The locals have balls of titanium....You wouldn't find me in that water trying to recover my vehicle. But I get it, that's all they have and they need to try everything possible within their means to get out of a sticky (crocky in this case) situation. Thanks for sharing MM. Cheers
Hi Matt. Right at the end of video , the River had calmed and there wasn't as much pressure on the vehicle as the tide was on the turn but there was 800cm water which made the recovery easier.
Seriously,had they waited the flow going back the other way would have helped getting off the rocks and back onto the causeway. Too many bosses and too much yelling.
Wow. A great example of using what you have at hand. It reminds me of our first 4x4 experience 40 years ago. Back of Bourke with nothing but a shovel and a rope thicker than my leg. The old man saying She’ll be right. I’m glad everyone is safe. Lucky it was a Toyota. Should buff out. Keep up the great work Matt 👏👏👏
Tow balls and kinetic recoveries with static ropes aside, a method they could have used if they had another rope and another vehicle is the tandem tow. It works like this. The second recovery vehicle takes up the slack between it and the stuck vehicle, whilst the first recovery vehicle does the same between it and the second recovery vehicle. At the same time (and it has to be synchronised), all vehicles drive and, hopefully, the stuck vehicle is extracted. It's generally a very effective method, and works for both static and kinetic recoveries.
I’ve always thought a couple of cable rope barriers would be priceless along either side of this crossing - one at 400mm and at 800mm……… certainly make it a lot safer if things go sideways towards the crocs. Great video as always Matt👌👌👌
Glad you're bringing attention to this as this recovery was amateurish, which is surprising considering almost everyone here would be a local so you'd think would have some idea as to what they're doing here. In addition to everything you said - those 2 people standing where they were @ 2:00. The person in the water just not even looking for crocs, but both of them standing in the potential reach of that rope snapping and hitting one of them. I've seen ropes and chains snap and shoot off in surprising directions. Also the person standing on the backhoe's/trackor's bucket - if a chain snaps and hits you it'll knock your jaw or a limb clean off. No exaggeration. It looks like they waited a while for that backhoe to come out, as the current had changed drastically since the car was first stuck, so perhaps I can understand them attempting the recovery with that other car, but even still waiting some hours for a suitable recovery vehicle is well worth it - that water is high enough for a small or medium croc to sneak up. It may not bring you down but will rip up your calf pretty bad.
Hey Matt, just regarding the vehicles not being in 4wd: there's a good chance these don't even have 4wd as an option. We pulled up to help some locals in FNQ. He had snapped a rear uni joint. Got the tools out and pulled out his rear prop shaft and said 'there you go mate should be able to get going in front wheel drive now'. He just laughed and pointed. Turns out the front prop shaft was already removed.
I’ve seen a receiver hitch break where the pin goes through under a kinetic pull and the hole it left in the bumper was staggering. Lucky it missed everything critical.
There is a famous mud area I know where people take giant lifted rigs and bury 35" tires all day. I have watch front stock hooks snap off and land next to a child playing in the mud completely unaware of what just happened. In the next recovery a strap snapped and destroyed the rear doors on a Ford Excursion. Guys with winches roam around charging money to pull trucks full of clean shoe wearing folks that won't get out of the car😆 One time I helped a stuck car like that and the driver scoffed at me for wanting 50 bucks to help. I told them I was going to have to strip to my underwear and crawl under the vehicle to find an attachment point so I got the money.😁
Drove across that river a few years ago heading to Ramo, tide was low at around 7am and driving back 2 weeks later around 3 in the morning saw a lot of glowing yellow eyes on both side of the river, that river is dangerous during a high tide. Heading to Ramo next week, looks like I'm using the Top Road pass Burunga and Bulman....
I like these react vids Matt. Having never been in the north of Australia, I guess in that situation you would want to be quick about doing anything once you've made a plan. You would want heaps of eyes watching the crocks. I guess all decisions were made on the basis of we've done this before this way line of thinking. In hindsight the loader and chain ( now dipped in water to soften it a bit) probably should have been the first go to recovery vehicle. Always remember 1000 liters of water is 1 cubic meter which is 1 ton. That car could have easily have up to 10 tonnes pushing sideways on it at times depending on water height.
