Mick O and crew update
Submitted: Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 20:03
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equinox
Well Mick is right in the thick of it in the Great Sandy.
Travelling with Exploroz members
John and Suzzette from
Mannum, they reached
Joanna Spring at 3:45pm this afternoon.
Mick is travelling in his patrol, but tells me he is going to get rid of it when he gets back and buy a V8 Cruiser.
John and Suzzette are towing an Ultimate Camper.
Mick has said he has discovered a significant
rockhole but did not elaborate too much with my demands for co-ordinates lol..(Globalstar - every second is precious)
Mick has no undamaged spares left with 3 shreddings in 6 kilometres but apparently
John is a guru with tyres and is helping out a bit with repairs. He has also had to repair all the fuel lines underneath; it sounds as if the country is a bit rough out that way.
They came from the south, Wapet Road, and picked up the
shotline at the eastern end of Anna Plains Track visiting the Jones/ Wells memorial
plaque on the way.
The spring is very dry and in poor condition. Mick says it is dry everywhere. (Personal note: It was very dry in
the desert last year as
well). There is a message jar there and the last message is from 2001 though Mick suspects that there have been people there since then.
On the way out via Anna Plains Track they are going to try and claim the confluence of Lat20 Long124. Mick is due in Hedland next Friday.
I know lots of you are heading out to the deserts soon - Take plenty of water with you.
Cheers
Alan
Reply By: olcoolone - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:01
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:01
Good to hear, now I know what the message we got from
John and Suzzette ment two days ago.
The message said "60k from JS" now it makes sense, we were trying to work out what was 60k from
John Suzzette.
They said the going was tough and they had to back track a fair bit.
We looked at going on the trip with them.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: equinox - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:39
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:39
Hi olcoolone,
I would have gone, but couldn't due to work commitments...looking forward for the full report.
Cheers
Alan
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: olcoolone - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:00
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:00
Have you heard how Willem is getting on, we heard his Patrol was overheating on the Canning.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Robert M (QLD) - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:14
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:14
Hello Alan, that area of the country is interesting, I was driving a Bedford truck with my father in late 1973 carting fuel to Ray Geo seismic exploration mob. We were going from
Halls Creek to Billiluna then west on the Christmas Creek track to
Chungla Well then to Weriado
Well and I cannot remember which way then. I am not sure if we went further west or turned south to the south eastern end of the Southesk Tablelands, I do remember a large cleared pea gravel
hill that when we drove up onto it I thought it was a large
airstrip. A couple of times we turned left at Bloodwood
Bore , about 10
miles west of Billiluna and drove through the creeks system to
Lake Gregory homestead on the eastern edge of
Lake Gregory,( I suspect this is now called
Mulan it seems to be in about the right position) and then around the south side of L G . Joanna Springs has always attracted me when I look at the maps but I don't think we went that far west. Will be good reading on his blog when he gets back .
Cheers
Rob Mac
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Follow Up By: equinox - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:29
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:29
Hi Rob,
It must have been peaceful in that area back in '73.
I see you have a
pic of
Godfreys Tank in your profile from '84 - Have you thought of putting your own blog up? I'm sure it would make good reading.
Cheers
Alan
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Follow Up By: Member - Robert M (QLD) - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:12
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:12
Hi Alan,
It would take a lot of memory jogging to write a story of my 84 CSR trip, but hav one of my 2007 trip just have to work out how to put it up . It is on a Word Doc so I have to
check if that is suitable to upload.
Cheers
Rob Mac
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 14:55
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 14:55
Hi Rob
Put your 2007 trip up. I make
mine up in Word, and they appear as attachments. Just click on insert, then browse for documents. It works quickly and easily. I put one photos an a brief introduction direct into the blog.
I look forward to reading Mick's too when he gets back.
Motherhen
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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:14
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 21:14
Hi Alan
Thanks for the update.
Cheers
Stephen
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Reply By: Member - extfilm (NSW) - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:03
Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 22:03
I can vouch for
John's skill in tyre repairs. He managed to get one of
mine temp repair. Be interesting as to which tyres they are?
John is a handy bloke to have around in the bush.
I am really bummed that I could not go but thems the breaks, wrong vehicle was the main problem. Maybe next year though. I am sure the photo ops are incredible and hope johns latest talent dosen't go unseen.
Good to hear they are making new discoveries.
Peter
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Reply By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 10:26
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 10:26
I'd also be interested in news of Willem. Overheating? Hmm..not great.
If they followed that shot line , and veered slightly NW, then they would "accidently" run across Dragon Tree Soak.
I thought Mick O was too smart to use Globalstar...oh
well LOL.
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Follow Up By: olcoolone - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 12:35
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 12:35
From what we understand thery started going cross country and the going got to hard so they back tracked to the Canning and tryed agian at a differant point.
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Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 13:36
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 13:36
Thanks for the info :)
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Reply By: Member - Dick (Int) - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 12:01
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 12:01
What actually happened to Willem? I thought he was travelling with them, and seem to remember he damaged one of is "indestructible" tyres somewhere and was reduced to one spare. Did he abort
the desert trip.
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Follow Up By: equinox - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 14:24
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 14:24
I know they were travelling together at one stage, but they did have different iteneries...
I haven't heard from Willem since the middle of last month.
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Reply By: Member - Dick (Int) - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 16:09
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 16:09
Guess that's why I thought they were doing the same trip.
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Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 23:02
Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 23:02
G'day Alan,
I had a brief sat-phone call from
John tonight; followed by a SMS which reads as follows:
"At confluence 20 degrees S, 124 degrees E, then Joanna Springs with Ulti will need new stickers tho.
John & Suz"
So, sounds like they're having lots of fun. He mentioned to me about this thread (which I had not previously seen) and asked that I post up his co-ordinates. He did say on the phone about how many flats he has had.
Mick has a dual spare wheel carrier on his Patrol that he bought off me a couple of years ago.
John had me flummoxed when he ran initially....bangin' on about the tyre carrier was a dud cos it makes tyres go flat.!!! hahahaha; then he told me who was calling... (satphone wasn't too clear and I didn't pick his voice initially).
Roachie
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Follow Up By: equinox - Sunday, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:53
Sunday, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:53
Hi Roachie,
Sounds like they might need a couple of Dual wheel carriers.
I got an SMS last night as
well. Reads: "claimed confluence at 20 degrees s 124 e degrees 3pm 2day cost 6stakes n 10 kms m @ J&S"
Cheers
Alan
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Reply By: olcoolone - Monday, Jun 22, 2009 at 14:51
Monday, Jun 22, 2009 at 14:51
Latest message from
John & Suz last night
Camped near Landy 2 lads perished 2 yrs ago after running out of Fuel.
Now 220 kms of Desert to 80 Mile Bch - Yes
Confluence 2 Moro 20 Deg S 123 Deg E
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Reply By: Member - Pesty (SA) - Monday, Jun 22, 2009 at 20:50
Monday, Jun 22, 2009 at 20:50
My last message from J & S was before they reached Joana Springs, the interesting bit of news from that SMS was the temp readings of the shockers on the severe corrogations, OME Nitro on GU, 150 degree's, Tough Dogs on 80 series 56 Degree's. Yes sounds like a great trip, same time constraints here or we would be there too.
Cheers Pesty
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Reply By: olcoolone - Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 at 20:15
Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 at 20:15
Just spoke to Suz. They have reached the Coast and caught up with the Humvee at 80 mile Beach with Mick O. Staying there for a few days to catch their breath then heading to
Broome.
John & Suz possibly flying
home next week, leaving car & camper in
Broome for the next Adventure up North.
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