Canning Stock Route

Deejay,

What cars did you have to weigh between 4.2 and 4.5 tonnes?

Lyn,
1 GU Nissan Patrol, 1 x 100 series LandCruiser and 2 x 200 series LandCruisers. I weighed my Patrol at the local weighbridge as we left Brisbane and it weighed 4200kg. 200 series Cruisers are 200 kg heavier than Patrols, 80 & 100 series and they were carrying slightly more.

Geez................

No wonder the track is getting cutup with cars 1200kg overweight using it.

Lyn
I'm curious as to what you mean by your comment, '1200kg overweight'? A Nissan Patrol or 100 series LandCruiser (and probably several other makes of cars) both weigh 2400kg empty. Add 2 people, 200 litres of fuel, 50 litres of water, roof top tent, recovery gear, spare tyres, food etc and I would have thought that 4500kgs would be what most vehicles using the Canning or Cape York would weigh.

Deejay,

I would suggest that you check the specification for your cars

For example the 200 series L/C

Note: Kerb, tare & payload weights are nominal and will vary depending on options and tray/body type. Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) is the total permissible combined weight of the vehicle, including occupants, fuel and cargo.
Weights
- Kerb weight (kg)2730
- Gross Vehicle Mass (kg) 3350

Therefore at 4500kg you are 1150kg OVERWEIGHT!

Deejay, Your vehicles are seriously too heavy at those weights. It is an offence to drive a vehicle over its GMV and you can be booked. Also your insurance company can avoid any liability if you have an accident in an over weight vehicle. I am at a complete loss to understand how anyone could believe such weights as being normal.

My apologies to you Lyn (and to Idler Chris).
After reading these postings and talking to my wife about our vehicle's weight, she reminded me that on the day we weighed the car some of the lamps on the illuminated display were not working and what we took to be a digital '4' must have been a '3'. The remainder of the read-out was clear and read 'point 42'. This means the Patrol weighed 3.42 tonnes (probably still a tad overweight). My apologies to you and I stand corrected. DJ

We topped up at Kunawarritji last year on the way through



You can use cash or EFTPOS, no credit but check with them to be sure.

Steve

Kunawarritji

Sorry Greg
It was Kunawarritji (it's a tongue twister and I always had trouble remembering it) and we came northward from Wiluna. The Patrol holds 130 litres and I took 3 x 20 litres drums as well. I remember I had to loan 20 litres to one of the Cruisers and used one of the 20 litres myself leaving what was left in the tank plus a 20 litre drum. Once on the track, the patrol was using about (and I emphasize 'about') 16 litres per 100 kms. If you need more exact info about the trip I can get it for you - it's just that at the moment it's all packed away.
P.S rather than pay $30 for a plastic fuel drum, I kept my old plastic 20 litre engine oil drums and used them to carry the diesel - worked a treat.
DJ

Deejay,

Isn't it against the law to transport fuel in non-approved containers?

Hi PhilD,
Please explain. What was your experience last year?
Greg

Ordered drum for delivery close to date of arrival, but it was supposedly delivered 4 weeks earlier with no communication about the change. Got to Well 23 to find no drum, nether full or empty, at the drop. We do not know whether it was never delivered or was completely stolen. The paperwork to support the delivery was inconsistent.
Have been told by Outback Stores that theft last year was a problem. We had to acquire other fuel to get us through.

DingoBlue - don't know where you get 985 k's from Kunawarritji to Bililuna from ???? - my HEMA says 642 k's

DingoBlue,
My calculations also show that Wiluna to Capricorn Fuel Dump is 805.98
km and from Capricorn Fuel Dump to Kunawarritji is 306.18 km and Kunawarritji to Bililuna is 676.36km and Bililuna to Halls Creek is 217.45km all without side trips.

mortdad

I was just testing!!
Kunawarritji to Bililuna is 642km. Not sure where my 985km came from.
Other distances vary slighty but not significantly.
Pays to double check before posting.

hi madog
I took my own fuel I had an aluminium tank bolted in the well body and carried 3x60 ltr drums as well
I made my own tanami type pump which takes up very little space to empty the 60's and also used air to push fuel from the 124ltr tank through to the main tank it was so simple all you need is a reliable compressor and if yours breaks down someone else has one
when I got to the aboriginal community I had plenty of fuel left and just bought 20 ltrs to be on the safe side before going out to 80 mile beach and up to broome
cheers

Hey Robin could you post the link up for your trip report please, looks like a good read but I can't find it.
Cheers
Harry

Can't really do that Harry , that was around the time when Exploroz didn't want trip reports on forum so I wrote story elsewhere - I have included text based points below which I extracted that section above from - it has details for those doing such a trip - If you don't want to run short of Chadonay on such a trip you might want to read post 80168 though.





