Hindsight....a wonderful word which means so little.
I had been watching the weather forecast over the previous week and the
Peak Charles area had only one day of rain. What I didnt know, at the time, was that the previous 6-7 weeks had seen the area receive its annual rainfall.
Thursday 5th...Final check of vehicle and provisions ready for departure on Friday morning. Mate, who is the second vehicle, rings me to tell me that he has to work the weekend and cant make it. Discuss the situation with Paula and decide, with all the prep work put in, we go anyway.
Friday 6th...We pull into
Ravensthorpe around 3pm, after tanking up and while Paula was at the
shop picking up last minute bits and pieces, I was fingering through our maps and double checking the previous days double checking.
We located the track to the rabbit-proof fence, but in doing so, missed the first clue to what lay ahead. We had to negotiate a swollen
creek, then a slightly greasey track.
About 43 kms in we found large rockholes and decided to
camp the night. Second clue missed, the holes were over flowing, a very pretty sight and I recall thinking this is why we do this.
Saturday 7th...Broke
camp about 8 ish and hit the trail. Over the next 40 odd kms we encountered a very thickly over grown track where at times we were down to 2 kph pushing bush aside.
Snorkel, mirrors, wipers, spotties, you name it, it copped a hiding.
The track eventually peatered out to a dead end. After walking the area and not finding any
sign of a track, we backed up about a km to a side track we had noticed earlier. We ventured down this track a short way before finding another which, according to the compass, had us pointing in the right direction.
We encounted several smallish bogs which were negotiated ok, some had solid bases others soft.
During the course of the day we had dug ourselves out of two bogs before catching sight of our destination -
Peak Charles, about 30 kms dead ahead.
Third clue missed, the bogs were gradually getting longer and deeper. Too heavily bushed each side of the track so chicken tracks were non-existent.
About 3 pm we bogged again and took us until 7 pm to dig ourselves out. We decided to
camp on the track.
After a hard days digging we decided to have a little party and demolished the whole weekends supply of beer in one hit.
Sunday 8th...Loaded the car and were on our way by 9.30am.
We had only travelled another 12 kms when we came across two huge bogs seperated by a short elevated section of track. Both bogs were being fed by a large swamp to the side. I walked the bogs a couple of times [getting really sick of the shovel by now] and found the base to be reasonably solid, however, the center was about thigh deep so I figured if I keep to the high side we should be ok.
In we went, then that sickening feeling, the car slid into the center of the bog and as they say 'that was that'.
We spent the rest of the day digging, jacking and using the high-lift jack to winch. Progress for the day = 10 inches if that.
Set up
camp for the night and spent the evening pondering the situation.
Monday 9th....Day break we were at it again, by 10 am the heat and flies were murder so we reatreated to the tent and a can of raid, stopped the buzzing but man was it hot in there. 4 ish that afternoon saw us back on the tools. Total for the day = 8 inches.
We had broken most of the small trees that we used as anchor points for the highlift and I was becoming concerned as there were only two trees left with in range of all our snatch straps and chains, we still had 4 metres of bog to go.
One thing I did notice was, although we had plenty of provisions and shelter, I found myself gazing up the track for hours hoping to see another car. After a while you start seeing cars. They arnt there of course but hey, if you want to see something badly enough, your mind will let you see it.
Tuesday 10th...Dawn, back on the tools, broke both trees by 9 am and feeling a little despondant, boiled the billy and again pondered the situation. When sheltering from the heat and flies for hours at a time boredom becomes the biggest problem, even having one of those weird quiz books Paula likes didnt help.
You know the type...Whos the current Prime Minister of Australia...Churchill....Rudd.....Obama.
If you answer correctly you will be put in a draw to win a personally signed CD of Ernie
Dingo singing Puccini's Nessun Dorma at the
Ceduna footy oval....backed by the Somalian National Brass Band....Riveting stuff.
5 pm, the sound of a light plane approaching, music to our ears.
Paula in a flash jumps on the roof of the 4by and starts waving an old red rag which the plane spots straight away, does a couple of low passes before disappearing.
I didnt raise the subject with Paula previously but I didnt think we had much show of getting the car out of the bog.
Any way we hugged each other and danced a spell before cleaning up the
campsite and settled in for another night. Using the power of imagination I poured a large glass of warm
water and pretending it was an icey cold beer, downed the lot....didnt work this time.
10 pm, we were awoken by a pair of IPFs burning a hole into the back of the tent. Never been so pleased to see anyone in my life.
The guys and girls of the SES were brilliant. By 10.30 the Nissan was out of the bog and packed. We followed them out to Salmond Gums where we stayed the night at the caravan
park.
We went looking for adventure and certainly found it.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to
the pilot of the plane, dont know your name and didnt see a face but I wont forget the sight of the tree tops being knocked off by your wings.
To the SES, true professionals, 4 cars and teams came to our aid and apparently another 4 prepped and ready to come in from the North if we werent located that night. You guys are awesome.
To Dean, Officer-in-Charge at the
Norseman Police Station.
The man co-ordinating the search and rescue operation, the work you did, the hours spent on the job when you had a little bubs to go home to is hugely appreciated.
To Jimbo "Locker" King, and Jason "Bog" Scott, Between you guys had 12 club and town cars ready to come down and help search.
Thanks also to all the EOers for your concern and best wishes.
[Except Bundy]...Ive got this feeling he's gonna give me more grief over
easter....lol.
A VERY HUMBLING EXPERIENCE.
A tip or two for travellers, novice or otherwise.
Plenty of food and
water.
Always stay with your vehcile.
Leave details of where your going and when your returning with someone you trust.
Stick to your planned route.
Use your bankcard for on road purchases, the police use this info to track your movements and verify your direction of travel. They are not authorised to put up a plane unless the search area is narrowed.
Carry more beer.
Got my Epirb,
HF radio next month and a winch has been ordered. Gonna have another crack at the Dunn next summer.
Ours was a successful outcome and we were never in a life threatening situation, however, we did need help to get out of there and I truely appreciate the efforts of those involved with our rescue. As some may attest, it doesnt take much for a situation to turn nasty.
Nature is beautiful but drop your guard for a moment and she'll have you by the 'short n curlies'.
Cheers....Lionel.