I know it's common in other parts of the world, but coming from the South-West United States any water crossing scares the ever loving crap out of me. Slick rock, sand, snow, no problem, water gets to the hub 😯
I think the rope must be fixed on the deepest point "right on the axel tube" because too lift it over the rocks under the waterline.But before every trouble i would fixed two trucks together with a long rope and than start cross the river.I would even trie a driving line most away from the rocks !Maybe cross the river with open doors the watter can pass through the car more easy.
👍 Exactly my thought too. The way he stands in the bucket close to the chain positions him in the triangle of death should the Toyota be slipping downstream during the process.
It is looking like neither had winches. A winch from an anchored vehicle would have been optimal, sans the front end loader. A winch would have had nice control and anchoring the recovering vehicle would prevent the loss of 2 vehicles should one go over. Like you said, they were making do with what they had, but certainly increased the pucker factor.
Firstly I saw as I'm sure everyone else did, the wheels turned down river, and then a pattern of downriver, straight, downriver, straight as the forward recovery progressed. Now at the risk of being Laughed at ( I don't know much about water crossings like this except for videos on youtube ), But could another vehicle, ( not the vehicle recovering, but hopefully the same or heavier with same or higher ground clearance ) have driven on the upriver side or the crossing and park alongside the stuck vehicle? Maybe there's a lip to catch your tyres on for a hook grip, have it slightly angled like the stuck vehicle, so its not broadside to the full force of the water, to act as a shadow for the stuck vehicle? Then the vehicle recovering would have to deal with less force against the stuck vehicle, and maybe even minor cavitations and eddys from the shadow vehicle might lessen the water pressure holding it in place? The recovery vehicle has obviously driven past it to try recover from the rear, so there's plenty of room, my only real concern is that you are adding another driver and vehicle to an already hectic situation. And that also means adding another risk of casualty, automotive and Person. But I would honestly love feedback on this idea as it seems really feasible in this specific situation.
That’s a very interesting idea that I’d not considered. I think it could work but as you suggest it adds another risk element to the whole recovery. Personally I’m not sure why old mate didn’t get the wheels pointing the right way. Hence my suggestion something was broken.
@@MadMatt4WD it could also be that the right front driver wheel was falling into holea between the causeway roadbase and the rocks, the combination of the vehicle weight and lean, and the combined water pressure would make it almost impossible to turn the wheels. they seem to steer fine as the loader is dragging him out backwards, but by then he is clear of the rocks and on the flat surface of the causeway.
After two minutes of watching the Video, my first thought is "The beginning of the recovery is a really big mistake!"! How would i have started? I would have started with two recovery cars, one in front, what we see in the first two minutes, which i would use as backup and secure help and one car who should pull the Land Cruiser in danger from the back backwards on the ford, so that then the backup rescue car can pull the Land Cruiser in danger forward to the other side. Why did the rope break? In my mind it was not strong enough and the biggest reason for breaking is, that the recovery angle is to small at this strong current, so that the Land Cruiser in danger is pushed every time back against the rocks, which creates a new strong ressitance who must be get over with the rope. The rescue from behind shows, that the driver of Land Cruiser in danger hast no knowing about how to react! He is wild turning from one side to the other and he is giving to much gas, so with his action in my mind he is working against a positive rescue! The rescue with with the big frontloader is good, but although dangerous! There's a man standing in shovel during the rescue, what could happened if the chain would break? At the end of the Rescue i don't see the front wheels rolling, so that means for me the driver had no running engine and couldn't work against the recovery what's made this try ends posotiv Greetings from Cologne/Germany BlackCat P.S. this Answer was written until i have only seen 5:20 minutes of the video!
