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
Fot tracks like that you probably need 35" tyres and then it becames walk in the park 
