Australian Photos

[Travis22]

Setting off into such notable tracks right across Australia always brings the same feeling. A full range of emotions, lots of excitement and even a little fear.

Another quick Wiki grab: The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The 517km / 321mile long track runs from Marree, a small town in northern South Australia, north across the Tirari Desert and Sturt Stony Desert, ending in Birdsville in south western Queensland.

As with just about all of our 'notable' tracks across Australia, the majority are much easier to travel today with track conditions generally being very good and modern vehicles being far far more comfortable then... well the great 40 Series Landcruisers, the greatest 4x4 vehicles ever built!

But as id mentioned earlier, on this trip we were doing it a lot tougher then we'd done in the passed. It was a viscous cycle every day as it got warmer and warmer, the engine would run warmer and warmer resulting in the cabin getting hotter and hotter and hotter. Michelle started coming out in heat rash over her arms and legs.

Fortunately it wouldnt be too long before we would start ticking off some of the preplanned achievements and the first was to see a camel in the wild. In all our travels they have simply avoided us, Michelle joked they were a myth - no way could they really be out there given the places we'd already been and distances covered. I was sure we'd see heaps of them because, like the water pump id left my rifle at home too.

So here it was, our first ever wild camel. However i dont think it knew it was a camel! It was running with a pack of wild horses... and it was only a little fella. But the misses was happy none the less, camels now existed out there.

We arrived at the Cooper Creek Ferry almost dead on 12noon. We pulled up, were directed to board and before i knew it we were crossing the Cooper. It almost happened to quickly! During the peak period this year there was a line of travelers across the outback stretching for miles and miles. It was at minimum a one night wait on the side of the road to cross the ferry. This just reinforced how late in the season we were traveling out there. Eariler we'd been overtaken by a single vehicle - the other 'party' that we'd seen in Marree the day before. Other then them, that was it...

Beside the Cooper the cool breeze off the water was simply magnificent. In hind-site we really should have stayed put and called it a day and camped on the Cooper but we pushed on.

The Mungerannie Station / Hotel was just an hour up the road (in a 40 Series!) so on we went, within about 10minutes of leaving the Cooper our wet towels which we'd soaked in the water to hang in the doors had already dried and it was terribly hot. Once arriving we immediately went into the air conditioned bar and had lunch. I really didnt want to eat as i was already feeling dehydrated but the boss (Michelle) was starving so we ate. The hospitality and food was first class.

Mungerannie Hotel

We then told the manager we'd like to camp for the night, this came as i surprise to her and she commented that noone has ever stopped to camp so early in the day to which i replied, we dont have air conditioning. "Oh" exactly.

So we went and found a spot to setup camp for the remainder of the day and night. The station is nestled beside the Derwent River that is a permanent waterhole fed by an artesian bore from the Great Artesian Basin. Unfortunately naturally the bore water is HOT and it stinks... No swimming for us, hmmm we really should have just stayed on the Cooper for the night!

With very little breeze and what was stunk like sulpher it was a stupidly hot afternoon. We simply layed out our stretcher beds in the shade and layed there in our undies for some time. Until that is we were rudely disturbed by another person! (Not point even going there, it was way way to hot for any funny business lol)

Fair to say some fellow travelers must have arrived. Two car loads of bird watching extreme nutters. Ive met a few bird watchers over my travels, but these people were at the extreme end of it. Zero people skills. What can i say... i did manage to get more then 2 words out of one of them (seriously, just one of them), she informed me they were on some sort of 'guided' tour, they were literally from all around the world and had flown into Australia, gotten into a hire car and headed out to 'here'. Couldnt give a stuff about Birdsville, the ferry, the track... i dont think they ever even looked at the ground once!

So there you go, i guess it must be a special place but to us then and there it was just freaking hot place. From arrival, these 'bird watchers' didnt stop until sundown. In and out of our secluded camp and everywhere inbetween looking at birds.

I thought, well not really 'thought', as in planned, but i did need to get some charge back into our new auxiliary battery so it was maybe convenient that perhaps the sound of a little generator going might get them to bugger off, but no... in fact i think some of the birds liked it! The station had a MASSIVE diesel generator supplying power which ran about 20hours of the day so i figured noone would here our little gennie from more then 20meters so why not run it for a couple of hours before dinner time.

