West Aussie mudfest, Wellington Dam 29/03

[TheInterceptor]

Hello all!

This past weekend, a few of us headed out to Wellington Dam near Collie Western Australia to have a play in the mud, do some exploring and just have an awesome time out bush!
Saturday morning, myself and my copilot met up with Twinkles in the Bunbury Coles carpark and were on our way just after 0900hrs. We were going to meet up with t.ridden later on in the afternoon. So in no time at all we arrived at the dam and began setting up camp. Accomodation was set, tables, tarp awning for the incoming rain and firewood was gathered! During this time, the rain had begun but only lightly.

Twinkles brang a chainsaw which stopped working after 5mins. After Twinkles pulled it apart, tried fixing it and threw it across the camp when it didnt work. The hatchets then came out and we chopped us all some firewood, enough to last the evening, night and next morning as we were going to cook dinner and brekkie over the ashes.




After camp was set and the wood was gathered and covered, we decided to go out and have a play. The first muddy area had changed from the first time we were there as the dam level had dropped a bit.
I drove into part of the water and got stuck driving out. Why? Because i forgot to put it into 4x4 before driving in, oops :biggrin:
Slipping it into 4x4 while in the muck did nothing but make a mess, that mud was pretty darn slippery.





After that we left the mud behind and headed north to explore onwards. By this time it was raining steady which was fine with us!



Before too long, the foreshore became unpassable by car so we turned around and drove off it heading into the forest! A track was found and we cruised down it. It forked off into two tracks so we picked one and it lead down to another part of the dam which happened to be opposite the actual dam wall.









We came back and took the second track which also lead to the water.
After checking that track out, we returned to camp to wait for t.ridden and Red to arrive. Twinkles decided to get the fire going, even though it was raining a little bit :lol: With a pile of thin stuff and good douse of Premium Unleaded and a lighter it went up instantly with an awesome "whoomp!". Rain or not, the fire never died.



Twinkles seat (wood and cloth) was left it in the rain when we went exploring and had gotten soft and had failed when he sat on it. After it broke, Twinkles got up and promptly chucked it in the fire, pulled up one of his boxes (which also broke shortly after), cracked a beer and sat there feeling miffed :lol:

 

[TheInterceptor]

After a bit, the UHF crackled to life in the wagon, t.ridden and Red have arrived! Somewhere. Took a lil while for them to reach us as they turned off the main road in too early and have ended up on the foreshore too far south and have headed south.
We spotted them across the dam :ebiggrin:



After they setup their side of camp, we all started on dinner. t.ridden and Red with their gas stoves being sensible, and Twinkles, my copilot and i turning the heat up on our hot ash powered stove with a Premium unleaded Fanta can shot. As you can see in the photo, im waiting with my camera for Twinkles to loose his eyebrows :biggrin:






Dinner was finished. And with all our eyebrows complete, we headed out to play in the mud as the sun went down!
I went through all good, Twinkles went through and got stuck, t.ridden went through and got stuck too






Now things got interesting.
Twinkles managed to drive into the thickest softest bit of mud in that area...















Standard snatching off my wagon didnt budge it. t.ridden's wagon attached to my wagon snatching Twinkles didnt budge him. We destroyed a bow shackle trying. We tried digging and everything but that Forester was stuck something good thanks to the suction on the mud. Earlier, we had driven past a camp 5mins north and we knew they had a hilux which would have enough guts to get it out as our old l wagons werent powerful or heavy enough.
So the hilux guys came out. They tried snatching to no avail. Then used two snatch straps joined together to get them far enough to take off on harder ground. This snatch resulted in ripping off the tow point on the Twinkmobile and launching it into the Hilux..
The Hilux then tried tugging the Forester from behind and slowly slowly it inched out and was recovered.
Think it took about 2hrs in total.
That concluded that nights wheeling.

 

[TheInterceptor]

The next morning, we woke up, t.ridden and Red had a bit of a fish while the rest of us got the fire going.





After brekkie was done n dusted, camp was packed up and off we went to an area a few minutes north!





From here we went south again to an area t.ridden and Red drove through while trying to find our camp the previous day.





Twinkles new mud tyres payed off in this situation. Drove straight back out.






We then backtracked through a muddy section that gave access to the mudpan we were just in. Super slippery and had a few patches of thick bog which t.ridden found when he couldnt steer away from it. Foot to the boards, he got a fair way through. There were three full sized 4x4's that went through it previously and were on the other side watching us go through this section. They turned around and came to us when the mighty red wagon went down haha.





Then we decided to back through it all and head south some more. Twinkles powered through, mud tyres doing their job very well gripping through the slick. My copilot following second at the same speed on road tyres soon found a tree when he lost steering. I was outside filming so you can all see that when i get the video up haha.
Damage report:
Bullbar bent and cracked
Guard written off
Headlight written off
Corner light written off
Steel trim under the headlights written off.
Reo behind the light damaged
Panel below the rad supports crumpled





After some panel beating to get the guard off the tyre, we headed south in convoy with the three full sized 4x4's.

