I'm not going to
bore you with a travelogue of the recent trip up the GRR and Kulumbaru Road (with the bro (Matt M), down the Tanimi, and along the
Oodnadatta track as most members are familiar with this route. Just some random thoughts and observations. Oh and by they way, I had a fantastic time and loved it, not of the things below spoiled my trip at all.
1.Amazing how you get to read the road conditions just by the colour of the road (those deep red bits are a bitch)
2.there is no way to keep bull-dust out of a 40 series troopy – period! Get used to it!
3.while on the topic of 40 series – what have you got to do to kill one of these things ?! Seriously, I am simply amazed at the pounding the old girl took, including some absolute teeth rattlers – it just shook it off and came back for more. Amazing vehicles.
4.Bolting the gas bottle holder to the back door was not a good idea – 2 x 6” cracks proved this theory – oh
well, you live and learn.
5.I thought Billiluna was a pretty depressing place, until I saw Yuendemu. Makes Billiluna look like a model of civic pride by comparison. Total s-hole of a place.
6.All Germans driving Britz rentals are suicidal, either that or they haven’t figured which side of the road to drive on yet.
7.In fact – all Europeans driving Britz rentals are suicidal!
8.I still have 2 screws that fell out of the dash – haven’t figured out where they came from yet…..
9.
Wilpena Pound was somewhat disappointing – either it suffered in comparison with the Kimberly, or hitting it by accident on the weekend of school holidays didn’t improve the outlook
10.March Flies at
Bell Gorge were horrendous – however Matt’s kids discovered the art of feeding them to the fish – some sort of poetic justice in this.
11. Kimberly region was simply spectacular – enuf said.
12.Saw one car only between
Marla and
Oodnadatta – amazing how it drove past as I was stopped taking a leak on the side of the road – this happened also on the Tanami. I have a theory that if you break down – take a leak as this will guarantee someone will drive past.
13.Arkaroola is spectacular – pity about the
camp site on the top of the
hill – I’ve seen gravel pits that were smoother – at least it was fairly cheap!
14.To the family with the two whiney, whinging daughters (who were still bitching at 3am in the morn) camped next to me at Arkaroola, there’s a special place in hell for you (or maybe you already spawned it)
15.To the wife of the guy I helped start his 80 series at Western Plains Zoo – it was not his fault the battery went flat – this just sometimes happens – to the guy I helped start his 80 series at Western Plains Zoo – ditch the bitch!
16. I now understand why the locals call
El Questro – “El Chequebooko” – pretty speccy though – to the management of
El Questro – charging a $1 fee for using eftpos to pay for a $90
campsite with bugger all (read no) facilities was an insult.
17.Best you don’t think about the price of Deiso when filling up – not much you can do about it anyway.