Day 20 - Desert Trip 2010

Slept in a bit and then got everything packed up except the tent, in case I could get away in the arvo. It had rained a little bit overnight but only light showers. Went into town for the paper and lunch and then took a short drive to the north of town to try and charge the second battery a bit, as it had finally stopped powering the fridge after about 5 days. Came back to camp for a few hours before heading into the dealer at 3 ish. The sensor hadn't arrived so I walked into town for a coffee and a read of the current days newspaper.

 

Brett rang as they were just getting into Birdsville a day early. Apparently it had been an easy drive because all the rain in the simpson desert had firmed up the track and everything looked very green. Apparently, it had rained heavily the night before and Leon and Ryan found out their swags weren't all that waterproof. Brett was fine as he sets his up on a stretcher under his car awning. Finally got back to the dealers about 4:45 pm expecting the worst but the sensor had turned up and been installed and the guy was just about to ring me.

 

Too late to head off so I went back to camp to get everything organised for an early start the next morning. Put up the car awning over the tent just in case it rained again. Had pretty good lamb shanks at the local tavern for $10 and almost made it out before the country and western guy started but I had to politely sit through a John Denver song before I could leave. Read for awhile and planned the next days trip before going to bed early.

 

Day 19 - Desert Trip 2010

Slept in and had a leisurely brekky before heading into town to get the paper and have lunch. There's a good asian restaurant (thai, indian, malasian, etc) just outside the Woolies mall. Refuelled the car hoping that I could get away the next arvo after the dealer replaced the MAP sensor. The weather was warm not too windy and a bit cloudy.

 

 

Day 18 - Desert Trip 2010

Got up early and got the car to the dealer around 7:30 am. Went and had brekky at Maccas and then walked around town before starting to walk back to camp. Got a call from the dealer that the MAP sensor (manifold pressure) was buggered and a part would have to flown in from Adelaide and wouldn't get here until Thursday arvo. Walked back and got the car before spending another afternoon reading. Went to the Tavern attached to the caravan park and had a steak and chips for $10, a bit tough but for the price it was pretty good. Couldn't take too much of the Country and Western act at the bistro so came home and went to bed.

Day 17 - Desert Trip 2010

Yet another lazy day spent around camp. Helped a backpacker jump start their fairly sick sounding Triton Ute, so hopefully my Karma will be good and my car will be fixed tomorrow. I've got around 1100 km to get to Birdsville to catch up with the boys. This should be three easy days over some rough roads or two days of harder travel, depending on how long my car takes.

Day 16 Desert Trip 2010

Slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. Had a walk into Alice Springs for lunch and to pick up the paper. Took just under an hour each way. Came back to camp for a lazy afternoon.

Day 15 - Desert Trip 2010.

Slept in and had a leisdurely brekky. It was much warmer overnight, but the wind was pretty strong. Went for a slow drive into Alice and up to the Anzac lookout for a photo or two. Then onto the newsagents where I picked up the newspaper and quite a few magazines and a Sudoko book to last me the next few days of not doing much. When I got back to camp I decided to shift my tent to a better spot with a bit of shade. After lunch Brett, Leon and Ryan dropped in on their way to Chambers Pillar and we arranged that if possible I would meet them in Birdsville for the final leg back into civilisation.  Then I spent the afternoon reading.

Day 14 - Desert Trip 2010

Slept in a bit as the tow truck wasn't going to be there until about 11 am. Packed up slowly and brekky at the restaurant and then the boys headed off to explore for the next day or two. The truck arrived early and we had the car on it for the trip back to Alice Springs quickly. The driver was a nice bloke and it took about 4 hours to get back to Alice. He dropped me and the car at the dealers, unfortunately the roadside assist people hadn't called them and they would't even look at the car until Tuesday morning, so I booked it in and limped from the dealership to the camping ground at Heavitree Outback Lodge which I had stayed at previously. Setup camp, had a few bundys and went to bed early.

Day 13 - Desert Trip 2010

We were slow to pack up and leave Yulara as Leon had to go and pick his postal vote up and then do some shopping. Eventually we headed off at about 11 am and stopped at Mt Conner for some photos and a bite to eat. Then continued on a leisurely drive to KingsCanyon Resort, where we arrived about 3ish. We booked in and then setup camp. On the way back to the canyon for some photos one of the warning lights on my Pajero came on. After stopping and then restarting the car that light went off and the Engine warning light came on and the car went into limp mode (it could only do 80 km/hr). I went back to the resort and phoned Mitsubishi's roadside assist and they arranged for a tow truck to come the next day to take me to the Mitsubishi dealer in Alice Springs. Not Happy Jan.

Day 12 - Desert Trip 2010

Slept in a bit after hearing all the eager tourists leaving early to see Uluru at sunrise, it was much too chilly for that. Brett and I decided the have a chill out day and not do much at all. So I fuelled up the car then we went for a walk into the resort are. Leon and Ryan headed off to look at the rock. While at the resort we picked up our voting papers which had arrived and did a bit of shopping for some fruit and veg. After some lunch I spent the afternoon writing up these blog pages and making sure the car was ready for a bit more punishment. We'll go and watch the sunset over the rock and then have dinner and an early night. Tomorrow we head out for King's Canyon, so I won't have any internet for awhile.

Day 11 - Desert trip 2010

We got up early and packed up to go and see the weather ballon released from the Giles weather station. Then back to the roadhouse for a hot greasy brekky. We then headed off to se Surveyor Generals Corner (meeting point between  WA, SA and NT).Then road there was excellent and we stopped off at the local aboriginal community as required before heading of the the corner. We took some photos and then headed north to Docker River on a local road which was pretty slow going but the some scenery was absolutley stunning. After getting to Docker River about 5ish and not liking the look of it we decided to head towards Yulara and see if there was any good looking camping spots. After talking to some other peole it sounds like the best spot was about 5 km west of Docker RIver. We ended up driving into Yulara in the dark and getting there about 9ish. Between the dark, the dust and the gravel road and ever present threat of animals it was not a pleasant drive. It was a shock to see so many people at Yulara, in fact all the cabins and cheapish accommodation had been booked out. Thankful the camping area wasn't full, so we set up for the evening and I think I had the best sleep of the trip.