As i said earlier, in preparations id been monitoring the auxiliary battery for a week and it wasnt quite right. Id really hoped to instal a solar panel or two onto the new canopy roof and spent some time researching and shopping but in the end, couldnt pull the trigger.

Literally a couple of days before heading off, absolutely out of the blue the misses decided we would purchase a generator. Ive always despised them, but i wasnt going to argue with the misses and we purchased a little Honda eu10i. I really was running out of time and had to much to do before leaving so it was a simple, guaranteed power solution. Ill admit, i might have made the mistake of convincing the misses we needed power (solar) because thats what i wanted and used the argument that it would be extremely useful in an emergency or breakdown situation... u know as long as you have enough food and water its always only a matter of time so with some sort of backup you can at least maintain a level of comfort (=sanity) - fridge, lighting, maybe music etc. while you wait... but as i ran out of time i thought stuff it - no time to install solar the way i wanted it, but the misses wouldnt let it go and now a good generator was her answer!

How was i to know, we would NEED it! Despite having a larger, brand new auxiliary battery the heat was causing the fridge to work much harder thus drawing more power and it was also forcing us to travel for shorter times each day. The result, the battery simply wasnt getting enough charge and every 2 days would need supplementing.

Finally nightfall came and the heat let up ever so slightly. It was still hot, no need for cloths, sleeping bags etc... Then the bush rats came out!

The misses was terrified, and wouldnt leave the tent. I even got into trouble every time i illuminated them with the flashlight because she didnt even want to 'see' them! Their numbers we're well and truly on the decline now. A few months earlier and they were in plague proportions due to the rain / water and feed across the outback but the rising heat was starting to kill them off and with it, i guess now the snake numbers will skyrocket.

We got up well before the sun the next day with the aim of arriving in Birdsville before the midday heat.

The landscape along the Birdsville track is truly amazing. There is a whole lot of nothing out there, but its a beautiful nothing.

tbc...

 

[softdrinkviking]

wow! great pics, and nice work on that canopy! can't wait to see your finished canvas sides.

 

[Travis22]

Birdsville, we made it!

However, it had well and truly become apparent that we really 'shouldnt' attempt to cross the Simpson Desert. Something was obviously wrong with the old Cruiser and the weather forecast for the week ahead was only hotter and hotter.

Birdsville sure is a funny town and a ghost town this time of year. We'd missed the famous bakery there by two days, they will remain closed now until April next year. Once again, the manager of the caravan park there couldnt believe we were checking in, so early! The park was fairly empty, its hard to imagine how it would look with 5000+ people there during the famous Birdsville races.

Birdsville Races - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then again, it generally isnt this hot either. Fortunately we were able to get one of the 3-4 decent camp spots that has almost full shade, all day long.

I might not have portrayed just how worried i was about the Cruiser but now that we were in Birdsville it was time to make the tough decision. There was no way i was going to take further unnecessary risks with my wife in the car so we decided, we'd stay in Birdsville for two days and see who else was around, and what they were planning on doing. Yes, we were kinda hoping another party would come along planning to cross the Simpson desert, but if it wasnt meant to be it wasnt meant to be. This time round anyways.

Michelles heat rash had just about covered her body and wasnt looking good. Still, i had to force her to have a cold shower every 30minutes for the two days we were in Birdsville. This did however relieve most of the rash temporary anyways...

The following day, we ventured out of Birdsville to visit, the largest and most famous dune, Nappanerica, aka Big Red. Approx 40m tall.

Note: the floodwaters to the East of Big Red!!! Freaking unbelievable hey... this is the desert after all. Honestly very possibly once in a lifetime stuff right there.

Note2: look close, no boogers on the sensor, they are eagles sawing above on the thermals. there would have been half a dozen, more.