That is total chaos for a recovery but then as well we need to look at the editing of the original video. I know the Crocs do hang around there, we have all seen it but maybe they were not as close as the video makes them look. Still a very risky situation. I also noticed early on, the front tyres at least are looking very low on rubber so in this situation especially they would not have helped at all. There was a couple of sections in the video where the vehicle being recovered looked to have the front wheel jerk before the vehicle moved so I do think it may have been in 4wd but the recovery vehicle maybe not so much. Many vehicles have been lost there, there are videos all over TH-cam showing them upside down further down stream with tour boats and such rescuing people. I would love to do that crossing but not in conditions like that. I will also mention I was doing a trip a couple years back and had to help a guy whose hitch had snapped while towing his caravan. 100kmh road and the nose of his van hit the ground dragging behind him. Fortunately he was able to pull it up safely and the trailer brakes still worked. it snapped exactly where you said, along that weld and upon inspection it looked like the weld was not a good one in the first place.
@@JasonParkers I have seen videos with them up close and even on the road so I know they do get there but in this particular video maybe not as close as they look.
Hmm... are the cheers and the crush-sounds added? I wondered when I saw this video the first time some time ago.. And I'm assuming the croc-scenes were added too, as the colour of the surrounding landscapes do not match... Action-TV production on it's finest, as if the footage was not bad enough😮 Even thoug I think the situation was a big problem in itself, and yes, there might have been crocs too😅 I got a short vid from Africa with a fully loaded troopy trying to cross a big river a few times, even trying to reverse, recognizing his mistake, but car and people got swepped away... some moron put music under it🤦🏻 I assume that some people died. That is never ok. Greetings from Germany, Bjørn
You would think by now "Somebody" might help these communities with a fundraiser to get them a bit of adequate recovery gear Atleast . Obviously they haven't got the money , or access to these resources or the educational for self preservation in these situations . They know way more than us when it comes to the land and creatures that inhabit it , probably knowing how far to push it here , but common people , it's an unnecessary risk and where it goes wrong , it goes Very Wrong.
No shortage of money going into these communities. there's also no respect for gear or the value of money, no mechanical compassion, no maintenance of equipment. Gear is given or stolen and disappears after first use. It's left behind or used beyond capabilities and destroyed and left behind. It's a whole different world view in remote Aboriginal communities.
The locals have balls of titanium....You wouldn't find me in that water trying to recover my vehicle. But I get it, that's all they have and they need to try everything possible within their means to get out of a sticky (crocky in this case) situation. Thanks for sharing MM. Cheers
Hi Matt. Right at the end of video , the River had calmed and there wasn't as much pressure on the vehicle as the tide was on the turn but there was 800cm water which made the recovery easier.
Yes the tide certainly had an effect. Why they didn’t wait till low tide though.
@MadMatt4WD The pub was going to shut
Seriously,had they waited the flow going back the other way would have helped getting off the rocks and back onto the causeway. Too many bosses and too much yelling.
I’ve crossed it at low tide and that was bloody scary enough
Grandma's Yota For Sale. Never used off-road. Mint condition. Washed regularly
😂
Just want to say thanks Matt. Love the great outdoors but a total newbie to 4wding. Some wonderful tips on prep and driving techniques here.
Wow.
A great example of using what you have at hand. It reminds me of our first 4x4 experience 40 years ago.
Back of Bourke with nothing but a shovel and a rope thicker than my leg. The old man saying She’ll be right. I’m glad everyone is safe. Lucky it was a Toyota. Should buff out.
Keep up the great work Matt 👏👏👏
Tow balls and kinetic recoveries with static ropes aside, a method they could have used if they had another rope and another vehicle is the tandem tow. It works like this. The second recovery vehicle takes up the slack between it and the stuck vehicle, whilst the first recovery vehicle does the same between it and the second recovery vehicle. At the same time (and it has to be synchronised), all vehicles drive and, hopefully, the stuck vehicle is extracted. It's generally a very effective method, and works for both static and kinetic recoveries.
I lived up in Kathrine NT for 12months & was living in the community.. great stuff they show me bush tucker .. iv seen it numbers of times
Wow.
