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24-05-2006, 09:27 AM
Thought I'd tell a little story about an incident at Deepwater Bend.
It was 1985 and I'd just come back from the National Youth Soccer Championships in Sydney as victorious captain of the Queensland side. First time that Queensland had ever won. Lots of media attention with my photo on the back page of the Courier Mail arriving back at Brisbane Airport with the trophy in hand and a beaming smile.
Having been away from my school and fishing mates for 3 weeks and still very much in celebratory mode, we decided we'd grab some grog and my old mans G60 Patrol and head to Deep Water Bend, drive the track over a couple of dry creeks towards 'The Oaks' on the far bank from Dohles Rocks. We had the canadian canoe on the roof along with the pots and we were all fired up for a big night. And a big night we did have, I think, as I can't remember too much of it other than putting the pots in and rolling the canoe in the process. It was mid winter and the water was freezing but the fire on the bank along with the Bundy and Beam warmed us all up nicely.
So the next morning arrives nice and sunny but brisk, with the tide just lapping over the bank and drenching my mates swag who was still unconscious. Alls good otherwise in that we'd survived the night and nobody had put an axe through their foot like on the previous trip causing a late night run to Redcliffe Hospital for stitches. Until someone who's actually managed to make their mind function says ' hey that tides going to flood the creeks' which was going to make our escape route treacherous to say the least. Instant action - it was school hols but we all had parents that were expecting us home earlyish, not the least was my old man. 2 of the boys are allocated crab pot duties while me and a mate pick up all the empties and sleeping stuff and generally clean up the site. We had some ethics even then. The boys come back into the bank after a while grinning from ear to ear carrying on about huge crabs and how we're going to have a great cook up for breakfast when we get home. And there was a couple of monsters that I doubt if I've seen better in the 20 years since. So with the tide half forgotten we all get a photo taken of ourselves holding the 2 biggest crabs before eventually climbing into the Nissan for the run home.
Well we got through the first drain ok and when we came to the second one which was more of a creek, I got out and walked it as I knew you should to assess the best path etc. Doesn't look too hard, should be a piece of cake.
Now my old man was paranoid about salt on his vehicles and the measures he took for rust prevention especially with a house at Teewah, were in my opinion a little over the top. However I respected this, so when I go to cross the creek having assessed that it should be easy, I've got only about 1500 revs going through and no speed in order to avoid the splash factor. Big mistake. I started to feel the wheels spinning too late and gave it a bit which just spun them faster and we stopped slightly past half way across in only 2 inches of water and no depth of mud. That's cool, there are 5 of us in the truck so shouldn't be too hard to push us through. Well no it wasn't cool and after an hour we had made zero progress despite the fact that the tide had gone out leaving just firm swampy mud. Ok, a decision is made for me, as the driver who'd put us in this predicament, to walk down to the kiosk at the Bend where there was a phone and ring a tow truck and we'll split the bill.
After about half an hour of waiting, we hear the sound of a truck heading our way and we start to celebrate thinking we're going to be into those crabs before long. However 15 minutes later the truck still hasn't been sighted. Wondering what's going on, we all go for a walk to find the towy down in a patch of mud up to the top of the wheels on one side. The driver tells us that he's radioed for another truck and he's only a couple of minutes away. Well that's ok then. So right on time here comes the other towy who attaches his winch on to towy no. 1 and takes up the tension and BANG, the winch blows up. Ohh Jesus, what now? Towy no. 2 says no worries I'll radio another truck and I'll go back and repair the winch. Except in turning around he manages to fall into a deepish hole pretty close to T1 and deep enough so that he can't open the drivers door. Great, this is starting to get a bit too untidy for my liking and I'm starting to stress. So are my mates as we are already past our due time home. After sitting around for another hour, towy no. 3 turns up in a fairly new truck and comes hurtling into the area like towies do, taking the wrong path and drops straight into a hole 20 metres short of T1 and T2. Not just any hole mind you, this one is deep and he's up to his door handles on both sides and has to climb out the window to get out. Now we've got 3 trucks in serious bogs and we're still 200 metres further on and completely forgotten about. One of the boys who isn't as racked by stress as I am decided that a photo would be a good idea while we wait for another truck to come and save the day. Couple of happy snaps with us in the foreground with artificial smiles was something we were able to laugh about later. Much much later. Right so T 4 turns up another hour later and it's the owner of the company and he's furious. First thing he does is get out of his truck and deck T1 for coming down here in the first place, telling him 'we do not rescue vehicles from Deep Water Bend' or something along those lines. T4 hooks up the cable to T3 which seems to be sinking and starts pouring the revs through the motor and T3 begins to shift slightly before a horrible grinding noise starts to come from the winch and T3 settles back into the mud pit. The expletives at this point were of a quality that I haven't heard since and I know some characters who have the gift.
