Eastern FS DVR Adventure!!! September Outing!
-
Martin de Jager
- Location: Ekurhuleni
- Has thanked: 22 times
- Been thanked: 103 times
- Posts: 1018
- Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:29 pm
Manny, Dirk's crew accounted 6 vehicles, and we had a few Nissan's joining from the side, and add some of the Suzuki club, it all adds up.
Looking at Flip's report then one realises where we drove and then you are left in amazement.
Looking at Flip's report then one realises where we drove and then you are left in amazement.
- Attachments
-
-
-
2011 Toyota Prado 3.0 VX,
2013 Suzuki Jimny, Ratel (larger than life),
2023 Toyota Starlet xr auto,
2019 Invader Duo.
2013 Suzuki Jimny, Ratel (larger than life),
2023 Toyota Starlet xr auto,
2019 Invader Duo.
-
Asjas
- Location: Secunda
- Has thanked: 25 times
- Been thanked: 42 times
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:52 am
- Contact:
This is the story on my Facebook page. And a fairly good trip report for day one. Enjoy!
"It was time again for the infamous DVR Fall trip. This year we joined up with 4x4 Action Group South Africa .
This year we left slightly earlier than last year in an attempt to merge with the main convoy coming down from Gauteng. After filling up at the Sasol garage and airing up the newly installed airbags on the Navara we set off and headed south.
We had the general chit-chat about our expectations and comparing it with last years trip, this time it was more of a rough overlanding trip instead of a hardcore 4x4 trail.
Standerton featured the basic scene it always does, heavy trucks full of coal, pottles and Cattle in the streets. Heading further south through the dry veld we soon passed Vrede on our way down towards the N3 to see if we are in schedule with the convoys estimated travel time. As we merged with the busy traffic on the N3 i Switched on the radio and called out for Pierre. He immediately responded with clear signal meaning he was within 10km of our position. After a quick briefing it was established that the were about 5-7KM behind us. Due to the moderate to heavy traffic we decided to stay on speed and tie up with the convoy at one of the garages in Harrismith.
That didn't end as planned, and we ended up at a different garage.
We filled up for our weekend in the mountains, bought some lekker chilly bites and sat back while waiting on the rest of the crowd to pass by. This took a tad longer than 40 min and soon it was overheard that they were on the move again, slowly we started to coast out of town and soon the convoy caught up with us.
In short we were ahead of the convoy and just had 20km to drive with them before reaching base camp one.. Good planning and bad executing is to blame here.
Near base camp one of the vehicles in the convoy started to overheat, this brought back memories of last years issues with Bosvark. With some patience all vehicles was within the camp. we quickly jumped in to see if we can help with diagnosing the issue on this particular vehicle. After many different discussions and theory's and probably 100l of water we still couldn't Identify the cause. It was then decided to just let it stand for all the water to dry out of the multiple layers of radiators and coolers.
As 16:00 approached some of us headed out to go and visit some ancient Bushman painting down in the ravine. Boy oh boy did his day have another surprise up its sleeve. About 2km into the trail heading down to the ravine Dirk Snr wheel decided its taking the scenic rout. After the chicken parade by some miracle we found all 5 lug nuts of the jeeps rear left wheel. In the process of fitting the wheel back onto the Jeep, it slid off one of the jack's and fell back onto the ground almost breaking Pierre's leg in the process, Always take care when doing trial side work on a vehicle.
Soon the Jeep was back on all fours and we headed down to the ravine.
The sun was setting and made the perfect amber hue to contrast with the rock paintings on the Sandstone rock formations, we couldn't have been there at a better time.
Heading back to camp was pretty easy without any surprises.
Back at camp the fire was already lit. More fiddling was done on the land rover that overheated, and Pierre took it for a beating to see if the issue had been resolved. (It was).
With the logs crackling and burning everyone was gathered around the fire and it was time for Dirk Snr to Do his introduction and general "what to expect" speech. this was quite informative and motivated all of us around the firepit.