I’ve always thought a couple of cable rope barriers would be priceless along either side of this crossing - one at 400mm and at 800mm……… certainly make it a lot safer if things go sideways towards the crocs. Great video as always Matt👌👌👌
That’s not a bad idea. At least the worst case is panel Damage
That would definitely be handy, the only issue would be flood debris.
When the front loader was pulling the 4WD out of the water right at the end, the front wheels were not rotating.
One word. Nuts
Just don't cross when water is too deep &/or too fast flowing - simple.
Glad you're bringing attention to this as this recovery was amateurish, which is surprising considering almost everyone here would be a local so you'd think would have some idea as to what they're doing here.
In addition to everything you said - those 2 people standing where they were @ 2:00. The person in the water just not even looking for crocs, but both of them standing in the potential reach of that rope snapping and hitting one of them. I've seen ropes and chains snap and shoot off in surprising directions. Also the person standing on the backhoe's/trackor's bucket - if a chain snaps and hits you it'll knock your jaw or a limb clean off. No exaggeration.
It looks like they waited a while for that backhoe to come out, as the current had changed drastically since the car was first stuck, so perhaps I can understand them attempting the recovery with that other car, but even still waiting some hours for a suitable recovery vehicle is well worth it - that water is high enough for a small or medium croc to sneak up. It may not bring you down but will rip up your calf pretty bad.
Hey Matt, just regarding the vehicles not being in 4wd: there's a good chance these don't even have 4wd as an option. We pulled up to help some locals in FNQ. He had snapped a rear uni joint. Got the tools out and pulled out his rear prop shaft and said 'there you go mate should be able to get going in front wheel drive now'. He just laughed and pointed. Turns out the front prop shaft was already removed.
Oh really. Is that because when they do a front diff they just convert to two wheel drive?
@@MadMatt4WD I would say something along those lines. Drive it until it breaks kind of thing.
How about the bloke fishing. Just another part of the food chain for the biting hand bags.
I’ve seen a receiver hitch break where the pin goes through under a kinetic pull and the hole it left in the bumper was staggering. Lucky it missed everything critical.
When they fail they can be as good as a cannon ball.
There is a famous mud area I know where people take giant lifted rigs and bury 35" tires all day. I have watch front stock hooks snap off and land next to a child playing in the mud completely unaware of what just happened. In the next recovery a strap snapped and destroyed the rear doors on a Ford Excursion. Guys with winches roam around charging money to pull trucks full of clean shoe wearing folks that won't get out of the car😆 One time I helped a stuck car like that and the driver scoffed at me for wanting 50 bucks to help. I told them I was going to have to strip to my underwear and crawl under the vehicle to find an attachment point so I got the money.😁
Madness standing in that water
The other trouble with, (deep), water work, besides the side loading - add to that the floating/light tire contact.....
Great point.
Drove across that river a few years ago heading to Ramo, tide was low at around 7am and driving back 2 weeks later around 3 in the morning saw a lot of glowing yellow eyes on both side of the river, that river is dangerous during a high tide. Heading to Ramo next week, looks like I'm using the Top Road pass Burunga and Bulman....
Copy. I’ve not been there myself.
I like these react vids Matt. Having never been in the north of Australia, I guess in that situation you would want to be quick about doing anything once you've made a plan.
You would want heaps of eyes watching the crocks. I guess all decisions were made on the basis of we've done this before this way line of thinking. In hindsight the loader and chain ( now dipped in water to soften it a bit) probably should have been the first go to recovery vehicle.
Always remember 1000 liters of water is 1 cubic meter which is 1 ton. That car could have easily have up to 10 tonnes pushing sideways on it at times depending on water height.
I’d never thought of looking at the water force that way. Excellent.
Nice analysis. The steering is also to wrong direction in the backward pull unfortunately.
Absolutely miraculously for what goes on there, only five people have died there since it opened in the 1960s and only two in recent memory.
I know it's common in other parts of the world, but coming from the South-West United States any water crossing scares the ever loving crap out of me. Slick rock, sand, snow, no problem, water gets to the hub 😯
I think the rope must be fixed on the deepest point "right on the axel tube" because too lift it over the rocks under the waterline.But before every trouble i would fixed two trucks together with a long rope and than start cross the river.I would even trie a driving line most away from the rocks !Maybe cross the river with open doors the watter can pass through the car more easy.