REPORT DATE 4/8/10

CANNING part of TRIP 21/06/10 26/07/10


APPROX 12000km in 28 days Melbourne to Melbourne via Perth-Canning-Katherine-Alice
(solo till Perth - then pickup wife for rest of trip)

CAMPS at Wells 3,9,16,19,25,31,37,43, Breaden,Wolfe crk

1st night from Melb camped in roadside stop (much rubbish) way past Pt Augusta (1200km), south side of highway near waypoint MT-G Location 53 H 665282 6341919

Day 2 To Ceduna -good coffee shop main street - drove on Ocean beach to Davenport Bay, some more roped off areas but tracks still open -
- fantastic spot Toilets - Fowlers bay next , no shops beach drive looks hard.

2nd night tuesday made it to camps5 669 tourist stop overlooking cliffs , but backtraced to
side track and camped right on spectacular cliff edge at 52 J 631901 6504874 with small campfire.

Day 3 Via more cliff views then Eucla for average coffee then drove to bech which took while to find.

3rd night at camps5 location 23 roadside stop - bit windy , several other cars, had fire ok.

Day 4 to Perth (sisters) via Wave rock and Hyden dirt road (highway) arrived on dusk 6:30pm

Day 5 cleanups/shopping/pickup Anne (wife) at Airport , back to sisters for night.

Day 6 Saturday - lots more shopping - fueled up ready to leave sisters about 7am sunday morning.

Day 7 Sunday - drove to CUE , stayed in Donga , Anne got sore back, broke phone aerial , tea at
Cue roadhouse (average $22 fish&Chip meal)
Night 7 was cold in Donga - fan heater going all night - but caravan park was ok.

Day 8 28/6 Monday made it to Wiluna for Exploroz gathering by midday and meet Adrian and BentAxle setup camp for 3 days in car.

Day 9 29/6 Tuesday survival course - went to North pool for late lunch - meet Howard ACT lovely day.

Day10 30/6 Wednesday Did day trip with Howard Russ Rob(I think) to North pool & meet David/Michelle(exploroz properly), agreed to team up with Howard's trip with Russ & Rob for Canning as they seemed ok.
Wiluna shire BBQ party , bit cold and windy to enjoy much, then another cold night , Anne sore.

Day11 1st July (Canning Nite 1)Packed camp left about 11am to meet up with Howard etc and we departed onto Canning
trip about 1pm after another poor coffee , but on a warm day. got to well 3 and camped for 1st night on Canning
in creek bed 124km(4:30) from GunBarrel or 107.6km up Canning from Wiluna.

Canning day/night 2 (camped past weell 9 - good run 195km in 8 hours from 8:30 to 4:30pm)
At well 4A I noticed Russ's rear driver side tyre was leaking - we all helped change it but had some difficulty as his Hi-lift jack
was not working correctly, some wd40 seemed to free up mechanism.
Got some bore water well 5
Well 6 pierre spring was good campground with loo's but was crowded so we left , well 7 & 8 were wrecks then
Well 9 was cattleyard camped for night (2/7/10) soon after on open flat area.


Canning day/Night 3 to Well 16 178km in 6hrs 40min to 3:30pm. Nice mild day about 14 with sun.
saw handbike which was abandoned. Some sand dunes camped 100m from well 16 , as Howard said someone already there
told him to camp elsewhere.

Canning day/Night 4 (4/7) 133km in 7:45min to past Well 19 at 3:34pm and off side of track in bush. weather turned from sun
to rain that night - went off to bed 7:40 after having gas heater under Howards awning - camped near scrubby.
(image 3792)
Note rain soaked well into sandy ground which was pine needle covered and left no mud - fire kept going
which was a surprise, we measured 30-50mm of rain ,the most we ever had and it was gone next morning leaving sandy tracks easier to drive.
(200 series near us looked like it was dying)

Durba Springs around lunch but aboriginal group checking permits (I warned scrubby on cb) and film crew, water
contaminated low, no firewood , to many restrictions and lots of offical cars so shot thru. Biggest dunes we found on whole trip were
before Durba.


