Hi All. Where back!
Covered over 7,000ks in 3 weeks very comfortably.
The trip covered the following ground.
Melb,
Renmark,
Flinders Ranges, Old Peak
Ruins (South of
Oodnadatta),
Coober Pedy, Yalara,
Kings Canyon,
Palm Valley, Alice,
Chambers Pillar,
Dalhousie Springs,
Simpson Desert via French Line,
Birdsville,
Innamincka via
Haddon Corner,
Broken Hill via Comeron Corner & Tibbooburra,
Mildura, Melb.
In time I hope to have a website with photos etc. But this is a start.
As a quick summary I thought I'd note the things that were different to what I expected or things of note that happened.
1. Fuel economy was better than I had planned. We averaged 16.8Ltrs / 100ks towing a trailer which was pretty good. Best was 13.0 going up the Stuart with a tail wind. The worst was crossing the desert @ 26.4 (Mt Dare to
Birdsville)
2. Track conditions were far superior to what we expected. Corregations were an issue in
places but we were suprised by how good most of it was. That said it is easy to see how conditions can change in a short period. So this is definately not a comment on what to expect every time, we were just fortunate. The worst track was without doubt the 20ks off the
Oodnadatta track into Peak
Ruins - Its worth the effort but it took us over an hour to cover the 20ks. The best track was the Strzelecki as smooth as black top. The only issue on most gravel tracks was stones. The undersides of our trailers got absolutely hammered - any one with ideas on stone proofing?
3. Although I fully understand the need to protect the environment and cater for the less prepared traveller. I was disappointed at how civilised everthing was. You would have to work very hard to get lost, with signs everywhere and very
well marked tracks. My GPS was really only a toy in the end. It saved us once from a wrong turn but was really only a novelty. The restrictions on camping etc were also an issue. We noted how there was far more freedom in the
Vic high country than in central Australia. We tread lightly wherever we go and are completely self sufficient, able to
camp anywhere, we were disappointed at how little choice we had in most
places.
4. Our vehicles were
well over spec'd for the trip. Although we were towing trailers, requiring a good solid vehicle, we saw soft roaders and 4bs straight from the factory crossing the desert. They didn't have much margin for error but it was a surprise to see a ML320 with road tyres pull into Dalhousie after an east to west crossing during the road closures after 25mm of rain.
5. Rain in the desert was also unexpected and created a surreal atmoshpere. We were going from dust to mud to dust - A lot of fun
6. We had only a few mechanical issues. Both vehicles run ARB Air Lockers both had problems with the ARB compressors. The bolt holding the small air tank on was cross threaded or over tightened and blew off. The other one had one of the thumb screws holding one of the locker solenoids loosen and fall off. I had a freak stone hit the drivers side door window and bleep ter it. The after market tinting held it together until I could do the 300k round trip back to Alice to get it fixed. On the way back I tested the bull bar on a Hereford steer resulting in only minor damage to the vehicle and a headache for the steer. The other vehicle also developed a very slow leak in the long range tank.
7. The desert crossing was easier than we expected. I'm
well aware of the debate over trailers in the desert but our experience showed us that with a good offroad trailer you do far less damage than less prepared sole vehicles. We saw worse track damage from vehicles charging up the dunes than we left on even the most difficult dunes. We concluded that by having our lockers in and stopping (reverse try again) immediately when the wheel began to spin (this happend only 3-4 times) was far better than boucing up a dune at high speed leaving the track looking like a mogel run. I accept we had pretty good conditions because of the recent rains however the same was true at the eastern end where the track was much softer. And the
well worn saying about tyre pressures is absolutely true. We started running 28psi and after I had failed a dune for the third time dropped to 22psi and never had another problem.
8. The desert was teaming with life. We saw camels, lizards and birds and a whole bunch of weird insects. Oh and millions of flies - Make sure you get a
fly net.
9. On the question of tyre pressures we found the heat played a big role adding 5 psi from cold to hot. So we ran 35 on black top, 28-32 on gravel and 22 in sand. We calculated that we lost about 3mm of tyre tread for the 7,000k trip. I run Mickey Thompson Dick Cepek - My mate was running Cooper STT's
10. The best
places we stayed were
Palm Valley,
Dalhousie Springs &
Innamincka all great
places to stay. Dalhousie was a bit hot high 30's meant we didn't get as much pleasure out of the spring. In the winter it would be fantastic.
11. The Kids DVD player & Gameboys are invaluable. There is so much nothing out there that asking kids to stare out the window for 1,000's of k's is asking for trouble. Having these boredom busters was a significant factor in our girls learning heaps, having a great time and enjoying the outback experiences.
Well if you have stayed with me until here - thank you. I realise that other people's trips are no where near as interesting as your own. I found this site invaluable in preparing for our trip so I hope if you are planning a trip these brief notes might be useful.
Gaz