I was looking through the August copy of the VKS Network News.
Canning Stock Route - Wet & Wild. This caught my attention.
2 vehicles fitted out for the trip, A Defender and new Prado and were going to take 5 weeks to do the trip. So far so good.
Because of the rain they had gone from south to north to allow the track to dry out. Good move.
They were there in May, and as they say in the article they did not see many other vehicles. Someone has to be first to do the trip.
Arrived at
Well 51. All the hard work is over. A run into Bililuna, then down the Tanami and home.
Not far from
Well 51 is
Lake Gregory. The Lake was flooded. The Lake was still flooded at the end of June when I was there. But they decided to drive through the Lake.
They walked 300mt and marked the track. Firm on the wheel tracks but soft mud just off them.
What were they thinking. When I was there, and that would have been a good 4 weeks later, and the
water level would have dropped a bit more by then I still could not see where the
water finished and the track started again.It was hard enough just driving through the mud to have a look at how much
water was out there.
The photo that is with the article shows how much
water is around. They also say that because they did not hear( via the VKS network) of any one else coming to grief on that crossing it must be alright.
That area is so flat and
Lake Gregory so big that even if they had made it through the first section there would have been more
water ahead.
5 days they were stuck in the mud, and they had to hand winched 150 meters to hard ground. Just as they had reached the
water edge another convey turned up to assist but they wanted to finish the recovery they stated.
There is a bypass road marked on the map, that is the way we went, that still allows you to go to
Well 51 and the drive around
Lake Gregory. Even then there were bypasses around the bypass track because of the
water.
They used the
HF radio until the batteries in the vehicles went flat but kept one to keep the Sat phone charged. Both vehicles were diesel but because of
water getting into the ECU of the Defender it would not start. The Prado sank to the diffs so I would think that it might have suffered the same fate.
So what did they do wrong.
Drive through a
water crossing where the exit can not be seen.
Drive through a
water crossing that was not necessary. There is a bypass road.
Having both vehicles in the
water at the same time.
Why do they do this?
Wayne