Wheeny Creek car wash.

[Ockrocket]

I took the Mrs. out for lunch today in the 4WD [yeah I know, this is a bike forum....but you will enjoy this].


After a light lunch and coffee at The Pines Orchard Cafe in Bilpin we decided to head back and go down Comleroy Rd. for a look at Wheeny Creek.

We knew the road was closed at the creek but thought it would be interesting for a look.......and it was.

This is what we found when we got there.

A collection of four-wheel drives.




Spread around the area above the crossing.




And here is the causeway......oops, is that a 4WD in there





"Mate can you chuck us a chamois to dry the duco off with?"
"The car's clean now I think."





"The upholstery might need blow drying though so you better get my hairdryer out of my bag."
"What's that you said?"
"I'm bald?"
"Yeah, well I have a hairdryer to dry my wig ya mean bastard!"




Winch cables, snatch blocks and tree protector straps were deployed
in a spider web pattern by the group and the recovery proceeded,
with proper caution to keep spectators at a safe distance
[winch cables snapping have been known to literally cut bystanders in half ].





We left at this point, the recovery was a foregone conclusion now.




If the owner was real lucky he may have been able to restart the vehicle after checking for water in the sump [the air intake snorkel was still clear of the water].

But it really shows how stupid some people are,,,,,he had been told by other local fourbie drivers not to try and cross the causeway- the owner was new to the area from Wagga Wagga.

It all ended without tragedy.....so you can all laugh at the fourbie owner who didn't listen to "local knowledge" now.

[PeterGSA]

What a fuck wit, pity his 4wd wasn't washed away.
Always listen to a local.

[Fatguts McCantRide]

Wow, small world! I am the bloke in the black shirt in the water. The owner is indeed new to the area, it was the first time we had taken him out 4WDing. We were doing the same as you, went for a drive down to see how far the river was up, we were turning around having realised there was no way in the world we were crossing that, when he launched in unexpectedly... piss n vinegar and all that. Scariest thing I have ever experienced, I won't lie, I still feel sick to the stomach for not stopping him going in there, but he just launched in before we realised what was happening. The back end floated then the car spun 180 degrees and slipped off the causeway.

Everyone got out safe, we got the car out with the use of winches and onto the car trailer and back home again. The recovery took a couple of hours, it was a bad situ but no way were we going to make it worse by rushing it. My feet are cut to ribbons from swimming out to the car with winch cables etc and I am buggered. No way were we starting that, before the photos you posted, the car was even deeper, snorkel was well under water.

Not exactly the leisurely drive I was looking forward to...

[Fatguts McCantRide]

Originally Posted by PeterGSA

What a fuck wit, pity his 4wd wasn't washed away.
Always listen to a local.

Easy to say that from the comfort of a computer screen. Was he a dumbarse for what he did?Absolutely. Did he deserve to lose his car for it? Debatable. I've seen plenty of pics and videos on here of blokes putting bikes into situations I would balk at, do they all deserve to have their bikes washed away?

I'm pretty sure he will remember this for the rest of his life. I'm glad he learned a lesson without it costing more than a rooted car. We were all young and dumb once.

[robmoto]

.

[Ockrocket]

Fatguts McCantRide said......
"Wow, small world! I am the bloke in the black shirt in the water."




Aaaaahhhhh SHIT!

Now I'm in real trouble.....

Sorry about the "comic relief" comments about the hair dryer and the wig.

I'm the A'hole that was in the black BMWTC Karuah River Rally T-shirt who suggested anchoring the white Tojo back to the white canvas backed ute that was anchored to the fence posts, and the same one who suggested opening the doors on the vehicle being recovered to lighten it by letting the water out as it was being dragged up, my Mrs. was the Asian [Filipino] woman in the short pink leather jacket.

We weren't on either of the bikes today, we were in this.


There were plenty of you there with obvious recovery experience so I didn't offer much other than a couple of suggestions.

