Australian Photos (1 Viewer)

[Falco80]

I'd like more pictures and more text too Travis!

This is my favourite thread!

Reading your latest travels has taken me so long that I've exceeded my daily beer quota. But I still want more...

Ah the beer quota, so true! Great report Travis. I've probably said it before, but reading your trip reports make me just want to jump in the 40 and go on an adventure!

Don't worry about that guy that pinched your camping spot either, Karma will sort him out.

Very enjoyable thread.

 

[handcannon]

I've always enjoyed your pics and travel stories. Keep them up.

I've probably said this in your thread before, but your pics and descriptions really make me wish I could afford to travel to Australia. It's amazing how I can see parts of Oregon, specifically Eastern Oregon, in some of the pics. One of the biggest differences I see is in the type of trees. You seem to have a lot of deciduous trees. Eastern Oregon has a lot of pine, juniper, and sagebrush.

The pic with the windmills is a sight I've often seen at the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. The Columbia River starts way up in Canada, flows down through Eastern Washington, and then becomes the dividing line for three quarters of the state line between Washington and Oregon. The Gorge starts east of the town of Hood River, at about the conlfuence of the Deschutes River and goes west, splitting the Cascade Mountain range, and then ends just a few miles east of Portland, Oregon. The hills that form the banks of the river as it flows through the plateau lands of Eastern Oregon and Washington is a popular place for the windmill farms.

Don

 

[croozy]

Awesome pics & cracka of a read too as always Trav. Good to see you caught up with Anthony too.

 

[Toshi38]

Great pictures! ... next time you're in port doug swing by porto's pizza... best pizza I had in Aus also the pie shop is rather good there too.

 

[Travis22]

THANKS for the kind words guys, really appreciate them.

Lostmarblesl, glade to hear you enjoyed the read and photos. I can say that i really enjoyed putting the report together but this one has been by far the most drawn out, late trip report. But when i do get the chance i sit down with some good music, a nice whiskey and just start writing.

Yes, the birds Michelle was terrified of were the Cassowary's. Not long before leaving for the trip i actually, completely randomly caught some late night doco on the telly about the Cassowary. They recovered a terminally injured full grown one and after putting it down did a full dissection on it and went through the entire make up of it focusing on just how extremely powerful the muscles etc. were in its leg basically entirely dedicated to striking. And it also touched quite a bit on its prehistoric links back to the dinosaur era.

Don, thanks mate. I would absolutely love to visit the mountains around Oregon. For the last 10 or so years ive been very fond of the knife maker Shane Sibert, who lives in Gladstone iirc. Over the years he has shared the occasional story and photographs he has taken while hiking out there and i must say i always found the scenery breath taking.

(I actually had Shane make my wife and i a 'wedding set' of knives years ago, sadly these days he has become an absolute super star and his work is generally well out of my price range and also extremely collectable).

If you ever somehow manage to get your self to Australia you'll have a place to say with us and id be more then happy to take you out into our High Country.

Cheers Croozy - when are you coming down to Vic for some high country adventures!?

Thanks again to everyone else who has commented.

And now, the conclusion to the Cape York trip report;

 

[Travis22]

I was quite disappointed to be leaving Lightening Ridge so soon and it is definitely a place i would like to revisit with a few more days up my sleeve. I did a quick lap of the town and picked up another 2x 15L bottles of water from the supermarket then hit the open roads once again. I wasnt really sure how far i would get and considered even driving all the way home from Lightening Ridge but that would have been a little ambitious.

Shortly after leaving town i noticed something else was up with the landcruiser! The engine temperature was not getting up to temperature, i couldnt bloody believe it. Specially after the unbelievably hot afternoons drive into Lightening Ridge and my efforts with the bug screen mesh. If it had not been for the pre-trip installation of the Stereo system i think id have lost my marbles. I pulled over a couple of times before passing through Walgett and using an infra red thermometer i was able to confirm the temp. gauge's cold reading with the block / top and bottom of the thermostat and top of the radiator all showing around 50-60deg C. It was even colder when i checked it on the other side of Walgett after driving through the town at 50km/h... Once again i just couldnt believe it. I figured the thermostat must have failed and must be stuck somewhat open.

Mind you, it was as if id just arrived into another country as the early mornings temperature was very very cold. Another sign that i wasnt far from home.