We crossed over Big red and attempted to drive back along the small track by the waters edge, to where the flood bypass track joins. Of course we got 95% of the way there after an hours slog in low range only to find a section that was impassable where the flood waters had receded leaving a large erosion bank way to dangerous to attempt alone. At this point it would have been fair to say i was a little worried. I wasnt even sure we'd get back over Big Red from this side, with no runup etc. It was hotter then ever and the misses had had enough. Slowly i was able to reverse up some distance then complete a 10 point '40 Series' with no power steering turn, between the waters edge and the dune! Ever so slowly we inched back toward the track crossing back over Big Red, 2nd gear low... it was slow going. On the way back i did get within about 5meters of a HUGE eagle sitting on a tree stump by the waters edge. Ive been this close a number of times now over the years but it truly is a sight that will take you back, put you back in your place, take your breath away... whatever. Farking awesome. When they take off, and you actually see their wing span, it is just magic. So, that kind of made this terrible side trip worth it. Just.

We finally made it out, and back to camp in Birdsville. While we were there, none of the few fellow travelers that were about were planning a crossing so that was that. We would now head East, not West. Sux, but not the end of the world.

That night, we had dinner at the Birdsville hotel. When entering the dining room we were called over by a group we'd met briefly the day before during lunch and they asked if we'd like to have dinner with them.

Definitely the best company we'd had with strangers, ever. This group of friends were classic. They were an older group, well not entirely. They were, a husband and wife middle aged and two older blokes. 2 vehicles, a series 3 Discovery and a series 4 Discovery. I wish i could remember their names, but im hopeless at that. Simply put a great night full of stories and laughs.

tbc.

Travis.

 

[Falco80]

Very enjoyable read Travis, and great pics. Makes a man want to jump in his 40 and hit the road!

 

[Thornton]

Travis,

Just set here with the wife and went thru your thread. The pictures are fantastic and good reading. Thanks for posting.

Tom

 

[Tboner]

Awesome thread!
Thanks for sharing

 

[skidplate]

Thanks Travis, always a pleasure to read and see your adventures. Keep 'em coming! Always wanted to visit Australia.

 

[alberta mac]

Love the pics and can't wait to see Austraila some day !

 

[Dobster]

I might not have portrayed just how worried i was about the Cruiser but now that we were in Birdsville it was time to make the tough decision. There was no way i was going to take further unnecessary risks with my wife in the car so we decided, we'd stay in Birdsville for two days and see who else was around, and what they were planning on doing. Yes, we were kinda hoping another party would come along planning to cross the Simpson desert, but if it wasnt meant to be it wasnt meant to be. This time round anyways..

Trav - I'm glad you wrote this - reading through and knowing these sort of trips and towns - all those little things can really take the edge of the trip.

Looking good and keep the updates coming.

Cheers Dobster

 

[Travis22]

Thanks for the kind words guys, glad to hear you are enjoying the write up and photos again.

Dobster, thanks... yeh i wasnt really sure how to go about writing this report. Im not really in a particularly positive frame of mind right now but it still was an awesome trip, and things could be, could have been a lot worse.

I think i simply tried to do to much before this trip. I have a stuffed back / discs, a lifetime office boy with bad posture and 20years racing push bikes to really stuff it up good. Once it starts bugging me - numb legs / feet etc, i really need to just rest it but there simply wasnt any time.

Anyways, ill try and keep positive!

And on that note, before leaving Birdsville we received a phone call from the manager of the Auto parts store back in Port Augusta with good news. The auxiliary battery was deemed faulty and a full refund was credited back to our credit card!!!

Also, while in Birdsville we had the Publican from the Birdsville Hotel come out and take a photo of our old Cruiser for himself! How cool is that, i bet that doesnt happen every day

So with the decision made, we would now head South East to Innamincka via. the Cordillo Downs Station and the famous Woolshed. The biggest woolshed in the world. While the station itself still operates, farming catle (as opposed to the sheep that it started out with) the woolshed itself has been decommissioned for a long long time, but still kept open for tourists / visiters.

Oz E-Mag Cordillo Downs Wool Shed Outback Australia Articles Photography

We hit the road before sunrise to try and cover as much ground as we could before the temperatures started rising to much. From Birdsville to Innamincka via Cordillo Downs it is 413km / 256miles. It is a little shorter (60miles) then the route around and passed Haddon Corner, but it was a gamble on the track conditions. But i was very keen to visit the woolshed so we took the gamble.

