Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of WA Inc.
Editor Quite a big issue this month. Lots of Trip flyers included. A big thanks to Pat for running these trips. It’s always a fun day out with Pat! A thanks to Judith for her help editing and supplying interesting stuff too Check out the advert from ALLY TABLE it’s a really neat idea that might come in handy out bush or even on a Picnic. Please check through the past issues. If your picture was a POTY of the month please email me if you haven’t already!!! Best Wishes for the Silly Season! PJ—editor@mitsubishi4wd.org.au POSTAL ADDRESS: Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of WA PO Box 655 South Perth 6951 EMAIL ADDRESS secretary@mitsubishi4wd.org.au HOME PAGE: www.mitsubishi4wd.org.au MEETINGS: 1st Wednesday of every month, except January. Commencing at 7:30pm Manning Senior Citizen’s Centre 3 Downey Drive Manning Visitors welcome at all times. NEW MEMBERS: Visitors must participate in 2 club trips and 2 monthly meetings before they can apply for membership. Visitors cannot attend trips that are more than 3 days duration. Upon application a potential new member must pay a $50 nomination fee. In addition, membership fee is currently $100, which is due each March. Membership fees for new members are calculated pro-rata at the time the application is accepted by the club Committee. 2
President’s Report December 2011
Our thoughts and best wishes are with Louise Ryan in her battle to beat cancer. We extend our love and support and hope she recovers very soon and has a wonderful Christmas with her family.
Thanks
to all those members who attended the club stand at the Perth 4WD Show. Particular thanks to Stephen Kalyniuk and Michael Gilbert for getting it up and running and organising things. I understand the show was a success in that our stand attracted a lot of interest. That was evident by the good turn-up of visitors to our December Meeting. Unfortunately, the show producers, Premiere Events once again were a bit slow providing appropriate ticket access for members. I have passed on our concerns to the Association in the hope that they make Premiere Events aware of the issues before next year.
Thank
you to Denise and the Social Committee (Karen, Jan, Rosalie and Pasc) for organising a wonderful Xmas Picnic. We appreciate all the effort that was put into organising the event. I think most people agree that an outdoor event in the park is more enjoyable for both adults and kids. Thanks to Neil and Raelene for their contributions and especially Neil for taking on the Santa role this year. Neil arriving dressed as Santa on the tail gate of Henry’s Triton with amber roof light flashing got all the kids, and some adults, very excited. Thank you to Glen for organising the games that kept the little kids occupied and nearly gave the big kids chance to be the first recipients of the
club’s defibrillator. The club’s policy and procedures will be under review over the next few Months by a small committee and myself. If you have any issues with club procedures, such as the way meetings are run, trip procedures or anything at all to do with club policy, please send me your concerns or ideas in the coming days so that they can be considered.
Being
affiliated with the WA 4WD Association, as a club, we have a commitment to assist the Association with the maintenance of the Karaakin Office and the Black Cockatoo Society who occupy the property. It is proposed that, to do our ‘bit’, we will hold a function of some sort at that location in the coming year which will incorporate a club effort to provide work in maintaining the property.
Big
congratulations to Tony Weldon for receiving a DEC Outstanding Service Award for our club’s environment work at the Leschenault Peninsula. The club received an award in 2009, but this year, although our club was also mentioned on the award, was directed to Tony personally for his efforts in organising the work. As a club we are privileged in having someone as dedicated and enthusiastic as Tony to represent our club. Behind every good man is an even better woman. In Tony’s case, all this environmental achievement would not be possible without the support and assistance from Stella. We all thank you both for the mammoth effort you put in.
Members
are asked that if you have an idea for a Guest Speaker to present at club meetings that you first contact our Secretary John King before making any arrangements. The presentation needs to be relevant to our club’s activities. If approved by the Secretary, a date and time limit will be provided for you to organise your guest. It will be your responsibility to introduce the guest to the club meeting.
