Madigan Line
Submitted: Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:03
ThreadID:
94944
Views:
3025
Replies:
9
FollowUps:
10
This Thread has been Archived
Member - Blaze
Well we made it. Got
home on the weekend after a great trip across Madigan's. I will do a Blog later, but I have to do a Magazine article first, but for small insight read on.
The desert in
places didn't look like anything I expected, the fires of 2011 had removed lots of the Spinifex, which I believe made the trip harder, the burnt sticks were just looking for rubber.
Image Could Not Be Found
With 7 vehicles, suffered 10 flat tyres, with some suffering up to 3 puctures. 4 of these tyres were left at
Birdsville and couple more may be dead.
Image Could Not Be Found
The desert was so different with green everywhere, and allowed us to see a different sort of desert than many have seen out here.
Image Could Not Be Found
The
views from the top of the Sandhills made us think twice about breakdowns in such a large area with very small chances of recovery. Luckily, we suffered only small problems that were fixed in minutes.
Image Could Not Be Found
Some sandhills were fairly large, but no winching or snatching was needed, I believe preparation is the key to a successfull trip and help from people who have done the trip and I got lots of help from EO members.
Image Could Not Be Found
Now to the sour note, we couldn't find
Camp 20 as it was under water, but this was nothing to what we found at a couple of the markers,
Camp spot 12 was the worse. Who would take the trouble to drive all the way out here to scratch and deface a sign, some times people and I use the word loosely amaze me. Love to tie them to the sign and leave them.
Image Could Not Be Found
Only other negatives were the heat, nearly 40 for the first 4 days and the flies drove us crazy. Hope this and the pics help anyone heading out this year.
Cheers
Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:22
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:22
Gday Glenn,
Nice report - look forward to the rest.
Glad it all went
well!
Cheers
phil
AnswerID:
483315
Reply By: Michael A (VIC) - Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:30
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:30
Thanks for sharing, the photos are great.
Michael A
AnswerID:
483317
Reply By: equinox - Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:48
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 21:48
Sounds like a good trip Blaze, and some good photos.
Looks like you did OK on the
puncture count - look forward to hearing more.
Cheers
Alan
AnswerID:
483318
Reply By: Member - Blaze - Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 22:21
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 22:21
Sorry People made a mistake, 7 Vehicles were going but one pulled out, so it was 6 Vehicles. Derrrrrr
AnswerID:
483319
Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 22:31
Monday, Apr 16, 2012 at 22:31
Hi Glenn
It was good for the daily updates, thanks. It would have been a great trip.
Looking forward to the Blog.
Cheers
Stephen
AnswerID:
483321
Reply By: Robin Miller - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 09:26
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 09:26
Image Could Not Be FoundMission accomplished - fantastic Blaze.
Sad about camp12 plate - and suspicious , it wasn't that way august last year picture attached. Can't imagine it would be any travellers, would only have been a handful following our crossing.
AnswerID:
483335
Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 09:46
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 09:46
Gday Robin,
Was a great trip, I agree with you about saying you can't imagine it being a fellow traveller, but other than a UFO we can't think of anything else. If you look, you can see it has been scratched back and
forth from top to bottom.
Our thought process was maybe a kid when his parents were not watching, but then thought why would you have kids out there and if you did, maybe you should watch them. (It was only 20cm off the ground, so easy reach).
Guess we will never know, just hopefully it gets replaced.
If we had known about it before hand we would have organised a replacement plate
FollowupID:
758597
Reply By: Member - graham p (NSW) - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:35
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:35
Thank you for your information. I am doing it with others later in the year. Which brand of tyre and type had fewer punctures, and which most. we are looking at tyres at present.
Graham
AnswerID:
483348
Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 14:27
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 14:27
Graham
The type of tyre or brand will not stop you getting side wall punctures in country like that.
