Hilux 4x4 Forum

Good day

Here is our little trip report. We took thousands of photo's(literally).Obviously cannot post all ,but will post some as I go.
Well, our trip started on Xmas day. We never planned our trip,but our goal was to visit hammelhoek,(sleep over for 2 nights only, and then move on.) That said, we booked hammelhoek in November for 27th and 28th December.(which was paid for and confirmed by Trevor) that was our only booking as we said we arrive anywhere, seek overnight accommodation and move on.
On Xmas day we left early, stopped in Ceres for some Xmas lunch at friends and then moved on towards Montagu, as that was our first stop over and then leaving for Sunderland the Friday morning.
arrived in Montagu and slept over in Montagu caravan park.
Montagu caravan park: Well established and very neat with some strict rules:





as we left Montagu ,we saw some millionaires:


will post more photos and report as I go along:

I are a bit confused
Is de millionaires in the platkarre or de AWESOME Hilux's??

Jy verstaan nie Kevin

Die vrouens ry agter na met die plat kar

Dankie Dirk

4x4BEES wrote:I are a bit confused
Is de millionaires in the platkarre or de AWESOME Hilux's??

no ways can I afford a platkar.lol
Anyways ,we started our gravel journey towards the Monteco nature reserve sign.As with Thys we only went so far as Monteco nature reserve,(pity its closed to public) and wanted to see where the gravel road takes us.

Nice.....waiting for the rest......

Gravel roads look great

some more photos:

I like

Hey Charl,wish you could tad along,when u planning your little trip.
some more pics:





spot the klipBok:.was tightening the cargo net and this animal climbed a vertical cliff right infront of me.Must say got a fright,never saw it coming:


river at Laingsburg:

Road Erosion from the floods:

Bridge at Laingsburg:

Check the flood level sign on your lhs:


Flood Museum:

Laingsburg Shell garage: for a break:

some more: :roll:
About 1km out of laingburg towards cape town,we turn off onto a gravel road."Moordenaars Kloof" which brings you about 10kms before sunderland:










we where getting used to charging the dry river crossings (to many to count.lol) and just before the 3rd last river crossing in the dry river bed crossing was a triple jump.our hiluxes literally airborned the jumps with heads banging the rooflinings.got a fright tho.My hilux seemed fine tho

My buddy's roofrack shifted from the roof and we had to do repairs to it:

pass somewhere between laingsburg and Sutherland:

after that the gravel roads became almost like a tar road.one could put foot down,but I kept to a max of 80km/hr



some wildlife:

some skape:

Finally after driving on smooth gravel(and enjoyed all of it) we arrived at tar road 10km before Sutherland:


we went to Sutherland town(almost dark)the town like a ghost town,did not find any accommodation they(campsite) where fully booked.(24 spots )we then head our way to Verlaatenkloof campsite,about 15kms from Sutherland at the foot of Verlaatenkloof pass:

Verlaatenkloof campsite:

Die grondpaaie lyk regtig fantasties
So 'n trip lyk nie na te veel beplanning nie (m.a.w. selfs ek kan dit doen )

Baie lekker dit was nie so ver van Tankwa af nie of hoe?................ons was n bietjie meer suid by Oudtshoorn, Swartbergpas, Die Hel en het by Kruis rivier gebly, gaste huis en kampeer plek. Mosselbaai en natuurlik moes ons die Vleesbaai duine gaan ry het. Verder het ons ook al die berg passé in die omgewing gery ...

4x4BEES wrote:Die grondpaaie lyk regtig fantasties
So 'n trip lyk nie na te veel beplanning nie (m.a.w. selfs ek kan dit doen )

jip enige een kan dit doen.het nie beplanning nodig nie. ons het die teer paaie probeer vermy.

Toppie4x4 wrote:Baie lekker dit was nie so ver van Tankwa af nie of hoe?..............

nee glad nie,ons het in Tankwa gaan ry,maar dai paie is erger as wat ons gery het.

Ok.here we go again:

had a healthy breakfast the morning and hit the road again.On our way to SALT(SA,s largest telescope):














Handed out sweet to the local kids while deflating tyres for our route to Middelpos.The route takes us to Middelpos,down the Ganaga pass and then into Hammelhoek:This was the Saturday Morning:Must say The SAATO visit is a must to all South African Families.
On route to Middlepos:

Well ,about 10 kms before Middelpos ,I started to loose steering.(steering wheel is turning,not the wheels)luckily I was doing less than 50km/h.( Was not a great feeling ,u turn and the bakkie went straight )We stopped and then checked.removed the wheel and discovered the steering Bolt on the steering arm snapped during the trip.
This must have been the previous days ride.checked again and discovered there was only one bolt attached to the diff.In other words ,when I bought the hilux 12 years ago,the 3 bolts was already snapped off.This happened about 5.30pm and lucky enough we stopped and got cellphone coverage.move a meter away from the bakkie and no coverage.Only way now is to send my buddy to Middelpos to go seek help.I repeatedly phone Trevor from hammelhoek,as we booked for the Saturday and sunday evening.Call only went to voicemail.Leftmessages hoping for some reply.Later my buddy foned from Middelpos to say he is at the police station and they assisting us in getting someone to help us.The bloke in Middelpos who normally assist is out of town.Later again got a call from him and the only rescue now is from calvinia from Koos Louw ( Calvina Motors).Well after a tow-in fee agreed upon ,Koos was on his way from calvinia to the rescue.Estimated time of arrival by us 20:30pm.




