Thought I would put some facts about our trip up the Canning a couple of months ago. Our travelling companions have already put up a Thread about the trip.
Vehicle New 2011 Landcruiser 200GX 3000km on the clock
Mickey Thompson ATZ4 with about 30,000km spent from previous Patrol - they were too good to sell with the Trade-In
Long Range Tank total capacity of 273L + 20L jerry emergency on roof rack
Main Issue: We noticed that our fuel gauge was showing 3/4 at
Well 3A - we called via VKS737 HF-TEL through to
Granite Peak to ask for fuel - Jim was really great and offered us fuel @ $2.60pl - we only took 60L which was about what was expected given we had travelled about 300km - diagnosed faulty fuel gauge and continued on up CSR without further issue albeit I couldn't see the fuel capacity. This has been subsequntly fixed with a couple of wires for the aux tank found to be broken - the meter is a combined reading thanks to the computer and cannot be split.
Fortunately I was persuaded to get a fuel dump at
Well 23 as this turned out to be cheaper than Kunawarrijta and,
Capricorn Roadhouse staff were a darn site more friendly. It grated me, and still does, that Kunawarritja charge us tourists more than the locals on everything. If you buy eggs at Kunawarritja
check the use by date.
Below is our actual fuel costs for this trip it does not
breakdown the 100L we took on at
Well 23 which was amalgamated with Kunawarritja.
Start End Litres Km L/100 Cost
Adelaide Pt
Augusta 60 300 19.1 $100.00
Ceduna Nundroo 112 660 17.0 $185.12
Nundroo Kalgoorlie 228.29 1192.9 19.1 $359.04
Kalgoorlie
Wiluna 93.09 523.09 17.8 $158.16
Wiluna Gran Peak 60 280 17.8 $200.00
Gran Peak Kuna 195 854 22.8 $555.00
Kuna Alice Sprng 382.69 1682 22.8 $731.61
Alice Sprng Coob Pedy 246.78 1255.1 19.7 $385.00
Coob Pedy
Adelaide 178.85 840 21.3 $261.74
1556.7 7587.09 19.7 $2,935.67
You really need to take a map AND GPS as no one device was 100% as the track itself had deviated but the good news is that HEMA contractors were out gathering new data.
We took 60L of water in Jerry's for washing & cooking and a further 2 x 15L Spring water for dinking.
Although we did it in 10 days without drama's, with a one day stay at Durba, personally I was waiting for it to get harder and was not a quest to be the quickest. I really felt for the poor guy that lost his Jeep at
Well 46 that was just terrible but worse still he left his car so he is lucky in the respect that he is still alive.
Further to the prang at the top of the mound there are 2 sides to this story
I would strongly recommend folding in your mirrors and taping them on the backs to prevent damage as we both had damaged mirrors.
There were a few people on the track that had a severe lack of comms, there were some that had high tyre pressures and were chewing up the dunes which is unfortunate. I am happy to say that the
places were all clean though and that it was cleaner than our trips to
Cape York.
It would appear that the moneies raised through the permits are being used
well and that Track Care WA does a fantastic job as
well as the many volunteers - bravo.
The chap at Billiluna has indicated that he is probably not going to stay there too much longer so hopefully this wont have a bad effect on fuel there.
We are now planning a trip out to
Surveyor Generals Corner via Sandy Blight and returning on the Anne Beadell next year.
Cheers
Colin