I head some "soutie" chatter on the radio while standing next to the Jeep, that's when i noticed Bright lights far far into the darkness down the valley. Not to be rude I waited for Dirk to finish his speech, as soon as he was done i ran to the navara and grabbed the handheld radio. I then proceeded to the gate where i could clearly see the lost Jimny's wandering off into the wrong direction...
With some broken English translations the Jimny crowd was heading in the right direction once again. Flip & I waited at the gate for them just to make sure they don't get lost again.
The World is a big and scary place for a small Jimny.
With everyone at base Camp we feasted on the delicious Potjie Dirk has prepared for us. Everyone slowly faded away into their tents as the night went on.
"But where was Willie?" went through my thoughts as I slumber into a deep sleep...
Stay tuned for Part2.
Ross Outdoor Adventures"
"It was time again for the infamous DVR Fall trip. This year we joined up with 4x4 Action Group South Africa .
This year we left slightly earlier than last year in an attempt to merge with the main convoy coming down from Gauteng. After filling up at the Sasol garage and airing up the newly installed airbags on the Navara we set off and headed south.
We had the general chit-chat about our expectations and comparing it with last years trip, this time it was more of a rough overlanding trip instead of a hardcore 4x4 trail.
Standerton featured the basic scene it always does, heavy trucks full of coal, pottles and Cattle in the streets. Heading further south through the dry veld we soon passed Vrede on our way down towards the N3 to see if we are in schedule with the convoys estimated travel time. As we merged with the busy traffic on the N3 i Switched on the radio and called out for Pierre. He immediately responded with clear signal meaning he was within 10km of our position. After a quick briefing it was established that the were about 5-7KM behind us. Due to the moderate to heavy traffic we decided to stay on speed and tie up with the convoy at one of the garages in Harrismith.
That didn't end as planned, and we ended up at a different garage.
We filled up for our weekend in the mountains, bought some lekker chilly bites and sat back while waiting on the rest of the crowd to pass by. This took a tad longer than 40 min and soon it was overheard that they were on the move again, slowly we started to coast out of town and soon the convoy caught up with us.
In short we were ahead of the convoy and just had 20km to drive with them before reaching base camp one.. Good planning and bad executing is to blame here.
Near base camp one of the vehicles in the convoy started to overheat, this brought back memories of last years issues with Bosvark. With some patience all vehicles was within the camp. we quickly jumped in to see if we can help with diagnosing the issue on this particular vehicle. After many different discussions and theory's and probably 100l of water we still couldn't Identify the cause. It was then decided to just let it stand for all the water to dry out of the multiple layers of radiators and coolers.
As 16:00 approached some of us headed out to go and visit some ancient Bushman painting down in the ravine. Boy oh boy did his day have another surprise up its sleeve. About 2km into the trail heading down to the ravine Dirk Snr wheel decided its taking the scenic rout. After the chicken parade by some miracle we found all 5 lug nuts of the jeeps rear left wheel. In the process of fitting the wheel back onto the Jeep, it slid off one of the jack's and fell back onto the ground almost breaking Pierre's leg in the process, Always take care when doing trial side work on a vehicle.
Soon the Jeep was back on all fours and we headed down to the ravine.
The sun was setting and made the perfect amber hue to contrast with the rock paintings on the Sandstone rock formations, we couldn't have been there at a better time.
Heading back to camp was pretty easy without any surprises.
Back at camp the fire was already lit. More fiddling was done on the land rover that overheated, and Pierre took it for a beating to see if the issue had been resolved. (It was).
With the logs crackling and burning everyone was gathered around the fire and it was time for Dirk Snr to Do his introduction and general "what to expect" speech. this was quite informative and motivated all of us around the firepit.
I head some "soutie" chatter on the radio while standing next to the Jeep, that's when i noticed Bright lights far far into the darkness down the valley. Not to be rude I waited for Dirk to finish his speech, as soon as he was done i ran to the navara and grabbed the handheld radio. I then proceeded to the gate where i could clearly see the lost Jimny's wandering off into the wrong direction...