The December meeting saw a presentation from Lauren who is a Community Liaison Officer with the Can-
cer Council. Lauren spoke about the causes and preventative measures for skin cancer. Her talk was very well received with many questions being generated from the members. The Cancer Council operate on money received from fund raising, business operations and government grants. In return the provide community awareness programs like the talk presented to the club, fund research into cancer cures and provide support for cancer patients. The club presented Lauren with a $300 donation. This money was raised from a quiz night at Big Valley and the proceeds from the raffle draw at the December meeting. Thank you to all those who contributed.
The
next AGM is not until March, however, because we do not have a January meeting it should be mentioned that there’s a number of vacancies coming up on our committee. Traditionally the committee positions were discussed over a campfire during the New Years Even camping trip at Denmark and later years at Walpole. However, because the club has grown in recent years we now have two full trips over the xmas break and AGM nominations no longer get resolved. So I ask you to think about what you can contribute to the club by selecting a position on the committee and put your name up when nominations are called in February.
Immediately
following the March AGM will be the usual club meeting. However, this coming year we will introduce a Planning Meeting format where all club members will have the opportunity to voice their recommendations on what the club should achieve in the coming year. You may have some ideas for social events, day trips, camping trips, guest speakers or anything else that comes to mind. You don’t necessarily have to commit yourself to organising anything, but the ideas may inspire others to get involved.
In
the meantime, for those not going to the Duke of Orleans trip, I wish each and every one a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year. Martin -President 5
Well, being a boy I have always been interested in cars and have always had the bug to modify them to better suit my needs – the hunt for performance, better fuel economy, reliability, off road ability and a comfortable home away from home when the camping opportunities beckon. My landcruiser was born in 1989, the last of a long line of 60 series cruisers. Most likely the oldest vehicle in the club – any takers for the title? When I first bought the cruiser home the kids were only little and it was so big they called it REX, short for Tyrannosaurus rex! On a recent trip to Julimar,
Paul (Ex-Presidento) thought we should rename REX as ‘Ethel’ instead as it reminded him of ‘homely, gentle, homemade apple pie on the window sill’ sort of old girl, kind of car like the elephant matriarch – she is slow but keeps on plodding along. She has even been called ‘the tardis’ on occasions because of what materializes out of her.
In the eleven years I have owned Rex, it has had quite a few modifications and additions. This is more of a hobby with the added advantage of enabling my other interests of camping, fishing, exploring outback historic places, getting the kids outdoors and of course the campfire cooking, socializing and beers. The main modifications have really been aimed at comfortable touring. As I don’t like towing and try to
keep things simple, even a tent is a luxury. In following this theme, I prefer to sleep out under the stars in my swag, if it is a bit dewy the awning comes out and if it is a bit wet the awning sides come out. Next is the tent if I am camping for more the 3 nights or so. My idea of a holiday is to park up on a nice secluded beach, set up my camp and just sit, fish, swim, read, walk, sleep and maybe a beer or two. My solar power setup of 2 solar panels on gas struts and 3 batteries
means I can stay as long as I like without worrying about flat batteries. The ‘go where I want to’ aspect has been enabled by a 50mm suspension lift, 33” wheels, Tough Dog foam cell shockies, extended greasable shackles and front sway bar disconnects. No lockers yet! Outside is adorned with a roobar, spotties, radio and phone antennas, roof rack with tilt up twin solar panels, Maxtrax, LED floodlights all round, mounting locations for 2 extra spare wheels and 4 x 20 litre jerry cans for long distance travel. It also has a 65 litre sub tank and custom rock sliders.
Camping accessories include a Polaris 2.5 x 2.5m awning with 3 zip-on sides in case the weather turns bad. A custom built drawer system with a 40litre slide out Engel fridge, cargo barrier and lots of little pokey places to hide other stuff. The back seats have been removed to free up space for tools, spare parts, tent, water (on tap at the rear), swag, shower and other necessities.
“So, the old brain started ticking away, ticking, ticking…...Determined to intercool the turbo’d engine I decided to make my own system.”