Day 10 - Desert Trip 2010

Had a leisurely pack up and left the camp site about 10 ish. We stopped a few times for photos lunch, the road wasn'tas good as yesterday but still it wasn't too bad. This was the section of the road we needed to get a Sat phone for and honestly it was some ofthe best road we had driven on. We got into Warakurna Roadhouse about 4'ish where we fuelled up and would stay the night. Then as it was very windy we went for a drive to the Giles weather station to have a look. We came back and setup camp with the cars forming a wind break and then went to sit in the protected camp kitchen while we cooked and ate dinner. It was then an early night because it was cold and windy.

Day 9 - Desert Trip 2010

Had to wait until 9 am WA time to refuel at Warburton and then we headed off to the old abandoned section of the GunBarrel Highway. We made very good time as the road was in great condition and we saw more camels along the way. We had lunch at Mippultjarra Junction and then stopped at the Van der Linden Lakes for some photos. We also stopped and looked at some of Len Beadell's plaques from when he had constructed the road 50-60 years ago. We found a great camp site under some desert Oaks so we setup camp early and Leon cooked one the best tasting Dampers I've ever had. (self raising flour, salt and for liquid some Bundy rum, dark and stormy).

Day 8 - Desert Trip 2010

Had brekky and packed up pretty early to head north along the Connie Sue Highway. The road was not too bad but still had some rough patches. We stoppedforfor photos at a few places along the way, including Point Sandercock, Cooper Hills Bore, HannsTabletop Hill (for lunch) and Harkness Gorge. We didn't see any really good campping sites and the lure of a hot shower and flushing toilet lured us into Warburton. We stayed at the road house which had a locked camp ground.

Day 7 - Desert trip 2010

Another cold night, so we left about 10ish. The road was much better once we crossed the WA border and it made drivingmuch more pleasurable. We came across 14 Citroen C2V's that were going back the way we had come, they were in for a very rough trip. We refuelled at Ilkurlka Roadhouse just over 800 kms after leaving Coober Pedy. I used 120 l of diesel for an economy of 14.9 l/100 km, not too bad considering the roughness of the track. The two V8's economy was a bit higher at around 21 l/100 km. Diesel was $2.48 a litre. We had a late lunch and headed onto Neale's Junction on a well graded dirt road. Saw a bit of wildlife including a couple of Kangaroos, a dingo and our first camel. The camp fire for the evening was pretty spectacular.

Day 6 - Desert Trip 2010

Slept in a bit as it was still pretty cold. Packed up camp and the boys took a bit of time to add some fuel from their jerry cans, so we left a bit late. Stopped at Volkes Hill corner for a bit of lunch and a look. The track is still pretty bad, especially with some black/red gravel which formed the worst corrugations. A one stage A strap on Leon's roof rack snapped butitwas fixed easily. That evening we stopped at a camp site overlooking the Serpentine Lakes just on the WA border in time for a beautiful sunset. If we had known we would have stopped about 10 km later at a more shelteredcamping site that actually had a toilet.

Day 5 - Desert Trip 2010

It had got very cold overnight with the left over dish water freezing overnight. We packed up and got ready to go when Brett found the cause of the thumping noise he had heard the day before - his roof rack bolts were coming undone. This required major surgery to remove the roof rack and tigthen up the bolts. We ended up leaving late and found more horrible corrugations. We stopped to look at the Atomic Bomb test sites and then continued onto to the ruins at Emu for a late lunch. The corrugations were not quite as bad but the bush closed in on the road making it very tight and twisty, I almost lost my UHF antenna a couple of times on bushes that got too close. We stopped for the evening at Annie's Corner and setup camp, luckily the wind died off a bit but it was still pretty cool.

Day 4 - Desert Trip 2010

We slept in a bit in the underground camping site, then packed up and had brekky at the local servo. Brett and I had a look at the Coober Pedy Lookout before returning to the servo for a final fuel up. I included an extra 20 l jerry can of diesel just in case my fuel calculations didn't work out. We left about lunch time and headed to the start of the Anne Beadell highway where we dropped the tyre pressures a bit. The road started out not too bad but the corrugations gtot pretty bad all too soon. We ended up at Tallaringa Well for our first bush camp.

Day 3 - desert trip 2010

We slept in a bit at Port Augusta and after packing up we left the cara park just after 9 am. We did a bit of shopping at the local Woolies and refueld and left around 10ish. The drive to Coober Pedy was pretty flat and easy, fuel economy was much better today as we were generally heading north not west. We stopped off at few places to take photos and have a stretch. Got into town about 3ish in the arvo and after a quick drive down the main street we found the tourist info place. We checked into an underground camping place for the night, which was a couple of km out of town. Then it was back into town for a walk up and down the main street and dinner at the local pizza place. Then back to the camp site for a mine tour and then we went to bed early. The snoring was really resonating through the underground chambers, but it was much warmer than sleeping above ground.

Day 2 - Desert Trip 2010

We decided to change our trip to the great bakeries of Australia, as the sausage rolls from the Cobar bakery were sensational. It was another long days drive, 1050 km made worse by the fact we were driving into a pretty strong wind. Everyones fuel economy was bad but the V8 petrol Cruisers suffered more than my diesel pajero. We made it to Port Augusta for the evening and will head off to Coober Pedy in the morning.