Cape York et al. - August

[stevensr34 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevensr34]

Pardon me if I find it hard to believe that people are driving through crossings 1.2 metres deep. How are people measuring this 1.2 metres?
Cheers Andrew

Really very easy Andrew - after walking through the crossing several times trying to see where the holes are, I found the deepest the water got to was my bellybutton.

On returning home, I measured how high that is, and - wait for it - it is 1.2 metres above the ground.

Really easy - and I can assure you - not BS..

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

i did it 2 days after boomslang , take a look at the last pics i accidentally posted on my creb track post and you will see my top rail of the bar 2 inches under water . NO BOW wave , crystal clear picture from from inside the car . i followed exactly the same line. 2 inches above my top bar is 1.2 metres . and then the car started to dig in . i had my sunroof open , there was no possibility of going out the windows . oh yeah .mark it looks like fun but i was solo , late afternoon , no body around . one of the most sphingcter puckering moments of my life .

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

i had to use ALL 180 killowatts to tractor my way out.

Yes, it takes a lot of pedalling and paddling to get out. The water was completely calm when I entered it

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

This is the video from the inside of the car. I nearly killed my own wife

[StevoVX Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StevoVX]

Giddy up I can't wait.

Steve

[Richoson Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Richoson]

Hey Boomslang

How long or how much before you were back in the good books?

See ya on the tracks, Richo.

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

I tell you what she was very proud of me, and relieved for not getting water in her Prado. At that stage the odds were against us as more than half the cars before us got stuck in the middle and took on a lot of water. Running her over was immediately forgotton.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

DAMN those other witnesses .

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

He is one of the guys who got stuck. Funny thing is, he didn't follow my wife's advise before he went for it. He thought he would play it safe and spool out his winch beforehand to save time in the water should he not make it. Renee told him not to spool out the the full length because it will take forever to winch it back in again. Then she said that the tree he is using is too thin. Both times he brushed her off. Well it did get get stuck, it did took forever to winch himself out and the tree did snap. He ended up with a flooded car. I'm sure you can see on his face he is a bit pi...d off

[TFPRDO Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TFPRDO]

hey guys if you can read this while away .DO NOT attempt NOLANS BROOK with a camper trailer. nolans apparently claims 30 -40 vehicles a year and it came sphincter puckeringly close to claiming mine without a trailer . its running at about 1.2mtrs deep and the bottom is EXTREMELY SOFT . i had to use ALL 180 killowatts to tractor my way out . i will post pictures of the top rail of my bullbar 2 inches underwater in a trip report . if i had my time again i would not have attempted it ie. water in car. oh yeah , my car went a whole lot of places that more serious vehicles had to winch out .

Hey Kav, understand where your coming from in this post and the warning is fair, but, I did this crossing on Aug 8th with camper trailer in tow with no water whatso ever in the vehicle. I hugged the bank to the left and did a sort of s bend in the brook to avoid the big hole at the top left, coming from South to North. There was nine vehicles in our group by the time we got to this crossing and all made it through pretty much unscathed. Having said that, there was a pp member from Hervey bay with a very new 150 with camper that is now a fish tank.
As always walk the lines and discover it for yourself and I would highly recommend a snatch strap attached for a quick recovery if needed.

Cheers

[Keeper Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeper]

Well, back in the Alice after a fantastic trip.

7,169 kms, and about 135 hours in the car. The Prado was great, did not miss a beat and very impressed with performance and guts, particularly faced with some of the roads and the ease of towing the trailer.

Trip was from Alice to Taylors and Wonga Beach, attempt at the CREB, Bloomfield, Lakefield NP, Iron Range NP, Frenchman’s, OTT (south) and the Tip. Back on the main drag to Fairview Station and down through Fairlight, Palmerville, Mitchell River and Gamboola, onto Normanton and back down to the highway at Cloncurry for a quick trip home.

OTT (north) Captain Billy’s Landing and Vrylia are on the to do list for next time!

Ran on standard suspension, no troubles, but a lift would have given a greater piece of mind. On that note the bash plates did their job really well. The Goodyear Wrangler MTR’s paid for themselves. Ran on and below 25 psi from Cooktown to the Tip and back to Normanton so the compressor was great for the varying conditions. Went to 18 psi driving along the Mitchell River (it was incredibly soft). The dual battery performed well with winching and insurance should one battery give up. The ARB Sahara Bar was handy meeting a tree after the camper gave me a nudge at Gunshot and making some contributors on our coat of arms think again. The XDC winch came in handy, used twice to assist.

One rule getting to the top we had was if there was a back road we would take it. Some funny bush telegraphs about the Frenchman’s (in particular the Pascoe) with some saying the water was still running quite high. These stories minimized the traffic on the road anyway! Some people providing advice not to take certain tracks around the tip because it was too rough only heightened my interest to drive them.

Between the two cars travelling not too much damage. I ended up reshaping the side steps on the car, new scratches to the LHS and RHS panels, christened the Bull Bar with a tree at Gunshot and put a ding in the camper trailer underbody going down Palm Creek. Dropped a left wheel bearing on the trailer on the OTT just before Fruit Bat (lucky I carried spare bearings, but more to that story a bit later). Some hub trouble on the return trip as well, but all part of the fun.

My mate ended up with a broken windscreen, busted tail light, damage to front and sides of the camper trailer (minor) and a failed battery (due to corrugations – lucky he had three in the 100 series)

I needed a change of undies (a couple of times) on the CREB track after 3 days of rain! It remained open but was closed shortly after we came back through Daintree. Had to have a go! Did not get through – two other cars coming the other way had to turn around also and one bloke evidently got airlifted out after taking his car and trailer up there and running into significant mechanical trouble. From what I saw (given the conditions and some of the drop offs it was no place for a trailer).


As far as the timeline went – forget it, with running repairs and parts getting flown in some places to visit were struck off the list like staff at News of the World.

More to follow…..

[Keeper Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeper]

Clean and ready to go, no damage, no dust infiltration yet...

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

nice work youv'e done it . bugger you did less ks than i did and saw a whole lot more interesting country

[Keeper Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeper]

Kav, a lesson learnt from this trip is more time required on the next adventure. It was fast paced and having to allow for break down time / deliveries really chucked a spanner in the works (no pun of course)

Met some great locals on the back tracks, really helpful. I will detail more in the report - I just need to find the time to do it.

I reckon I will use 3-4 months on the next trip in 2012 (Tanami, Gibb River, West Coast to Esperance and over the Bight to Kangaroo Island, then across to Tassie, back on through Oodnadatta / Simpson) Negotiation required with this project!

[Keeper Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeper]

Sunday 31 July

Time to get on the road and get to the coast.

Today the drive to Barkly Homestead where we hooked up with our friends who drove the 1200 kms from Darwin that day to meet. I felt a bit bad – I only had to travel 700kms. The kids were kept entertained with all the army tanks and APC’s returning to Darwin from Talisman Sabre on the east coast and the occasional sighting of a kangaroo, dingoes and wedgetails.

I would love to see the defence gear coming down Gunshot!

Stopped in at Wycliffe Well (the UFO Capital!) and did the Alien pictures with the kids.

No probes today thanks.



Budgies @ Barkly