The main way to avoid punctures in that type of country is to be the last vehicle in the group and do not deviate from the tracks in front of you. It is usually the first 2 - 3 vehicles that will collect any hidden stakes in their tyres, giving the following vehicles a clearer run.
Cheers
Stephen
FollowupID:
758610
Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 16:24
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 16:24
Spot on Stephen,
As you mentioned the only thing that helps save you a bit is having 3 vehicles in front of you. The best in our group had (gulp) Coopers on and only got one small pin prick 1pound a day loss, but when he led lots of times we had track's.
When Krakka and I led it was full on offroad and burned sticks everywhere.
FollowupID:
758617
Follow Up By: Crackles - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 17:16
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 17:16
"The type of tyre or brand will not stop you getting side wall punctures "
While they may not stop you getting a
puncture a decent tyre will certainly minimise the number. On our crossing the 2 cars with Procomp Extreme tyres had no punctures (including the trip leader blazing the trail), 2 cars out of the 6 with MTR's had one stake each & the sole car on Coopers had 13 in the front left alone (lost count of total) with 2 completely destroyed beyond use.
Many thought the trip leader was being a bit harsh banning specific types of tyres for the crossing but proved to be pretty right in hindsight. He made an exception for the STT's seeing the guy had just put a brand new set on but that backfired as he only had to replace the whole set when he got
home.
Cheers Craig..................
FollowupID:
758624
Follow Up By: Member - Krakka - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 17:31
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 17:31
The sidewall punctures that I had were stakes that had caught on the sidebiters on the sides of the tyres and with the sidebiters creating firm resistance for the stakes to drive through, I bought Toyo Open Country MT tyres specifically for this trip.
As Blaze said, the stakes that we got where while leading the sections where there were no tracks at all, the Coopers on the trip were AT3 s I believe.
FollowupID:
758627
Follow Up By: Member - graham p (NSW) - Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 11:39
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 11:39
Craig
What year was it when you did the trip?
Graham
FollowupID:
758701
Follow Up By: Crackles - Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 19:28
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 19:28
June 2006. Was a fairly dry season.
Cheers Craig..............
FollowupID:
758741
Reply By: Member - Trouper (NSW) - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 15:36
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 15:36
Yes its a great trip Blaze, Our group travelled that route back in August 2011. We also were unable to reach
Camp 20 due to it being under water. we were about 10km West of it and could see only water to the horizon and so we turned South and eventually, a day and a half later picked up the Goonamillera Crossing on Eyre Creek. Our group were determined to access as many Camps as possible so we then headed North and was able to visit Camps 21 and 22 with an
overnight camp on Eyre Ck at
Annandale Station. A trully worthwhile detour and roundabout way of getting to those two Camps. The next day we headed for Birsdville. Would happily do the
Madigan Line again.
regards...................jeff
AnswerID:
483358
Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 16:26
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012 at 16:26
Hi Jeff,
Tes 21 and 22 are worth the drive, we did it by running south on the inside of a dune for about 13k's then crossing a now dry
Eyre Creek. Camped near 22 and it was a great area with loads of feed for their stock.
Cheers
FollowupID:
758618
Reply By: Member - gujimbo - Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 20:23
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 at 20:23
Hi Blaze
Our group can replace the sign at Camp 12 ( we will be through the area 1st week in June.
Is the sign in book still at Camp 15 ? and does this need a new one?
Regards Jim
AnswerID:
483489
Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:32
Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:32
Gday Jim,
That would be great to get the plate fixed. As for the book, I am not sure if you have mixed up the site numbers or I have, but I believe its camp 16 that has the book. I am at work now but will check with my Photo's. Whichever camp has it, the book is fine as is the marker there.
Cheers
Glenn
FollowupID:
758777
Follow Up By: Member - Krakka - Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 at 20:02
Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 at 20:02
Hi Jim, Pretty sure there is also a book at camp 11, but for some reason none of us signed it.
Peter
FollowupID:
758853