Kia and the Watagans [NOW WITH PHOTOS]
hey,
for those that know the watagans here's another one of those stories...
went drving on Saturday with a patrol and a cruiser (beasty), started the trip at slippery rock track about 11am where we came across a Kia Sorento (whatever the little 4wd that they sell is called)… anyway he had a flat in the second part of nice boggy section with the chicken track round it (those that know will know where)… we snatched him out of there and helped him change his tyre (been there for 2 hours waiting for help).
Anyways he asked if he could tag along for a bit, being a friendly bunch we said sure J this was our first mistake of the day.
Stopped at the quarry (heading south after slippery rock road) to give the wife some practice 4wheeling as she needs a bit. Anyway I took the chance to let the guy know (for the second or third time) that we’ll be heading down a power lines track that gets a bit messy. In fact the last time we attempted it there was a 40 which had been stuck for 8 hours so we didn’t get through. He was pretty happy to keep on coming despite this.
Note to self and everyone if you come across this:
1. Make sure they have their own recovery gear
2. Double check they have real recovery points
3. If they don’t have these tell them to piss off if they want to tag along!
(bet you can see where this is going)….
Anyways for those that know it’s the third set of power lines, heading south you hang a left, there’s an old red 4wd on its roof next to a little bog hole at the top… not sure of the track name (or every if it has one)…
So everything is going ok we get to the nice step left hander that goes down a bit into a nasty wash out (if you get it wrong) .. he makes it through more or less, and then we’re down to the bog hole… its about 15 metre’s by 20-25 metres, nice and muddy and the chicken track looks like its only made for a unimog!
Anyway we discuss for a while how we’re going to get through, we decide to setup all the winch gear, attach a snatch to the back of the patroool and launch him through with the view that we’ll drag him the rest of the way… well it took about 45 minutes to drag him the last 15 feet! So that goes alright he’s got a bit of mud in the truck but it’s a patrol so who cares…
My turn, we attach 2 snatches together, the patrol on the other end and off we go… got all the way to the exit before sliding down into the mud (I’ll get picks up to show the high “mud” line). Patrols doing burnouts trying to get me through and we eventually get there..
Now its time for the locked and loaded cruiser to go through, still has to be winched through and took a few goes to get it all right. Once he looks pretty clear and his navi is sorting out the last bits, the patrol and I scoot on ahead to see what else lies in for us (and there’s a Plenty)…
MEANWHILE!!! The dumb-arse cowboy in his Kia decides that he’s going to have a bit of a go into the bog hole without any recovery gear attached (this is after watching being be towed or winched through)! Guess what happens… Should have been a darwin award. Anyways we hear this over the radio and after a few laughs and other comments head back to give a hand….
And it gets better, we try to big him a good old push out, and notice that only his rear wheels are turning (really tight LSD btw they were both spinning really well), we check with him and its in 4lo and guess what he’s broke his 4wd and only had 2wd… took about an hour to get him out as he had no recovery points (only the rear and by now everything’s on the other side!) what a dumb-arse.
We decided that he can turn around and try and get back up, tell him we’re going to finish the track and we’ll come back for him, and that we didn’t know how long it would take us but we’re pretty sure we know where we’ll find him… The next 2 hours were spent snatching, road building and other bits and pieces to work our way through the rest of the track… AMAZING day loved it…
All in all about 5 hours spent covering 10km’s what a great day J I personally learnt a lot so it was a winner all round.
Took us about another 30 minutes to track back from the south to where we found him walking up the hill… eventually we managed to tow him out on the back of the cruiser… however as there are not recovery points, found a nice big cross member in his chassis and attached to that (wouldn’t recommend this but hey it wasn’t our car and the Kia was pretty light)…
Finished up with a great steak in Wyong with a couple of beers laughing our way through the day’s events…
I guess the moral of the story is don’t be too charitable with letting people tag along, even if you do warn them about what’s coming.
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2002 KJ Ltd | 4" CRDSTU "special" lift | Stole a nudge bar| Kumho KL71 Muddies | lots of string
Last edited by smorison; 28-10-2008 at 08:05 AM.
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