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Jeff, Leachy and I headed out to do a bit of a recce for next weekend's Harvey trip.

Here we are gathered at the end of White Hills Rd, airing down ready to hit the beach.


Savour this pic ... you won't see my bus this clean for a while.


I kept this pic too ... sometimes you need to be reminded what a smile looks like


On the way down to the beach.


Playtime ... and didn't we get some stares from the fisher - folk.


The beach gets a bit narrow sometimes ... but generally there's room to play.


It's not a freeway kind of beach, like Fraser Island, but it's ours and we love it.




Harvey is a beautiful little dairy town in the foothills of the scarp. There's some beautiful country around here.




Here is the start of the track ... all looks nice and tame.




A little bit of play ... picking lines over some of the ruts.




Then the ruts started to get a bit bigger ....


There's some nice articulation happening.


A bit of a light uphill jog.


It's starting to get a bit lumpy.


But wait ... there's more.

Cheers
Chippy

Looks good so far..
Whats the start time and where next Saturday morning???
Russ

umm
There is more.
Im just in the process of putting my pics up.
Stay tuned for the link.

The title to this thread is a bit misleading. It should be titled "Harvey recovery trip". I'm sure Chippy has more pics. that will show what I mean............................................

Hiya Russ

Next Saturday ...

Meet at Mandurah Maccas at 9.00 am sharp.

Down to WHite Hills Rd for a 22 Km run down to Preston Beach ... morning tea and air up at Preston Beach carpark.

Quick blacktop run across to Pinjarra and Dwellingup.

Then we are going to run the Nanga 4WD Heritage Circuit. There's plenty of space for lunch and exit routes for all sorts of vehicles.

As you'lll see from the next batch of pics we are not going to run the risk of taking a large number of vehicles, fitouts and skill levels out to Harvey ... with the condition the tracks are in now.

Cheers
Chippy

Yep.
I was trying to count the recoveries in my head.
I think I winched my self 4 times. twice down hill !!!!!!!
there were snatchs, tugs, drags, spade work, wood choppin.

The works. Much to early after the rain to get sure footing.
Very cut up tracks, which was odd considering the over grown state of some areas.

Waiting

I think I speak for the 3 of us when I say we would not want to be responible for encouraging anyone to take a standard Prado on those tracks at the moment.
At a minimum you need good tyres, lift and probably a snorkel, and be prepared for some damage.

Leachy

That sound like a safer plan than damage to new vehicles.

McDonalds at Falcon or Mandurah.

A bit like Kingsway or Wanneroo.

9.00 take off

If we start at Falcon it would be closer to Preston Beach?

Russ

This next descent started to get a bit rutted.


So much so that we had to do a bit of road building along the way.


Jeff's still on his way down.


Then he came to a sudden stop. This snag had him well caught. He had to dig and chop to get the log out of the way and then winch himself down further, until he could drive on.


Leachy tried a different line and got down OK.


I started my way down ... maybe that's why the other guys look like they're running for their lives.


Tell ya what ... that wall is pretty close. There was no way you could stay left ... that wall just sucked you in.


Check out the mud spinna ... right front.


This is one hairy drop off.


Going down,


going,


going,


finally down.


A nice little water crossing at the end.


Jeff got through quite easily ...


Until the end ... then out with the winch again


This is where things turned a little sour ... apparently there was a couple of different wheel ruts under that water ... I drifted a little too far right and wound up submerged for a second or two. The engine stopped as I got to the far bank .. and I learnt how to field strip a V6 to check for water in the cyllinders. There was alitre of water in the intake - pre filter. The filter itself was swamped and the water had reached the alloy doovalackey just before itdumps into the inlet manifold and into the cylinders.

The plugs were dry, spinning the motor over )without plugs) and there was no water in the pots. Cleaned out the intake, re-assembled and fired it up - purring like a kitten

There was a little issue of water hiding in the exhaust ...just had to blow that out




The we were committed. See ... there's a difference between involvement and committment. It's a bit like eggs and bacon. The chicken is involved. The pig is committed!!

There was no way we were getting back up that hill ... and the road out had been severely chewed up. Jeff wound up using his winch more times in one afternoon than in all the time he's owned it.

Jeff would see how far he could get ... then winch himself to firm ground.

Leachy would lauch himself until he got stuck .. then Jeff would pull him through.

Then I would see how far I could get ... then Leachy would pull me through to firm ground.