With some broken English translations the Jimny crowd was heading in the right direction once again. Flip & I waited at the gate for them just to make sure they don't get lost again.
The World is a big and scary place for a small Jimny.
With everyone at base Camp we feasted on the delicious Potjie Dirk has prepared for us. Everyone slowly faded away into their tents as the night went on.
"But where was Willie?" went through my thoughts as I slumber into a deep sleep...
Stay tuned for Part2.
Ross Outdoor Adventures"
ROAG Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNym7 ... RygUpcBKeg
-
Flipside
- Location: Tshwane
- Has thanked: 15 times
- Been thanked: 40 times
- Posts: 363
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:47 pm
But what was that poison that DVR was passing around like it belonged in an ice cream truck?
Flip
Member: 4x4 AG & Suzuki4x4GP, ORRA AG24
Awesome: Suzuki Jimny;
SilverTank: Mitsubishi Pajero;
Member: 4x4 AG & Suzuki4x4GP, ORRA AG24
Awesome: Suzuki Jimny;
SilverTank: Mitsubishi Pajero;
-
Flipside
- Location: Tshwane
- Has thanked: 15 times
- Been thanked: 40 times
- Posts: 363
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:47 pm
We fed Stuart waze locations for the correct turnoffs, way before he got there… this is not an innocent babe in the woods story 
Flip
Member: 4x4 AG & Suzuki4x4GP, ORRA AG24
Awesome: Suzuki Jimny;
SilverTank: Mitsubishi Pajero;
Member: 4x4 AG & Suzuki4x4GP, ORRA AG24
Awesome: Suzuki Jimny;
SilverTank: Mitsubishi Pajero;
-
Asjas
- Location: Secunda
- Has thanked: 25 times
- Been thanked: 42 times
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:52 am
- Contact:
"Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!" Dirk blows his newly installed airhorn on the jeep, and the famous words can be heard echoing in the campsite "One Hour".
Slowly the campsite starts to buzz with activity, everyone is packing up and pumped for the excitement the day is promising to deliver.
What's the small left-hand vehicle hiding far back in camp...?
A Vitara, that meant Willie made it to camp. Inside is what looks to be a corps of a once fit man, and a shadowy figure next to him. After some investigation it was determined he was at least still alive and apparently he only left Sodwana at 01:00Am and pitched up at camp Around 05:00 after spending a wild night is Sodwana and then carelessly driving through natal while we are under national curfew. Willie is a Legend and will always go to the outer extremes to get a bit of that Off-roading adrenaline rush.
Soon everyone was packed, and way before 08:00Am, with some coordination the endless lineup of cars was parked side to side for some action Group photos, We had our formalities for the day at drivers briefing and quickly ran through the vehicles doing radio checks.
With all this commotion behind us it was finally time to GO BUSH!
We slowly creep out of camp getting the convoy set for the short Drive to the Berg.
Low and behold! not even 3km from camp Dirk Left back wheel had enough and went sight seeing again. Some dedicated teamwork and the new spare was fitted, we were about to roll out when Dirk did about 20meters and noticed some sort of issue on his rear driveshaft. That was strike X3 for the mighty JEEP. Dirk jumped in with John in the Rubicon and lead the convoy while leaving Jnr behind to fix up the limping kitty(Mufasa). A short but supper slow drive in probably the longest slinky of cars ever we arrived at the turnoff that led us from the tar road and leading us into the Berg.
Complaints was heard during this trip of LandRover's having death wobble over 30km/h while shaking apart?, and myths about the whole convoy moving to slow for the mighty wrath of the powerful Jimny engines.
We finally reached the point at which it was possible to air down the wheels on all the vehicles. With everyone set we headed down the main gravel road leading to the "Old man". Here we met the old man himself currently 102 years old as i overheard a conversation, born back in 1920.
