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Well after a year of planning and preparation we headed north in mid-Sept to tackle the CSR from north to south, well 51-5. We took the pajero (NW platinum nicknamed Wookie - big brown beast) and were accompanied by friends in an ex-military Unimog (aka Moggie).
Took us 5 days to drive from Perth to Halls Creek ( the unimog only did 70-80km/h). We then drove the track in 14 days. Spent 2 nights at Georgia bore and 2 nights at Durba spring. Leaving so late in the season (work stopped us leaving earlier) it was bloody hot. 30 degrees by 9am, most days 40 degrees by lunchtime. We stopped at the majority of the wells, just skipped the ones more than a few km off the main track.
Pajero did very well- no issue with the majority of the sand dunes though a lot had been chewed up by northbound travellers with trailers.
Corrugations were awful in parts - very deep and ran for kilometers. Only comfortablemspeed to drive over them was 20 km/h or 70- anything else felt like the pajero would shake to bits. Some extremely deep ruts and washouts as well - other drivers had made alternate routes around the worst areas. Very dry so we had no issues with getting bogged, mud etc. lots of rocky areas on the track too.
Thought it might help others thinking of doing the track to list the things that worked and things that didn't on the trip!
Successes - BF Goodrich AT tyres. No punctures, no issues on sand rocks or anything else and good on the Tarmac as well
- Rear well water tank by Abber tanks - copied this from Sally's set up. Worked well and had no issues with carrying enough water
- LRA auxiliary fuel tank. Copped a couple of knocks but had no issues- much easier than carrying jerry cans
-Uniden 7760 UHF. Great range and clarity. We have it mouted under the glovebox
-Oztent- once we got the hang of it was really quick to set up and take down
- RAM windscreen mounts for iPhones- stayed in place through all the sand dunes and corrugations...,unlike a lot of other things!
- self adhesive clear paint protection. Bought the 3M stuff off eBay - all the areas we covered look perfect with no scratches or damage to the paint
- 12 volt shower. Being able to have a quick shower when there was water available made us feel vaguely human again at the end of the day. You can't avoid the dust up there!
- water filter. We pumped the well water through if it looked a bit dodgy (discoloured, floaty bits etc) straight into out tank. No issues with drinking it. The restored wells were fine to drink as is. The filtration was good back up though
Failures- RAM ram-a-can cup mount for iPad. The flexible stem snapped off after about 3 days on the track and before we hit the corrugations. RAM are covering it under their lifetime warranty. Opted to upgrade to the ball and socket version
- el cheapo eBay car charger for the camera battery. Didn't work ( worked fine off AC power at home) so ended up using the phone for photos
- roof racks. Shall remain unnamed for the time being. All 3 bars parted company with the roof rails on day 2 on the track. The roof tray, ozpod and Foxwing all stayed firmly attached to the rails, the whole lot just ended up in the sand in front of the car...after gouging the roof, rails, windscreen, bonnet and bull bar. Thankfully the unimog could carry it all - made a mess of the front of the beast though. Insurance is hopefully going to cover the repairs. The roof rack mounts bent and sheared off- we think the bouncing doing down the dunes was the biggest problem. In hindsight should have used heavier duty bars
- mitsubishi customer assistance. The car ended up with the centre diff locked on. We think there was sand stuck in the sensors or something similar. Made about 6 sat phone calls to mitsubishi to get advice on how to rectify it with little success. Granted the satellite reception wasn't the best but they made no effort to help. Heard the was another paj driver ahead of us who had engine issues- the advice he received was to take it into a dealer to be checked! Thankfully for us the problem resolved after about a week and didn't slow us down at all
All in all, an amazing experience. A real test of endurance for both people and vehicles. The majority of other travellers we met had suffered major mechanical issues (suspension, trailer damage etc) most of them were getting out as soon as they could.
Couple of things that might be helpful
- a number of wells listed as ruins were relatively intact and had useable water in them
- water is 20c/L fro Halls creek visitor centre. Pay inside once you've filled up. You have to get the tap handle from the counter. Open 7-5 from memory. Had a bit of a chemical taste, well water was much better( Georgia bore water was pristine- just watch out for the frogs that live in the outlet pipe!)
- marble bar have an RV dump - 2 taps there for replenishing water
- follow what the guide books say- don't take a trailer
the CSR goes through some of the most amazing countryside. I never imagined desert could be so full of plants and animals. On one hand it's sad that so few people ever get to see and experience it. On the other it's good as hopefully it will stay as it is and won't be wrecked. The stars at night are amazing out there.
For a couple of techno geeks it was fantastic to be so remote with no phone, Internet, TV or anything else. While we won't be rushing back to do it again (not in full anyway) , I think we'll be taking the Pajero out and about a lot more I'm the future.
Have attached a couple of pics of the trip.
