Well, it had to happen. Some intrepid explorers got wet over New Year abut all of them got home in one piece. So here are some tips. If you really have to tackle a water crossing, you need to stop and assess the situation. Walk the obstacle and mark your track. Use empty can’s or bottles as buoys if you have to.

Never deviate from your track. If it is running fast don’t proceed. Doubling the speed of a creek flow increases the size of items that the water can wash along by 14 times so it is not long before a car can get washed away.

Check your diff breathers. If you don’t have extended breathers block up with grease, rag, tape etc and let the diffs cool before entering the water. Wind windows down so you can escape if things go wrong.

Spray your ignition leads and coil with WD40, coat with grease, cover with plastic, rag and grease etc. if it is a 4 cylinder, a rubber garden glove over the distributor with a wire out each finger is a neat trick before you leave home if water is expected. Turn off your air conditioning, loosen the fan belt. The fan will stop rotating when it get’s wet so it won’t spray water over the motor. Attach a snatch strap to your vehicle and keep it readily accessible. I’d suggest over the bonnet into the back of a ute, or back though the passenger front window. I’m not keen on the wrapping round the bulbar trick, when you need to unwind it, it may be submerged and hard to do. If you have a ute, strapping the tailgate across the bull bar leaning out to create a good bow wave can be a good idea. Wrap a tarp over the radiator so that you can create a pocket of air in the engine bay.

So now you are ready. Engage 4WD. Enter the water at a steady pace, don’t go too fast Don’t change speed, you want to preserve that air pocket. Follow the course you have mapped out and don’t deviate from it. There could be a hole, log or post just waiting to foil your crossing!

So what happens if your motor stalls? Well, sorry; it is all over. Under no  circumstances try to start the engine again. You could suck water up the exhaust pipe into the motor and destroy your engine as a friend did after an unsuccessful attempt at crossing the Jardine years ago. You must recover the vehicle before trying to restart the engine. On the other side, restore the vehicle to running condition, tighten fanbelt etc. With a bit of luck you’ll never need to do this in extreme conditions. I have seen a properly prepared petrol truck go though water so deep that when it stalled, water was lapping the inlet manifold.