West Aussie Tourer

[VX Pilbara]

G'day Adventurers

It has been a long while since I joined as a member but sadly I never found time to up load anything of interest regarding my vehicle, or Western Australia ~ where I live in the Pilbara region.

Western Australia by its physical size is one third of the nation and this means most centers of business are a long way off and road travel is the most cost effective and enjoyable simply because you can deviate to any point or place of interest if time is not the enemy.

The Pilbara region of WA ~ is where the Australia's export wealth is currently being generated by means of Iron Ore Mining, the sad part about this wealth creation is the destructive fact of whole sale mining.

My pass time or passion is touring the "Outback" and with a genuine historic time line of 26,300 years regarding the Aboriginal People ~ this is through various scientifically proven habitation sites and with many sites of significance relating to chipped engravings or Petroglyph sites, you can gain a real feel for the People of the Land, by trying to understand and visualize what the person was seeing at the time.

For most parts a well set up vehicle and reliable equipment go a long way towards getting you there and back as most places of interest can be considered as being in a remote location.

My vehicle is a 1992 Toyota VX Sahara 80 series Land Cruiser, it runs a 1hd-t intercooled Diesel.

Transmission is Auto ~ with a rebuilt transfer case housing low range reduction gearing, making hill decent driving very controllable and safe, the Cruiser runs factory fitted locking differentials (E-lockers).

Auxiliary fuel tank (170 liters) and standard factory 90 liter tank gives the vehicle a usable range of around 1300 Kilometres.

With the set up of the vehicle as it is, I can safely travel and camp out for 21 days (two people) before considering refuel and resupply.

The Pilbara region of Western Australia reputedly has some of the oldest land form to appear out of the "seas of creation" ~ awe inspiring stuff.

I trust the story and vehicle is of interest.



Regards: VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[o8ko8k]

heck ya its of interest! Thanks for posting the photos and some background of what you do with your rig. What radios do you have attached to those lovely antennas i see in the photos? Are you a Ham? I suspect you can contact civilization from one of those? What artifacts if any have you discovered? 21 days? So i gotta see the food setup portion of this, i suspect you have a pretty good system for that?

Anyways, thanks! great to see...

 

[TexasJack]

Interesting story and great pictures. Keep it coming. I have high interest in Western Australia and I am pretty sure many other on Mud do also. Lots of photos of where you are wheeling and anything significant historically would be of great interest as well as photos of your campsites.

Thanks!

 

[VX Pilbara]

G'day Muddy Ones

Thank you for your replies and interest in my part of the world, as I stated in my initial post, I have been a forum member for quite some time, but I only read about what You folks got up to in the Off Roading scene in the USA, never thinking anyone would have an interest in out back Western Australia.

I guess it would be fair to say the Australian four wheel drive scene is learning constantly and you the American four wheel driver and the four wheel drive aftermarket industry are leading the way, hence my reluctance to open up about where I live.

The Pilbara region of Western Australia is even today very raw and remote and it really is a region that deserves respect especially when touring "solo" ~ sadly there are adventurers who have met their maker in rather gruesome circumstances, some might say "wrong place wrong time" ~ but my take on these people doing a perish, is simply very poor judgement at the critical moment and poor preparation right at the beginning of their fateful journey.

I apologize about the washed out colour (color) in my posted image file, hopefully I can retrace what I've done and correct the blunder.

To answer the question regarding antenna(s) on the Cruiser, all my radio communications gear is vital as Cell phone (mobile phone in Australia) is still very scant in the "outback" and can not be relied upon, so the real need for long range HF radio and a Satellite in car phone system is a no brainer, I also use UHF and 27 Megs CB radio systems plus the vehicle is fitted with a PLB unit (EPIRB) that is registered with the Australian regulatory authorities, so should the PLB (personal locator beacon) be triggered the authorities know exactly who they are searching for, it is for a life and death situation.

The Cruiser build or evolution is an on going thing and I honestly don't think I will stop any time soon, there are always better lighting systems coming onto the market and a million other gadgets that make touring and bush camping easier, safer and smarter so it's a constant re think on how to keep in tune with the 21st century.

The Cruiser itself is really old technology with very little in the way of clever electronics, like the Cruisers of today, so I have no fear of effecting a repair should something go wrong anywhere, my mechanical skills are "old school" with a 43 year back ground in heavy machinery mechanics, mostly in the mining industry.

As for sustaining life comfortably with what is carried in and on the Cruiser for any period of time, simply comes down to rationalizing what you carry and use, use and carry only good quality foods that do not rely on vast amounts of water or preparation, it might even be called healthy stuff, I hunt and fish where ever possible and don't rely on what some people think of as "bush food" simply because the are bush foods that can and will make you sick or out right kill you.

