Day 8 - Stuck in the mud

Well it appears that Harry Callahan’s famous quote “a man’s gotta know his limitations” applies to van’s too !!! This morning both Vanie Mc Van Face and myself got to know our limitations,  when it comes to off roading.  It also appears that the Germans/Dutch/ Swedish/Danish ... whatever, let’s just call them Helga and Bjorn, were also right in respect to getting back up the sloppy slope after the stom.  We made it all of about a k when Vanie said no more.  The hill was just too steep and the surface too muddy. I may also have contributed to our lack of ongoing progress by choosing the wrong side of the ruts to navigate (or rather not navigate).  We rolled dangerously backwards for a bit and then steered him into a a siding cut out of the bush.  Unfortunately the siding was constructed of soft soil which we sank into immediately.  A few attempts to get Vanie free to have another run at the hill proved futile.  Quiddy and I had to hike back to the campsite to ask a fellow camper to come and recover Vanie.

We met and awesome young bloke called Jayden.  A Swannies supporter from Geelong with a kick arse  Landcruiser decked out to the max.  Jayden and his two boys were kind enough to interrupt his days fishing to come and fish Vanie out of the scrub.  He had us hooked up and towed out of the mud in a matter of minutes. Thanks Jayden ... you’re a legend mate.

VMcVF traversed the rest of the hills with ease and before you knew it we were eating Maccas in Ulladulla for lunch.  

After lunch we caught up with another legend (despite being a Sydney sider !), an old mate who I started in the job with back in 1988. Pete “Bop bop” Austin.  Pete, has a place in Lake Conjola and kindly offered to put us up for the night.    Q and I were able to perform some maintainance on Vanie, enjoy a proper shower and a home cooked Barbie.  Fantastic night catching up with Pete and his lovely Mum and Dad, Tony and Mary.  

Thanks for you hospitality Pete.