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Came back a few days ago from the most fantastic trip to Fraser Island. The Paj was awesome though there's a few things I'm going to change or fix.
The trip from Ipswich to Inskip Point was about 6 hours due to kiddy rest stops and towing two laiden trailers. Left at 4.30am and missed all the cityh traffic. Was a lovely trip. Let the stock tyres down to 20psi at Inskip and cruised across the sand to the barge.
Over on the Island and with the fuel economy guage reset, it was about an hour and a half trip up to Cathederal Beach Campsite. Camp was set up and we did some trailer-less cruising around.
I was a bit shattered that the water looked like mud and bluebottles were in plague proportions. Some old man who looked like he knew knew what he was talking about said it'd clear in 2 or so days, which it did.
We alternated a fishing day with a family outing day (with fishing late in the afternoon) with a day at camp doing nothing (except late afternoon fishing). We caught a ton of dart, whiting and of course tailor which we all ate. One mate caught 2 flatheads off Sandy Cape which was great. A guy fishing off a jetski caught a barracuda about 40 metres offshore which was a pleasant suprise.
The two weeks went like a blur but some highlights were: -
Getting bogged in the massive sandblow past Orchid Beach. Total driver error. After getting pulled out backwards by my father-in-law's 80 series, it made it up the pinch climb no worries.
The magnificant Lake Mackenzie. Words can't do it justice.
The magnificant topless European sunbathers at Lake Mackenzie. Words can't do you justice either ladies.
Getting bogged at Happy Valley and having to get pulled out by a tractor. Again, driver error - One too many yellow cans and too busy singing with my kids.
After getting bogged at Ngala Rocks heading north, gunning it hard going south in 4LLc and held in 2nd. Oh my god. Sand was cascading everywhere from all 4 tyres. Not too environmentally friendly but we got through. By that stage most of the tracks were torn to bits by the ever increasing school holiday traffic.
Slowly picking over the rocks at Ngala, hearing strange scraping noises from underneath the car.
The 45cm Tailor I caught of Sandy Cape. Not being the worlds best fisherman, this was a rare delight.
The 20cm whiting my 5y.o. caught not 5 mins later.
Long trips back along the beach late in the afternoon, with my baby sleeping, and my eldest and his cousin, headphones on, eyes glued to the DVD watching the goodies, the occasional chuckle the only noise heard from the back. Thank you Mitsubishi!
Funniest thing ever! Off the barge at Inskip, going across the sand heading home, there's a Hyundai Elantra bogged about 30 metres from where it should have stopped. Funny thing was that it was facing the way back from the barges. God knows how it got out that far, and god knows how it turned around. All I know is that it was churning up a hell of a lot of sand. If only the camera wasn't packed in the trailer I'd have had you crying with laughter.
Fuel stats were -
Ipswich to Inskip towing trailer 40psi - 12.2
Barge landing to Cathederal with trailer 20psi - 14.2
Up and down the beach on hard sand no trailer - 12.2
Inland roads - between 16 and 20 depending on which road
Sand Dunes - 22
Great Sandy Cape to Cathederal over very soft boggy sand - 19.8
Inskip to Ipswich with Father-in-law's camper trailer (much heavier than my trailer) - 14.8.
Back to normal and back down to around 10.
Really happy with all of these. All up used 3.5 full tanks for the fortnight Ipswich to Ipswich. Diesel was $1.90 per litre.
It was a fantastic fortnight and the Paj handled like a dream considering it was running the highway tyres and no lift. Like I said, the tracks were being cut up worse and worse. The ride was smooth as I could have wanted. Over 5000kms now and not a problem touch wood. Saw two other LWB NS's and one red shorty over there. God they're a great looking car!
The sequential sports mode was priceless, both for holding in gear and for the slow descents/engine braking.
The ASC was a pain in the bum in the soft boggy sand. Most of the time it didn't bother me, but losing momentum when it came on at the worst possible time was frustrating. After a few days we remembered to turn it off every time we got in.
The superselect was excellent, though sometimes having to back off the gas for 2 to 3 seconds isn't ideal - most probably down to me not realising in time that there was some rough road ahead.
The GPS was brilliant too, and I have most of the inland tracks mapped for next time.
The first thing I'm going to change is to hard wire both the front and rear ciggie socket as they only run when the car is on or on Acc, as well as getting a Waeco hardwiring kit as the voltage drop turned out to be too much for my fridge.
Second I'm going to change the type and position of the trailer socket. Came from the factory with a flat 7 pin, though my trailer is a round 7 pin (got one of those adaptors). From getting bogged in the sand dune it's been smashed to hell. Thinking of locating it higher if possible, perhaps into the guard somehow??
The blue LED sidestep lights are very cool, but totally impracticle. Rear right wire got ripped out, front left one got so stuffed with wet sand that it shorted and wouldn't turn off. They look great but you may wish to protect the wires a bit better. (I've also now spray painted my intercooler surround black. Personal touch, but it looks heaps cooler).
It took me, my wife and father-in-law 4.5 hours to get the Paj back to what we considered "good enough" condition once we got home. There was sand everywhere. You name it, it was sandy. Engine - sandy. Inside - sandy. Rear seat storage - sandy. Glovebox - sandy. Rear storage compartments that were never opened - sandy. Thank god for floor mats and the neoprene seat covers. I also picke up a rubber rear cargo floor mat off ebay which was brilliant. I've anti-rusted the engine and fisholene'd underneath the car. A bit pongy but I've heard it works really well.
That's about all I can think of. If you've made it this far, you really need to get out more. Thanks for reading. Fraser Rocks!
