(Not the) CSR Trip 2013 Days 7 and 8

Thursday started off so well. We were all packed up and ready to go at
8 am, meeting in the Main Street of Halls Creek. Paul and Maggie,
Damian and Alf and Mick had headed off early to stop in at Wolfe Creek
meteorite crater on the way. We got to Biliuna around 10'ish and
topped up the fuel tanks. Then we found out that Paul's Patrol had a
leaky sub-tank so he headed back to Halls Creek with Damian to see if
it could be fixed.
The rest of us continued on to the Canning with the hope the others
could catch up when the tank was fixed. The track continued to get
worse the farther we went with the corrugations getting pretty bad. We
had some lunch and then stopped in at the first well (Well 51) for a
look and a few photos. We continued on bypassing the next well and
having a quick stop for some afternoon tea, then it was fire
collection time with Shane's ute ending up with more than enough wood
for the evening. The onto Well 49 which had been reconstructed and
held what looked like good water.
Just before this I noticed that the Paj wasn't handling at all well
and a quick look showed the rear shocks both leaking oil. I headed
back to Halls Creek slowly while the others continued onto their first
camp site. I was around 150 kms from Biliuna and traversed this
section of the Canning doing around 30 km/hr at the most, stopping
every 45 minutes or so to allow the shocks to cool down. Once I got to
the Tanami track after Biliuna I could increase speed to around 50
km/hr. After 30 mins or so I found a nice area off to the side of the
track and had a sleep in the car.
I find the Paj seats quite comfortable for long distance driving but
sleeping is another matter. I woke up at 4'ish and continued on into
town getting there just after 8 am with the back end of the Paj
feeling very slushy. I found the mechanic who fixed Sue's car and he
was able to track down a set of shocks and could fit them the
following morning at 8 am, so it was back to the caravan park for the
day. I walked into town for coffee but generally relaxed and got
things ready, including a Plan B for tomorrow depending on whether I
try to catch up with the others.
I've just talked to the others via their sat phone and they have had a
very easy day, so I will head off after them tomorrow morning after
the shocks are fixed. It's supposed to be a very noisy night in Halls
Creek tonight as the pub gets very busy, I'm still tired after the
drive last night so I should sleep pretty well.

CSR Trip 2013 Days 5 and 6

Got up early and packed up quickly to head off to the tyre shop. Got
to Tyrepower about 7:45 am as they were opening the office. They had 4
BFG AT's in the correct size and they could them before lunch. While
they were working I went to Maccas for breakfast and then wandered
around town for awhile, they had a plague of moths causing havoc in
the news agents store. After a quick walk around the town, I went back
to the tyre shop and waited for them to finish. I got the car back at
11 am, put the second spare back in the roof box and then fueled up
and left around 11:30 am.
The bitumen finished somewhere around Tilmouth, where I should have
refueled but I continued onto Yuendomo where the line up for fuel was
pretty long, so I just kept going. The road wasn't too bad and I could
sit on around 90 km/hr most of the time. Not much traffic or animals
so it was a relatively easy drive. Had to slow down around sunset as I
was driving into the sun and couldn't see much of the road. I kept
going after dark once the spotties had a chance to make a difference,
as I was aiming for the border. But I found a nice little pull off in
the bush and set up camp around 9'ish. Laid the swag out and went to
bed straight away.
I got up early as the sun started coloring the horizon and packed up
quickly after putting one Jerry of diesel into the car. I drove for
about 30 mins and got to the WA border and immediately the road got
better. I kept going past Biliuna and turned off to go to see the
Wolfe Creek meteorite site which was about 20 km off the main road. It
was pretty spectacular looking down into the crater and imaging a big
bit of rock crashing down.
Then it was back to the Tanami track and continuing north until the
bitumen of the Great Northern Road and a nice smooth run into Halls
Creek. I got in around noon and headed straight to the petrol station
and refuelled with 144 litres of diesel costing $265. The fuel economy
for the Tanami track was 12.8 l/100km which I didn't think was too
bad.
I saw Sue at the fuel station and her car had gone into limp mode so
she was a bit unhappy. We headed back to the caravan park and checked
in and did the boring things like washing and shopping. Sue found a
mechanic and he managed to fix the EGR on the car and get it out of
limp mode, so she was very happy. All nine cars had now made it to
Halls Creek and we ended up at the pub for a very good meal before
heading back to camp for an early night in bed before the big trip.