This is all starting to get way out of hand and we're starting to wonder what sort of bill it is likely to be that we're going to be splitting.
Fortunately (I felt) T4 says he's going back to the shed for repairs and he'll send another truck.
T5 arrives an hour or so later like the Lone Ranger with a real confident swagger as he walks over to check out T3. 'Sh!t' he says. 'I don't think I got enough horses to pull that out.' ' We'll need another truck to hook on as well'.
This is starting to get a little lengthy and my recollection from this point is a little vague. But it was after dark when with the assistance of several towies we quite easily pushed the Nissan out and I managed to squeeze between T1 and T2 and I'm nearly free other than to approach the owner and ask for a bill. $200 bucks he says is what I owe him and we couldn't get the cash to him quick enough.
When we left at 9 pm, there were 7 trucks there and they were waiting for the Lawnton Smash Repairs truck which is used for towing trucks to arrive.
I had missed training for the night and as a semi professional player playing A grade senior soccer for North Star at the time, and having not rung in with an injury or any excuse at all, I was in the poo. I was also back in the media later that week with my coach telling the world what a bad attitude I had to training (true) and that I'd rather go fishing than go to training. (also true). Ian Chappel and Maxy Walker decided to also get on the band wagon that weekend on Wide World of Sports, questioning why a player with my talent would rather go fishing than to training.
The photos of the trucks were great, but sadly have disappeared somewhere since. Our parents and even the old man forgave us all after the explanation was offered and even thought it was quite funny. Glad he did as my sense of humour was yet to return. The crabs never got eaten as they died in the buckets in the back of the Nissan overnight and we never went back there other than by tinny.
It was 1985 and I'd just come back from the National Youth Soccer Championships in Sydney as victorious captain of the Queensland side. First time that Queensland had ever won. Lots of media attention with my photo on the back page of the Courier Mail arriving back at Brisbane Airport with the trophy in hand and a beaming smile.
Having been away from my school and fishing mates for 3 weeks and still very much in celebratory mode, we decided we'd grab some grog and my old mans G60 Patrol and head to Deep Water Bend, drive the track over a couple of dry creeks towards 'The Oaks' on the far bank from Dohles Rocks. We had the canadian canoe on the roof along with the pots and we were all fired up for a big night. And a big night we did have, I think, as I can't remember too much of it other than putting the pots in and rolling the canoe in the process. It was mid winter and the water was freezing but the fire on the bank along with the Bundy and Beam warmed us all up nicely.
So the next morning arrives nice and sunny but brisk, with the tide just lapping over the bank and drenching my mates swag who was still unconscious. Alls good otherwise in that we'd survived the night and nobody had put an axe through their foot like on the previous trip causing a late night run to Redcliffe Hospital for stitches. Until someone who's actually managed to make their mind function says ' hey that tides going to flood the creeks' which was going to make our escape route treacherous to say the least. Instant action - it was school hols but we all had parents that were expecting us home earlyish, not the least was my old man. 2 of the boys are allocated crab pot duties while me and a mate pick up all the empties and sleeping stuff and generally clean up the site. We had some ethics even then. The boys come back into the bank after a while grinning from ear to ear carrying on about huge crabs and how we're going to have a great cook up for breakfast when we get home. And there was a couple of monsters that I doubt if I've seen better in the 20 years since. So with the tide half forgotten we all get a photo taken of ourselves holding the 2 biggest crabs before eventually climbing into the Nissan for the run home.
Well we got through the first drain ok and when we came to the second one which was more of a creek, I got out and walked it as I knew you should to assess the best path etc. Doesn't look too hard, should be a piece of cake.