That's it for now, as I say hopefully I can resolve the washed out image colors and then I'll up load images of my life down under.

Safe Travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[Chester]

Incredible! Here where I'm at the "here's the moment, you need to choose wisely" issues involve 4 to 8 lanes of asphalt and a bazillion other vehicles.

Tell me more, and show some more too!!

 

[roscoFJ73]

What kind of roof top tent do you have? Looks a lot like mine from Outback Campers in Maddington.
I bought my troopcarrier from Paraburdoo

 

[VX Pilbara]

G'day roscoFJ73

100% correct the RTT is an Outback Campers, one of the original units made by them when they were up in Wangarra, Rob Calcott and his son were running the business in Prindeville drive, some six or eight years ago. The RTT was lifted into position and has never been off the Cruiser since, it's simply very usable and bloody handy for spur of the moment overnight stays in the bush.

Nice to see another Aussie on these pages.

I'm stuck in Perth for a few weeks, but hopefully I can get clearance to travel back home by road, I had some maintenance work done on me ~ that being a total hip replacement.

Just goes to show that falling of a ledge into a rather deep gorge about 15 years back did more damage than taking some skin off my butt. Such is life !!

Home for me is Newman up in the Pilbara.

Safe travels: VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[lovetoski]

Love the pics, the story, and the cruiser. Good luck on the hip replacement!

 

[VX Pilbara]

Love the pics, the story, and the cruiser. Good luck on the hip replacement!

G'day lovetoski

Thanks mate, the human maintenance has been carried out and the result so far is simply fantastic, no pain at all, some bruising around the wound and a rather swollen right leg, amazing what the trained professionals can do with and to the human body when it requires service and adjustment.

I don't think I'll ever get back to my youthful agility but compared to even six months ago ~ I'm an athlete now.

Safe Travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[VX Pilbara]

G'day Muddy Ones

Apparently I've driven my Land Cruiser and future stories on Western Australia about as far as possible , because any story line is simply a whole bunch of words and any good story can only be enhanced by images or pictures, sadly I have come to a limit (3 only) to up load images on this forum ~ I guess I will read your stories and look at your images.

Safe travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[SIZZLE]

Ten posts and then you can put up more pictures. Keep writing, we all want to see some pics and hear more stories!

 

[scrapdaddy]

G'day Muddy Ones

Apparently I've driven my Land Cruiser and future stories on Western Australia about as far as possible , because any story line is simply a whole bunch of words and any good story can only be enhanced by images or pictures, sadly I have come to a limit (3 only) to up load images on this forum ~ I guess I will read your stories and look at your images.

Safe travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

Pibara,

You're not getting off that easy. Keep writing. The pictures will come.

 

[VX Pilbara]

G'day Muddy Ones

Thanks for the encouragement to persist and keep writing, it seems a little strange doing penance just so I can let you see what I see, when there is something worthy to write about.

I am back in my home town ~ Newman, where in the past four weeks so bloody much has changed visually, it is actually quite confronting, why so, I hear you ask ?

As I eluded to in an earlier post, I had some life changing surgery and as a consequence my wife and I headed south to the Western Australian states capital city ~ Perth. It is not a big deal, driving the 1168 Kilometres one way, just to do business or in this case have a total hip replacement.

In the twenty three years I've called Newman and the Pilbara home, much has changed in regards to normalization of towns the mining industry had to build to house their work forces, the building of various towns was a requirement for mining to proceed, but that was 40 something years ago.

But no new hospitals were on the agenda, but widely talked about when the politicians were spinning lies at election time.

Now days the big miners, BHP-Billiton, Rio Tinto and their cohorts only need to have an operational accommodation village and a all weather air port on their mining tenement(s) and they are right to go into full scale mine infrastructure set up and mining for export can go ahead, I know it sounds very simplistic but, its fairly close to reality.

Today's mining work force is predominantly a "Fly in ~ Fly out" work force, rent a crews for the wan't of a better expression, these folk are just like you or me with dreams and desires, such dreamers with big desires can earn a kings ransom in monthly pay checks, but they have to leave family and love ones far behind, while they chase the big bucks on some distant mine deep in the ancient earth of the Pilbara.

These fly boys and girls usually do not spend a red cent of their earnings in the regions towns, many of them never set foot in the town or know much about the local history of the region they are actively plundering. I have no ill feelings towards these individuals, but I do feel rather "snakey" towards their employers and as to how they deliberately dumb down their workers.

I have over the years seen monumental changes in the Pilbara landscape and none of these changes are for the betterment of anyone, bar the shareholders, with hills and valleys disappearing off the face of the earth, all in the name of progress and industry?

