The GDEC Expedition to The Gibson & Great Sandy Deserts begins - A late start to Mildura

Sunday 30th May, 2010
Mildura


Well it was a frantic day of activity trying to get the finishing touches do ne on the ute and the packing sorted. Saturday night was spent cryovaccing and calibrating the last of the 100 plus maps I had made for the Trackranger Program from Google Earth images. Food shopping was the major activity of the morning and then the stacking of the drawers. Foolishly I thought I had far too much room with one drawer remaining unfilled. That didn’t last long. Having Richard and Lynne meeting me in Jamestown on the 31st, I thought that a late departure to Mildura was in order so at 3.30 we bade farewell to home and after filling up, headed out onto the Calder for the 6 hour trip North.


It was good to get on the road finally despite just cramming the last of the stuff in with little regard for placement. That will have to sort itself out in days to come as things find themselves a hole or assume the natural order. The car was somewhat sluggish with all the weight on board and I’d hesitate to guess just what the vehicle gross is at present...yikes.

Heading up the Calder we took a tea break at Charlton. While waiting for thee burgers, a bloke approached a said, “you’re the bloke writing about the ute on the Exploroz site, Mick O”. bleep I thought. A local from Donald way who’d been reading about the ute build as he had just bought one of the 79’s himself. Fancy that. The burgers were great and we were soon back on the road swapping drivers half way to Wycheproof. I was back in the seat at Ouyen for the last haul into Mildura arriving at Judy’s about 10.15. Tired and stiff after a long day.