MudRunnerTD
14th June 2017, 01:42 AM
I've been lucky enough to have 2 long weekends in a row. First one up in the Vic High Country with AB MB Rossco matfew and have to say it was as good as it gets.
Last weekend I headed down into the bottom of the Otways with my 11yo boy Zach and my nephew Matt and his mate Tom for a Deer Hunting and Stalking weekend.
All went well and Zach and I got out for our first stalk together on Saturday night. Not much about but the walk was great. Zach enjoyed the walk too.
Hung about Sunday then did another big walk Sunday evening. Not much about unfortunately. All good. By dinner time Sunday I was Knackered! I'm a big bloke and I'd walked about 10kms Sunday with half of that up hill! Bloody Otways! Love that place.
So here's the story.
My nephew Matt has recently bought a GU patrol and has not had it out 4wding really yet and his mate Tom has done a little off-roading.
Sunday night I hit the swag around 9:30 with Zach for an early rise. It had been a big day. 2:30am my phone wakes me.........
"Matt!"
"Yeah hi, .......um we went for a drive.."
"Yeah right! Your stuck yeah?"
"We got bogged"
"Yeah right"
"We will come back and get the car tomorrow, don't worry about that, can you come and get us? It's a long walk!"
So I left Zach sleeping and took my GU out to where they'd told me they were which was only 4kms or so away. Here they are on the side of the track, both with rifles and gear waiting for a ride!
"You idiot!"
"Yeah"
"Where's the car?"
"It's down that track but we should come back tomorrow, we can't go down there now! You will get stuck! "
"Wtf! Where is it" "I need to see it so I know what we are coming back too"
"But but but"
"Show me where the bloody thing is"
Down we drive, along a track for another km. Get to a T intersection and they tell me to turn right.
"Yeah it's down there. The track is not on the map but we thought it looked ok"
Read that again!!!
" The track is not on the map but we thought it looked ok" at 2am in the middle of Winter in the Otways!! Seriously!!
"Right! Well let's go have a look"
So I drove into the track as far as I could without any obstacles and stopped at the top of a decent. They told me the car was "Just down there"
Head torch on we headed down the hill on foot. The boys had mentioned they'd come back Monday with Tom's Rodeo and a snatch block and get the car.... About 100m down the hill and I'm struggling to stand
"You guys are in some big trouble! This ain't good gents, you are not getting this car out with anything we have got!" " this is rough country guys, we are gunna need a bigger car!!"
The further I went in the worse I felt about where we were headed. The young fellas had no idea how much shit they were in. Anything coming to get them had to be able self recover cause nothing was driving out. It was a oneway hill. The last thing I wanted to do was put my GU down there too and have 2 car needing recovery! Damn!
"Where's the car gents?"
"Just down here"
2 hills crests later...
"Where's the bloody car gents! Seriously didn't you know by the time you got to this point that you where fucked???" "Jesus!"
Down down down! Finally we get to a crest and I look down maybe a 30d wet muddy hill and here is the GU, 45 degrees across the track in a World of hurt!
"We Are Fucked gents!!!" Is all I could say!
I live for this stuff and clearly understood how deep in the hole we were! The young fellas were getting a little nervous seeing how concerned I was! Don't get me wrong, this is where I play in the GQ, live for it! But the GQ is in bits and it's 3am 2 hours from Geelong on a Sunday night. This is Not Tractor country. This is Tracked Vehicles (bull Dozers) kind of mud. Comp truck country, 37s big power, 24v twin motor Himount kind of country! Big trouble for the unprepared. My name here MudRunner is all about hills like this. But today we are in a GU with an alloy bull bar, no lift, no winch, and a first time driver who has never participated in a recovery at any level before.
RESPECT THE BUSH! It will Bite Hard if you pay it Lip Service gents.
Damn! So we walk out and back up the hill which nearlly killed me after the previous day's stalking. I get to my GU about 3am. While I had good phone service I started a small group on Facebook and added 5 blokes i knew with race cars that where capable and asked for help. At about 7am I got a couple of Sorry can't help messages but one of the blokes new someone who might have his car ready. Added him to the group and he messaged me.
I'd never met Brett but without hesitation he loaded up his Racecar onto a car trailer 2 weeks before the next Patrolapart Winch Challenge event and towed it 2 hours behind his 4.8 into the bottom of the Otways to give me a hand. Great bloke.
We went down in daylight, the comptruck slid the second half of the hill!! It was going to be a long day!!
This is what we found
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/116.jpg
Was not great.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/117.jpg
From down below the car looking back up
He was lucky to stop where he did! Lucky lucky lucky.
So the recovery saw the winch truck get stuck quite a few times too and he recovered himself 6 or 7 times at least!
We had to winch up and use a snatch block to pull it sideways to clear a stump. The winch had a short rope so straps and heaps of shackles where needed. Each time we had to reset we tethered the car to a tree to reset. It was hard work. Technical and challenging, but I had a blast!!!