My navigation setup sounds impressive with 4 GPS’s. A Garmin, a Magellan, Tom Tom and Oziexplorer running on a 10 inch notebook with an external touch screen monitor. The truth is I keep upgrading but can’t move the old gear out of the car! My most recent addition has been a reversing camera, I figured after backing into two trees that it was about time – it is plumbed into the monitor. 8
Well, I suppose that at some time I must mention the power house under the old girls bonnet! Technology it is not, “it sounds like a truck” says Michael. The main thing is that she has done 335,000 kms and the engine has not been touched yet and it hasn’t let me down. But, I must admit I had a little fiddle under the bonnet – an improvement. She came standard with a factory turbo diesel with a four speed auto driving the wheels. Being convinced that intercooling is the way to go I searched high and low for an ‘off the shelf’ kit – to no avail. So, the old brain started ticking away, ticking, ticking…. Determined to intercool the turbo’d engine I decided to make my own system. After much measuring I sourced an air to air intercooler and set to work. I made up my own kit and one weekend installed it… the hardest bit was cutting the hole in the bonnet – no going back after the first cut! The end product produced the goods with a fan forcing air through it when going gets hard on the sand, the turbo boost increased to 9.5 pounds and the fuel rail adjusted up for more fuel if needed. I am pleased with the result – a faster elephant now! Also to compliment all of this is a GME radio, inbuilt Max Air compressor, 600 watt inverter and a Sony sound system. All in all over the years I have slowly developed a comfortable, reliable touring wagon that takes me where I want to go. See you out there! Glenn Bignell
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The
club Christmas party was held at Manning Park, Spearwood on Sunday 4th Dec. Some forty five members, six guests and nineteen children enjoyed a happy occasion with super communal food, games and prizes, highlighted by the attendance of Father Christmas to the delight of the children. A special thank you goes to Father Christmas for his timely arrival and his generosity in sparing the time in his busy season to give out the presents to the excited children. Further thanks go to Neil and Rayleen, and Glen for all their efforts on providing the entertaining games which were entered into with gusto by the children. Thanks go also to the ladies of the Social Committee; Karen, Pasc, Jan and Rosalie and to their spouses for assisting in setting up and later staying to tidy up leaving the park in pristine condition. Weather was kind and everyone had a good time. Denise Belcher,, S.C Chairperson.
POTY ENTRY FOR DEC. 2011 Taken on the Harvey Hills Climb day Trip in August by John H. Well Done! Left: 4 Chefs workin hard! Big Valley Nov 2011
15
Notes - General Meeting 7/12/11 Environment Officer 1. Working bees. The next working bees will be held on the following dates. McBEG (Wungong Regional Park)18 March,17 June, 19 August. McLEG (Leschenault Peninsula Conservation Park) 18-20 May, 12-14 October 2. Old Homestead in Wungong RP. Our DEC friend Tony Eddleston has asked us to do a survey of the remains of the historical homestead to see if we can clean up the site and put up information boards &c. Stella has put in a lot of work researching the homestead and has talked to a number of interested people so there may even be an archaeological dig on the area. Some of the local councils are also interested. The Club’s Committee has agreed to support this project and it is hoped that a few Club members together with DEC staff and representatives of the councils will visit the site in early to mid January to assess the situation. This project will further raise the already high profile of the Club. 3. Regional Park Community Advisory Committees. DEC are asking for expressions of interest for positions on these committees which cover a range of local and outer Perth parks. Please contact me if you are interested environment@mitsubishi4wd.org.au - if you are interested. 4. Outstanding Service Award. In 2009, the Club was awarded this honour which recognised the work members put in at Leschenault Peninsula. Last Friday I was given a personal OSA for my “continuing commitment and encouragement for the Mitsubishi 4WD Club, and the Leschenault Environment Group, now in its 10th year”. It was quite a surprise when I received the invitation and was delighted to be there with Stella and a few members. But the Award would never have happened if it hadn’t been for the support and help of so many of you. In particular of course, my wife Stella has been a very special “encourager” of the work I have undertaken. Our Presidents, especially Martin and Paul, and the Committee members over the years, have backed me up strongly but so have all those mem-
bers who have had the commitment to the Club and understood both the need for what we do and why we do it. When the Club’s Award was presented, I had the opportunity to give three reasons to the staff and guests
John K, Tony & Stella W, Paul R, Keith P.