First mistake, should’ve built a bridge. Lol
You can see the stuck vehicle front tires turn
I couldn’t pick them driving at any point but I’m happy to be wrong.
Mate these guys have been looking after themselves for 75,000 years , they know what there doing.
4x4s have not been around that long though!!!
Also, when the digger turns up … maybe not a good idea for the chap to be standing in the bucket.
👍 Exactly my thought too. The way he stands in the bucket close to the chain positions him in the triangle of death should the Toyota be slipping downstream during the process.
@@StefansView Or the chain fails ....
I’d be taking the chance on the chain all day rather then get in that water..
It is looking like neither had winches. A winch from an anchored vehicle would have been optimal, sans the front end loader. A winch would have had nice control and anchoring the recovering vehicle would prevent the loss of 2 vehicles should one go over. Like you said, they were making do with what they had, but certainly increased the pucker factor.
Well said. I’m a huge fan of winches for recovery.
Don't mess with locals, don't mess with Crocs - don't mess with local crocs
Was that a left hand drive Toyota?
No
WHY did the rescued Toyota steer the opposite way???
We think his steering was either broken or caught on a rock.
Firstly I saw as I'm sure everyone else did, the wheels turned down river, and then a pattern of downriver, straight, downriver, straight as the forward recovery progressed.
Now at the risk of being Laughed at ( I don't know much about water crossings like this except for videos on youtube ), But could another vehicle, ( not the vehicle recovering, but hopefully the same or heavier with same or higher ground clearance ) have driven on the upriver side or the crossing and park alongside the stuck vehicle? Maybe there's a lip to catch your tyres on for a hook grip, have it slightly angled like the stuck vehicle, so its not broadside to the full force of the water, to act as a shadow for the stuck vehicle? Then the vehicle recovering would have to deal with less force against the stuck vehicle, and maybe even minor cavitations and eddys from the shadow vehicle might lessen the water pressure holding it in place?
The recovery vehicle has obviously driven past it to try recover from the rear, so there's plenty of room, my only real concern is that you are adding another driver and vehicle to an already hectic situation. And that also means adding another risk of casualty, automotive and Person. But I would honestly love feedback on this idea as it seems really feasible in this specific situation.
That’s a very interesting idea that I’d not considered. I think it could work but as you suggest it adds another risk element to the whole recovery. Personally I’m not sure why old mate didn’t get the wheels pointing the right way. Hence my suggestion something was broken.
@@MadMatt4WD it could also be that the right front driver wheel was falling into holea between the causeway roadbase and the rocks, the combination of the vehicle weight and lean, and the combined water pressure would make it almost impossible to turn the wheels. they seem to steer fine as the loader is dragging him out backwards, but by then he is clear of the rocks and on the flat surface of the causeway.
After two minutes of watching the Video, my first thought is "The beginning of the recovery is a really big mistake!"!
How would i have started?
I would have started with two recovery cars, one in front, what we see in the first two minutes, which i would use as backup and secure help and one car who should pull the Land Cruiser in danger from the back backwards on the ford, so that then the backup rescue car can pull the Land Cruiser in danger forward to the other side.
Why did the rope break?
In my mind it was not strong enough and the biggest reason for breaking is, that the recovery angle is to small at this strong current, so that the Land Cruiser in danger is pushed every time back against the rocks, which creates a new strong ressitance who must be get over with the rope.
The rescue from behind shows, that the driver of Land Cruiser in danger hast no knowing about how to react!
He is wild turning from one side to the other and he is giving to much gas, so with his action in my mind he is working against a positive rescue!
The rescue with with the big frontloader is good, but although dangerous!
There's a man standing in shovel during the rescue, what could happened if the chain would break?
At the end of the Rescue i don't see the front wheels rolling, so that means for me the driver had no running engine and couldn't work against the recovery what's made this try ends posotiv
Greetings from Cologne/Germany
BlackCat
P.S. this Answer was written until i have only seen 5:20 minutes of the video!
