4wding in the bush is such a fun and diverse experience that one never grows
tired of its challenges.
From being up to your elbows in mud last week (post74245) to battling all day this weekend to move just 500m around our own bush block really means you have to have good reliable equipment and be on top of things.
We were alerted that a mini twister had passed over our place and so were expecting a big track clean up this weekend but the size of the job was
well beyond our estimation.
With 2 chainsaws, 3 people, drag chains and the trusty GU patrol in the role of tractor we laboured for 8 hours thru 17 trees and some 8-900 saw cuts to just to get 500m where apon we had had enough.
Makes you sort of shake your head to know that a few months ago we volunteered to help out with bushfire track recovery but weren't allowed due to not having done the appropriate training course.
The winds that took out these trees seemed not to be your normal strong directional blow which pushes trees over but rather a violent knot of twisted air that seemed to bleep ter more than break and which has left many snapped sections dangerously suspended high above ground where they will shrink
relax and fall thru the impending summers heatwaves.
Life is full of strange contrasts, had this damage been inflicted in the city suburbs I am sure the area would have been declared a disaster area and there would be emergency
services all over the place, but out of view, those in the bush just fill up the chainsaws and get on with it.
With a professional touch the pictures below could make for an interesting photo exhibition but these few happy snaps might give you some small idea of things.
Even the dogs a bit bewildered by the random scattering of junk everywhere.
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Hard to see but this tree had its top snapped and its fall has been arrested and its top just grazed the underside of another tree and its just waiting for a little push to come down.
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lining up the GU patrol Tractor
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Now I'll just kick this one out of the way and we will have 30m of clear track.
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Seems to be no sense to the way some of this stuff happened.
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There's a rabbit here I know it.
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Got to really understand the distribution of forces here before you start cutting things. Trees in this area have killed more often than tractors accidents.
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Waiting to drop.
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Comm'on workers, its only a little one then we can have a 5 minute break !
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