Andrew McCarthy

@Shaaz Sha Many thanks to you and the rest of the group for a great fun drive on my first Fewbie gig. Hope I didn’t screw up the tracks too badly for those behind me. I am still looking for that lost track though… @Looperthanks for your help. @Vinod Damodaran no need to apologise for your pneumatic misfortune. I am sure it will happen to us all at some point, if it hasn’t already. @Tom B thanks for the cool pics. Onwards.

@Shaaz Sha confirmed

Thanks Frederic. Looking forward to taking my shovelling skills to the next level 😎

Thanks so much Alison. That was great fun. Thanks also to Alex for my first desert tug, and to all the other support. Looking forward to getting back up to Sharjah some time. Andrew

Beautiful drive today Frederic. And thanks for helping with my first pop-out😎

OK thanks - I didn't know that is how it works. It turns out there is now a newbie drive in Abu Dhabi after all so I will probably wait until I am a fewbie to come up to Sharjah.

Hello, I would like to join this drive but there seems to be a problem with the RSVP furnction on the website? Could you keep me a place? Thanks, Andrew

I went to Dragon Mart (BA section) last week. Every shop was quoting AED 320 for the Golden Camel twin cylinder. I got one for 280 but my haggling skills are terrible so I am sure it is possible to pay less. After 2 drives I am very pleased with it. It fills each tyre from 15 to 35 psi in less than a minute. The gauge doesn’t seem too accurate though so I check with a decent gauge afterwards. I can’t be 100% sure it is a genuine golden camel but the logo is on the box (not a sticker) and the carrying case, and it hasn’t burst into flames yet. In the same area of DM I bought a shovel (AED 30) safety gloves (AED 5) and a flag with suction cup attachment (AED 75 - to my surprise this has lasted 2 drives so far. The flag slipped off the pole after about 30 seconds of the first drive but some superglue sorted it out). I bought recommended Baofeng UV-5R also from DM but online for AED 105 + 20 for delivery to Abu Dhabi. It arrived less than 24 hours after ordering.

Merci beaucoup @Frederic. Very nice work in leading us to those great areas to the south. That was great fun. Hope you have a great Xmas and hope to join you again in the new year. Ah. Upside down photo added for the benefit of the Australian in the group😂

Many thanks @Wrangeld and to @Alex Raptor and indeed everyone else for a morning of great fun. Yes, the masterclass helped me enormously - I can’t recommend it enough to get a quick confident start to doing this (he says with all of 2 drives’ experience). Agreed on the ‘sand scoop’ - at the end of an enjoyable newbie drive today it took a while to get it back on because the exposed metal had been bent a bit. Thanks to another member I now have the number of a mechanic in Abu Dhabi and will try to sort it in the New Year.

Hi @Wrangeld, I have (yes🙂) a Pajero. 2017. 3.5L. White. No modifications but I will try to remove that plastic thing at the back that acts as a sand scoop. I have limited off-road experience, particularly on sand, but I did the Desert Driving Master Class with Asif last weekend and it was great and I want to do more. I would like to have fun driving with a group, maybe challenging myself a bit in the company of those who know what they are doing, and meet a diverse bunch of people. I am looking forward to it. Andrew