Despite the mounting small issues with the Landcruiser i was quite enjoying the mornings drive, and especially the cooler weather for a change. I passed quite a few feral pigs which would dart out across the road infront of me and i also noticed a few just running around in the scrub off the roadsides.

The highlight of the mornings drive was however the sights of the Warrumbungle National Park in the distance. I did not know of its presence so it was a real joy to take in and i pulled over along the road where i thought the view was best and had a little snack and rest while enjoying the view.

As i made my way closer and closer to Dubbo, i struggled with the decision of which way id continue home from there having done most of the different routes home from there on passed trips. Once again i found myself almost distraught as i arrived in Dubbo. I dont really know why i dont like the town, i guess its just one of the unfortunate places on the edge's of the 'outback' where you have to face the fact that your heading home and back to the big cities. Traffic lights, roundabouts and heavy traffic. I stopped to refuel and that was a royal pain in the butt. And i remembered a previous fuel stop in Dubbo and it was much the same. Half of the petrol pumps were out and the confusion and cue's frustrated everyone there.

 

[Travis22]

After a good 7+ hours on the road i was starting to feel pretty stiff and sore and found myself wriggling about quite a bit unable to get comfortable anymore but we we're pushing on and making pretty good ground, for an old old Landcruiser. With the engine temperature continuing to run cold i found myself at times pushing the old girl quite a bit harder then i ever had before on the open roads! Every now and then when she really seemed to be purring and the road surfaces were smooth enough, id find myself doing a solid 100km/h! Mind you from experience id relate 100km/h in a 34year old Landcruiser to about 180 in any modern car or 250+ on a bike. And the wind noise is still worse in the cruiser then a bike at 300!

But good things always come to an end eventually and the exhaust note started to sound a little extra lumpy every now and again so as a roadside truck stop appeared i pulled in to look at the exhaust once more. My wire hanger was nowhere to be seen! Bugger i thought, but luckily id kept the remainder of the old pot plant hanger wire id been gifted back up near Cairns - all 6 inches or so of it. Enough to bend up one last hanger.

Id hoped given how long the last one had held out, that this one would too but with the exhaust still red hot while i was trying to bend up the wire i found i was unable to do a good job this time round. 30minutes down the road the sound reappeared... I wasnt happy and i didnt really have anything else to temporarily fix it with. Absolute worse case i had some thick electrical wire - 6mm^2, but i really didnt want to resort to that and as the next road site stop approached i thought to myself surely there id be able to find a bit of wire on the ground somewhere around there!

I walked up and down the road there looking for some wire but couldnt locate any then standing by the car i thought to myself - check the garden beds as there was a wire fence around one of them and i couldnt believe my luck. Sitting next to one of the star pickets was a single loop of fencing wire sitting there, leftovers. I was wrapped, but it was about 1/2 the gauge of the wire id picked up in Cairns but this stuff was clearly much newer and i actually struggled to bend it into shape. I was very pleased with my find and after bending up a couple of hangers i packed away the tools and chucked the left over wire (perhaps 2feet worth) into the tool box adamant id never leave home without some good fencing wire again!

Approaching West Wyalong i thought to myself this being most likely my last night on the road, id get a room for the night at the local caravan park, if the price was reasonable of course. The local caravan park was located and i pulled in not long before dark and boy it was getting cold! Speaking to the owner i didnt want to seem to keen as he mentioned they had had some of the coldest nights for the season in the last few days and the overnight forecast was around 0deg C. But he was a good bloke and after talking a little about this trip he was happy to give me an on site caravan nice and cheap for the night and it had a reverse cycle A/C - heater in it!

Even with the heater i found it quite cold overnight in my lightweight summer hiking sleeping bag. The next morning i hesitantly checked over the old Landcruiser one last time and couldnt believe my eyes as i noticed nice fresh green coolant pooled around the bottom tank of the radiator. Upon closer inspection this, brand new, fitted a week before setting off radiator, had failed in the exact same location as the previous radiator. About 2 rows across on the passenger side, 1 inch down from the top. It basically appeared as through the core had split there and coolant was weeping out. I had a little laugh to myself then continued looking over the vehicle then warmed her up and quickly checked the timing before heading off for one last day on the road before arriving home!

It was a fairly uneventful drive mostly along roads not new to me. I gave some thought to, retuning to the previous owner of our Landcruiser's home to say hello but the old girl wasnt looking her best and i couldnt remember exactly where he lived, however i would love to visit him again one day; i do have a few questions id like to ask him about the wiring etc lol!

