of the boyne river across a range of rockfaces for a couple of kilometres, the start also crosses the river just above the rock pools with a sandy rockface to climb straight after the water.

It was just on dark as we took the left turn off the river run track and entered through the overhanging trees, not many people notice the track so its rarely used.

We scraped and banged our way to the finish in time to join the convoy of vehicles heading back up the rockgorge and then drove "crackpot canyon" on the way back to camp.

Another night of tall tales ensued around the campfire as we listened to the exploits of the other club members as they talked over the tracks and problems of the weekend.

Monday was a lazy pack up before we sadly headed back to civilization, thanks to all the club members for your support over the weekend.

Photos: 15 Photos

Shane Gerrish (AKA Big Red)

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