why we are involved and these reasons still apply. Firstly, it is by building the relationships with DEC staff that we are able to drive to areas which might otherwise be closed off. Secondly, in WA we have a great part of the Creation and we should care for it, repair the damage done by feral drivers and others who don’t care, and leave a positive heritage for the future. The third reason is to support the DEC guys on the ground who are understaffed, have to deal with the incredible amounts of rubbish dumped by visitors to the parks and also repair the damage done the deliberate and stupid actions of a few “ferals” who don’t care about the parks, the staff and other visitors. We have seen some appalling damage in our two parks. So thanks to all of you who have come to our Mitsubishi club Leschenault Environment Group (McLEG) and Byford/Wungong McBEG working bees and camps. For those of you who can but haven’t helped the Club & DEC previously, please think again and join us for our next working bees. Tony Weldon 17
CONGRATULATI ONS TONY ON YOUR D.E.C. OUTSTANDI NG SERVI CE AWARD 2011
Tony Weldon being presented his Outstanding Service Award by D.E.C’s Director Parks and Visitor Services Peter Sharp.
Meeting: Not available on the web, contact Leader Time: Distance: Fuel: Convoy Limit: Trip Stand: Equipment:
350 km Full tank ex Perth. 12 vehicles Easy/Medium Standard club req,UHF radio, First Aid kit
Provisions: Mornos and Packed Lunch. Take plenty of water Trip Leader: Pat O’D Register: fugsleprechaun@hotmail.com
Not available on the web, contact Leader
GNANGARA TRIP - 27th Nov Very noisy dirt Bikes and dust yuk … who's idea was it to meet here!
Bumpy track, trip note leader has
hard time typing on iPad and driving at the same time. 6 Kids in Ricks car playing with compressor switches, Rick had to stop, check all wheels still attached to the car. Only 15 minutes into the trip and trip leader needs to stop and check maps where is he taking us?? Does he know?? Oh dear 30 minutes into the trip and Peter Cole has a suspected flat tyre fortunately all good. Pat takes us on every detour possible to make sure we are off the main limestone track. 10:30 play time, feel like I am back at school! BIG open sand pit good place to train Guests in sand driving. 11:00 stomachs rumbling we stop for morning tea trip leader very precise with instructions 11: 30 we move on! 12:15 Steve, frantic dash through the scrub, longest pit stop ever. Some nice wildflowers along the way.
Pat "Little bit of water here I'm
going to go for it but I think I will go straight down" quoted our fearless leader.
But later and in true
Pat style as we are driving along getting very hungry (Continued on page 24)
Ooops where did that come from??
“Rick... have you…. chipped the Cruiser?”
As we are not having much success with volunteers for Day Trips I have decided to revert to the ballot system as used a couple of years ago. This time however I will draw names from two categories; experienced and inexperienced and will put one member from each category together so the young gun can learn from the old stager. Rather than put any pair together I will attempt to chose them by region (north, central, south) so they do not have a great distance to travel to either discuss a venue or do a pre-trip. I will get this sorted shortly and will phone each of the respective “winners� to discuss. We have records of many earlier trips and by going back through trip notes in the ,magazine you could possibly find a suitable run and no doubt the original Trip Leader will be willing to assist with route details, etc. I also have many of these, especially if they were plotted on Ozi Explorer. As an aside, Pat O’Dowd intends to run all trips in the 4WD Days Out of Perth book and will no doubt appreciate assistance. This would be an ideal opportunity for inexperienced members to become involved in running a trip. If you have an interest in either of these proposals please contact me. Keith Trip coordinator
Australia’s most versatile outdoor 4X4 Table! Email: allytable@bigpond.com.au
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we hear "I'm stuck" but it was not the mud or sand but tree Mulch ‌ what the! However he was not the only one to give it a go, Rick also got stuck.
12:15
we hit the road again. 1:30 on the dot lunch break.