We gave out some food supply's at his farm thanking him for letting us cross over hiss lands in the mountains.
In no time we were heading up a narrow path along a shallow ravine, did a little stream crossing followed by 2 hairpin turns up a small hill to our first obstacle of the day. this was a mild rocky uphill climb requiring you to crawl up some loose sandstone and gravel followed by a sharp left-hand turn onto a 1m high ledge as wide as your vehicle that then turned right up a sandstone face with a few small rock steps, fairly easy just requiring good wheel placement and a sprinkle of focus. We then headed up a grassy hill to an overlook point where Dirk Showed us they obstacle called Monkey puzzle. This obstacle was fairly tame in appearance no massive boulders or such, but its Extreme off camber and height makes it a serious contender for only the most experienced and brave. A mistake on this Obstacle could be Fatal.
Being a convoy of Around 26 Cars made the pace a bit slow. But it did give some perspective of how big and steep some of the hills were.
On more than one occasion we had vehicles on the top of one hill side while others was still on another with them equally spaced out across the valley below. We soon reached the other big landowners property stopped there and discussed as few things, choosing between 3 routs to reach our campsite.
A. Up the highest peak at DVR Falls with some intense side slopes.
B. Down A slightly less challenging route heading towards the center of it all.
C. Around the mountain past the "DVR Grand canyon" down a small "Moab" sandstone crawl and doing a few shallow river crossings along the way.
Rout C was chosen for its scenery and the general safety of the group due to the size of our convoy. We reached the "grand canyon" and by this time it was probably around 14:00 the day. Here we stopped for a quick lunch and had some time to walk around in the canyon and enjoyed the wonderful view. We were still quite a way from camp, so after lunch we headed down to the sandstone crawl which was a bit more washed out this year than last year. Here you have plenty of traction due to driving on the sandstone rock surface, but this obstacle has a very technical section where you crawl down a step with a few loose boulders while also having a stone wall to your \left and a massive rock to your right. Slowly we got each vehicle down, this took some time as you can imagine 20+ vehicles going down as slow as possible. Once everyone was at the base and the "pepper boss roll" was bought for 50 bucks, it was time to head down to the First river crossing. The river crossing was your typical 30cm deep rocky based mountain stream, no hassles or holdups.
This lead us to our next stop. An A or B kind of obstacle. A mud bog hole 50m long or B just a simple bypass with a few mild cross axles.
This is Where it seemed Martin got stuck with is Fortuner and needed a bit of help (to be confirmed),all while Wessel just meters behind him was busy confirming the tip over angle in the Prado manual as he was leaning left far over his comfort zone. Toyota's had a bad one on this section.
After getting most of the group through option B a few of the more capable rigs went and tried the mud hole.
The big boys made it out with some loud pedal action, followed by Willie with his 30" muds and the duel locked Vitara.
With allot of effort the Vitara reached the end of the hole but just couldn't get out. So he made a more aggressive run up and some crunching and grinding was momentarily heard. After towing him out Not really caring to much what just happened as it went un noticed by most and Willie not looking to concerned we continued up into the mountain.
The ride form here on to camp was fairly easy with allot of narrow spoor in bushy areas around the river streams, Vehicles was scratched badly.
As the bright blue sky faded into a amber glow we rolled into camp and everyone picked out their camping spots for the weekend. It was decided that we will camp at this one spot to shed some weight off of the vehicles as Saturday was planned to be a bit of an expedition and weight on the vehicles really slowed them down to some extend. When I turned around there was Willie again stuck to the frame 30meters from my tent in the soft muddy ground, this whole area is like a dirt sponge as it contains allot of ground water trapped in the dirt that lays on top of hard rock a meter or so below. Fair to say once he went in there was no way he would get out by himself. Louwrens quickly jumped in the Navara, aligned himself behind the Vitra and attached the tow strap. Easy tow and the Vitara came out .Willie stopped momentarily before reversing further while the Navara tried its best to back out of the way...