Now my old man was paranoid about salt on his vehicles and the measures he took for rust prevention especially with a house at Teewah, were in my opinion a little over the top. However I respected this, so when I go to cross the creek having assessed that it should be easy, I've got only about 1500 revs going through and no speed in order to avoid the splash factor. Big mistake. I started to feel the wheels spinning too late and gave it a bit which just spun them faster and we stopped slightly past half way across in only 2 inches of water and no depth of mud. That's cool, there are 5 of us in the truck so shouldn't be too hard to push us through. Well no it wasn't cool and after an hour we had made zero progress despite the fact that the tide had gone out leaving just firm swampy mud. Ok, a decision is made for me, as the driver who'd put us in this predicament, to walk down to the kiosk at the Bend where there was a phone and ring a tow truck and we'll split the bill.
After about half an hour of waiting, we hear the sound of a truck heading our way and we start to celebrate thinking we're going to be into those crabs before long. However 15 minutes later the truck still hasn't been sighted. Wondering what's going on, we all go for a walk to find the towy down in a patch of mud up to the top of the wheels on one side. The driver tells us that he's radioed for another truck and he's only a couple of minutes away. Well that's ok then. So right on time here comes the other towy who attaches his winch on to towy no. 1 and takes up the tension and BANG, the winch blows up. Ohh Jesus, what now? Towy no. 2 says no worries I'll radio another truck and I'll go back and repair the winch. Except in turning around he manages to fall into a deepish hole pretty close to T1 and deep enough so that he can't open the drivers door. Great, this is starting to get a bit too untidy for my liking and I'm starting to stress. So are my mates as we are already past our due time home. After sitting around for another hour, towy no. 3 turns up in a fairly new truck and comes hurtling into the area like towies do, taking the wrong path and drops straight into a hole 20 metres short of T1 and T2. Not just any hole mind you, this one is deep and he's up to his door handles on both sides and has to climb out the window to get out. Now we've got 3 trucks in serious bogs and we're still 200 metres further on and completely forgotten about. One of the boys who isn't as racked by stress as I am decided that a photo would be a good idea while we wait for another truck to come and save the day. Couple of happy snaps with us in the foreground with artificial smiles was something we were able to laugh about later. Much much later. Right so T 4 turns up another hour later and it's the owner of the company and he's furious. First thing he does is get out of his truck and deck T1 for coming down here in the first place, telling him 'we do not rescue vehicles from Deep Water Bend' or something along those lines. T4 hooks up the cable to T3 which seems to be sinking and starts pouring the revs through the motor and T3 begins to shift slightly before a horrible grinding noise starts to come from the winch and T3 settles back into the mud pit. The expletives at this point were of a quality that I haven't heard since and I know some characters who have the gift.
This is all starting to get way out of hand and we're starting to wonder what sort of bill it is likely to be that we're going to be splitting.
Fortunately (I felt) T4 says he's going back to the shed for repairs and he'll send another truck.
T5 arrives an hour or so later like the Lone Ranger with a real confident swagger as he walks over to check out T3. 'Sh!t' he says. 'I don't think I got enough horses to pull that out.' ' We'll need another truck to hook on as well'.
This is starting to get a little lengthy and my recollection from this point is a little vague. But it was after dark when with the assistance of several towies we quite easily pushed the Nissan out and I managed to squeeze between T1 and T2 and I'm nearly free other than to approach the owner and ask for a bill. $200 bucks he says is what I owe him and we couldn't get the cash to him quick enough.
When we left at 9 pm, there were 7 trucks there and they were waiting for the Lawnton Smash Repairs truck which is used for towing trucks to arrive.
I had missed training for the night and as a semi professional player playing A grade senior soccer for North Star at the time, and having not rung in with an injury or any excuse at all, I was in the poo. I was also back in the media later that week with my coach telling the world what a bad attitude I had to training (true) and that I'd rather go fishing than go to training. (also true). Ian Chappel and Maxy Walker decided to also get on the band wagon that weekend on Wide World of Sports, questioning why a player with my talent would rather go fishing than to training.
The photos of the trucks were great, but sadly have disappeared somewhere since. Our parents and even the old man forgave us all after the explanation was offered and even thought it was quite funny. Glad he did as my sense of humour was yet to return. The crabs never got eaten as they died in the buckets in the back of the Nissan overnight and we never went back there other than by tinny.