4/11/2024 0 Comments Does quicksand existI managed to get onto some more solid sand and lay sprawled across this little 'island' of unsubmerged sand, surrounded on all sides by more ankle deep water. The quicksand is very viscous and has a strong 'suction' effect on your legs, as you try to pull them out it is like being submerged in honey. Gradually I sort of swam / dragged myself across the surface toward the other side of the creek. I remembered things I had read about quicksand and tried to spread my weight across the surface by leaning forward and spreading my hands and arms out wide. I was completely alone and for those first seconds of panic I even wondered if I might die. I took a few steps into the water then, with the next step my whole body sank up to the hip into the sand. The water was only ankle deep, and the creek was only 10 metres wide or so. I was walking down from the dunes and decided to take a shortcut across the creek, about 100m inland from where the coast walk crosses the creek. There is a creek that runs out from the lagoon, past the sand dunes and into the sea at the north end of the beach. I always thought quicksand was a myth from old Hollywood movies set in Egypt and Africa, until I actually experienced quicksand myself in the Royal National Park at Big Marley. Posts: 6991 Joined: Thu 01 Mar, 2007 7:55 am ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS: Bit Map (NIXANZ) Region: Tasmania Gender: Male There may have been other factors involved (maybe alcohol - don't know). I know of one person that fell off his boat, got stuck deep in the mud and drowned. Some parts of the Tamar River's upper reaches are like that too. I missed the fun, because I thought it looked like a bad place to cross and had back-tracked to where there were rocks. Thankfully, he was close enough to the far bank to pull himself out, but he was a little unsettled for a while afterwards. He only stopped going down because he then overbalanced and fell forwards. My mate walked in at a decent pace and shot down to his waist instantly and he reckons his feet still didn't find anything solid. The mud is not just sludgy, but genuinely quick, and very deep in some places. In fact, I reckon much of Explorer Lake is the same. There is some nasty quick mud in the flat part of Explorer Creek between Lake Explorer and where the creek starts flowing downhill over rocks.
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