EXCEED APRIL 2017 | Page 13

TRIP REPORT
Gembrook to Moe 4WD &
Football Trip Report
Saturday March 11, 2017
Participants Name Membership Number Vehicle details
Stuart Gay (TL) 1521 NP Pajero
Anthony Ogle 1601 JK Wrangler
Peter Thomas 1016 Prado
Leaving home to get to our meeting point in Gembrook, the morning commenced bright and sunny in
Upwey but quickly became a pea-souper travelling to Gembrook.
Upon arrival in Gembrook around 7.30am I was greeted by our trip leader Stuart Gay and Peter Thomas
being the other trip participant. It was disappointing to learn that both were Richmond supporters and I was
the sole Collingwood representative. What made it even worse was that our illustrious leader had decked his
vehicle out in Richmond livery being flags, banners, tape. Stuart was attired in full Richmond regalia and he
even had Richmond branded antiseptic hand wash amongst other items. Talk about committed!
We aired down, set off around 7.50am and proceeded on our way to the Game with a slightly circuitous route
as Stuart took a right turn instead of a left. The fog had not lifted and was quite thick and continued for some
time. Not only did we put up with the fog but the dust during the entire trip was abysmal. Travelling at a
safe distance between vehicles was not only necessary but from a safety point, essential. The route we took
was the Black Snake Creek Road, Ash Landing Road, Beenak Road, Bunyip Road, Learmonth Creek Road,
Kobiolke Road, Pioneer Creek Road, Limberlost Road and BT Divide track, which was a relative hard track
where we passed some hunters. Then on to Elton Road, Settlement Road, Sheffield Road, Neerim East Road,
McCulough Road, H Tree Road and Kings Road. We took a slight detour between these two roads and had
morning tea. Then to The Staircase where we had a creek crossing. Stuart, who is without a snorkel deferred
to me to do the first crossing to ensure that if it was too deep then I would be ok. It proved to be quite a
simple crossing. We then took Rowley Ridge Road, Russell Creek Road and finally Willow Grove Road to
Moe.
We parked our vehicles at the Moe Racecourse car park and proceeded to walk to the ground. The day was a
pearler. Bright sunshine, no breeze to speak of and there were a lot of people out to enjoy the spectacle. The
crowd appeared to be quite large but was only some 7,500 according to the Sunday paper.
From the first bounce Collingwood blitzed Richmond and were all over them in the first quarter. Richmond
out scored Collingwood in the second and Collingwood fought back in the third to lead by some 40+ points.
It was a day to rejoice being outnumbered two to one. It was just as well we lead by this margin as Richmond
fought back in the last quarter to only lose by 7 points.
All-in-all a great day and Peter and I both complimented Stuart on a great trip idea and we look forward to
doing a similar trip at some future stage.
We left the game early to miss the traffic mayhem and all said our goodbyes.
Anthony Ogle
Member No: 1601

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Vol 34 No. 3 - April 2017