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/118.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/119.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/120.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/121.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/122.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/123.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/124.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last weekend I headed down into the bottom of the Otways with my 11yo boy Zach and my nephew Matt and his mate Tom for a Deer Hunting and Stalking weekend.
All went well and Zach and I got out for our first stalk together on Saturday night. Not much about but the walk was great. Zach enjoyed the walk too.
Hung about Sunday then did another big walk Sunday evening. Not much about unfortunately. All good. By dinner time Sunday I was Knackered! I'm a big bloke and I'd walked about 10kms Sunday with half of that up hill! Bloody Otways! Love that place.
So here's the story.
My nephew Matt has recently bought a GU patrol and has not had it out 4wding really yet and his mate Tom has done a little off-roading.
Sunday night I hit the swag around 9:30 with Zach for an early rise. It had been a big day. 2:30am my phone wakes me.........
"Matt!"
"Yeah hi, .......um we went for a drive.."
"Yeah right! Your stuck yeah?"
"We got bogged"
"Yeah right"
"We will come back and get the car tomorrow, don't worry about that, can you come and get us? It's a long walk!"
So I left Zach sleeping and took my GU out to where they'd told me they were which was only 4kms or so away. Here they are on the side of the track, both with rifles and gear waiting for a ride!
"You idiot!"
"Yeah"
"Where's the car?"
"It's down that track but we should come back tomorrow, we can't go down there now! You will get stuck! "
"Wtf! Where is it" "I need to see it so I know what we are coming back too"
"But but but"
"Show me where the bloody thing is"
Down we drive, along a track for another km. Get to a T intersection and they tell me to turn right.
"Yeah it's down there. The track is not on the map but we thought it looked ok"
Read that again!!!
" The track is not on the map but we thought it looked ok" at 2am in the middle of Winter in the Otways!! Seriously!!
"Right! Well let's go have a look"
So I drove into the track as far as I could without any obstacles and stopped at the top of a decent. They told me the car was "Just down there"
Head torch on we headed down the hill on foot. The boys had mentioned they'd come back Monday with Tom's Rodeo and a snatch block and get the car.... About 100m down the hill and I'm struggling to stand
"You guys are in some big trouble! This ain't good gents, you are not getting this car out with anything we have got!" " this is rough country guys, we are gunna need a bigger car!!"
The further I went in the worse I felt about where we were headed. The young fellas had no idea how much shit they were in. Anything coming to get them had to be able self recover cause nothing was driving out. It was a oneway hill. The last thing I wanted to do was put my GU down there too and have 2 car needing recovery! Damn!
"Where's the car gents?"
"Just down here"
2 hills crests later...
"Where's the bloody car gents! Seriously didn't you know by the time you got to this point that you where fucked???" "Jesus!"
Down down down! Finally we get to a crest and I look down maybe a 30d wet muddy hill and here is the GU, 45 degrees across the track in a World of hurt!
"We Are Fucked gents!!!" Is all I could say!
I live for this stuff and clearly understood how deep in the hole we were! The young fellas were getting a little nervous seeing how concerned I was! Don't get me wrong, this is where I play in the GQ, live for it! But the GQ is in bits and it's 3am 2 hours from Geelong on a Sunday night. This is Not Tractor country. This is Tracked Vehicles (bull Dozers) kind of mud. Comp truck country, 37s big power, 24v twin motor Himount kind of country! Big trouble for the unprepared. My name here MudRunner is all about hills like this. But today we are in a GU with an alloy bull bar, no lift, no winch, and a first time driver who has never participated in a recovery at any level before.
RESPECT THE BUSH! It will Bite Hard if you pay it Lip Service gents.
Damn! So we walk out and back up the hill which nearlly killed me after the previous day's stalking. I get to my GU about 3am. While I had good phone service I started a small group on Facebook and added 5 blokes i knew with race cars that where capable and asked for help. At about 7am I got a couple of Sorry can't help messages but one of the blokes new someone who might have his car ready. Added him to the group and he messaged me.
I'd never met Brett but without hesitation he loaded up his Racecar onto a car trailer 2 weeks before the next Patrolapart Winch Challenge event and towed it 2 hours behind his 4.8 into the bottom of the Otways to give me a hand. Great bloke.
We went down in daylight, the comptruck slid the second half of the hill!! It was going to be a long day!!
This is what we found
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/116.jpg
Was not great.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/117.jpg
From down below the car looking back up
He was lucky to stop where he did! Lucky lucky lucky.
So the recovery saw the winch truck get stuck quite a few times too and he recovered himself 6 or 7 times at least!
We had to winch up and use a snatch block to pull it sideways to clear a stump. The winch had a short rope so straps and heaps of shackles where needed. Each time we had to reset we tethered the car to a tree to reset. It was hard work. Technical and challenging, but I had a blast!!!
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/118.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/119.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/120.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/121.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/122.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/123.jpg
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2017/06/124.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk