[OffRoadFun]

I would like to further share my off-roading and farming experiences mixed intermittently with scenic shots.

Audi Q5 quattro tested in mountains (preview):

By now, we were expanding the acreage in the orchard, planting second phase which is behind a seasonal water channel (which divides the farm), additional land. This time my son was with me and was playing in the pits, sometimes holding me:


And then in a few months after planting the saplings, it looked much neater and organized:


One more:


The trip was good. Me and my son climbed a few rocks, the contours of our farm are indeed rocky, pun intended!.


Time passes by, we identify new places in the farm to grow more varieties.
Monsoons are arriving soon and we are getting ready to plant tomatoes and raised beds are finished.



While returning, we took the Q5 into the nearby field, through unpaved roads.


While coming back, I noticed what I would call our smaller version of table top mountain. It is near Madakasira town. One day I hope to climb this.



And another one, capturing semi-arid climate:




Early adventure in off-roading starts.

I had been watching those videos on youtube where they run Audis on beaches, mountains and in snow and Quattro just comes out, well almost, effortlessly. One day on my way to farm, I noticed a small rock and thought of trying the quattro on that:


This climb was not easy, the surface is very hard, very uneven and at inclination. Couple of onlookers gathered as they found it very perplexing why someone would do this to their car.

On way, I clicked a picture of a small mountain. It had a mix of rocks and some palms characteristic of semi-arid region.

I always thought I will one day hike those and may be drive around over there in SUV.

That day there were too many distractions on the way before reaching the farm. I noticed a big solar park on way and thought of seeing those solar modules closely. So I took the Q5 inside:


It looked good and clicked a few pics there too:


Still too many things to explore before reaching the farm, and it is going to be a day trip: A small detour led to a place where there was a big area of uneven yet mildly drivable rocks. Audi Q5 was ready for the challenge. This is HARD granite rock:

Took some shots with my beauty:




These guys were drying groundnuts on that flat rock, look closely.
The guys were kind of perplexed see us there but offered some groundnuts, poor yet gracious. I returned the favor by giving back some bananas to them.



Reached the farm and was told the last rains have made the usual path to the room non-drivable due to a big trench.

I told the farm manager another alternate way: Here is a clip of how I reached, courtesy Audi Quattro AWD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxS8wYGKGwM

Time to go back home and capture some shots hopefully. I got some good views of sunset and the car before it got dark:

With the car:


Car and myself:


and right before sunset:


Another trip, more fun:
On way to the farm, I found a narrow unpaved road. I just thought of exploring that. I was alone and there were not too many people around, still I took a chance.

The road lead towards the mountains where the windmills were installed.



Here is a short clip of path towards hills, windmills and some sheeps/goats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkMxP3sOoA

I took left at "Y" junction in the video eventually and found a good spot:


Time to take some more shots, another angle:


We go further towards the rocks/hills now, surrounded by Windmills and other smaller hills and no one else around, From a bit up on the hill, it looked good:


We are now foot of the hill, ready to climb up using Quattro AWD:




We start to climb up the rocky hill with cacti and palms on way. Here is a clip of the climb on the hill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy7uP1P4Ic

The unpaved road ended and were into the rocks now. Couple of shots of the place we reached:


From another angle:


I thought of taking it to bit more extreme and climb the mid-size granite rock:


From the driver side, I noticed wheels were looking as if they needed air refill, but a closer look from other side showed the Q5 was balanced just on three wheels on the rock :-). That's why


I have reached the limit of 30 images per post limit it seems, and looks appropriate for a break. In my next post, I will further post some more off-roading adventures, some farm and some more scenery!

Cheers,
OffRoadFun.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Fateh Salim]

Lovely thread. The combination of modern technology with centuries of tradition is why agriculture is so intriguing. It is a career that everyone should know more about. With this thread, you've done just that. Solar energy, use of drip irrigation, and, most importantly groundnuts.
Even when we take our old jeep to the farm for fun stuff like this, people seem puzzled, so I can imagine your Audi scenario.