Peake - June 2002 ....

Peake ...
As happy as a pig in sand ... and the adventures of 'Snoopy the Wonder Dog'

Trip Members: Bill, Carol, Dzidra, Barbara, Katrina, Megan, Paul, Jenny, Rob, Lee, Nicky, Floss, Daniel, Ian, Ruth, Graeme and JC

Snoopy the Wonder Dog
At Talinga, a property just outside Peake lives a 2 year old Tenterfield Terrier named Snoopy. From Monday to Thursday every week of the year he lies around the farmhouse sleeping and eating. But every Friday as the first 4X4 vehicle arrives he follows it out to the sand driving campsite and there he stays until the last vehicle leaves on Sunday afternoon.

In between times this wonderful little dog ran through the sand dunes as we drove up down and around them. The remainder of the time he went from tent to tent socialising, eating, drinking and being an absolute joy to be around.

At the campfire at night he went from lap to lap (mainly the girls) keeping himself and the person he was sitting on wonderfully warm. Then when it was time to go to bed he raced into Graeme’s tent. Graeme and Snoopy had shared bowls earlier in the day and were by this time firm friends. During the night when nature called Graeme went out to gaze at the moon and so did Snoopy. Before Graeme was finished the dog had done his business and was back in bed. I’m sure that we all will be looking forward to seeing Snoopy on our next visit.

Day one at Talinga
About half the group arrived on Friday night and the rest of us were at the post office in Peake at 9am Saturday morning. At 9am on the dot the big red bull bar arrived in a cloud of dust and when it cleared the smiling face of our leader peered out us. It was off to Talinga, a property just outside town to set up camp and chat to the rest of the group.

At 10.30am we gathered together while Bill went through what we would be doing for the morning. There were 9 various 4X4s and Barb, Katrina and Megan in their Subaru. The ladies and the novice drivers started on small rises in 2-wheel drive with fully inflated tyres. Soon we were all in low range with our tyres deflated learning valuable lessons and having lots of fun. The Subaru was doing quite well but as the hills got a little bigger it started having some problems. There was also a problem with its engine over revving, so up with the bonnet followed by many varied opinions. Finally after some repairs it was mobile again.

Back to camp for lunch, Bill was generous, we could have 30mins then we would be driving again. We quickly ate our food, then wash it down with a bottle of chardonnay, well it was 10 o’clock. Ian, our very own Snoopy, used an octopus strap as a temporary repair to keep some of the electrics in check on the Subaru.

The Tuff-Stuff
After lunch the sand hills were a bit higher. Dzidra first time sand driving was proving to be very capable but did have a little problem on one hill requiring Bill’s winch to help straighten her vehicle so it could descend safely. Then over she went on her next attempt followed by the rest of us. It was a great afternoon of sand driving and then it was back to the camp for ‘Happy Hour’.

Campfire
After the evening meal it was off to the campfire. This was many hours of the sharing of good stories, good beverages and goodies. It is also a time to greet new and old friends. Rob told the elaborate story of how he obtained his new chair. That’s right Rob has a new chair which, he was forced to guard very closely from JC who sat in it every time he got up to do anything.

Day two
It had been cold over night and the gas stoves were hard to light in the morning. Breakfast over and Bill was honking on the horn again, which meant it was time to go sand driving again. He was generous, he had given us an extra hour to wash and powder our noses.

Tougher-Stuff
We soon discovered that he had left the best to last. The hills were even bigger and the descents were steeper. On one occasion just after Bill had carried out a very fancy three-point turn I discovered that after a certain angle of incline Carol couldn’t wind down the window of the Land Rover. Instead she opened the door and because I was standing too close knocked me in the nose, silly me. Too soon it was back to camp to have lunch, pack up and say goodbye.

Overview
The sand driving area on the Talinga property at Peake is excellent, you can get over the dunes (well most of them) and the native vegetation allows that to happen without too many chunks out of the paintwork. It has something for the novice and for the veteran. All in all a great place do what the Wanderers do so well.

Thanks to everyone for an enjoyable weekend and a special thanks to Bill and Carol for taking us there.

JC