Wow, this years Rock Hopper run was something to remember. Nothing much to do with Rock though, the adventure was THE MUD.

Scooting along Stirling Highway in the cold crispy Sunday dawn, the radio announced an outside temperature of 4 deg C, and ahead in them thar hills, I could see big pockets of cloud nestling in the valleys, some fun coming up me thinks. At the bottom of Greenmount the radio announces the temperature is 2 dec C, thank goodness the 2CV's heaters work. Punting the little bus up the long hill, reminded me of just how cool it was outside, the oil temperature, which usually gets to 95 on this slog, was only registering 50C. The road was damp and beyond Sawyers Valley the fog became very heavy and for once I wasn't embarrassed by cars continuously passing me, 50 was at most times the maximum prudent speed.

What a difference it makes not travelling with my aged canine companions who were having the day off. I arrived first at the Lakes Turnoff rendezvous, its rare for me to be first at anything! Had I got the day right? Yes I had, little by little the four wheel drives and Citroens arrived. It was specially great to see a Evan & Kate Gobby in my old BX, we do hope we see more of you and other Cits on these types of runs. Other Cits were represented by yours truly, the President & Hanny, the Treasurer & Elaine, committeeman Fred Cooper, past President Shayne Harris, past President Geoff Howatson & Carol, Genenine & her daughter in Beancan and last but not least past Committeeman Al Roberts, making for one BX, two GS's & six 2CV's.

The four wheel drives consisted of a Toyota Land Cruiser & Surfer, a couple of well decked out Nissan Patrols, a Jeep and Pajero IO (which was of interest to me being a more compact but fully capable 4 wheel drive). I apologise for omitting any other 4 wheelers. Trip leader Phil arrived just in time with Denise in his well known Land Rover Discovery, promising us a most interesting trip, especially in the mud, too true Phil!

So off we toddled in a southerly direction (GPS heading xxx.xxx) to turn east along a good dirt road. Yep, I didn't have a clue where we were going, one must have trust in the leader! Almost immediately a first bit of drama as one of Evan's hubcaps came off & was recovered by Tail End Charlie. The next drama was when one who shall be nameless (not radio less), scooted past a turn off, to be chased up physically by another car. The time spent waiting was not wasted, as some beut photo opportunities of the cars with heavy fog in the background were waiting, to the accompaniment of some heavy hammering needed to remove a Toyota's towball.

From this point on we were into narrow bush tracks and the little cars had a ball, dogging around the bumps and lumps in amongst the trees. The larger 4 wheel drives had to rough it. It was interesting to see the 2CV's bobbing up and down, while the hydro BX and GS's seemed to just float along.

At morning tea we came to the now famed "Gullies" where the Four Wheel Drives most impressively strutted their stuff with ease down a 7 metre deep 45 deg incline & equally steep rise back up again. Shayne had a go in his Candyman and after numerous attempts settled for half way up the rise. Not to be outdone, Ralph jumped into Beancan, powered down the slope, feathers and all flying to almost reach the top, to our surprise. A tow out was laughingly provided to both 2CV's by the four wheel drives.

Suddenly as if by magic the gloom lifted at noon as we stopped for lunch in a lovely clearing. Out came the tables and everyone grouped together to swap yarns. A most enjoyable gathering. The initial separation of the Cit and 4 wheel drive groups quickly disintegrated as each found common ground, although the four wheelers probably thought we were a little mad.

As I handed around some Minties, Phil announced that perhaps they should be left for the coming mud. And oh. what mud, it was only a couple of hundred yards, but it took about 2 hours for our troupe to negotiate, with tons of drama. I reckon Phil got a full weeks quota of exercise, lugging that double length snatch strap back and forth from one side of the bog to the other.

Two four wheel drives got bogged, one while recovering our President who had decided, in his non conformist way, to do it another way, bogging well away from the track. The recovery of his now remote Raid Auss and the bogged rescue Nissan Patrol with a Land Cruiser made a spectacle. Of the Citroens, alone Candoit driven with great gusto (to understate) by our Treasurer, made it thru with plenty of drama. All the other Cits bogged out pretty quickly, the highlight perhaps being my Putt Putt reaching a very interesting angle to the horizontal as one side plunged into the depths of the bogged track while being recovered. Apart from this the only other real drama was Evan's BX conking out due to water in the distributor.

On the other side of the bog, all was soon fixed and refreshed with coffee we headed back to the Lakes along a most beautiful excellent gravel road boarded by lovely trees. After saying good byes at the Lakes, a group of us headed down to Sawyers Valley to accept the usual tremendous hospitality of Helene and Lou Lambert, the warmth of your house and hospitality was greatly appreciated.

With the shadow of the evening well advanced, the rear guard headed for home after an eventful and most enjoyable outing, made possible by the security the accompanying 4 wheel drives gave us.

Again, thanks Phil for your great organisation and please pass on our appreciation to your Four Wheel Drive participants.

Chris Stuart