 

[TheInterceptor]

Further down the foreshore, one of the big 4x4's got bogged so while we waited for them to sort themseles out, we took some happy snaps!







Once the other 4by was recovered, we all moved a lil further down the foreshore where Twinkles found another spot to get stuck in. One of the big 4x4's pulled him this time!







After that, we split with Twinkles as he had to go so he stayed in the big 4x4 convoy while t.ridden, Red, my copilot and I trundled off north again. With all trees missed, we reached an access road of the foreshore which we took and headed to the east side of the dam. With some brilliant rally roads to drive on, we eventually reached the foreshore access point we needed to get to the second mudpit that was discovered on a previous trip. It happened to be dry as the dam level had dropped. We all decided to keep exploring the dam. Around the corner and down the hill showed us a large slick mudpan! So i took the liberty of driving into it. No steering, brakes, nothing, it was a true and proper pan! Steer by accelerator haha. Gravity wanted to slide us into the dam itself, it was very very fun regardless !:biggrin: We mostly took video in this location.






After a while we decided to call it a day. After a quick look around the cars, my copilot noticed a buldge in the sidewall of one of my wagon's tyres. Not happy when theyre only 2 months old!! So out came the spare tyre... factory standard 13" wheel. Why? Because my 14" spare has a 27" mud tyre that wont fit without a body lift. Does look weird on there.








With the faulty 14" on the roof, we rallied our way out of there. The powerline track was on the way so we took that to the main road that goes to Bunbury.



We eventually reached the main road and headed to Bunbury where we fueled ourselves up along with our soobies and then parted ways.
All in all an epic weekend albeit an expensive one for both Twinkles and I

Now to fix our rigs and get out there and do it all over again! :biggrin:

 

[Twinklz]

$1508 bill for the hilux (i don't see why im 100 responsible. He was drunk) and. $1000 damage to my car (not counting the tow point :-(.)

 

[t.ridden]

Story from me and Red:

Met up at my place in Serpentine at 1300 on Saturday, proceeded to pack Scooby with our large amounts of 'sensible' camping gear (premium 98 a notable absence), while my Mam's partner Adrian changed the alternator for me.
Unfortunately, this didn't rectify my squealing so we set off tentatively down the highway.
After stopping for food and fuel on the way, we headed in through King Tree road, a nice, winding gravel track, one of many in the area used by both Rally Australia (the good old days) and the Experts Cup Rally
Once we turned off Mungalup road at Wright road, we headed into the forest around the dam, following Bussel Brook road. at this point we got on the radio, and as luck would have it, ch10 was the magic frequency
Under instructions from Interceptor and Twinklz, we stopped to pick up some firewood

reminded us both of this famous scene from topgear

heading along the road with our massive payload, we were a source of much merriment to a group of "older" campers, who were doubled over mercilessly at the little red suby first passing their campsite, then reversing back again due to an inability to turn around...

Due to a miscommunication in position, we came onto the foreshore south of the campsite and continued south, carefully easing over every little bump to save my roofrack from the hefty weight. we eventually realised we had made an error when we came to the very south tip of the lake. There we encountered one very bogged Nissan Patrol ute. being unable to offer assistance, and since they already had a mate on the way, we regretfully removed our log and turned around.
We eventually reached the campsite, having driven unknowing through a number of obstacles that we would have moderate difficulty with the next day, oddly enough.
Passing the Oldies again on the way granted them a third helping of mirth as the valiant wagon scrabbled over the loose rocks.
We eventually arrived in camp and Interceptor's account picks up from here.



BUT

the next morning,after waking up to some glorious views;

Red and I decided to go check out a mudpit that we remembered from the way in. And that meant passing the Oldies again. unfortunately, they decided to watch us around the lake which led to them observing this little incident in full view

I was attempting to do a U-turn and didn't realise that the 'green stuff' was not grass but in fact, algae, growing on the surface of very very slick clay.
Scooby apparently decided she would quite like to go for a swim. Thankfully the deeper, sloppy mud at the water's edge deterred her and we got out with the assistance of the MaxTrax/TREDs.

So that was our first little bit of excitement for the day!

 

[t.ridden]

The excitement then continued as i discovered the joy of mud-pans!!

we then found a small hill and i got curious to see how Scooby would handle this

"quite well" is an appropriate term!

After Twinklz left, the mighty L's came to the best mudpan of all, no nasty hidden obstacles, glorious rally roads on the way in, totally gripless mud and a nice boggy patch to stop you landing up in the drink. we spent the better part of 2 hours here and I can't wait to see the video.

Yes i have a bit of a thing for Panoramas. They capture scenes better i find, and my camera does them very well.

