Beauty of living in the bush

lucky bastard..

am soo jealous.. have abrand new GU and haven't been able to get away from work to even get it dirty.. in fact the bloody crying shame of it all is the closest it's come to getting dirty s a 5 minute drive on the beach South of Adleaide.. You're photo's make me envious.. good on ya..

Smithy,

The Trak Shak is the best investment I have made as far as touring goes.

The Trak Shak empty is 660kg. On this trip we carried 60l of water, 20kg of LPG, clothing for 5 for 4 days plus a bit extra in case of accidents or changes in weather, camping gear, cooking gear, tables & chairs and food for 5 people for 4 days (always carry a little extra) although most of the food was in the fridge in the car.

It's a guess but I'd say about 800kg max for the trailer, on this trip.

All spares, tools and recovery gear are carried in the car.

When we did Cape York it was obviously a lot heavier, probably around 1100kg. It was longer trip so we carried more of everything.

While touring I have never stopped on a track and thought I could get there if I did not have the trailer. It tows beautifully. Whether you are crawling along in low range or scooting down the highway the Trak Shak behaves very well, and requires little extra thought. Mine has doen about 36,000km off road. Simpson Desert, Lake Eyre, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, Northern Tablelands and Vic High Country to name a few. The only repairs I have doen were to replace the overide brake cable, shockie bushes were done once about 4 or 5 years ago and then earlier this year I replace the shokies along with the mounting bolts and bushes.

I don't generally take it out on the "boys weekend testosterone track" but it has been to places others would not take the solo 4wd. The old GQ had some fancy suspension and 2 diff locks. It took a lot of stopping.

It takes about 10 mins to set up but when the kids were younger I have had them in bed before the first peg was in the ground about 2 mins. My best effort was to pull up at 11:30pm and be in bed by 11:45pm. That was a quick stop on a very still night. When I think about it I have come pretty close to that a few times.

In case you haven't guessed I love it. It has taken my Missus out of the caravan park and made her very comfortable in the bush, where I want to be.

Duncs

We have stayed there a couple of times now. We camp just before the sign that says "no vehicles past this point".

This time we did a bit of exploring on the other side of the river, just before you cross it for the last time before our camp. Some driving and a little bit of walking. Found a few good specimens of Sturts Desert Pea. Had not seen them growing in the wild before so that was nice.

The family travelling with us have never been west of Broken Hill before, it was a real eye opener for them. We walked down the gorge a checked out the rock art and then went a bit further down the main gorge.

We really did have the place to ourselves. It was so windy tha not even the flies were out.

Duncs

Yeah Greendog,

It was great to get away. I really needed it too, work has been a pain recently. I normally love going to work but a couple of management decisions have added a little stress.

Nothing like a little drive in the country to restore that happy, carefree demenor that I am famous for.

Duncs