The trip from Ipswich to Inskip Point was about 6 hours due to kiddy rest stops and towing two laiden trailers. Left at 4.30am and missed all the cityh traffic. Was a lovely trip. Let the stock tyres down to 20psi at Inskip and cruised across the sand to the barge.
Over on the Island and with the fuel economy guage reset, it was about an hour and a half trip up to Cathederal Beach Campsite. Camp was set up and we did some trailer-less cruising around.
I was a bit shattered that the water looked like mud and bluebottles were in plague proportions. Some old man who looked like he knew knew what he was talking about said it'd clear in 2 or so days, which it did.
We alternated a fishing day with a family outing day (with fishing late in the afternoon) with a day at camp doing nothing (except late afternoon fishing). We caught a ton of dart, whiting and of course tailor which we all ate. One mate caught 2 flatheads off Sandy Cape which was great. A guy fishing off a jetski caught a barracuda about 40 metres offshore which was a pleasant suprise.
The two weeks went like a blur but some highlights were: -
Getting bogged in the massive sandblow past Orchid Beach. Total driver error. After getting pulled out backwards by my father-in-law's 80 series, it made it up the pinch climb no worries.
The magnificant Lake Mackenzie. Words can't do it justice.
The magnificant topless European sunbathers at Lake Mackenzie. Words can't do you justice either ladies.
Getting bogged at Happy Valley and having to get pulled out by a tractor. Again, driver error - One too many yellow cans and too busy singing with my kids.
After getting bogged at Ngala Rocks heading north, gunning it hard going south in 4LLc and held in 2nd. Oh my god. Sand was cascading everywhere from all 4 tyres. Not too environmentally friendly but we got through. By that stage most of the tracks were torn to bits by the ever increasing school holiday traffic.
Slowly picking over the rocks at Ngala, hearing strange scraping noises from underneath the car.
The 45cm Tailor I caught of Sandy Cape. Not being the worlds best fisherman, this was a rare delight.
The 20cm whiting my 5y.o. caught not 5 mins later.
Long trips back along the beach late in the afternoon, with my baby sleeping, and my eldest and his cousin, headphones on, eyes glued to the DVD watching the goodies, the occasional chuckle the only noise heard from the back. Thank you Mitsubishi!
Funniest thing ever! Off the barge at Inskip, going across the sand heading home, there's a Hyundai Elantra bogged about 30 metres from where it should have stopped. Funny thing was that it was facing the way back from the barges. God knows how it got out that far, and god knows how it turned around. All I know is that it was churning up a hell of a lot of sand. If only the camera wasn't packed in the trailer I'd have had you crying with laughter.
Fuel stats were -
Ipswich to Inskip towing trailer 40psi - 12.2
Barge landing to Cathederal with trailer 20psi - 14.2
Up and down the beach on hard sand no trailer - 12.2
Inland roads - between 16 and 20 depending on which road
Sand Dunes - 22
Great Sandy Cape to Cathederal over very soft boggy sand - 19.8
Inskip to Ipswich with Father-in-law's camper trailer (much heavier than my trailer) - 14.8.
Back to normal and back down to around 10.
Really happy with all of these. All up used 3.5 full tanks for the fortnight Ipswich to Ipswich. Diesel was $1.90 per litre.
It was a fantastic fortnight and the Paj handled like a dream considering it was running the highway tyres and no lift. Like I said, the tracks were being cut up worse and worse. The ride was smooth as I could have wanted. Over 5000kms now and not a problem touch wood. Saw two other LWB NS's and one red shorty over there. God they're a great looking car!
The sequential sports mode was priceless, both for holding in gear and for the slow descents/engine braking.
The ASC was a pain in the bum in the soft boggy sand. Most of the time it didn't bother me, but losing momentum when it came on at the worst possible time was frustrating. After a few days we remembered to turn it off every time we got in.
The superselect was excellent, though sometimes having to back off the gas for 2 to 3 seconds isn't ideal - most probably down to me not realising in time that there was some rough road ahead.
The GPS was brilliant too, and I have most of the inland tracks mapped for next time.
The first thing I'm going to change is to hard wire both the front and rear ciggie socket as they only run when the car is on or on Acc, as well as getting a Waeco hardwiring kit as the voltage drop turned out to be too much for my fridge.
Second I'm going to change the type and position of the trailer socket. Came from the factory with a flat 7 pin, though my trailer is a round 7 pin (got one of those adaptors). From getting bogged in the sand dune it's been smashed to hell. Thinking of locating it higher if possible, perhaps into the guard somehow??
The blue LED sidestep lights are very cool, but totally impracticle. Rear right wire got ripped out, front left one got so stuffed with wet sand that it shorted and wouldn't turn off. They look great but you may wish to protect the wires a bit better. (I've also now spray painted my intercooler surround black. Personal touch, but it looks heaps cooler).
It took me, my wife and father-in-law 4.5 hours to get the Paj back to what we considered "good enough" condition once we got home. There was sand everywhere. You name it, it was sandy. Engine - sandy. Inside - sandy. Rear seat storage - sandy. Glovebox - sandy. Rear storage compartments that were never opened - sandy. Thank god for floor mats and the neoprene seat covers. I also picke up a rubber rear cargo floor mat off ebay which was brilliant. I've anti-rusted the engine and fisholene'd underneath the car. A bit pongy but I've heard it works really well.
That's about all I can think of. If you've made it this far, you really need to get out more. Thanks for reading. Fraser Rocks!
- ARB Bullbar, Dual Deep Cycle Batteries, Nightstalker HID's, Family Pack, Tow Bar & Lift, Illuminated Side-Steps, Bluetooth, Neoprene Seat Covers, Mio Digiwalker C520 GPS.
- Cooper ATR's on 16x8 Sunraysia's, Tough Dog 2" Lift
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