Have just completed Canning from
Wiluna to
Halls Creek - a 2011 Lancruiser 76 series and a 2012 200 Series GX Landcruiser - both V8 diesels, long rang tanks, ARB suspensions, Mud Terrains - very
well prepared trucks, with no trailers!!!
It is tough and it is long – 1800 km, one fuel drop, one fuel stop and one place to buy anything –
Kunawarritji Aboriginal Community where Mr and Mrs Grumpy run the store......
The literature says 16 to 21 days – we did it in 10 driving days plus one rest day, without pushing too hard – a tribute to the trucks. 200 Series averaged 22 litres per 100 kms. The 76 series averaged 18 litres per 100km
Long days, early mornings, up at dawn, driving by 7.15am, usually off the road by 3.30pm, beer in hand at 4.00pm! Very hard to average any better than 30 kph. The track itself is predominantly sandy with some nasty rocky sections, constant dunes of up to 18m high and heavily corrugated tracks that simply go on and on and on........
The dunes basically all run east/west and most of the traffic comes from the south so the “south face” of every dune is a real mess – heavily scalloped with ruts of 18” or more. North to south would be a much easier drive, the downside is that you are far more likely to have a head on over a blind dune. Constantly on the radio notifying our position to avoid that very issue but there was a nasty one last week...
Technique for us, was High range second gear and hard acceleration with a pause on top of dune to see where it actually goes, rather than launching yourself into the mulga! Given the ruts, the truck was bucking and kicking all over the place and while your instincts are to back off, if you do, or try to change gear, you are stuffed and stuck.... We only got caught a couple of times, back down the
hill and go again, different line and a bit harder – no problem. Many dunes managed to have a “S” bend in the run up which made life much more interesting.....
The two trucks were unbelievable – a tribute to the initial build by Toyota and the subsequent modification by ARB. Those big 4.5l diesels, tyres at 25 psi, we could power over the dunes and relatively comfortably run the corrugations at 55-60 kph where everyone else we saw out there, was running them at 20 kph and shaking themselves to bits
Just about every vehicle we saw was underprepared. Some Swiss idiots tried a 4wd motorhome – stuck on every serious dune, and very real danger to themselves and others. A number of vehicles with off road trailers – totally nuts in our view. To get over dunes they are using extra long run ups, hitting the dune at much high speeds and risking breakages every time. A number of vehicles abandoned, Rangie Defender, Prado burnt when spinifex caught fire, two Jeeps burnt out and one 2008 Jeep abandoned just last week. Just sitting there, radiator stuffed with seeds, engine seized, full of the guys clothes, tools and a small sword ! Rescued by chopper. They say it is not worth recovering as cost would be north of $10,000. For the underprepared driver or crew, it is very dangerous. Mercedes took 9 of their G Wagons out there and every single one had a shocker or
suspension problem............ Buy a Toyota – they own the outback.
The guys we travelled with were terrific – 2012 200 Series Cruiser, had a very similar view to us as to appropriate speed, preserving the trucks and covering the
miles. Apart from both breaking wing mirrors and multiple scratches, neither of us had the slightest problem with tyres or shocks.
As to the drive itself, it is truly stunning, the desert, the dunes, the mountains, the extraordinary bird life as a result of great seasons, the Milky Way and stars at night like you have never seen them. Of the 51 Wells that Canning dug, only a few are restored and very few now have good water – what extraordinary men they must have been
Now, where to next.......................