While waiting for Koos we decided to make supper and lekka coffee


eventually Koos arrived and the bakkie was loaded onto double axle trailer:




Hoping all is well we where towed to Calvinia Motors.estimated arrival time.12h00am in Calvinia. From the word Go Koos said this vehicle is "Donners Heavy" skat so 2 ton swaar.My hilux weight is more than the trailer combined with the Isuzi V6 towing us,Myself and my daughter ,sitting on my lap was driving with Koos in the towing vehicle.My wife had to tightfit in the red Hilux.
We where pulling just over 60km/h.we could feel that the hilux is heavy.By this time Koos reduced speed to less than 60km/hr.
So Just about 10km pass Middelpos ,the trailer started slightly to snake,Koos tries to rectify it,then it gets worse trying to counter and eventually he had to apply brakes slightly.With an instant move the trailer jacked knife.All I could see was darkness flashing me by and the vehicle came to a halt,facing the opposite direction.applied first gear and the trailer tears away from the towing vehicle.Well hearts in our stomach and my little one jumped out immediately out the vehicle to her mom.
on investigation Koos discovered that the axial leave spring snapped on the trailer by the weight of the hilux and moved the axle a little bit forward. A little later the Middelpos police arrived to come check on us.Koos strapped the leave spring together and we crept our way to Calvinia.I gave a sigh of relief when we hit the tar road to Calvinia,The bakkie was towed into the workshop and we scouted for accommodation.all closed ,eventually we booked in at Calvinia Hotel.

Anyways,sunday morning arrives,Koos was already busy stripping everything to discover the damage,ex.bearings crushed and damaged.Meanwhile koos tries phoning Trevor again,voicemail,phones his neighbours,no answer,eventally got to one of the other farm neighbours to relay the message to Trevor that we stuck in Calvinia.Monday arrives and the wheelbearing had to be brought from Maitland in cape town via our family member.So we stood in calvinia since Saturday,eventually my hilux was fixed thanks to Koos Louw (Calvina Motors) and his commitment on Tuesday morning and hit the road round about 13pm.Must say I have never experienced so much friendliness like a town such as this.everywhere you walk or drive the locals greet you.Makes you feel welcomed.
We then hit the gravel round back again to Middelpos ,take the Ganaga pass down in the Tankwa and on our way to Hammelhoek.

Glad you guys are okay after that ordeal

4x4BEES wrote:Glad you guys are okay after that ordeal

Thankyou."THE ALMIGHTY" was with us indeed.

Policeman that assisted us:





Ganaga Lodge:

The tankwa roads is really bad.there is sections that we thought that everything going to rattle loose:but beautifull surroundings:

Eventually we arrived at hammelhoek greeted by Trevor.Told him our breakdown and that we tried to contact him since Saturday.Just said we can camp behind the Koppie and that He is fully booked the next day.(Wednesday)as the landcruiser club is coming.Feeling exhausted and in no mood we set up camp and settled in(after all we paid for 2 nights in November ) ."Hoeveel hout soek julle" was asked and we said 2 bags,maybe complimentary,then discovered it was R 35.00 per bag. Wednesday Morning woke up and started the fire round about 11:am,then "Jan" Trevor's farmworker comes around and said." Die meneer se julle moet uit wees by 12:uur" WTH did we just get chucked out " Weeti hoe laat die meneer sal terug wees nie"
Anyways before this message I thought that lets take the kids for a dip,as it was extremely hot.arrive at the pool and Trevor's kids was about to get into the pool ,then he shouted to them "daars chlorine in die pool""julle kan eers vanaand swem".we then walked away and he them apologise.Then replied "julle kan die pool gebruik as julle wil"

REALLY NOW TREVOR.DO YOU THINK I WILL LET MY KIDS SWIM IN CHLORINE WATER,FAR FROM ANY FACILITIES:
THANKYOU,BUT NO THANKYOU FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY ,YOU WILL NOT SEE ME AGAIN !!!

We packed up and left about 3.30pm for Ceres.No sign of the cruiser club.Our journey took us 200km towards CERES.
Will we do this again.Forsure.Despite the mishaps we thoroughly enjoyed our journey.
MANY THANKS TO CALVINIA MOTORS FOR THE ASSISTANCE AND THANKS FOR READING THIS:

Great trip report Deon,thanks for sharing and glad everything worked out okay after your mishap.

Thanx for Sharing, Nice Report...
Sounds as though you had fun...
Remember the heavier your load the more likely you are to have problems...
If you only used something once on the trip, Leave it next time...
In this way you will reduce your weight...
If you never use something on the trip, Sell or give it away...

Sounds like you guys had lots-a-fun, the issue's one has on a trip is what makes it so much fun and great memories great trip report :!: :!:

FIRSTGEER wrote:Great trip report Deon,thanks for sharing and glad everything worked out okay after your mishap.

Thankyou.we thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

Haboob wrote:Thanx for Sharing, Nice Report...
Sounds as though you had fun...
Remember the heavier your load the more likely you are to have problems...
If you only used something once on the trip, Leave it next time...
In this way you will reduce your weight...
If you never use something on the trip, Sell or give it away...

Thankyou.lesson well learnt,in itself the accessories on the hilux add heavy weight.The 33" on its own is heavy.Im just glad my hilux is bottom heavy,but yet thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

ROOFER wrote:Sounds like you guys had lots-a-fun, the issue's one has on a trip is what makes it so much fun and great memories great trip report :!: :!:

Fully agreed:

Nice report Deon

Been through the Tankwa a few times including December. Ganagga Lodge is always a favorite stop over and I should have stayed there again this time instead of at Sothemba lodge which was dissapointing. You win some and loose some - all part of the experience.

Nice to see the guys at Calvinia motors is so helpful. Will remember that.

Some nice phodies there.

Thanks for sharing

Thankyou.Will recommend Koos anytime for his commitment. Who works on a sunday ?(during holidays nogal).Don't forget the service at Calvinia Hotel.