Monday, Jun 20, 2016 at 20:25
Yep, did
Perth-
Darwin-
Port Augusta-
Perth with a mate in 1969 in a bog-standard HK Holden ute, loaded to the hilt.
We had the latest in
suspension improvements, though! - pump-up rear shock absorbers!
We meandered and criss-crossed through the Murchison, the
Pilbara and the
Kimberley on roads that would be marked "4WD only" today!
Most of the "Highways" were little more than corrugated tracks!
The NW Coastal Hwy from Yannarie River Northwards was just 2 wheel ruts across the plains!
The corrugations, the bulldust, the gibbers, the constant creek crossings (you could count the number of bridges over the rivers on one hand through all of W.A.) - and the potholes - were endless and mind-boggling in their volume and size.
The potholes on the Nullarbor were things you often had to swerve around, not drive through!
Yet the old HK ute did it all, just fine. We never got bogged once and we only had a couple of flats.
All we took was a big tent, plenty of spare petrol, 60 litres of water, plenty of food, and a toolbox with a good range of tools.
We did the entire trip in a month, and I seem to recall we covered
well over 10,000kms.
The only problem we encountered was a stripped timing gear - which had to happen about halfway between
Alice Springs and
Coober Pedy!
I hitched a ride with a passing truckie in an old wooden-cabbed, tandem drive Foden, to
Coober Pedy - where I managed to acquire a new timing gear! - then I hitch-hiked back again to the ute, and we replaced the timing gear by the side of the road, without even pulling the motor out!
Those were the "good old days", remember? LOL
Cheers, Ron.
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