2:15 on the dirt again. Pat relinquished his
trip leader responsibility to Michael in order look for "the hill". Eventually Pat did find it so we spent some time "playing!" Pats usual sense of adventure took over when he attempted the hill in reverse! No he didn't quite make it but10 points for trying. 4 o'clock and we were airing up for the drive back to Perth on the bitumen road. Marion Gilbert
History Report December Club officials met with Tony Eddleston ( D.E.C.) in Oct and a proposal was put forward that the club might undertake work in 2012 around the homestead ruin in the Upper Wungong Valley. The Management Committee has agreed that the Environment Officer proceed with an investigation of what might be required and how this might be resourced.
It
is likely that a survey of the homestead site would be undertaken, rubbish removed, restoration work done where possible, story boards made and set up strategically and other relevant signage. The significant trees will also need to be photographed and GPS recorded. The ruins have not yet been heritage listed on the Municipal database and the likelihood of this happening depends on evidence to support any application by the City of Armadale.
The environment work done by the Club to revegetate the disused crop dusting airstrip has been successful and the Club will continue to maintain this area within the Regional Park. Broken fencing, rubbish including car bodies has been removed and maintenance of the area around the airstrip above Byford town will be ongoing.
In a previous newsletter I stated that the pioneer owners of the property under discussion were the Hall family. I learned recently that I had been wrongly informed through a misunderstanding of the exact location of this ruin. The current information about the ruin has been verified by Hugh Carder of the City of Armadale who is responsible for heritage issues and Margaret Bruns who has lived at the neighbouring Wungong Farm south of the highway for over fifty years. 25
The
location was first purchased by William Lacey Gibbs. He moved to the Darkan area the following year after selling the property to William Butcher Senior. The property remained in the Butcher family until after the First World War. The original home, believed to have been built in 1854, was close to the brook and built of pit sawn timber and mud from the property. There was a water wheel. The farming activities included horse breeding, dairying, butter, fruit and vegetables sold at the Perth Market. The property during its establishment was used as a depot for transporting sandalwood between Williams and Perth
The
property was sold in 1926 to (Roy) James Rawlinson Drummond. Further research is pending. Interesting info; there are four reserves in Wungong Regional Park: Jarrahdale State Forest (part), Wungong Valley, Churchman's Bushland, Armadale Settlers Common (Shire of Armadale) and Bungendore Park (Shire of Armadale). Further information can be found on this link*. The Club is undertaking work in the first two areas and there are other groups associated with the other areas and working with the City of Armadale. Stella Weldon, Club historian http://www.roleybushcare.com/bush-topics/109new-aboriginal-names-for-regional-parks.html
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$35.00 each $70.00 each $15.00 each $40.00 each $15.00 each $ 1.00 each
Download an Order Form from the members page of the Club website or contact Helen Kingston on 08 92492242
Sudowner McBeg
Night Trip Brookton
Monthly Club Meeting
Capt Fawett Trail
Camping Trip
Monthly Club Meeting
McBeg
Sand Training
Camping Kalgoorlie
Jan 28
Feb 1
Feb-26
Mar 3-5
Mar 7
Mar 18
Mar-25
April 6-10
Glenn Bignell
1 2
Tony Weldon
Pat O'Dowd
Pat O'Dowd
Pat O'Dowd
Richard Nicholls
4 5
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
Martin Archer
1 2 3 4 5
Duke of Orleans Bay
EVENT
Trip Leader
Grade
Destination
Jan 26
Dec 27-Jan 7
Date
CALENDAR
See Flyer in this magazine
See Flyer in this magazine
Camping, 65km east of Esperance.
Details
Check Website for more details
See Flyer in this magazine
gbignell@bigpond.com
training@mitsubishi4wd.org.au
odyssey@tpg.com.au
Kalgoorlie Pipeline - more details soon!
Club run training day. Learn the correct techniques in the sand.
park working to re-establish the bush to it's natural state.
Come along and help give something back. A fun day in the regional
Visitors very welcome. 7.30pm
fugsleprechaun@hotmail.com
First club meeting for 2012. Visitors very welcome. 7.30pm
fugsleprechaun@hotmail.com
fugsleprechaun@hotmail.com
mkms@tpg.com.au
Contact