As the sun started to rise, once again we were greeted with the typical endless horizons then eventually some cattle.

So far the track conditions were fantastic, and with the cool morning weather we were able to make good ground traveling at a constant speed of around 80km/h / 50mph... aka flat out!

Our first morning stop was at this nice little roadside stop. Honestly not something you tend to come across much in the Outback, most of the time stops are planned when a good tree turns up close enough to the roadside to stop in some shade! However, what i did find rather odd was the toilet cubicle here had a bloody 'sharps' container on the wall there - the sort of thing you'd expect to see in the citys maybe (a locked enclosure with a hole in the top for druggo's to dispose of their needles)... So yeh, that was pretty random for a toilet stop in the middle of NOWHERE!

Would you believe, i took these photos and didnt even notice 'it'. It would be a fair way further down the road before i noticed 'it' and it wasnt until i got home and saw these photos that id realised just how far i must have come, with 'it' like that! lol.

Sooner or later i knew the good roads would run out and in this case it would stop at the junction for the Cordillo Downs track. Once again from a gravel super highway to a goat track. The deteriorating track conditions also timed in quite nicely with the sun warming the hell up! Back we were doing 40-60km/h (25-37mph) maximum.

Having spoken with some fellow travelers back in Birdsville we were told of their encounters with some grass fires burning out this way and as we were approaching the top of one hill in the distance i thought we could see and smell smoke!

But it was just this guy lol. Was good to run into a road train, i like seeing them out there, not sure if i could do it for a job but i sure like the idea of always being on the road.

With absolute pot luck on our side, there was a tiny stretch of sealed road ahead and it coincided perfectly with the road train passing - no eating dust this time!

Just visible in the above photo is Shallow Lake. One of two large lakes - one on either side of the road on the horizon. Again, its amasing just how much water is out there, now. Still.

Another photo a little further up the road.

tbc.

 

[esh]

Fantastic shot! You should pull it and submit to Henry Brimmer for his LC calendar.

 

[Travis22]

We arrived at the old Cadelga ruins and had a quick look around.

Seems like a great place to spend a night.





And before departing again we visited the well and took the opportunity to prime our air conditioning towels. Soaking wet towels shut in the doors with the windows down has long been our saving grace on many of these trips!

Sure gets pretty flat out there.



However for much of the track, it isnt very straight.



Right on midday we arrived at the old wool shed.

It was a bloody hot and long two hours drive from the old ruins.

The terrain flattens out to buggery around the station, it really does look strange out there.



The famous shed.



Just in case i needed a spare, nice to know they had one!



Its pretty big in there, and nice and cool too



After a quick lunch we hit the road again.

Pretty sure somewhere around here they is / was a track off to Coongie Lakes.



Getting back into the dunes.



The results of the fire that had passed through two days earlier.





Somewhere around here, whilst stopping for a piss i noticed the old Cruiser had taken things into her own hands to gain better engine cooling by snapping off one of the spotlight tabs.

(It wasnt until getting home and reviewing the photos that id realized we had traveled almost the whole day, around 350km's with the light resting between the bar and the winch!)

Unbelievable luck that the light managed to hold on for the ride. I then disconnected it and tucked it away in the tray for safekeeping.

(Was i the only one who didnt notice it until now? Cannot believe id taken all these photos throughout the day and didnt spot it!)



The next stop was Innamincka! Seemed like only yesterday that we'd been there... Was more like a couple of years. Just enough time to forget about the better showers at the laundromat.... so we showered in the concrete tanks near the pub.

Then we hit the pub. Was pretty busy. Quite a few 'fly-ins' literally. They stood out like sore thumbs.

Before long we were chatting away with some newly made friends. They wanted to buy the Cruiser from us, there and then. I had to politely decline. They were a group of around 6 bike riders and two support vehicles. They had come from the far East of Vic and were heading to Birdsville.

We got talking with one of the support drivers and it turns out he had quite a lot of history with the Vic high country, and used to hunt in there many moons ago on horseback. He was a great bloke, even had a bunch of old photos from back in the day to show us.

