New camera

I made the dangerous mistake of visiting the Sony shop at Robina, just to see if they had the new A33 in stock. I've been hoping to upgrade to a dslr with my next camera and the reviews of this camera sounded very positive. After being shown the camera by Tim and liking how it felt I went off to do some other shopping, but not before Tim asked what it would take to sell me one today. I went off and had a think while shopping and ended up going back to the Sony store to see if they would match the prices advertised by Ted's camera store. They would so I ended up buying an A33 plus a Sony 18-250 lens for a reasonable price. I'm now waiting for the battery to charge so I can have play.

The battery seemed to take forever to charge up but its ready to go now. The first photo is shown below.

Executive Summary - Desert Trip 2010

Overall I travelled 8078 km in 23 days during this trip, with 6 of these days being just travel days getting to Coober Pedy and then getting home. The fuel economy (13.45 l/100km) wasn't nearly as good as I got on the trip to the Cape (11.25 l/100km) although the car has had a few modifications (suspension raised and more aggressive tyres) and I had more trouble with driving into strong winds and then problems with the MAP sensor. Our longest distance without fuel was Coober Pedy to Ilkurlka Roadhouse (817 km) along probably some of the roughest roads I've driven on for any distance. The fuel economy on this bit of the Anne Beadell highway was 14.9 km/100l meaning I didn't need to touch the spare jerry can of diesel I carried along. Ilkurlka was also the most expensive fuel of the trip, costing $2.49 per litre, meaning this was the most expensive fuel bill I've ever had at $295.

Photos from the trip are on my picasa website.

Highlights

- A couple of days where we basically didn't see any one else.

- The abandoned section of the old Gunbarrel Highway.

- The weather was dry but chilly overnight.

Lowlights

- no fish were caught (a hang over from the trip to the Cape)

- The MAP sensor on the Pajero stuffing up and stranding me in Alice for 6 Days.

Dramas

- Apart from my car problems, the only hassles we had were a few roof rack problems on the Cruisers.

Quote of the Trip (from Brett)

"The night was clear and bright, the damper was dark and stormy."

This was after a particularly good damper prepared by Leon using a can of Bundy Rum Dark & Stormy donated by Brett.

Participants

- Leon and Ryan in a Toyota Landcruiser, Petrol V8

- Brett also in a Toyota Landcruiser, Petrol V8

- Me in my NS SWB Pajero diesel

Day23 - Desert Trip 2010

Another early morning as I left Mitchell just after 7 am. As I got
close to Roma and finally got some Optus phone signal, I got an SMS
from Brett saying they were in Roma. So after getting into Roma and
refueling I contacted Brett and found they had just about packed up
(the wimps had spent the previous couple of nights in cabins) so we
caught up and had some brekky. They refueled and as we were leaving
Roma we had to stop for a Random Breath Test as they were testing all
the cars leaving Roma to the east. Then we had a nice easy drive,
until just east of Dalby we saw Ron heading west in his Jackaroo. Leon
called him up and we stopped for a 15 min chat. Then it was onto
Toowoomba where we stopped for a quick lunch at Maccas. Leon took us
through the back streets of Toowoomba in what was supposed to be a
short cut. Then it was an easy drive in towards Brisbane until the
Logan Motorway where I peeled off to head home to the Gold Coast
leaving Brett, Leon and Ryan to head home to Brissy. I refueled at
Mudgeeraba and got home about 4:30 pm. I took me an hour or two to
unpack the car, then a shower and a quick bite saw me going to bed
pretty early as I had to go to work the next morning.

Day 22 - Desert Trip 2010

Another early start, as I left Boulia at about 7:15 am. The road was
now single lane bitumen but with next to no traffic it was a very easy
drive. I saw a few more eagles and lizards along the way and stopped
off at Cawnpore lookout for a few pictures. I stopped at Winton for
morning tea and then continued on to Longreach where I refueled the
car and myself. The road was excellent for driving and I made time to
Augathella but I couldn't find anywhere suitable to stop for the night
so I continued on as it started to get darker. The kangaroos started
to come out as the sun went down, so I needed to slow down so I could
avoid them. I continued onto Mitchell where I arrived at around 7 pm
and I stayed at the caravan park. This was my biggest driving day with
1186 km. The Mitchell caravan park has great facilities with the
showers and toilets set up like ensuites and the hot water for the
showers was very relaxing. Luckily I arrived as the bush poet was
finishing his routine and set up my tent under a tree as it felt like
it would get pretty chilly overnight. The other problem with the caravan

Day 21 - Desert Trip 2010

Woke up early and was leaving Alice Springs by 7:30 am. I had an easy
drive on bitumen to Gemtree where I fueled up. About 30 kms from
Gemtree I hit gravel road but it was in pretty good nick. The scenery
around the Harts Range was very nice and there was lots of tracks off
the main road for people to go fossicking. Saw a few Wedge Tailed
Eagles beside the road but they wouldn't hang around long enough for a
good photo. There was also quite a few lizards sunning themselves on
the road, luckily I missed them all and one hung around long enough
for a photo. I stopped a the Queensland border for a photo and a bite
to eat and surprisingly the road actually seemed to get better in Qld.
I eventually got to Boulia where I refueled and set up camp for the
night at the local caravan park. All up the trip along the Plenty/
Donohue highways was uneventful with the road being in quite good
condition, with cruising speeds of 90-100 km/hr easily achieved.