At this point to quote Douglas Addams -- Don't Panic! You have got to be kidding!! it was mayhem. Well everyone and their vehicles were relatively okay. It was about 3am when we all got be relatively comfortable again.

At daylight it was decided to wait and see if the water would go down much father. The river had risen by about 6 foot plus. By morning it had gone down about half. Nathan and I went on a scout in the water. The water was really moving swirling and pulling. We did find the cooking poles, the big grill, a few shovels, chairs but no shoes. I was practising sand driving. Nathan was checking out the water further down the river. It was stinking hot. Clouds were looming all morning and then it began raining. The river was rising again! It was decided to go for it now. The jeeps were prepped for deep water crossing. I got the WD40 out. This was a first for me.
Crossing the river was shit scary. It gave to a rocky bank, then a stream and a snoty steep slick slope.

Peter had yanked me out with a tree trunk protector which inadvertently bent metal. Thanks Peter ;)

The terrain had changed as a result of rain. Ruts had turned into waterfalls. The bigger rocks were slippery. In spots it was very slow and required careful pickings.

Tiangara Fire Trail
After a few drops into some very deep puddles I radioed Nathan in front to give us depth gauges. <> <> His rig had more clearance so hubs equated to axles, and axles to doors on the Jeep. Whatever! So from there it was faster going. Banged up the right side nerf somewhere also. It was a two hour trail. At higher ground we lunched :) fooood. After driving along the top of the ridge we visited the Tiangara Falls. It was unanimous that we'd seen enough water for the time being & headed for a new camp.

We found a suitable camp near the Shoalhaven River and all was relaxed and happy. Nathan's mate, John and I went for a beer run (into Goulbourn) and got lost on the way back! So we were a welcome relief arriving back at camp after the night before. Warren and Peter went to help some motorcyclists (who had stupidly taken no tools). Meals were being cooked and the beer flowed. Katrina with spider were busy teasing Peter to our fits of laughter. To our amazement John decides to go for fire walks through the coals. We were all having a great time.

Monday 25th January 1999
It was our day off! Everything was real casual. We swam in the river and basked in the sun. We went for little drives here and there, exploring, around the area. Trails leading to nowhere kept us entertained. The quarry was good fun, but stinky! A 100 metre causeway kept TankJirl clean and refreshed. I was getting used to this water driving! The rapids in the river had us lounging around and swimming - engrossed for hours <>. The bush was perfect & peaceful.

Tuesday 26th HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
The rising sun was a scatter of red clouds and white rays. Time to push homeward. Not before some challenging exit, I expected. Leaving camp at about 10am, we scaled back along the fire trail and turned down for one last trail that had caught Red Leaders attention. Also John's second tow from TankJirl the Jeep. hehehe.

Coming back across the fire trail it was a bit drier, but no less fun. We had one puddle up over the bonnet (no I was not driving that fast :). The stains still won't come out of the softop.

It was getting pretty rough downhill and no one was waiting up for me. The cars in front radioed. Warren had hit a tree.

At the bottom of the hill, two other vehicles had pulled up in front of tankjirl. I imagined we were going to have to help these wallys up also. All vehicles further up were stopped, everyone was out. It was getting onto 3pm and still an hour from a dirt road.

The CJ8 - fearless Red Leader had not hit a tree but was having probs getting up this one. It's a bit of a worry when the most capable rig could not make it up. It was a 3- 4 foot rise and very greasy. The two foreign vehicles left. Hehehe. Discussions and tryouts then were all up that hour. Pierre said he wouldn't do it. Nathan also backed out - went around the other way. Well, lookie here, thought I, lets see if the other TJs get up. Peter picked a beautiful line zigzaging gracefully up, nice and wide with just the right amount of power. It was a beauty to behold! Dave's Jeep is locked, and he got up. Viv was hoping to aim for the same line as Peters. I was not going to get the strap. Smoking the tyres on the fourth go she took up. Later I was to find, that the rear right shock was not connected at the top mount. Maybe TankJirl would have made it up earlier and with more grace, if not for that. John was up next.

Then Nathan and John taking a different way up his stuck was quite interesting. We had to go and see his rig first. We had to walk uphill about two kilometers to get there first!. We didn't know this at the time, we were all just trudging to see what was up. It's just up a bit further the kept pointing. His vehicle was not stuck! The terrain was overly challenging. A huge tree root was at the very top of a very steep 60 degree hill, which went down for about 300m. I could have hit him, if not for the fact that I was going to sit in the front seat on the way down. Nathan got the Cruiser over the tree root and then we all jumped in, on, around... Yeah, that was pretty fun. Everyone was hanging off the cruiser. People started dropping off as the bush closed in. When Nathan got to the rest of the group we pushed. Gee it was hot and muggy in the bush. We could see water down there, but where do we cross...

Coming to the river we crossed all parked and plunged in for a swim. Two streams were feeding into it, hot from one stream, cold from another. That was so good. A bit to eat with a cuppa and we headed out. An air fill at Nowra, fuel, munchies, goodbyes and hello freeway! We enjoyed some Australia Day roadside entertainment courtesy of the locals as we passed. The two hour trip home was uneventful other than the memories of a fantastic four days in the bush.