After a meal at the pub we ended up back at their camp for a few more cans before saying our goodbyes and we moved on down the river to setup our own camp for the night.

We camped here, but i only snapped the photo just before heading off the next morning.



Having already explored all of the usual sights on a previous trip out this side we decided we would head to one of my favorite outback towns, Tibooburra, via Orientos and Santos.

For me, this turned out to be one of the highlights as i simply fell in love with the landscape throughout these stations.

tbc.

 

[Travis22]

Leaving Innamincka we would head out towards the Dig Tree. Since our last visit things had really changed. The Gas and Oil works in this region have exploded and a whole lot more of the road had been sealed, and what wasnt was just as good anyways.

Even at first light the roads were a buzz with workers and new tracks off the main road were everywhere.

We were not really sure where our turn off would be and sure enough missed it. The newly sealed road really threw me. We ended up driving out passed the Dig Tree turn off before thinking we must have missed our turn off, so we turned around.

I didnt want to, but we resorted to our maps - they were tucked away in the tray so we found a nice spot in the shade and went about fetching the maps.

Sure enough we had missed the turn, but had not quite gone far enough to make continuing on the 'long way around' worthwhile. And besides it was looking as though this entire bloody road was now sealed.

Arriving at the turn off, it sure as hell wasnt obvious. No wonder we'd missed it, it looked just like one of the many new tracks put in by the Gas and Oil mobs.

Not very far in we came across these guys, they didnt even look up for a photo.

I was really enjoying the narrow little track and the further East we pushed the more the landscape changed. From completely empty flat plains to very hilly with lots of nice trees everywhere.

Sadly, not many of the trees were close to the track i didnt stop for any photos! The other fun aspect of the track here was its complete unpredictability. It was impossible to pick where it went. We also crossed through many dried up creek beds and one with water still in it. Some of them were fairly rough, again adding to the enjoyment however it was fairly slow going.

Leaving Orientos the terrain changed remarkably once again. It was back to the dark red sand dunes.

We stopped briefly were the Tickalara oil field met with our track at Santos. Originally we were considering heading out of Innamincka via Epsilon but were not sure if the road through there was Private. However having enjoyed the drive through Orientos so much i was glad we didnt.

Whilst stopped this guy came out to say hello.

However he didnt let me get to close, another step forward and he took off in a cloud of dust!

We passed this sign out there somewhere. The first one we'd seen for the day.

The roads widened significantly, i could only assume because of the Gas and Oil works. It was easily 4 vehicles wide in most places and very smooth. Sadly it was bloody hot and driving faster was causing the old Cruiser's engine to get hotter so we had to just keep on plodding along at around 60kmh. Still much faster then we'd been doing for the first half of the day!


Plenty of these guys were about. Although this photo doesnt show it, much of the landscape around here had recently burnt. It was quite fascinating watching where the fire had burnt, and not burnt.

Eventually we left the dunes and the landscape started opening right back up. We were stinking hot right about here, we pulled up and pulled out one of the water jerry cans and soaked our towels. The following 30minutes were heaven.

Before long we were at the gate, Warri gate. Goodbye Qld for another year.

We were almost there, i could taste the JD waiting for me at the pub.

We decided to splash out and get a room at the Tooles Family Hotel where they had A/C!

It was fantastic to be back at the pub there. We were last there the very first week the new owners took over - a few years back. It was amasing to see what they had done since then and also talk a little shop about what it was like for them. IIRC Michelle and I had joked back then, that one day we would love to take over.

tbc.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Beautiful country .....Thanks for the photos.

 

[lostmarbles]

You're still making me yearn to get back out there Travis!

Beautiful photos!

 

[Travis22]

Whilst at the pub, we also chatted away with the local roo shooter. Funny bloke, in a strange way. But he had my dream job as a kid. However talking to him it didnt really seem like that much fun.

He had a brand new 76 Series Ute with all the trimmings, as did Dan. Lucky buggers.

While they didnt remember us, Dan at least remembered our Cruiser. To be honest i couldnt remember much about them either, except the day we passed through was the day he'd cleaned up a bloody huge roo... Welcome to Tibooburra hey! Actually, i cleaned up a roo also that day on our way into Tibooburra and i still have the bloody ding in my door to show for it however Dan's effort left mine for dead.