Canning day/night 5 205km in 8:40 by 4:52pm to well 25 via fuel dump , we back tracked 500m from well 25 and camped
with mist near lake , Russ had had second puncture and others fixed this ,(annes picture 05072010056) generally cold but fire made
it acceptable, but had to search a bit for wood, we spent some time burning food rubbish.
Crossed Savory creek (dry at crossing - wet elsewhere image 3793.
I (Robin) up serveral times during night as usual - which meant I earned the job of keeping the fire going.

Fuel dump worked well , it was cold and Misty -Howards idea of using plastic bucket for fuel worked well as you just tipped and rolled the drum after using
hose to get first bit out. You could see small amount of water in base of bucket. Process took about 45mins.


Canning day/night 6 left from near well 25 8:45 driving 184km in 7:15 for early camp 4pm (image_3853) a few km
before well 31 , lunch at Thring rock(near well 29) image 3847


Canning day/night 7 left camp 8:15 driving 173km in 8:10 to camp at well 37 approx. (bad corrugations before & after well33)
Re-fuel ($3.20 lt). Got few supplies and phone messages at Kunawarrit (well 33) - rough place,showers cold, left early


Canning day/night 8 left camp at well37 at 8:10 to drive 197km in 8:33 to camp just north of well 43
(not much around, made track and pulled into scrub off road)
(Image_3893 is cute cave with some rock art=following this we came to Wardabunni rockhole - nice)
Crossed Tobin Lake (soggy )



Canning day/night 9 left camp 8:04 drive 188km in 7:38 to Breaden pool for walk and early camp (3:42)
for the night,had short swim(cold) small fire soon after tea light rain began at 8pm went most of night
- in bed early with trap on back of car with doors open all night.





Canning day/night 10 left Breaden pool(near well48) early for soggy drive out at 7:43 driving for 9:04 and 250 to camp at
Wolfe Creek where it was fine.

This was a wet soggy mud drive - bypassed one hole - helped farmer & wife thru - then stopped 300m short of
well 50 which was a lake , then long muddy slog to Bililuna by 2:30 which was closed (saturday).
It had taken 9 days 1 hour to get here.



Day 21Halls Creek Late morning (152km 2:40), quiet warm - Fueled up for 5am departure - Hotel for tea ,said goodbye this nite to
others Rob Julie, Howard Margret, Russ.
Night was warm -used mossie net


Day 22 Katherine CV park (Motel room) 876km in 11:11 hours

Day 23Alice Springs (Heaven tree Gap CV park) 1236km in 13:30 hours (4:26 to 5:55pm adelaide time)

Day 24Marla CV Park

Day 25 to Copley CV Park 722km (unit $60)

Day 26Burra Motel

Day 27 Big Dessert Broken Bucket

Day 28 home approx 6::30pm after visit to friends in Ballarat





----FUEL MILEAGE NOTES------------- BFGAT tested at Corr=0
START 215171
21/6 Full 216016 Pt Wakefield 125.6lt $1.277 Main tank only just above empty @ 846km
21/6 Full 216222 Pt Aug 29.5lt @ 1.239 Caltex near macca's (much cheaper than elsewhere) left 7pm melb time
22/6 Full 216695 Ceduna 79.9lt @ 1.359 left 10:15 melb time
22/6 216970 Yalata 3:15pm
23/6 217586 (tripb=891 tripA=2416) Guage=Empty @875, added 63-66lt from jerries 3:40pm
24/6 217998 Norseman 80.25lt added @ 1.409 7:50am perthtime, tripA=2827 tripB=1302 Fuel= 202.5lt 1159km

*** some km's lost as speedo unplugged itself maybe 20

5/7/10 69lt added from fuel dump $2.85lt
7/7/10 84lt at Kunawarri @ $3.20lt
11/7 Full 221778Halls Creek 197lt @$1.539 (1 jerry left empty) TripA-6607 tripB=1106 GPS 1979



