On Saturday we headed up the Bloomfield track to Bloomfield Falls at Wujal Wujal with Paul & Nehara. They're staying with us for a week, and we wanted to show them some of the lovely countryside that's so close to home. And, lets face it, you can't come to Cairns without seeing the rainforest.
The trip up was largely uneventful, so we didn't take many photos, since we'd been there before just a month prior. On the way back, however, we made it in to Woobadda Ck, and came across this...
Yep - that's a 2WD Hiace van converted into a camper for travelling round Australia. Yep - it's 2/3rds of the way across Woobadda, with water well above the bottom of the doors. Nope - it's not going anywhere.
It was "owned" by a German professor and his wife who were over here for a holiday, who simply overestimated it's capabilities. With no weight over the back wheels, an open diff, and a rocky, slippery creek bed, I'm surprised that he got as far through as he did.
By the time we turned up, there was a decent crowd gathered. A couple in a red winch-equipped Landcruiser had pulled down to the edge of the water, and we attached the winch cable to the rear bumper (no recovery points were fitted, of course, since it wasn't meant to be offroad!) and winched the car backwards through the creek. I jumped in to help push and act as navvie to the driver, and generally direct traffic around the site.
With the car out of the water, we tried to drive it back up the hill. Thankfully it would start, and didn't seem to have ingested any water into the engine. Unfortunately though, with water pouring out of it everywhere (including a surprisingly large amount from the exhaust) the dirt was quite slippery, and even with Paul and myself on the back of the van, it couldn't get traction and reverse up under it's own power.
So the Landcruiser was again called into action, this time to tow the van using it's winch cable back up the hill a bit, until we could turn it around and clear the track.
Once the backlog of traffic had left, we were able to get the van going back up the hill, through a combination of Paul & I on the back, and a lot of loud encouragement to the drive to "give it heaps mate - keep going - keep going!!!". It eventually bounced up the worst of the hill to a flattish section, and we could hop off and inspect the damage. About the worst of it was a busted tyre valve on a rear wheel resulting in a slowly deflating tyre, and the water-logged floor inside.
We sent them back north towards Wujal Wujal, with instructions to continue that way and go the long way round, via Cooktown and the inland route, rather than re-attempting the coast road. We gave them directions to the police station at Wujal, who could advise where to get the tyre fixed, or at least give them a hand to change it with the spare. I figured it was better to leave them get back off the track with the tyre deflating slowly, and hopefully providing a bit more traction, rather than changing it right then and there. If they went slowly, they should have been fine.
Whilst the recovery itself went well, we did have a related injury to deal with. A motorbike tour group came from the south, and suddenly found themselves coming around a bend and down a slippery hill, and faced with a bunch of parked fourbies. One fellow dropped the bike whilst trying to brake, and sustained what looked to be a reasonably heavy concussion, as well as a busted up hand and ribs. The tour group had a dual-cab Navara with them to carry all the camping supplies, so they bandaged him up as best they could, and loaded him into the ute and headed towards the hospital at Wujal. I imagine that, despite only being half-way through the first day of what was probably a tour to the Cape, his holiday would be over.
Once the river was clear, the stopped trucks were able to make their way across, and the backlog cleared. One notable example was a group of young kids in a lifted Hilux with 32" muddies who were one of the last ones to arrive, after the van had been dragged out of the way. Hence they didn't have long to wait at all, and in fact they didn't leave their car or offer to help during the whole procedure. Since they had to wait 10 minutes for the other vehicles to clear the track on the other side, however, they were rather upset. They demonstrated this by launching into the water at full speed, and spinning all 4 wheels all the way across, generally tearing up the river bed that already had had a fair workout that afternoon. Leaving the creek the other side was a similar affair, all 4 wheels spinning whilst clawing for traction and tearing up the exit ramp. Real thoughtful guys, since we were still to cross in the standard Pathfinder. No gold star for them.
Anyway, once everything was sorted, we sent the Britz camper on it's way and continued home ourselves. We now have the German professor's business card, with clear instructions to ring whenever we're in Germany!
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| 2008-06-21 |