Thanks for your thoughts and input
The water in the fog lights
Internal cleaning. 😂
That troopy that was stuck would easily fetch $200,000 in any major Australian city now, as is 😅
Lol and be better than a 79.
They are my favourite animals but that ain’t my idea of fun either
1.20 The real owner turns up and yells...
"Bro...What are you doing with my car"....
That is total chaos for a recovery but then as well we need to look at the editing of the original video. I know the Crocs do hang around there, we have all seen it but maybe they were not as close as the video makes them look. Still a very risky situation. I also noticed early on, the front tyres at least are looking very low on rubber so in this situation especially they would not have helped at all. There was a couple of sections in the video where the vehicle being recovered looked to have the front wheel jerk before the vehicle moved so I do think it may have been in 4wd but the recovery vehicle maybe not so much. Many vehicles have been lost there, there are videos all over TH-cam showing them upside down further down stream with tour boats and such rescuing people. I would love to do that crossing but not in conditions like that. I will also mention I was doing a trip a couple years back and had to help a guy whose hitch had snapped while towing his caravan. 100kmh road and the nose of his van hit the ground dragging behind him. Fortunately he was able to pull it up safely and the trailer brakes still worked. it snapped exactly where you said, along that weld and upon inspection it looked like the weld was not a good one in the first place.
The crocs were close. We were there a week ago. It's full of them.
Great. Comment thanks
@@JasonParkers I have seen videos with them up close and even on the road so I know they do get there but in this particular video maybe not as close as they look.
@@OnCountryWithMick really depends on how close they were to the turn of the tide. That's when the large geckos rock up
@@JasonParkers I have heard that. Apparently they sit in wait for the Barra to start crossing the causeway as the tide turns.
Hmm... are the cheers and the crush-sounds added? I wondered when I saw this video the first time some time ago.. And I'm assuming the croc-scenes were added too, as the colour of the surrounding landscapes do not match... Action-TV production on it's finest, as if the footage was not bad enough😮 Even thoug I think the situation was a big problem in itself, and yes, there might have been crocs too😅
I got a short vid from Africa with a fully loaded troopy trying to cross a big river a few times, even trying to reverse, recognizing his mistake, but car and people got swepped away... some moron put music under it🤦🏻
I assume that some people died. That is never ok.
Greetings from Germany, Bjørn
Yeah the main video edit is a bit suss. But this is genuinely croc infested.
But why does the guy keep fishing? What is he hoping to catch other than a crocodile?🤣🤣🤣
Lol.
turning the steering left into the rocks ...? Steering must be broken ?At least remove your tow ball hitch and connect to the pin itself...
These are locals! There’s no plan, no skill, nothing!
This is an easy crossing, as it is dry at low tide. Twice a day, every day!
You would think by now "Somebody" might help these communities with a fundraiser to get them a bit of adequate recovery gear Atleast . Obviously they haven't got the money , or access to these resources or the educational for self preservation in these situations . They know way more than us when it comes to the land and creatures that inhabit it , probably knowing how far to push it here , but common people , it's an unnecessary risk and where it goes wrong , it goes Very Wrong.
No shortage of money going into these communities. there's also no respect for gear or the value of money, no mechanical compassion, no maintenance of equipment. Gear is given or stolen and disappears after first use. It's left behind or used beyond capabilities and destroyed and left behind. It's a whole different world view in remote Aboriginal communities.
Don’t drink and drive. An oldie but a goodie. Your judgement may be impaired…,,
If you get given a free Landcruiser and it goes for a swim, who cares. You’ll get a new one given to you again.
Bloody fools. I certainly wouldn't risk my life or vehicle rescuing fools that take stupid risks!!
I mean...a bridge OVER the water might be better here? Just saying.
lol yep
Don’t worry the government or their land council will buy them a new 4WD.
😅😅😅😅Are you serious? You're trying to rationalise the behaviour of local indigenous people? You've obviously never lived in the NT!
It'll never make sense 😂
Guberment Toyotas aye…….