Jeep Action Mag.
Well well well, A got published in the Jp Action Mag. Here is the text pretty much:
Hi Jeep Action Magazine!
A while ago I read about the Ladies Day Out in Your magazine and got inspired to write about my own first trip with my friend Birgitta Johnsson.
When I was a just a little kid I lived in the Phillippines. We lived on the northern island in the mountains. We then had Jeeps. The one I remember most was a grey one. Many years later when I had children of my own we lived in California and met a gang of fourwheeling fans. Twice we went out with them in the Mohave desert with our children in a rented Ford Explorer. That was a lot of fun!
The years passed again and we lived in Sweden. The kids grew up and left home and we did too. We moved to Australia. Hubby got himself a company car and started looking for a smaller car for me without me knowing it. I was thinking: Australia, this is maybe the last outpost for fourwheeling. And so one day hubby asked what car I was planning on buying for myself thinking it might be a Toyota Rav4. (We had rented one and driven around Iceland, Vatnajökull /Hofsjökull/Akureyri and so on, with my brother and his girlfriend once.) Anyway I told him I wanted a Jeep. “A Jeep??!!” Well, ok then. He threw himself on all ads and car sales to find me a Jeep. We checked out the closest place which was in Brookvale and tried one out. Wow, they were different from what I had remembered. Then again who would complain to automatic and airconditioner. We bought one. A Jeep Wrangler Sport, JK, 2 door, Soft Top, 2007. Perfect for me and my hubby. Removed the backseat to make room for all the camping gear, cameras, books, beer and more. The only thing was, it took a month before it arrived. I bought it on Thursday and got the impression I would pick it up on Monday but oh no it was on a boat from the US!
Anyway I finally got it and we got our camping gear together and went out on this trip and that. To McDonalds River, Yengo N.P., Broken Hill and what not. We namned it Janeway.
Some work mates of hubby’s heard of our trips and how much fun we had. One of them decided to buy a Jeep too. The guy got hold of a 1/2 year old used Jeep Wrangler Sport, JK, 2007, two door, exactly the same as ours. But Birgitta, his wife, was bit hesitant so I said I will take you out and let you try it out before you pick it up. The guy had already paid for it but you don’t want one of them hating it, right?
My friend had never gone rough roading or camped out or hardly even been in the woods in Australia though she had lived here for about 4 years, or in any other countries she had lived in either. So all was new to her.
We planned two nights up at Yengo N.P. We did have a GPS but at that time hubby sorely needed it to work so I studied the map book we had thoroughly but not enough as we found out during the trip.
I picked up Birgitta at the Manly Ferry and we bought some food and drinks to bring. I already had water and everything else. Some warm clothes for mornings and evenings since it was September. Drove up and onto Pacific Hwy and off at Peats Ridge. A bit unsure of the way, I turned in on Finchley track and took a wrong turn or two before we were on our way again. We had to “ford” a couple of times. The first fording was only a bit of water over the road. The second was over a stream and I told her about checking the depth and the depth measure poles. This second one was about maybe 8 cm. But it made her more than a bit nervous. Should we or not? We braved the 8 cm! Ordinary puddles are deeper but we must be serious. The future of our Jeeping trips together depended on my being very psychological. After that there were no problems with any fording. Besides they were all more or less dried out.
We saw lots of fun things, odd looking mailboxes, and animals like, uhm a donkey, a turtle, wallabies, turkeys, goannas and more, buying oranges - paying in the conscience box... well. Everything is fantastic when it’s the first time, right? No 4wheeling this first day, or at least not much of it. But we can stop anywhere along the road not only at rest stops! And we did. Too bad the orange peel ended up in the tree tops in the ditches. She also got to open her first gate and there would be many more over the years.
In good time before the campsite we picked wood for the evenings campfire. Our cozy campfire brought back old girl scout memories to her.
The second day I had planned us to go on Boree track which in my mind is a good beginners track when it is not newly sanded. I let my friend drive but she did not care to be so adventurous on her first try. So we went in to the Watagan off by Laguna instead. The road was a bit gravely and got narrower and steeper and the curves were sharper. I thought it looked promising but after climbing a short bit she refused to drive farther. She also didn’t want to let me drive any farther but how do we get down again she worried. The road was about as wide as Janeway but at one part it was a bit wider so I let her direct me when I turned the Jeep to go down again. This showed to be very psychological because this feat impressed her immensly and she decided that the Jeep was from now on a very reliable piece of vehicle. But she would not drive anymore this day. We went back to the main roads to ask for anywhere one could camp - got directions to The Basin and set up camp there.
Third day after a cold and damp night in The Basin we just tried out some of the easier tracks and then made our way homeward. At Kulnura we took down the soft top, haha two women in their 50’s! But driving with the top down showed to be a bit chilly so we had to stop before getting on the freeway and get the top on again. That was harder. Later I figured out the tricks but this time it was pure muscle. We tried waving down a guy on a lawn mower but he just waved back. How we laughed at ourselves.
At lunchtime we turned off the freeway into a small crooked mud road to have some sandwiches. We noticed one of the mudflaps dangling by one screw. I took them off.
And that was the end of that adventure. We decided to go out just the two of us once a year. Our next trip took us throuh the Abercrombie NP but that’s another story. They picked up their Jeep and the four of us had a lot of trips together after that.
Last year we lost our friends due to their move to Sweden. My friend wept a bit when they had to sell their Jeep but guess what car they bought over there? Yes, a Jeep Wrangler Sahara. She says she is so happy and feels so safe in the Jeep in the terribly snowy weather they are having this year.