*** Canning fuel= 193+23+84+69= 369lt in 1979km or 18.3lt/100km Russ's troppy V8 used 14.5 lt/100km

12/7 Full approx 222663 Katherine 146lt @$1.409 TripA-6607 tripB=1106 GPS=2865 odo=885 (fuel 11c cheaper in town)
13/7 223340 60.1lt @ $1.489Tennant Creek odo=676 gps=3545 Time=11:30am
13/7 50.22lt @ $1.469-4 Alice
13/7 Think this is where I added 2 jerries back in 46lt?
14/7 Full (3 jerries empty) 223903 81lt @ $1.489-4 Alice TripA=8732 GPS 4110 odo=562 reset to 0

*** Total run to Alice from Halls with high speeds and low was 383.4lt 2125km for 18lt/100km (Ka->Alice=19.1)

14/7 Full 224364 83.56lt @ $1.57 Marla TripA=9194 tripb=461=reset to 0 , odo reset to 0 from 463
15/7 Full 224599 Coober Pedy 45lt approx @ $1.48lt odo=235
16/7 225085 Copley odo=485 left 10am
16/7 Full 225246 Hawker 116.5lt @ $1.369 odo=644=tripB (from Coober Pedy) GPS 1344 (tripA&B reset to zero.
17/7 Full 225490 Burra 41.4lt @ $1.268 gps=1590 odo=243=reset to 0
22/7 Full 226443 Home 155.94lt @ $1.225-4-4 odo=954 (when got to home gps=2528 tripA=935.5)

****Total run Alice to Home Melbpourne =442.4lt for 2540km=17.4lt/100km



538.4lt 3488kmMelbourne Perth
202.5lt 1159km Ready for Canning
369lt 1979 Halls
383.4lt 2125km leaving Alice
442.4lt 2540kmHome from Alice
-------------------
2005lt petrol for 11300km approx = 17.7lt/100km

Great thanks for that Robin, very nice report- will check out the other thread, don't want to run out of chardy :)

Hi Work2Travel
That is the information I was looking for. Thanks so much, it is very helpful.

I will take your advice and double the time we have allowed for that section of the CSR as I was thinking that 5 days was very quick. We are out there for a good time and to see all that we can while there, as some of us may never get the chance to do it again. :-(
We have 3 vehicles.
1. A V8 Land Cruiser with 250ltr fuel tanks.
2. A Land Rover Defender with 120ltr tank and 4 jerry cans = 200ltr
3. My Mitsubishi Pajero with 165ltr in tanks and 2 Jerry cans = 205ltr

The land Cruiser will not refuel at Capricorn fuel dump but the Defender and Pajero will. We may be able to make it to Kunawarritji, but it is a long walk if we don't. We will just have to trust that the fuel will be there when we need it. I have heard the odd horror story but for the majority the fuel dump seems to have worked well.

Greg

We arrived at the Capricorn Roadhouse in July last year to find our two drums present but others not so fortunate. 4 drums delivered the previous Friday had been stolen in a quick snatch-grab. Thankfully ours and one other drum remained. We were very fortunate as we were running on vapour by this time after two weeks in the wilds (we would have got to Cotton Creek though).

Be warned, quality control is not the best either. The first thing out of my drum was 2 litres of water and crap. Thank god I had a "Mr Funnel" with me. I would recommend that anyone filling with drums carry something similar.

Our 2012 experiences are covered here;

Talawana to Capricorn Road House (Well 23)






Cheers Mick

Hi Mick,

Thanks for the post of the video loved watching it.
Sad about the stolen fuel.

Cheers

Marion

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't pressurizing fuel dangerous. I'm sure it was when I was swinging spanners.

The pressure required to syphon fuel out of a drum is just a few psi, far less than would be in a drum sitting in the sun with the lid on. Taminai pumps even make a product specifically for the job although we made ours for $20.
Cheers Craig................

hi deejay
yes you are wrong in the respect of transferring fuel using air
all that's required is 4psi with a tanami type home made one that I made
if to much air pressure is used it will push your drum out of shape and render it unusable with the air transfer system I made up it includes and old oxy gauge inline so I have full control of pressure at all times
cheers

Thanks for the info Rosco. Will follow up with the locals closer to departure date and see what happens.

Cheers
Greg