Somewhere around Albury the engine started running a little rougher and i decided to call into Albury and visit some acquaintances who lived and worked there. At idle, she was starting to vibrate a little but the timing was spot on. I looked over a few things and couldnt really work out what was causing it, perhaps a broken engine mount i thought.

I continued down the Hume Highway and passed through the city before arriving home late in the afternoon. Melbourne welcomed me home by turning on the tap's making my last hour's drive a wet one!

 

[Travis22]

In conclusion......... where to start!

Thanks for reading my little report. Im very sorry it took so long to write but its been fun going back and revisiting the trip in my head whilst putting this together.

A good 5-6 bottles of whiskey have assisted in my writing so i apologize for the undoubtedly many typo's spelling mistakes and brain farts.

All in all i think we covered around, 9000km+ and for the most part i thoroughly enjoyed the drive. I lost about 8kg on the trip but sadly over the passed 6months ive put about 5 of that back on.

In the weeks and months that followed my return ive set about fixing all of the little issues which creep-ed up on this trip. I started with the front indicators as i already had a new pair at home ready to go but they did require a bit of messing around before fitting despite being the so called best ones on the market these days and Made in Japan. There was no ground present in the housings as the metal surfaces were painted / coated etc. so i had to pull them both down and then rebuild them before fitting.

I was able to get some replacement rubber hangers from the exhaust shop that had made the exhaust for me years ago, and i also needed a new gasket and studs for where it bolted up to the manifold.

Next up was the snorkel. I cut up some flat plate approx 5mm larger all around and 'seam?' welded it around the existing cracked bracket. Also drilling 3 holes in the middle which were plug welded, and the cracks ground out / 'v'd out and welded also before being ground back flush. It seems absolutely rock solid once again and i was happy to have an excuse to break out the welder once again.

I noted some additional creaking and groaning from the tray area too on the last few days of the trip so i set about tracking down the cause and i found 4 of the 8 mounting bolts which connect the tray's front to back 'c' channel to the side to side 'c' channel that is bolted to the chassis, had actually torn out of the channel. (Front and back either side). I put this down to my canopy as it is clearly extremely rigid and with the chassis flexing underneath something had to give. I ended up having a local metal works shop bend me up some 'sleeves' which i put inside the channel and bolted them in place. This has stopped the noises and so far they have held up. (I think this damage has occured over time most likely while traveling throughout the Vic High Country where ive had the old girl flexing as much as she can and on 3 and 2 wheels many times.)

The radiator was once again covered under warranty. I take my hat off to Brendan at Ultimate Radiators in Berwick. He really went above and beyond. In the end, he built me a radiator at no charge which ive been very happy with. Touch wood, this one has been and will continue to work as it should. I removed the thermostat and found the Dayco unit (from Repco) had indeed failed, less then 12 months old. I ordered a new one in from Toyota.

I almost pulled the carby down thinking it was the cause of the vibrations at idle having checked the engine mounts over and ruling them ok. Shortly after arriving home it started stalling at idle too hence my investigations into the carby. I did clean out the idle circuit and checked the cutoff solenoid along with blowing out both jets. In the end, my mechanic did a compression test and found no compression on #5. Turned out the tappet was just out of spec holding the exhaust open? Something like that. She still hasnt been running the best but im starting to think the distributor is starting to wear out as it is an aftermarket OEM job and its done a good hard 80,000km's. I still have the original Nippondenso distributor and i plan on having that one rebuilt eventually hopefully sooner rather then later, the vacuum advance among other things is one obvious sign of difference in quality the genuine being all brass and steal and the one in it now is mostly plastic but then again its done ok given it cost me about $150bux mates rates from Bursons.

Throughout the Cape York trip we seemed to suffer once again with voltage issues on the Auxiliary battery.

I finally cracked it, pretty much ready to take the National Luna fridge out bush and to blow the bloody thing up. Id had the battery checked out as per the trip reports etc. following our trip out to the Simpson last year and that came back perfect. So i finally decided to get the fridge checked out. Sadly, the first service agent who was closest to me was useless. After wasting a few weeks he declared there was nothing wrong with the fridge. This just about had my bloody boiling.