Hi Jeep Action Magazine!
A while ago I read about the Ladies Day Out in Your magazine and got inspired to write about my own first trip with my friend Birgitta Johnsson.
When I was a just a little kid I lived in the Phillippines. We lived on the northern island in the mountains. We then had Jeeps. The one I remember most was a grey one. Many years later when I had children of my own we lived in California and met a gang of fourwheeling fans. Twice we went out with them in the Mohave desert with our children in a rented Ford Explorer. That was a lot of fun!
The years passed again and we lived in Sweden. The kids grew up and left home and we did too. We moved to Australia. Hubby got himself a company car and started looking for a smaller car for me without me knowing it. I was thinking: Australia, this is maybe the last outpost for fourwheeling. And so one day hubby asked what car I was planning on buying for myself thinking it might be a Toyota Rav4. (We had rented one and driven around Iceland, Vatnajökull /Hofsjökull/Akureyri and so on, with my brother and his girlfriend once.) Anyway I told him I wanted a Jeep. “A Jeep??!!” Well, ok then. He threw himself on all ads and car sales to find me a Jeep. We checked out the closest place which was in Brookvale and tried one out. Wow, they were different from what I had remembered. Then again who would complain to automatic and airconditioner. We bought one. A Jeep Wrangler Sport, JK, 2 door, Soft Top, 2007. Perfect for me and my hubby. Removed the backseat to make room for all the camping gear, cameras, books, beer and more. The only thing was, it took a month before it arrived. I bought it on Thursday and got the impression I would pick it up on Monday but oh no it was on a boat from the US!
Anyway I finally got it and we got our camping gear together and went out on this trip and that. To McDonalds River, Yengo N.P., Broken Hill and what not. We namned it Janeway.
Some work mates of hubby’s heard of our trips and how much fun we had. One of them decided to buy a Jeep too. The guy got hold of a 1/2 year old used Jeep Wrangler Sport, JK, 2007, two door, exactly the same as ours. But Birgitta, his wife, was bit hesitant so I said I will take you out and let you try it out before you pick it up. The guy had already paid for it but you don’t want one of them hating it, right?
My friend had never gone rough roading or camped out or hardly even been in the woods in Australia though she had lived here for about 4 years, or in any other countries she had lived in either. So all was new to her.
We planned two nights up at Yengo N.P. We did have a GPS but at that time hubby sorely needed it to work so I studied the map book we had thoroughly but not enough as we found out during the trip.
I picked up Birgitta at the Manly Ferry and we bought some food and drinks to bring. I already had water and everything else. Some warm clothes for mornings and evenings since it was September. Drove up and onto Pacific Hwy and off at Peats Ridge. A bit unsure of the way, I turned in on Finchley track and took a wrong turn or two before we were on our way again. We had to “ford” a couple of times. The first fording was only a bit of water over the road. The second was over a stream and I told her about checking the depth and the depth measure poles. This second one was about maybe 8 cm. But it made her more than a bit nervous. Should we or not? We braved the 8 cm! Ordinary puddles are deeper but we must be serious. The future of our Jeeping trips together depended on my being very psychological. After that there were no problems with any fording. Besides they were all more or less dried out.
We saw lots of fun things, odd looking mailboxes, and animals like, uhm a donkey, a turtle, wallabies, turkeys, goannas and more, buying oranges - paying in the conscience box... well. Everything is fantastic when it’s the first time, right? No 4wheeling this first day, or at least not much of it. But we can stop anywhere along the road not only at rest stops! And we did. Too bad the orange peel ended up in the tree tops in the ditches. She also got to open her first gate and there would be many more over the years.
In good time before the campsite we picked wood for the evenings campfire. Our cozy campfire brought back old girl scout memories to her.
The second day I had planned us to go on Boree track which in my mind is a good beginners track when it is not newly sanded. I let my friend drive but she did not care to be so adventurous on her first try. So we went in to the Watagan off by Laguna instead. The road was a bit gravely and got narrower and steeper and the curves were sharper. I thought it looked promising but after climbing a short bit she refused to drive farther. She also didn’t want to let me drive any farther but how do we get down again she worried. The road was about as wide as Janeway but at one part it was a bit wider so I let her direct me when I turned the Jeep to go down again. This showed to be very psychological because this feat impressed her immensly and she decided that the Jeep was from now on a very reliable piece of vehicle. But she would not drive anymore this day. We went back to the main roads to ask for anywhere one could camp - got directions to The Basin and set up camp there.
Third day after a cold and damp night in The Basin we just tried out some of the easier tracks and then made our way homeward. At Kulnura we took down the soft top, haha two women in their 50’s! But driving with the top down showed to be a bit chilly so we had to stop before getting on the freeway and get the top on again. That was harder. Later I figured out the tricks but this time it was pure muscle. We tried waving down a guy on a lawn mower but he just waved back. How we laughed at ourselves.
At lunchtime we turned off the freeway into a small crooked mud road to have some sandwiches. We noticed one of the mudflaps dangling by one screw. I took them off.
And that was the end of that adventure. We decided to go out just the two of us once a year. Our next trip took us throuh the Abercrombie NP but that’s another story. They picked up their Jeep and the four of us had a lot of trips together after that.
Last year we lost our friends due to their move to Sweden. My friend wept a bit when they had to sell their Jeep but guess what car they bought over there? Yes, a Jeep Wrangler Sahara. She says she is so happy and feels so safe in the Jeep in the terribly snowy weather they are having this year.