Day 396 | Jardine River, south side: a day watching hi-jinks

28 km | zzOz total: 11,454 km

For some, rather than smash your $80k vehicle through big puddles it’s as much fun to watch others do it.

Nolan Brook has been the most notorious crossing on the Telegraph this season, when the water was higher a couple of weeks ago, ie, up the windscreen of your jacked up 4WD, currently it’s only over the bonnet so maybe 1200 mm deep, 20 odd cars had their computer cards soaked or some such misadventure and needed a tow truck for further locomotion. One 4WD dug itself in deeper on one side and the force of the water required ingenuity for recovery when the vehicle rolled.

The bottom is grainy sand and the unfortunate 4WD can dig itself in deeper until when motion ceases the car body can fill up with water while others frantically attempt to attach the snatch strap to a more secure vehicle to drag it out.

I was guided to the log bridge, err, 3 rotten logs in general proximity, to wheel my bike around the quagmire and was welcomed by a group of 6 people dressed in colourful clothing for the occasion, who had grandstand seats for the day, scoring the efforts of the drivers and keeping a tally.

We were all secretly waiting for that inevitable fail mark.

The highlight in that area was a Toyota Hilux which dug itself in, the snatch rope team working as a well oiled machine except the rope wasn’t attached to the required vehicle.

At least they didn’t emerge with iPads floating in the back seat as happened to one set of unfortunates.