"Bam!" die inevitable happed as the Vitara slams into the Navara's bull bar. Luckily no damage was done on either vehicle.
A quick bartering was arranged for a beer or two like real men and it was settled.
What a breathtaking scene to see the Sun set in the west over the mountains! A amber glow's slowly folding over into dark reds and the black silhouette of the mountain ridges around you.
We had a good night around the fire with everyone enjoying their braai, which was then followed by the usual Hof/ Straf-dop sessions and lots of laughter around the fire late into the starlit night...
Saturday's story will mostly be Uncles Chad's fault with his Landrover "worshond" aka the Juggernaut...
Stay tuned for Part3
Slowly the campsite starts to buzz with activity, everyone is packing up and pumped for the excitement the day is promising to deliver.
What's the small left-hand vehicle hiding far back in camp...?
A Vitara, that meant Willie made it to camp. Inside is what looks to be a corps of a once fit man, and a shadowy figure next to him. After some investigation it was determined he was at least still alive and apparently he only left Sodwana at 01:00Am and pitched up at camp Around 05:00 after spending a wild night is Sodwana and then carelessly driving through natal while we are under national curfew. Willie is a Legend and will always go to the outer extremes to get a bit of that Off-roading adrenaline rush.
Soon everyone was packed, and way before 08:00Am, with some coordination the endless lineup of cars was parked side to side for some action Group photos, We had our formalities for the day at drivers briefing and quickly ran through the vehicles doing radio checks.
With all this commotion behind us it was finally time to GO BUSH!
We slowly creep out of camp getting the convoy set for the short Drive to the Berg.
Low and behold! not even 3km from camp Dirk Left back wheel had enough and went sight seeing again. Some dedicated teamwork and the new spare was fitted, we were about to roll out when Dirk did about 20meters and noticed some sort of issue on his rear driveshaft. That was strike X3 for the mighty JEEP. Dirk jumped in with John in the Rubicon and lead the convoy while leaving Jnr behind to fix up the limping kitty(Mufasa). A short but supper slow drive in probably the longest slinky of cars ever we arrived at the turnoff that led us from the tar road and leading us into the Berg.
Complaints was heard during this trip of LandRover's having death wobble over 30km/h while shaking apart?, and myths about the whole convoy moving to slow for the mighty wrath of the powerful Jimny engines.
We finally reached the point at which it was possible to air down the wheels on all the vehicles. With everyone set we headed down the main gravel road leading to the "Old man". Here we met the old man himself currently 102 years old as i overheard a conversation, born back in 1920.
We gave out some food supply's at his farm thanking him for letting us cross over hiss lands in the mountains.
In no time we were heading up a narrow path along a shallow ravine, did a little stream crossing followed by 2 hairpin turns up a small hill to our first obstacle of the day. this was a mild rocky uphill climb requiring you to crawl up some loose sandstone and gravel followed by a sharp left-hand turn onto a 1m high ledge as wide as your vehicle that then turned right up a sandstone face with a few small rock steps, fairly easy just requiring good wheel placement and a sprinkle of focus. We then headed up a grassy hill to an overlook point where Dirk Showed us they obstacle called Monkey puzzle. This obstacle was fairly tame in appearance no massive boulders or such, but its Extreme off camber and height makes it a serious contender for only the most experienced and brave. A mistake on this Obstacle could be Fatal.
Being a convoy of Around 26 Cars made the pace a bit slow. But it did give some perspective of how big and steep some of the hills were.
On more than one occasion we had vehicles on the top of one hill side while others was still on another with them equally spaced out across the valley below. We soon reached the other big landowners property stopped there and discussed as few things, choosing between 3 routs to reach our campsite.
A. Up the highest peak at DVR Falls with some intense side slopes.
B. Down A slightly less challenging route heading towards the center of it all.
C. Around the mountain past the "DVR Grand canyon" down a small "Moab" sandstone crawl and doing a few shallow river crossings along the way.