As much as we didnt want to, it was time to leave and home just seemed to close now. As per our usual experiences it seemed like it was going to piss down, in a way i was hoping to get caught out there for another night with a cut road but it didnt happen.

Leaving town, i could see why the roo shooter had a nice new 76 Series Cruiser. There were bloody roo's everywhere and having flashbacks of the one that had run out in front of use last time i was more then a little cautious. s***loads of goats about too.

They didnt really turn out in this photo, but there were a bunch of wild goats in the background.

You have to love the hills out there in Corner country.

Once again, it seemed the roads had changed a fair bit since we were last out there. A whole lot more of it had been sealed! This reinforced what id been saying to the misses for years, the reason why were are out there doing it NOW before they are all either sealed or closed for good! Overseas' pfft no XXXX thanks. Not until ive set foot on every inch of Australia first, and i sure hope that day never comes.

We stopped in very briefly at the Packsaddle store, we didnt need anything but wanted to use it so we wouldnt loose it...

The wife noticed a funny sticker on the wall. It read, WAECO; Swedish for Warm Beer! I got a laugh out of that.

Funnily enough, being dead set serious on this trip alone we had met 3 individual groups with dead Waeco's and they all made excused for their fridges... fact is that it was bloody hot out there and they simply cannot cut it. Sure if its in ya wagon with the A/C running all day they are fine. Back of a ute under canvas... they crap em-selves...

Next stop was Broken Hill. Cannot say ive ever liked the town and this time was no different. Was much quieter however coming from tracks on which we were seeing 1 other vehicle every 2nd day anything that resembles traffic is going to piss me right off. Then we pulled into the Coles carpark and thoughs bloody pesky idiots selling a car wash in a spraycan very nearly sent me over the edge!!!!!!!!!

However i really dont mind the caravan park thing. Again it was so much quieter then the last time we'd been there but i do enjoy chatting with the neighbors. Doing my usual end of day vehicle inspection i drew the attention of an old timer across the road. He used to be a mechanic working on these old girls back in the day (honestly i get that a lot... not sure how true have these guys are or if they are just blowing smoke, id say about 1 in 50 is for real!) anyways he's only thought was timing related. So i pulled out the timing light and reset the timing.

No change.

It absolutely pissed down that night, even had a pretty good lightening show put on for us. I tried to get a photo of the misses up on the big chair but it turned out crap so i wont put that up.

The next day we drove through to Charlton. Another pub ive become fond of over the years. We stayed in our 'usual' motel and wow it was nice! The rooms had been completely redone since the big floods there.

The last photo taken on the trip.

It was sad however driving out of town the next day and seeing all the large signs erected by many of the townsfolk who were being screwed over by their insurance companies.

Before arriving home the old girl wanted the final say and just before citilink the spring on the carby for the accelerator return bust. Oh well, guess the old girl didnt want the trip to be over either. I used some electrical wire to re-join the spring to the bolt from which it had separated and that was that. We arrived home safe and sound but nearly a week early!

This saved us a crap load at the dog kennels, so without unpacking we picked up the dogs and heading out into the high country.

Sorry for the delay in finishing this latest report guys. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Travis.

 

[Travis22]

Well i cannot believe we are already well into 2012.

Sadly, while we've been out a fair bit, i have remained a little lazy on the photography front... despite hauling the tripod etc. everywhere i still havent set it up of late! Here are a few pics taken this year while camping.


Travis.

 

[Travis22]

Snow time!

Last weekend in the Vic High Country.

Mt Howitt Air Strip

Travis.

 

[My71FJ40]

No photos (yet) of my old girl since the new camera but i did spot this beauty on the weekend and stopped for a quick photo.

Travis.

She looks like a work horse alright! Lighting was terrible at the time, id love to go back when its more favorable and see if i can get some better photos.

Actually as a junior photographer the light was great, increase contrast and lighten it up a bit and watch it pop! You can fix a lot of pics with simple tweaks

 

[My71FJ40]

Hey, is this Mad Max's car from Road Warrior?! By the way sweet 45!