Gunbarrel Highway

Hi Willem, how many punchures and repairs did you have on that trip and how many k's over the three days, Just interested . Regards Michael

Hi Michael,

We did this trip solo and had three punctures along the way. The tubes were a bit sus after doing a north/south Canning and driving for at least 1500km at 12 -15psi air pressure. Repairing the front springs took the longest as we had to jack the old Tojo up high to be able to clamp the springs. The centrepins gave way because I had busted both front shockies by the end of the first week into the Canning and with all that extra shaking and bouncing something had to give. The winch rattled loose internally and I tied it up with wire. The snorkle fell off and got put in the back of the vehicle. The whip aerial kept on turning itself loose and I removed that as well. And DUST....it was like living inside a vacuum cleaner!!! We were on our way home to Alice Springs. The distance between Wiluna and Alice is around the 1800km mark. We refuelled once at Carnegie Station and drove along the abandoned section of the Gunbarrel north of Jackie Junction past Lake Christopher. Have a look at my website www.kempen.id.au where I have a diary of our Canning adventure done in 1994. The first night we camped at the Telecom Tower east of Carnegie. Next night was spent about 100km north of Jackie Junction and the third night we camped at Lasseters Cave( can't do that any more, I think). Got back to Alice late on the fourth day. We saw five vehicles between Wiluna and Docker River on that whole trip.
Is you girlfriend still with you, if I may ask?

Hi Willem, thanks for the reply, interesting trip i guess. I'm actually a different Michael, i replyed before i saw the other Michaels' post . regards Michael.

Stuart
I did it in 1978 in a Daihatsu F20. Not very comfortable but a fantastic 4 days from Ayers Rock (no Yulara) to Wiluna. Didn't see any other vehicles, got stuck on a significantky eroded part of the track, had a fight with my girlfriend in the middle of absolutely nowhere, finally realised how completely insignificant we all are under a huge sky and big desert, miraculously had no vehicle problems (just as well), had a 14 channel CB SSB for safety equipment,(occasionally talked to the US), and a can of Coke for a fire extinguisher. Used it too. Sprayed in the face by a can of Coke. This was just after the fight with the girlfriend.
If it all sounds like Russell Coight-your wrong. He'd be much smarter. Anyway I lived to tell the tail-so did the girlfriend.
By the way, their were NO corrugations.
Hope this helps