The 2WD trip along the Powerline Track was interesting, leading the way in Scooby to test the obstacles, I found no problems, but it certainly added some...extra caution and foresight.

some of these hills were pretty awesome to look at and to drive up

 

[Fuze911]

Now that looked like fun! Sucks about the damage. But hey... gotta pay to play.

 

[NachaLuva]

There sure was some damage there

When you were snatched out, were you using a distribution strap across both tie downs?

Some great photos & a great trip to remember, despite the damage

$1508 bill for the hilux (i don't see why im 100 responsible. He was drunk) and. $1000 damage to my car (not counting the tow point :-(.)

I dont think you are responsible. If he was drunk & took it upon himself to snatch in an unsafe manner, then he's responsible for his own damage. If he gets nasty you could mention his alcohol consumption & advise him you won't send him the bill for your damage unless he wishes to take it further!

 

[t.ridden]

We had a distribution strap, but after we destroyed one shackle we didn't have enough to use the dist. strap :/
Note to self; get more shackles!!

 

[mr turbo]

Great trip report & pics
There are some great pics that are very worthy of some new banners too, I must say :biggrin::biggrin:

Sorry to hear about the damage too guys. And by the sounds of it you were all very lucky not to be hurt.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[lefty]

looks like a crazy weekend
thanks for the report

 

[Davidov]

$1508 bill for the hilux (i don't see why im 100 responsible. He was drunk) and. $1000 damage to my car (not counting the tow point :-(.)

Just go find a wreckers and get him a new arch for a couple of hundred bucks.

 

[hydrowill]

$1508 bill for the hilux (i don't see why im 100 responsible. He was drunk) and. $1000 damage to my car (not counting the tow point :-(.)

At the end of the day it was your car stuck in a way that you and your peers could not recover it.

I guess it is also up to us to 'educate' the heavy drivers in case we need a recovery that the hammer and tongs approach does not work with our cars.

I know for sure if it was late evening and I was in the bush with some mates I would be a few beers down myself however if you knew he was drunk why did you let him any where near your vehicle? You have the say weather or not you attach that snatch to your car or not...

I have been in a similar situation to this myself on a 4x4 trip with friends on a track I decided not to take my Suby down. Long story short we spent the whole next day recovering a friends Troopy and the completely under prepared Grand Cherokee. It didn't even have a tow bar!
The damage bill to the Troopy and lost day out in the bush with friends will definitely play a factor if someone comes up and asks for help with a recovery again, especially if they are in a car that is improperly prepared.

So I guess at the end of the day scout what you are driving through before you drive through it.
And be understanding that when you go 4x4ing in a Subaru or any car in fact things will go wrong and be prepared to live with what happens wen it does.

IMHO pay the $1500 and move on or figure out with the owner another way of repairing the car as Davidov said.

 

[Red XS]

In this situation a winch was the only safe way of retrieving Twinklz car, but we didn't have a winch. A simple snatch was never going to work. It took many hard yanks on the snatch strap with the Hilux to get the Forester out. This was risky, but it was the only option we had without leaving the car there. And we just got unlucky.

But hopefully Twinklz will find some cheaper parts. And apart from the damage it was a very fun trip!

 

[TheInterceptor]

Mr T, as usual you are free to make banners haha.


The Hilux guy has been sorted so there's no worries. You play you pay! My bill is something like $250 but thats because i know a guy with some parts who looks after me and i do the work myself.


Anyway, the video is now complete, all 26 minutes of it haha. I will upload it asap, its a big file!

 

[t.ridden]

Mr T, as usual you are free to make banners haha.

Same goes for mine, any of my photos are free use, just don't make money off them

Anyway, the video is now complete, all 26 minutes of it haha. I will upload it asap, its a big file!

About time! I've been hanging out for this

 

[taza]

How is your bill $1000 Twinkles? I bought a whole forester for half that (minus its gearbox) so it cant xoat that much in repaires.

I have said in a thread back in 2011 about how weak SF (all subies really) when I got snatched by a rodeo and ripped one of my tow points out.
Always a distribution strap!

S**t happens, you learn from your mistakes.

Non the less looks like a fun trip. Makes me miss mud but ive had enough bad experiences to be put off it for good. I think Twinkles knows where im coming from

 

[Twinklz]

Have you ever tried to get a engineering certificate on a structural weld? The welding alone is going to cost me 600

 

[TheInterceptor]

All Subies are a unibody construction so there is no full steel framing that everything bolts to. So its naturally weaker than a ladder chassis vehicle. Being a modern car, they have a built in crumple zone (manufactured weakness) which includes the tow points. Theyre designed to break off before they tweak the chassis and write the car off.

Mud is fun so long as ya dont drive into the thickest stickiest mud known to man haha. If that Hilux drove into the same mud like what Twinklz drove into, it would have gone down and stayed down too i reckon!