When I have a bit more time I will try and put together a summary of the well conditions etc and post it here or on the exploroz forum
Cheers
Took us 5 days to drive from Perth to Halls Creek ( the unimog only did 70-80km/h). We then drove the track in 14 days. Spent 2 nights at Georgia bore and 2 nights at Durba spring. Leaving so late in the season (work stopped us leaving earlier) it was bloody hot. 30 degrees by 9am, most days 40 degrees by lunchtime. We stopped at the majority of the wells, just skipped the ones more than a few km off the main track.
Pajero did very well- no issue with the majority of the sand dunes though a lot had been chewed up by northbound travellers with trailers.
Corrugations were awful in parts - very deep and ran for kilometers. Only comfortablemspeed to drive over them was 20 km/h or 70- anything else felt like the pajero would shake to bits. Some extremely deep ruts and washouts as well - other drivers had made alternate routes around the worst areas. Very dry so we had no issues with getting bogged, mud etc. lots of rocky areas on the track too.
Thought it might help others thinking of doing the track to list the things that worked and things that didn't on the trip!
Successes - BF Goodrich AT tyres. No punctures, no issues on sand rocks or anything else and good on the Tarmac as well
- Rear well water tank by Abber tanks - copied this from Sally's set up. Worked well and had no issues with carrying enough water
- LRA auxiliary fuel tank. Copped a couple of knocks but had no issues- much easier than carrying jerry cans
-Uniden 7760 UHF. Great range and clarity. We have it mouted under the glovebox
-Oztent- once we got the hang of it was really quick to set up and take down
- RAM windscreen mounts for iPhones- stayed in place through all the sand dunes and corrugations...,unlike a lot of other things!
- self adhesive clear paint protection. Bought the 3M stuff off eBay - all the areas we covered look perfect with no scratches or damage to the paint
- 12 volt shower. Being able to have a quick shower when there was water available made us feel vaguely human again at the end of the day. You can't avoid the dust up there!
- water filter. We pumped the well water through if it looked a bit dodgy (discoloured, floaty bits etc) straight into out tank. No issues with drinking it. The restored wells were fine to drink as is. The filtration was good back up though
Failures- RAM ram-a-can cup mount for iPad. The flexible stem snapped off after about 3 days on the track and before we hit the corrugations. RAM are covering it under their lifetime warranty. Opted to upgrade to the ball and socket version
- el cheapo eBay car charger for the camera battery. Didn't work ( worked fine off AC power at home) so ended up using the phone for photos
- roof racks. Shall remain unnamed for the time being. All 3 bars parted company with the roof rails on day 2 on the track. The roof tray, ozpod and Foxwing all stayed firmly attached to the rails, the whole lot just ended up in the sand in front of the car...after gouging the roof, rails, windscreen, bonnet and bull bar. Thankfully the unimog could carry it all - made a mess of the front of the beast though. Insurance is hopefully going to cover the repairs. The roof rack mounts bent and sheared off- we think the bouncing doing down the dunes was the biggest problem. In hindsight should have used heavier duty bars
- mitsubishi customer assistance. The car ended up with the centre diff locked on. We think there was sand stuck in the sensors or something similar. Made about 6 sat phone calls to mitsubishi to get advice on how to rectify it with little success. Granted the satellite reception wasn't the best but they made no effort to help. Heard the was another paj driver ahead of us who had engine issues- the advice he received was to take it into a dealer to be checked! Thankfully for us the problem resolved after about a week and didn't slow us down at all
All in all, an amazing experience. A real test of endurance for both people and vehicles. The majority of other travellers we met had suffered major mechanical issues (suspension, trailer damage etc) most of them were getting out as soon as they could.
Couple of things that might be helpful
- a number of wells listed as ruins were relatively intact and had useable water in them
- water is 20c/L fro Halls creek visitor centre. Pay inside once you've filled up. You have to get the tap handle from the counter. Open 7-5 from memory. Had a bit of a chemical taste, well water was much better( Georgia bore water was pristine- just watch out for the frogs that live in the outlet pipe!)
- marble bar have an RV dump - 2 taps there for replenishing water
- follow what the guide books say- don't take a trailer
the CSR goes through some of the most amazing countryside. I never imagined desert could be so full of plants and animals. On one hand it's sad that so few people ever get to see and experience it. On the other it's good as hopefully it will stay as it is and won't be wrecked. The stars at night are amazing out there.
For a couple of techno geeks it was fantastic to be so remote with no phone, Internet, TV or anything else. While we won't be rushing back to do it again (not in full anyway) , I think we'll be taking the Pajero out and about a lot more I'm the future.
Have attached a couple of pics of the trip.
When I have a bit more time I will try and put together a summary of the well conditions etc and post it here or on the exploroz forum
Cheers
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