Rout C was chosen for its scenery and the general safety of the group due to the size of our convoy. We reached the "grand canyon" and by this time it was probably around 14:00 the day. Here we stopped for a quick lunch and had some time to walk around in the canyon and enjoyed the wonderful view. We were still quite a way from camp, so after lunch we headed down to the sandstone crawl which was a bit more washed out this year than last year. Here you have plenty of traction due to driving on the sandstone rock surface, but this obstacle has a very technical section where you crawl down a step with a few loose boulders while also having a stone wall to your \left and a massive rock to your right. Slowly we got each vehicle down, this took some time as you can imagine 20+ vehicles going down as slow as possible. Once everyone was at the base and the "pepper boss roll" was bought for 50 bucks, it was time to head down to the First river crossing. The river crossing was your typical 30cm deep rocky based mountain stream, no hassles or holdups.
This lead us to our next stop. An A or B kind of obstacle. A mud bog hole 50m long or B just a simple bypass with a few mild cross axles.
This is Where it seemed Martin got stuck with is Fortuner and needed a bit of help (to be confirmed),all while Wessel just meters behind him was busy confirming the tip over angle in the Prado manual as he was leaning left far over his comfort zone. Toyota's had a bad one on this section.
After getting most of the group through option B a few of the more capable rigs went and tried the mud hole.
The big boys made it out with some loud pedal action, followed by Willie with his 30" muds and the duel locked Vitara.
With allot of effort the Vitara reached the end of the hole but just couldn't get out. So he made a more aggressive run up and some crunching and grinding was momentarily heard. After towing him out Not really caring to much what just happened as it went un noticed by most and Willie not looking to concerned we continued up into the mountain.
The ride form here on to camp was fairly easy with allot of narrow spoor in bushy areas around the river streams, Vehicles was scratched badly.
As the bright blue sky faded into a amber glow we rolled into camp and everyone picked out their camping spots for the weekend. It was decided that we will camp at this one spot to shed some weight off of the vehicles as Saturday was planned to be a bit of an expedition and weight on the vehicles really slowed them down to some extend. When I turned around there was Willie again stuck to the frame 30meters from my tent in the soft muddy ground, this whole area is like a dirt sponge as it contains allot of ground water trapped in the dirt that lays on top of hard rock a meter or so below. Fair to say once he went in there was no way he would get out by himself. Louwrens quickly jumped in the Navara, aligned himself behind the Vitra and attached the tow strap. Easy tow and the Vitara came out .Willie stopped momentarily before reversing further while the Navara tried its best to back out of the way...
"Bam!" die inevitable happed as the Vitara slams into the Navara's bull bar. Luckily no damage was done on either vehicle.
A quick bartering was arranged for a beer or two like real men and it was settled.
What a breathtaking scene to see the Sun set in the west over the mountains! A amber glow's slowly folding over into dark reds and the black silhouette of the mountain ridges around you.
We had a good night around the fire with everyone enjoying their braai, which was then followed by the usual Hof/ Straf-dop sessions and lots of laughter around the fire late into the starlit night...
Saturday's story will mostly be Uncles Chad's fault with his Landrover "worshond" aka the Juggernaut...
Stay tuned for Part3
ROAG Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNym7 ... RygUpcBKeg
-
LesseW
- Location: Centurion, Pretoria
- Has thanked: 53 times
- Been thanked: 58 times
- Posts: 901
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 4:03 pm
Well written Asjas, looking forward to Part 3 with Chas wearing his slippers at DVR falls and leaving his wife behind….
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Land Cruiser 200VX
FJ Cruiser
Bushlapa Baobab 4
FJ Cruiser
Bushlapa Baobab 4
-
Asjas
- Location: Secunda
- Has thanked: 25 times
- Been thanked: 42 times
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:52 am
- Contact:
HAHA Definitely wont leave that part out!!
ROAG Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNym7 ... RygUpcBKeg