Exceed 4WD Magazine Mar/Apr 2021 Mar / Apr Volume #38 / Issue # 02 | Page 20

Bush Clean Up – Vehicle Recovery Day

From the history pages ….

Bush Clean Up – Vehicle Recovery Day

Sat 6 th to Sun 7 th May , 2000
Trip Leader : Peter and Grant Cooney (# 538 ) Participants : Rob Rees (# 898 ) Alberto Pamintuan (# 875 ) Karen Ingram and Sarah (# 679 ) Gerrie van Stiphout & Elaine Kitson (# 629 ) Dirk Versluys (# 869 )
Maverick
Pajero Patrol Pajero Patrol Pajero
For a change of meeting place , we met at McDonalds Lilydale for an 8.30 am departure . All six vehicles arrived including Dirk with his massive car transport trailer in tow . We headed off for Marysville and the weather was certainly looking ordinary to say the least . The tops of the mountains were all obscured by cloud and knowing where we were headed , it didn ’ t look promising . Once we arrived at our destination near the top of Woods Lookout , the weather wasn ’ t that bad . A bit misty but no real rain to worry about .
The track down to the wreck was a bit too slippery to drive the vehicles down any great distance so the two designated winching vehicles , the Maverick and the GU Patrol , were left at the top of the track . An inspection of the wreck necessitated a few walks up and down the track to carry recovery gear down and a saw to clear two small saplings which had grown in front of the wreck that had been there for around 4 years .
After some discussion on the best way to recover the wreck , it was decided that a drag chain would be fed through the vehicle and this could then be attached to my 40-metre winch extension strap . This almost reached the point where my 40 metres of winch cable reached down to on the track . A quick join of another drag chain into the length finally had us ready to start winching . At first , we just used the Maverick which I had parked with the Bull bar hard up against a large gum tree to avoid being pulled down the hill , as Alberto ’ s cable would not reach as far as mine . The wreck