... and that continued for the rest of the afternoon.

Apologies for the lack of pics .. but we were just too damned busy .. building roads, running out winch cables etc

Needless to say .. this is not the track we are taking next weekend.

Next weekends trip is about fun, socialising and playing around in the Prado's ... not about damage. So we are heading for the Nanga 4WD Heritage Circuit which Justo and I checked out last weekend.

Harvey is still on the agenda ... but only for a crew that know what they are getting into. As rutted as it is right now you would need lift, tyres, winch and or lockers ... and not be too fussed about damage ... and we didn't leave it any flatter that what we found it

I tried real hard to go champagne Russ


Jeff nailed a tree on one exit.


A sneaky bit of the planet leapt up and stole one of my mudflaps.


Jeff's champagne impersonation was more concentrated but I reckon he got the colour right.


The planet's surface also decided to remove both my front number plate and Leachy's ... and guess who drove though a couple of speed cameras on the way home


Cheers
Chippy

Starting point is Maccas at Mandurah Forum ... If you're heading south turn right at the Pinjarra Rd lights .. you can't miss Maccas on the right.

It's just a bit easier to fit a larger group of people in.

Cheers
Chippy

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/2005seach ... intOCT2007

There are 68 pics here.
Takes a while to load.
Last pic is when chippies engine stopped.
The camera didnt come out after that as it wasnt fun anymore.

Nah, I shouldnt say it was that BAD..... I think I saw leachy with the camera out after this point so there may be more pics around somewhere.

Nah ... I wouldn't say bad ... the level of difficulty increased significantly ... and then you start to measure your ground speed at under 100 metres per hour

Cheers
Chippy

Unfortunately I only have one photo beyond Jeffs:

De-Watering Chippy:


After that there was too much action.

Leachy

No ... that's not me chucking up on the tree. The ground was covered in a carpet of big, black, bity ants. It was a case of spend 30 seconds working on the car ... 30 seconds killing ants .. and on and on and on. Either that or wait until they reached mid thigh .. which didn't take them long on my legs .. and then try madly to get them before they did any serious damage.

Jeff had the best seat in the house ... but mysteriously kept slapping himself on the butt .. he claimed it was ants but the rest of us were wondering if he just liked slapping himself on the butt

I know there was an opportunity, here, to post a "How to" doco on stripping the plugs out of a V6 while in the bush ... but I was otherwise occupied and missed the opportunity - SORRY

ps. Notice how I also saved Leachy the hassle of having to blank out the number plate

Cheers
Chippy

Looks like are in Pootrol territory there guys Fot tracks like that you probably need 35" tyres and then it becames walk in the park

http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc20 ... 2010%2007/

I just started a photobucket account. dont know if its easier than picasa.
these are the same pics as my picasa link.

[Is this Chippys attempt at being a yellow submarine??
What did you think at that moment?
O BUGGER the hilux washers are getting dirty..


Great 4wds if they make it though that sort of conditions and still go to work on Monday.


Russ

Maybe you needed more speed Chippy...lots more and just aquaplane across the top..!

More speed ??? I didn't want to get the roof rack dirty. .. but you may have an idea there - WATER WINGS !

The Hilux washer jets worked a treat ... they cleared the screen beautifully.

What went through my mind ... F#%K ! .. Wrong line ! .. and when it dropped it went quick .. all I could do was keep the foot into it and hope it came out the other side ... and it almost did

You will notice that I picked the most champagne looking patch in the whole crossing

Today's jobs ........

1. Mud guard is back on
2. Number plate is back on
3. Car is washed and polished
4. Air intake is all clean and filter replaced
5. Engine oil checked ... all clear
6. Trans fluid checked ... all clear
7. Side steps are nearly straight again
8. Not touching the bash plates until next weekend ... when I get Marty to have a look at my plans for a new set of 3 mm steel ones
9. Front mud guard straightened
10. Touch up paint on most of the stone chips
11. Mud mats removed and hosed out
12. Most of the mud removed from most of the interior surfaces
13. Rest of the rubbish cleaned out from the interior ... including the kids
14. Engine bay got a nice soapy hand wash
15. Liberal dose of CRC on anything that looked vaguely electrical .. including the cat

and you're dead right Russ .. it takes a bloody good truck to cop that and still be going for Monday's trip to work ... and the Prados are a bloody good truck.