I was a bit concerned at one point when you dived under the front of the drowned 4WD for quite some time to adjust the tow straps and winch cables, I kept an eye downstream behind the vehicle and was ready to dive in if you bobbed up further down and were in trouble.

We had been up the Mountain for lunch and were just curious to check out the creek level, I believe earlier in the week a couple of vehicles had been washed off the causeway as well....so the bloke you guys were with is not the first to be caught out.

[Scotty4x4]

There we a couple of photos during the week on Facebook and the water leaves was up were all the cars are parked!

But srsly I would never put my car in something if I didn't feel I could walk it.

[outback jack]

Reminds me of a time in kakadu fishing for Barra at a flooded road crossing with the young bloke. The flood marker said 1.4 but i suspect it wasn't quite placed at the deepest part. Along came ole mate in his Nissan no snorkel with VIC number plates and a trophy wife holding a video camera. My young bloke said " hey dad is that guy going across,, what about the croc's? " I said wind in your line son you might get a snag.
Just past the flood marker the Nissan took it's last breath, and the screams from the trophy wife could be heard back in Darwin.

[Fatguts McCantRide]

all good, I am the first to joke about my lack of hair! Nice to meet you, let's make it at a more relaxed pace next time orright? And thanks for keeping an eye out.

Ya right about the being underwater, it wasn't my favourite moment of the day. I was getting very worried about the young bloke by that stage, we had at one stage earlier made him get in dry clothes and sit in a heated car as the poor bugger's lips were blue and he was shaking. His missus - in the pink shirt - was in a pretty bad state of shock to start with too. The gravity of the situation didn't sink in until we had the car on dryish land, it could have so easily gone the other way looking back.

[Ockrocket]

Originally Posted by Fatguts McCantRide

Easy to say that from the comfort of a computer screen. Was he a dumbarse for what he did?Absolutely. Did he deserve to lose his car for it? Debatable. I've seen plenty of pics and videos on here of blokes putting bikes into situations I would balk at, do they all deserve to have their bikes washed away?

I'm pretty sure he will remember this for the rest of his life. I'm glad he learned a lesson without it costing more than a rooted car. We were all young and dumb once.

^
+1

The vehicle should be ok if it is dried out and oils in the engine, gearbox and diffs are changed....not the first fourbie I've seen that has been drowned, others have recovered ok.

One of the things I used to love about my old 2A Landrovers was that they were never water tight, driving through deep stuff they would fill with water instead of floating easily, then they would drain themselves again on exiting the water.

[Sleepy John]

Dusty and Hunsta will be along in a minute with a few tips on drying out drowned electrics.

[Ockrocket]

Originally Posted by Fatguts McCantRide

all good, I am the first to joke about my lack of hair! Nice to meet you, let's make it at a more relaxed pace next time orright? And thanks for keeping an eye out.

How about a picnic ride to Wheeny Creek for that "more relaxed pace" meeting one day?

Or maybe higher ground....like the Kurrajong pub perhaps.....

[peter650]

Gday Steve i was down there Saturday {to test the new tyres, in mud/clay before Cold Flame}. Hope at the very least, he put his missus out, before he drove into that. It is one thing to fuk yourself up, but it's a whole new ball game, when you start to fuk other people up.

[Colonial Mick]

I can relate to that and I recon there are plenty on here who have made stupid mistakes similar. I am just lucky that no one could post the photos up Its all good fun !
It was much better when the bridge was there.

[Ockrocket]

Originally Posted by peter650

Gday Steve i was down there Saturday {to test the new tyres, in mud/clay before Cold Flame}. Hope at the very least, he put his missus out, before he drove into that. It is one thing to fuk yourself up, but it's a whole new ball game, when you start to fuk other people up.

Hi Peter,

The girl in the pink top in one of the pics is his Mrs I think, and I believe she was in the car with him when it went in (fatguts can confirm or refute that though).

All in all they were very lucky.

Fatguts and his fourbie mates did an excellent and professional job of recovering the vehicle safely.