I am not against progress or industry if its done in a sensible way, the Pilbara just happens to be rich, very very rich in a commodity China and the world needs, that commodity just happens to be the earth itself, you may simply know it as ~ Iron Ore.

The Pilbara region of Australia is ancient land as it is some of the first land to rise out of the seas of creation some 4.2 billion years ago, Geologically, Scientifically and Culturally magnificent and hopefully one day soon I can show you some of it before we are possibly driving around in a vehicle made from the iron ore of the Pilbara.

Safe travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[scrapdaddy]

A few quick posts and you can put up some pictures.

So, What brand of tent are you useing now.

 

[VX Pilbara]

Camping/tents

A few quick posts and you can put up some pictures.

So, What brand of tent are you useing now.

G'day Ron ~ scrapdaddy.

My personal touring accommodation is always the roof top camper, which is a permanent fixture on the Land Cruiser, the negatives of having the camper on the vehicle like wind drag, fuel usage, clearance in heavy scrub country etc are simply out weighed by having a clean comfortable bed virtually at your finger tips 24/7 cannot be matched by anything that you might have to pitch such as a conventional center pole tent, especially when driving a tent peg into the rocky earth is near impossible.

I admit that on rare occasions I've simply rolled out the side awning opened the Mozzie netting and slept in my swag, a matter of convenience at the time.

None the less, getting away from any population base suits me just fine, but I and the wife like to be civilized enough with our camping set up.

Safe travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[scrapdaddy]

Have you ever pulled a trailer for camping, it seems popular over there.

 

[VX Pilbara]

Have you ever pulled a trailer for camping, it seems popular over there.

G'day Ron ~ scrapdaddy

I'll try and answer your question intelligently and I am only saying this because even though we speak the English language, America and Australia have slightly different versions, but hopefully we are heading in the same direction.

Yes, I do tow a trailer with the Cruiser, the Aussie version of "trailer" is one that you either build yourself or buy from a reputable trailer builder/seller.

My trailer is purpose built with all Toyota 75 series springs and shocks, it has a full off road tow hitch and 12v electric brakes. It is kitted out for true off road travel and serves the purpose very well.

The trailer uses the same size wheel and tire (tyre in Aussie speak) combination as the 80 series, so should the proverbial hit the fan, I can even inter change the wheel studs and nuts (lug nuts in American speak).

I have over the years accepted the American version of "trailer" as being a caravan as we call them in Australia. Yes ~ Caravans usually have Camels and yes there are hundreds and thousands of these buggers in the Australian out back as well.

Depending on what the circumstance or holiday (vacation), I also tow my "Off Road" capable pop up roof caravan, it's our home away from home when we travel long distances and choose to stay in caravan parks (trailer parks), the caravan is set up for totally independent living if we choose to bush camp, with a pressurized water system, Solar power and a decent bank of batteries we can run most of our electrical appliances that don't have a super high power demand, but in saying this, our 240 volt pure sine wave generator covers all the power draw demands, should peace and quiet not be too high on the agenda.

I might need to quantify the point that my wife and I operate an off road charter tour service and there might be an image (when I can up load images) or two with our logo or brand name on any of our vehicles, this is unintentional and in no way am I trying to promote my self. I am simply a genuine off road adventurer ~ possibly with a story that someone might be interested in ?

Safe travels : VX Pilbara (Joe)

 

[chappysfj40]

cool stories, i have been oll over the world with the US Navy and i still have not made it to Australia, it is a goal and you make that goal so much worth while with your tales.

thanks

 

[B Point]

Hello Joe...VX,

Greetings from up here in Japan. Great stories and look forward to hearing more and seeing some pics. The other day I was out with our group doing a little wheeling and during lunch we got to talking about where in the world they'd like to take their trucks to for some offroading. It was pretty much unanimous that the Australian outback was their (my) bucket list destination. Although, personally being from Canada...I've always been interested in the opposite end of the globe...Patagonia. But ya, Aus. is right there, too.
My father had his hip replaced a few years back and is better than ever...pretty amazing isn't it..
Cheers and all the best.

 

[80t0ylc]

Joe,

Greetings from Oregon, USA. I've just discovered your thread here and am enjoying your stories and replies from other "Muddy Ones". I am near 60 yrs old, myself and have a RTT on my 80 series. I can imagine the challenges you've had with just getting in and out of your RTT dealing with the hip replacement sugery. From your description of the improvement of your agility after the surgery, I'll bet negotiating access to your RTT was torture before the surgery. Best wishes for continued recovery and good health to enjoy the outdoors of WA.