DOWN TO THE SOUTHERN END OF THE BIGHT

     With apologies to Graeme over the UHF, Castrol proceeded down the bight on the beach and on the middle dunes together with Syd and Ralph (110), Phillip (Lightweight), Ana & Darrin (Lightweight), and Peter & Tracy (Lightweight Mr Flat). Peter got bogged on a steep hill because he had to stop: we were in front of him and our tent rolled out the back over the tailgate and just sat there in the middle of the track. The first we knew of it was when Syd approached us and handed it back, explaining why Mr Flat hadn't appeared over the hill yet. Once that was sorted out, we pulled up ten minutes later at the rusty hulk of the Sygna's aft section. The sight of surf sloshing through the rusty superstructure and the rich red colour of the rust meant that the cameras came out again.

     The sand at the this southern end of the bight has been well and truly filtered by the sand mining machinery. The sand is softer and the beach width at high tide is a tad narrow so that unwary drivers can come to grief unless they stick to the middle dunes. The Sygna is directly east of Cox's Lane, a track that afforded access to some sort of pillbox with underground tunnels during WWII. This area is 5km north east of the old Fern Bay artillery range where Australia's WWII armour testing was carried out and the old Artillery Battery at Fort Wallace 1km further south. Plans to tour these sites had to be shelved for lack of time and access on this R & R.

     The Land-Rovers started up and drove twenty minutes back north to Dennis' and Graeme's position and we decided to have lunch and before heading home. It was about 12.30pm. Now although the sun was warm, the water was blue, and the sand was white, a westerly wind had arrived and it was chilly. Lunch was eaten on the inside of the Landys to avoid eating sand. I took some more photos of the Land-Rovers to use on the website and then the time had come for the small R & R convoy to travel northwards up the bight to Birubi and head home. We snaked past the Sabre wreck, the toTTT marker, the 'ramp', Silver City, and the empty stretch of northern dunes, all the while staying off the beach and sticking to the middle dunes.

     In case of problems, Castrol at the rear of the Landy convoy, and Chloe at the front, had the UHF handy to minimise any delays. We had finally got the UHF aspects figured to minimise any convoy problems. There were some steep descents on this stretch and exciting moments when the whole windscreen was momentarily filled with close-up views of the sand at the bottom of the roller-coaster-like track. The fresh-water wet sections of the track were a change and we found ourselves threading through a maze of tracks in the low lying swampy acres looking for the correct track out.

     We were heading northeast to the Form Up Point when Sawmill's ignition died in a big puddle and Graeme had to get the boots wet in order to get under the bonnet with the WD40 toolkit. We went back and watched as he re-started Sawmill in about two minutes flat and we arrived back at the Birubi tank traps where we had started on the first day.

     Once I was out of the Landy I was introduced to "a Silver City resident" who told us of an obscure steel OP tower still on it's WWII site in the bush behind the northern dunes. I noted the story for future use... but all I was really interested in at that stage was a cold drink.

     Everybody shook hands and said their good-byes, disengaged the front axles and slowly drove off for the Anna Bay petrol station and it's extremely popular air hose. When we got there we joined a queue of about six other low pressured vehicles who had also come off the dunes. It was about 3pm and the R & R was successfully finished up for 2001.

     Make that almost finished up; Sawmill, Castrol, Chloe, and Syd in his 110 travelled some of the way down the road home with Dennis in front -until Chloe's dizzy gremlin returned and we all pulled over to see. It was at this time that I realised my mobile phone was lost somewhere -perhaps the Anna Bay petrol station- and Kay went back in the family car to look for it. (Luckily someone found it in the Birubi carpark still in 'unrunover' condition). Chloe fired up and after a few kilometres we went our own ways with our own memories of the 2001 R & R. When we got home we hosed off the chassis and drivetrain, then used compressed air to blow out the sand that had made it's way into the interior. And that was that.