CLEAN UP STOCKTON BEACH
21st Oct 2007

Written by Peter van Winden and John Godden (two who got bogged)

Now from Peter van Winden

The club again was represent by eight vehicles, eighteen members and two dogs. We met at the registration point and proceed in convoy onto the beach. Whilst waiting to regroup on the beach rubbish was collected, we then headed south for approx 1km and started to collect the rubbish in that area.

We then continued heading in a southerly direction to our next stop and picked up more rubbish. It was on our third stop when, not long after stopping, John B heard a call for help from a member who had got himself into some trouble and required some recovery assistance. It was at this point in time that Fred & John started the search whilst the remainder of us continued with the cleanup.

Shortly later, Fred & John return, having had no luck finding the distressed member and vehicle. We regroup and all decide to search for the stranded vehicle. In doing so, which we did successfully. Two of us had bogged ourselves at one of the dunes but thanks to the 130 Defender in our group, we manage to retrieve both vehicles. Fred & John eventually locate and successfully retrieve the vehicles.

We returned to the registration area for some fellowship plus ‘bangers’ and onions on bread with a drink. We were all welcomed by the NPWS and the local indigenous owners of the land. It was stated that, at the 2006 Cleanup, 400 participants registered and collected 15 tonnes of rubbish. This year, operating from two sites, over 1000 people participated, a number of 4WD Clubs where represented and there was an expected large increase in the amount of rubbish collected. The NPWS Head Ranger together with the local indigenous owners thanked everyone for their efforts.

It was the local owners first year of being involved and they where surprised with support from the 4WD fraternity. The Ranger then went on to explain that he had to develop short, mid and long term plans for the area along with the local indigenous community.

A good day was had by all who attended and again flew the flag for the club on this valuable PR exercise. To finish off the day two of our members won prizes on the day as well.

It was good to see those vehicles with their safety flags on – it made them easy to see when travelling over the dunes. See you all next year - same place and time and around the same time of year – keep an eye on the Activities Calendar for actual date and make sure you don’t miss out.

Now from John Godden

The sun rose on an absolutely glorious Sunday morning. After the emails of the confirmation we all met at either the good old Metro Service Station on Lavis Lane or at the registration point. After all the formalities we dropped our tyre pressures and headed for the beach. A busy time heading out as the traffic was pretty horrendous with fisherman coming back, quad bikes in all directions, cleanup people heading out and anything else thrown in.

We decided to attack the southern end of the beach, as last years group did, heading for the wreck. The name of the wreck is still a moot point as the 1:250K maps refer to it as the SYGMA; almost everybody else refers to it as the SYGNA. My recollection of the event in 197? , is the SYGMA, I was involved in the rescue of the crew. It doesn’t really matter though we all know where it is!
We filled bags with rubbish, as we do, and were continuing down the beach, when we received a call over the radio for a vehicle stuck. The call was specifically to the Land Rover Owners Club.

Of course we answered the call and Fred and I set off to find the stricken vehicle leaving the rest of the group to continue on. Well Fred and I traversed dunes, constantly on the radio to the stricken vehicle, trying following his description of his location. To cut a long story short, we could not find him. We headed back to our group and decided on an all out effort to find the stricken vehicle. Off we headed to the general area, again, and after a lot of driving over dunes we finally located the stricken vehicle. As it turned out Fred and I were 1 dune away from him on our first search.

When located, we were able to recover the vehicle using Fred’s winch and our Defender as an extra anchor on very soft sand. Unfortunately, I then had to be dragged out by Clive as I had buried our vehicle in trying to reverse drag the stricken vehicle, with Fred’s vehicle. I would point out here, the stricken vehicle was a member of LROC, had bought another brand of vehicle, and got stuck. It was not the brand of vehicle that caused the problem. It was, I think, inexperience in the environment.

I hope the club member, involved in this recovery, has learnt from his experience. There is always security in numbers.
Basic Driver Training and Advanced Driver Training teach how to drive and recover a vehicle.

There is also a good case for having a GPS on board your vehicle. In this instance, GPS reference would have expedited the recovery.