- Joined
- Sep 17, 2003
- Threads
- 64
- Messages
- 4,427
- Location
- Sunnyvale, CA
- Website
- www.george4wd.taskled.com
Just got back yesterday from a month in oz. Spent 2 weeks out bush (one week with a couple of mates, one with a 78 troopie v8 tdi and one with a 105 1hz). Then 1 week with just a mate that came in my nissan. We covered just on 3000km (1700 miles) and fueled up twice. Longest distance between fuel stops was 1400km (875 miles).
Here's a few pics of the trip. I'll be writing up a full report on my website as I get time.
We had weather extremes from hail to many days in the 90's and a few in the 105F+ range. Nights were generally cool and quite a few with clouds and electrical activity. In the desert the humidity was down around 12% (DRY!!!).
Precursor to lighting and rain (2nd night):
Since rain was imminent we camped on the verandah of an abandoned house. Lots of water in the rain water tank.
Abandoned homesteads were common the desert fringe.
With the rain, lots of the tracks were muddy and Rod needed a winch out of the bog. His trailer is quite heavy with a quad and minibike inside along with 80L of diesel and 200L of water. The muddy patch in front is from the nissan pulling him out.
The nissan also got stuck in a muddy part of the track where a small water course went across. Picture after extraction.
We were heading into the Great Victoria Desert (in the eastern part of western australia). Our convoy on a track.
Temperatures in the high 90's and a nice (rare) rain water tank in the desert. Time to camp and set up for a cool shower.
Camping at the rain water tank.
Kim gets a flat on his rickety trailer behind his 105. Stake in the tread and Rod fixes it quickly with a plug. The one and only flat on the whole trip.
A nice picture of one of the salt lakes with water from the recent rains.
Really in the desert now as we enter the Plumridge Lakes nature reserve. We haven't seen anyone for several days and don't see another person/vehicle for a least another week.
Lots of spinifex where it hasn't been burnt.
Cause of a large fire several years ago. 1000's of square miles were burnt when this petrol powered mitsubishi went up in smoke. Likely a spinifex fire under it. There's a burnt out engel in the back - underlining how short a time they had to abandon the vehicle when it caught on fire.
Examples of the burned out areas - new regrowth taking over.
I located a track via google earth and planned to visit the Doctor Hicks range (which we did). Good track to the range.
Camped at the base of the range and early morning sunrise. We often got up at 5am to while we had the cool of the day to pack and get a bunch of driving in. Reached 110F this day! Though we found a nice shed in the bush (a real rarity) with cover and a fantastic rain water tank (showers and buckets of water to cool us down).
cheers,
george.
Here's a few pics of the trip. I'll be writing up a full report on my website as I get time.
We had weather extremes from hail to many days in the 90's and a few in the 105F+ range. Nights were generally cool and quite a few with clouds and electrical activity. In the desert the humidity was down around 12% (DRY!!!).
Precursor to lighting and rain (2nd night):
Since rain was imminent we camped on the verandah of an abandoned house. Lots of water in the rain water tank.
Abandoned homesteads were common the desert fringe.
With the rain, lots of the tracks were muddy and Rod needed a winch out of the bog. His trailer is quite heavy with a quad and minibike inside along with 80L of diesel and 200L of water. The muddy patch in front is from the nissan pulling him out.
The nissan also got stuck in a muddy part of the track where a small water course went across. Picture after extraction.
We were heading into the Great Victoria Desert (in the eastern part of western australia). Our convoy on a track.
Temperatures in the high 90's and a nice (rare) rain water tank in the desert. Time to camp and set up for a cool shower.
Camping at the rain water tank.
Kim gets a flat on his rickety trailer behind his 105. Stake in the tread and Rod fixes it quickly with a plug. The one and only flat on the whole trip.
A nice picture of one of the salt lakes with water from the recent rains.
Really in the desert now as we enter the Plumridge Lakes nature reserve. We haven't seen anyone for several days and don't see another person/vehicle for a least another week.
Lots of spinifex where it hasn't been burnt.
Cause of a large fire several years ago. 1000's of square miles were burnt when this petrol powered mitsubishi went up in smoke. Likely a spinifex fire under it. There's a burnt out engel in the back - underlining how short a time they had to abandon the vehicle when it caught on fire.
Examples of the burned out areas - new regrowth taking over.
I located a track via google earth and planned to visit the Doctor Hicks range (which we did). Good track to the range.
Camped at the base of the range and early morning sunrise. We often got up at 5am to while we had the cool of the day to pack and get a bunch of driving in. Reached 110F this day! Though we found a nice shed in the bush (a real rarity) with cover and a fantastic rain water tank (showers and buckets of water to cool us down).
cheers,
george.
