Vertical Climb

4WD Club (not INC.)

(there u go Dan!!)

(incorporating the Toyota Club of NSW – Unofficially of course)

Ever wondered what existed south of Braidwood?

NO?

Me either, and except for the snow, I really didnt care.

And AFTER the weekend of the 18th 19th and 20th of November 2005, I STILL DONT CARE!!!

Deua National Park.......a much spoken about and much revered

4WD destination. We must've gone to the WRONG place!

Thursday night of the 17th November saw:

Karl and Marie-Therese (2003 TOYOTA Hilux)

Peter and Robert (2005 Toyota Prado) (Pardon the Homo tendencies - Just good friends!!)

with their "I still havent done my homework" KIDS

meet up at a small camping spot north of Braidwood.

Setting up camp at night is always good, especially when you cant

see the ants and spiders your laying your tent on.

Joining us on Friday morning, in their time-honoured method

of getting there LOST AND LATE was:

George and Colleen and kids (2002 TOYOTA Landcruiser 100 Series c/w GPS)

To cut to the chase, After 8hrs of driving up and down, up and down, along a long fire trail,

Crossing a lovely deep river for lunch

we finally got to Deua National park camping Ground.

Lovely spot....calming swaying trees, meandering stream, trickle of gently running water, smell of

Eucalyptus in the air, millions of annoying flies, noisy motorbikes....did I mention the FLIES???!!!!

Set up camp and enjoyed a somewhat relaxed evening, with

Flies replacing with Mozzies

(note to myself#1: Bring Military-style flame thrower next trip)

Saturday saw us mounted and moving out towards some caves,

another long and twisted, and I might add, stinking hot, fire trail.

Is that our camping ground? I can see the flies!!

Hilux and Cruiser suffering post 80,000kms over heating problems

we finally arrived at the caves.

Caves?? Where in tarnation are they?

While a few wandered off looking for caves, the rest of

us attended to Peter's Prado, which had managed to bag

a friendly stick, right thru "the hardest part of the radiator to get to".

(note to myself#2: Bring some more pepper for next trip)

Some may scoff, others laughed, but all were silent

when the leak was fixed with a tub of pepper.

(Roothy, you would have been proud!)

A quick 35km drive back to camp...go the coils

saw us once again enjoying the company of flies.

Chris enjoyed a good part of 4 hours trying to get my

Swedish fire starter, well, started, and finally did it,

except that he used wood from the already burning fire!

Good on ya Chris!

(note to myself#3: Bring Military-style flame thrower next trip)

Same deal: flies, mozzies, fire, alcohol.

GOOD COMBO when in the right proportions.

(note to myself#4: Bring Military-style flame thrower next trip)

Sunday morning brought storms and thunder

AND NO FLIES, what a shame we were leaving such a magic spot!

Rain and more rain, finally made it into an intersting

drive out.

Hard to see the descents when your shrouded in mist

Back on the tarmac someplace I cant remember

it was a long drive home.

Does anybody remember anything else that happened??

I sure as heck (should have been Hell but kids might read this) cant!!

Email me more photos you slackers.

Last Update 09-03-2006 2.00pm

Glad to report that George didnt dunk his Cruiser this time.