CSR trip 2013 Day 4

Well, as my luck would have it, today was a public holiday in the
Northern Territory, so just about everything bar the fast food shops
and the petrol stations were closed, including the tyre shops. Just to
be sure, I was packed up and left camp by 8 am to check if any tyre
shops had forgotten about the holiday and opened by accident. No such
luck. I let the others know that I wouldn't be coming with them today
and they then headed off up the Tanami track. Then it was Brekky at
Maccas and a quick trip up to Anzac Hill to lookout over Alice Springs
and contemplate what to do today.
From the top of the hill I could see three of the tyre shops and they
were still closed, so I decided to go for a short drive out to the
West Macdonald range for a bit of sightseeing. I didn't stray off the
bitumen and kept pretty much within mobile phone range, in case
anything untoward happened to my four remaining tyres.
I got out to the turn to Stanley Chasm but didn't head in there, the
scenery has wonderful and I took a few photos on the way. Then on the
way back into town I had a look at Simpsons Gap and saw a couple of
rock wallabies on the walk down to the gap. Then it was back into town
for lunch at Hungry Jacks where I saw another red SWB Pajero.
Then a final check of the tyre shops, they still hadn't opened, so I
headed back to the caravan park and booked in for another night. I had
a nice relaxing afternoon repacking the car, as it had got a bit messy
when changing the tyres. Then I caught up on my daily blog writing
before settling back and reading a book for the rest of the day.
Hopefully, my luck will be better tomorrow and a quick tyre fitting
will see me heading up the Tanami track by about lunch time.

CSR Trip 2013 Day 3

Woke up about 7 am as the sun was coming up, we had a leisurely pack
up and left by 8 am. All went well until we crossed the border into NT
and then a little bit down the road I completely demolished a tyre,
not sure what happened to it but it was dead. After changing the tyre
with some help from Shane, Sue just stood around taking photos of us
rolling around in the dirt and dust. :)
Then it was back on the road until tragedy stuck and I flicked a
largish rock up and it put a large gash in the side wall of the other
rear tyre. Luckily I had a second wheel and spare, so it was back to
changing tyres again and Sue got some more photos. We then continued
on very gingerly, stopping at the river near Jervois Station for a
bite of lunch.
We continued onto Alice Springs and got there around 5'ish in the
afternoon. We refuelled on the way in and went straight to the
Heavitree caravan park where we met up with Dale from Melbourne. After
setting up camp we wandered over to the local pub for their Sunday
night roast dinner. Then after a chat and a drink back at camp it was
time for an early night in bed.

CSR Trip Day 2

I woke up about 6:30 am and found Shane had appeared magically
overnight. It was very tempting to stay in a nice warm swag as it was
bloody chilly outside. Got up and had a leisurely pack up before
hitting the road around 7:30 am. Then it was a morning of cruising on
the speed limit of 110 km/hr except for the odd spot of roadworks. We
stopped at Barcaldin to take some photos of the Tree of Knowledge and
then continued onto Longreach for a lateish lunch.
Then it was onto Winton where we all refuelled before heading onto
Boulia. We got there about 7 pm and after a quick stop and refuel we
decided to carry onto a campsite at Georgina River about 120 kms away.
There had been very few animals on the road and that continued so we
were able to make reasonable time with the spotties getting a good
work out. We got to the camp site around 9:30 pm, found a nice spot by
the river bed and set up camp and hit the sack straight away.

CSR 2013 trip Day 1

I managed to get away a bit earlier than I expected, around 8:30 am
and headed north to meet up with Sue. Then it was onto the highway
until the Logan motorway when we started heading west, that remained
the theme of the day. There was lots of roadworks both before and
after Toowoomba so it was pretty slow going.
We had a quick lunch at Maccas in Dalby and from there the road work
and traffic was much less and we managed to engage warp speed and
cruise at highway speed for a change. Afternoon tea and fuel refill at
Roma and then onto Mitchell. More roadworks but as it was getting
later in the day there was less traffic and less delays. The last last
20 to 30 kms into Morven was not pleasant, driving into the setting
sun and having to beware of the Roos who were just starting to come
out for an early evening feed.
We got into the Morven Recreational Grounds for the evening and set up
camp and had an early meal. We are still waiting for Shane to arrive
as he left late and was still suffering from man flu.