Just back from the EO get together in
Birdsville and have another comment on tyre pressures. We were out having a play on Big Red, seven vehicles, all aired down to around 15lb, having a ball going up and down the numerous tracks, none having any difficulty. Even my missus drove up a couple of times, no problems.
Over the radio we hear a group approaching from the desert and eventually spot the leader of this group on the top of the next dune west, waiting for one of his party of 4 to be snatched from a bog hole. The desert was pretty wet and it turns out that this group just managed to get out of Dalhousie before the Rangers closed the track, so they were travelling in very marginal conditions.
Anyway, we were all still having a blast on Big Red and because we were all running low pressures the tracks were holding up
well. Along comes the desert party:- a 100 series, an 80, a Troopy and a defender. The first one lines up and gives it heaps and only gets about half way up. Backs off and second one has a go, only gets about half way up. These two proceeded to have a few more attempts with no luck. When politely queried about tyre pressures we found they were all running "highway pressure" and had been doing so all the way across the desert.......! Claimed that Big Red was the first dune they had any trouble with!
Eventually they were persuaded to lower their pressures and hey presto, up they came. Still took a couple of goes as they were still reluctant to air right down first time.
Anyway, off they went, slapping each other on the back and hi fiveing etc. I decided to have aonther run so went down the western side, turned around and boy what a mess! The track was so chewed up from these 'heroes', it was a complete mess. The Paj still got up no worries, admittedly I was not fully loaded at the time, the heroes obviously were.
Moral of this little tale is just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD. These di%^#!@*ds drove right across the Simpson in very marginal conditions with highway pressures in their tyres. They obviously COULD do it but that doesn't mean they SHOULD have!
Wonder what sort of mess they left the rest of the dunes in....
BTW, had a ball in
Birdsville and it was great to put faces to names. We are looking forward to more get togethers like this, hopefully in a warmer, drier climate :-) Our total trip was a 6000k lap of QLD. Went up the coast as far as
Innisfail then went inland, down the Kennedy Development Rd to
Hughenden,
Richmond,
Winton,
Longreach,
Windorah (camped on the banks of the
Cooper Creek)
Birdsville then
home. Only problem was a broken spring on the camper, 20Ks west of
Roma on the
Warrego Highway, by far the roughest stretch of road on the whole trip.
Back to work now and saving for the next trip.
Cheers