At the time i even looked back on a post i had made here about the fridge, and the compressors duty cycle was quite a bit worse still. By my own investigations i found with an outside ambient temperature above 25deg C, the compressor would run almost 100% continuous until the ambient dropped below that. I was taking a 110Ah battery from full to 11.8 overnight most nights. Again before even taking the fridge in to get looked at id bench tested it at different voltages and again tried testing the battery. The 2nd service agent was much, much, much better and i cannot recommend him enough. Petka in Eltham, it was a fair drive from home but im glad i ended up taking the fridge out to Peter.

He checked everything else first before finally checking the gas. Low and behold the bloody thing was just about out... He did a Nitrogen? Leak test / and Vacuum test and could not find any leaks but said the valve cover was loose. Im not really convinced that that was the cause for the gas leak, more likely a hairline crack in the lines somewhere id think but for now, it is running much much better. Approx 18min on and 30-40minutes off in normal mode even on 40deg C days now. Turbo reduces the compressor run times to about 10-12minutes. However, the freezer is no longer getting as cold as it used to. About -4 to -9 instead of the -12 to -20 it did before it was re-gassed and the current draw has gone up. From around 1.8 to 2Amps in normal mode to 2.5 to 3 amps. And 4 in turbo to around 6Amps. Personally i believe this fridge has been getting worse and worse basically ever since we purchased it.

Given the run times of the compressor over the passed 12-18months the brand new battery we fitted on the Simpson trip last year decided to give up the ghost about 2months ago. It just stopped holding charge, dropping from 12.8 overnight to 12.4 with nothing connected to it - after being on the 15A Ctek charger etc. Combined with the acid leakage id experienced on the cape trip, together with 2 more leakage's (was leaking from the screw caps) (in the high country, most recently when i very very very nearly rolled the old Landcruiser over the edge of Deep Creek 1 - and she spend a good hour almost on her side while i was setting up the recovery!) I decided to go to the dark side and ive now fitted a FullRiver 115Ah AGM battery in the tray. The thing is a beast, all 37.8kg of it!!! It also gave me an excuse to break out the welder and i modified the battery tray to fit the larger battery. So far the Aux battery and fridge is now running once again, exactly how id expect it. 48hours stationary running the fridge to 12.1Volts under load (load being the fridge compressor running). I could have almost cried with joy the first time we took it out bush again and we'd wake up in the morning after 24hours out to see 12.5V on the battery still.

Thats all i can think of right now.

Once again, thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed the read.

Last but not least...

Michelle and i are expecting our first child. Michelle is 36.2weeks pregnant today.

Travis.

 

[Oso Flaco]

WOO HOO!!! Congratulations Michelle!! Best news I've heard all week!

Only one question, where are you going to sit from now on because Michelle sure isn't sitting in back!

 

[cruisernerd]

dude! that is sweet!
"Can you see me bronze!" love that car
"tell him about the blower..."

 

[lostmarbles]

.....Last but not least...
Michelle and i are expecting our first child. Michelle is 36.2weeks pregnant today. ...Travis.

Congrats to both of you from me too.

You need some offspring to pass your afflictions onto.

Here's my youngest (who's now 23) beside our BJ40 somewhere in the bush:


(Ignore the date on the photo. It's not when it was originally taken.)


Needless to say, he loves everything about the outdoors now.

 

[Weber Sarge]

That picture in post #150 should be blown up to a huge size and framed , priceless....
Love your trip reports and the photo's make me quite jealous living here in the US in the middle of corn country , not much to look at here .
Sarge

 

[JeffD]

Great thread, and pics. I would love to visit down under some day.

 

[DualcabDeclan]

Wallaroo State Forest NSW, it got a LOT deeper during the day. Rock climbs and mud ruts too. Beautiful area

https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaLandcruiserHJ47

 

[crushers]

subscribed

 

[Sno bored]

I loved reading about your adventures in the outback. It's getting me excited about my upcoming trip to Australia.

 

[Mid TN]

Michelle & Travis, fantastic read and pictures, couldn't stop reading the whole thread! Congradulations on the baby!

 

[romegadave]

Great thread and pics. Congrats on the baby!

 

[Falco80]

Congrats to you both, being a dad is awesome!

 

[crushers]

enjoyable read ...
camp thief, yah you had a right to be pissed but pricks get their jollies by treading on others ... you took his thunder when you moved on. sadly, he also stole your joy. you did the right thing by just walking away. Karma is a Bitch and if nothing else he will die a loney person.
this thread has motivated me to proceed on my FJ75 touring build.
thanks