Dune bashing

With Nick and Bindi, and a bunch of their friends, we took the Landy dune bashing. This is a very popular pastime over here, but nothing we have done so far. Nana Viv wisely stayed at home, and Ian was just as wise - he ended up in the car driven by the expert who's been here in Dubai for years. At one stage during the day Jack was heard to comment that he thought "Grandad's got the best seat because he is with the guy that knows what he is doing". A wonderful vote of confidence.
Anyway, we set off with 5 other cars, and after getting a fair way towards Hatta, stopped to let our tyres down (to about 15-16 KPA) so that we could get out onto the desert. At low pressure the tyres create a larger footprint - kind of like 4WD snow shoes.

The Land Rover LR3 purred along - in surroundings that were actually a challenge for the 4.4 litre V8. After the driver was told to put it in low ratio (who knew? - I blame the co-driver) it went even better.

This may look stuck. I thought it was stuck. But Bernie talked me through it. We got into low ratio, sawed the wheel back and forth, and worked our way out. What you just don't get from the picture is how much the car seemed to be leaning at this point - we can see now it wasn't but man it felt like we were going to tip inside the thing. In fact we didn't get stuck the whole day - something I am very proud of (although now I wonder if we didn't try hard enough!).

Of course some people did get stuck. Back wheels not touching the ground = need to be towed. Out of respect not going to tell you who is driving. But Bindi couldn't get photos of the outside of this one....

Our destination - a stunning view from the top of here (and a very hairy descent round the back). Apparently our run was a 'beginners' one. Yeh right.

After going soft to start with, we got into the swing of things. The kids were loving it in the back. There were only two screams from Delanie in the front. This episode just might have prompted one of them.

Yep - we're going to do it

Oh crap, we're going to do it.

Daddy do you know what you are doing?

Shush. I'm trying to concentrate (on not leaving massive brown stains in my pants)...

Even though it feels like we are vertical I am sure we're not.

Nearly there - and amazed that the front of the car hasn't been ripped out already!

Can you smell the relief?

Then we stopped to meet some camels. The kids got brave (after a while).

I don't want to hear any more sheep jokes, please.

A really amazing day. Had lots of fun, particularly towards the end with a little more confidence. Reckon it would have been even more fun if I wasn't scared of breaking my car. Maybe there is something in owning a third 4WD....