Sand driving Stockton Beach 2017.
23rd September 2017.
Saturday morning, trundling up the M1 en-route to our rendezvous with TRAX Members and visitors for the annual sand driving and kite flying trip went by smoothly and uneventfully considering it was the first day of the school holidays. Our small group planned to meet at the Metro Service Station on the corner of Lavis Lane and Nelson Bay Road at 9:30 and shortly after Rob, Alec, Laura, Diane, Phillip and Linda welcomed the arrival of our Visitor, Peter Simonds and his two toddlers, Chelsea and Alexis. Peter also announced he had invited a friend of his, a local from Medowie, Peter Middleton and his wife Kerrie who had just arrived too. It’s always great to see visitors on our trips when Peter advised that he was expecting yet another visitor, Michael Davies who arrived soon after. We all purchased our 3 Day Beach Vehicle Permits to Worimi Conservation Lands and moved off to the end of Lavis Lane in order to air down for the beach.
For the first time anyone could remember, there were Rangers at the gate to the Worimi Conservation Lands checking that permits were valid and to give us the once over regarding recovery equipment and if we knew the designated recreational vehicle access areas. At this stage, Michael had to leave us as he had brought along his dog and was therefore excluded from entering the area and this was also against the TRAX Trip by-laws.
It’s always interesting to see the variety of methods and hardware deployed for removing the appropriate amount of air to allow good flotation over the soft sand that was expected. Anything from sticks, automatic deflators, valve removal tools all get the job done, but the easiest appears to be the automatic deflators, as long as they are set up properly in the first place. Once we all completed airing down to 16 to 20 psi, we had a chat about good sand driving techniques and the errors to avoid, then headed off for the fun!
Rob was in the lead and found progress over soft dry sand slower than normal and after building enough momentum, made it to the beach and waited for the remainder of the party to catch up. A radio check announced the beaching of Laura’s Rodeo only 20 metres inside the sand area so Rob turned back to assist Phillip and Laura with the recovery, only to become a victim of the soft, dry sand.
Laura’s recovery was done by trialling the home made TRAXion aids that were made from old milk crates the previous weekend at Neil Flower’s home. Unfortunately they were of limited benefit as tyres don’t have anything substantial enough to grip onto and also, being an open design, get buried in the sand with the weight of the vehicle. However they are better than having nothing at all and with a little shovel work and prudent rocking backwards and forwards, could be quite useful. Laura was on her way but again became bogged and we set her on her way after Rob deployed his TREDs. In the meantime, both Phillip and Rob needed their own recoveries and Rob recovered himself using shovel and right foot and Phillip used shovel and TREDs just to get out of the way to the entrance of the sand area.
Regrouping at the beach, we set off in a southerly direction and stopped near the wreck of the Sygna which is now all but out of view below the very still water. Continuing south, we came to where the sand dunes are larger and set off to have some fun and see if we could get to the top of the largest dune by driving straight up. Rob got to the top, followed by Peter and Peter, and Phillip and Laura eventually made it via alternative routes. After a short time playing dune climbing we set up some shade and enjoyed lunch with expansive views of the beach and ocean in all directions. Kite flying conditions weren’t great as there was only light and flaky breezes but eventually Phillip and Laura got their kites aloft and Rob kicked in late with his stunt kite.
After some more play time, mainly to give Alec a go blasting up a dune or two, we headed north up the beach. With the amount of traffic about, there was very little smooth travelling over the sand as tracks were crisscrossing the beach in all directions. We traversed 12kms and stopped for a photo or two at Tin City and to dream of having such a place available for some peace and quiet (apart from the weekend sightseers!).
The rest of the trip up to Anna Bay was at bit more comfortable along the flatter area left by the outgoing tide. On the way off the beach we saw the inappropriate interpretation of “4WD” when we passed an Audi RS4 beached to the gunwales on the access track. He had plenty of onlookers offering assistance so we continued to a safe area to air up to road pressures before heading off to the café at the Berubi Point Surf Club. We said goodbye to Peter and Kerrie and the rest of us enjoyed a refreshing coffee or milkshake but Laura couldn’t wait to get into the water as it had been four years since she had been swimming at the beach so the boys looked after Alexis and Chelsea as the girls went splashing in the Pacific.
All in all a good day out as we all learnt something about sand driving and recoveries. A big congrats to Laura as it was first attempt at sand driving and she equipped herself very well.
