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Just returned from a 15 day desert adventure through South Australia and the NT, in the trusty old NH now with 400,000 km on the dial which we racked up on the latter parts of the trip.
As it was just me and the misses in the paj and a mate and his wife in a diesel triton, we just went with what tents and lightweight camping. The gear we take is lightweight and simple. I use a Macpac plateau tent, with a coleman 414 dual fuel dual burner stove for food, a light fold up table and spinifex self inflating double mattress and a pair of lightweight sleeping bags. We also have the stuff on the car, awning, rear worklight, LEDs under the awning and the 40 liter Engel on a MSA drop slide. 2 rear drawers look after the recovery gear and some basic food stuff etc. on the roof rack we had 2 Jerry's on the ARB carrier, a pair of fold up chairs and a 9 kg gas bottle I needed to deliver to a mate in Alice!!
Day 1: Bendigo to Renmark. Days drive looked simple, mildura then turn west to Renmark. Plans went to bad when we came across a 100 series cruiser with an upside down caravan behind it. No Ambo or police on scene, a lot of passers by stopped, but nobody doing much. Didn't help the hitch broke on van, and rear was about 10 feet up, only being held in place with the safety chains and the remains of the broken hitch stuck under the spare tyre on the back door. We helped keep people clear and helped the old couple who were heading towards shock,waited for the ambos, and police before heading on our way. By this stage, making Renmark was impossible, so we pulled into mildura, setup hada feed and beers then bed.
Day 2: mildura to hawker. Got on the road early ish and made our way pretty much straight to hawker. Setup for the night with the view of the flinders ranges just outside the tent! Not a bad way to spend the night. No accidents, no extra stops, just a good day on the road.
Day 3: hawker through to coward springs on the oodnadatta track. A bit of a stop along the way to have a look at Farina ruins and Marree to look at tom kruise's truck, and some of the memorabilia at the pub. While we were there, may as well have a beer!
Next stop was at coward springs for the night. Enough time to sit in the spa a while, and have a look at the old railway buildings. Quite awesome!
Day 4: Coward springs to Algebuckina. With a side trip out to lake Eyre. The 60 km each way road was horrendous! Big corrugations everywhere. Much worse than anything we had come across so far! The camping at the Algebuckina water hole was awesome though! A reason why I love bush camping! The view of the bridge was awesome.
Day 5: Algebuckina to Dalhousie via Oodnadatta. After an early start, we headed to the pink roadhouse for fuel and a look around. Then off to Dalhousie ruins for a look, then to the springs to camp for the night. When we got to the springs the lack of shade, and heat was too much, so we made the trek out to Mt. Dare.
I have to say that the road from oodnadatta through to Dalhousie was bad. Rough and covered with gibbers and really in bad condition. The road through to mt dare was worse!!! Obviously had enough rain to really make it bad! You could have hidden a Nissan micra in some of the corrugations! Into the pub to book a site and the obligatory beer, and fuel at 2.24 for ULP ouch! Ended up emptying the Jerry's in then topping up from the pump. The girls decided we would eat at the pub tonight! I know better than to argue! During tea we admired Geoffs slide show of broken patrols, trailers, and caravans. He was quite pleased to tell us how many bent GU chassis he has fixed, and don't get him started on trailers and caravans! Interesting tho there were no mitsubishis on his slide show!
Day 6 mt dare to Alice along the old Ghan track. We really needed to keep our minds on the job from finke to Alice. Lots of soft bits in the sand which would drag u in if you weren't concentrating. When we hit Alice, it was quite bizarre driving on a bituminous road often 4 days on corrugations!
Stay tuned for part 2 later on!
Cheers haggis
As it was just me and the misses in the paj and a mate and his wife in a diesel triton, we just went with what tents and lightweight camping. The gear we take is lightweight and simple. I use a Macpac plateau tent, with a coleman 414 dual fuel dual burner stove for food, a light fold up table and spinifex self inflating double mattress and a pair of lightweight sleeping bags. We also have the stuff on the car, awning, rear worklight, LEDs under the awning and the 40 liter Engel on a MSA drop slide. 2 rear drawers look after the recovery gear and some basic food stuff etc. on the roof rack we had 2 Jerry's on the ARB carrier, a pair of fold up chairs and a 9 kg gas bottle I needed to deliver to a mate in Alice!!
Day 1: Bendigo to Renmark. Days drive looked simple, mildura then turn west to Renmark. Plans went to bad when we came across a 100 series cruiser with an upside down caravan behind it. No Ambo or police on scene, a lot of passers by stopped, but nobody doing much. Didn't help the hitch broke on van, and rear was about 10 feet up, only being held in place with the safety chains and the remains of the broken hitch stuck under the spare tyre on the back door. We helped keep people clear and helped the old couple who were heading towards shock,waited for the ambos, and police before heading on our way. By this stage, making Renmark was impossible, so we pulled into mildura, setup hada feed and beers then bed.
Day 2: mildura to hawker. Got on the road early ish and made our way pretty much straight to hawker. Setup for the night with the view of the flinders ranges just outside the tent! Not a bad way to spend the night. No accidents, no extra stops, just a good day on the road.
Day 3: hawker through to coward springs on the oodnadatta track. A bit of a stop along the way to have a look at Farina ruins and Marree to look at tom kruise's truck, and some of the memorabilia at the pub. While we were there, may as well have a beer!
Next stop was at coward springs for the night. Enough time to sit in the spa a while, and have a look at the old railway buildings. Quite awesome!
Day 4: Coward springs to Algebuckina. With a side trip out to lake Eyre. The 60 km each way road was horrendous! Big corrugations everywhere. Much worse than anything we had come across so far! The camping at the Algebuckina water hole was awesome though! A reason why I love bush camping! The view of the bridge was awesome.
Day 5: Algebuckina to Dalhousie via Oodnadatta. After an early start, we headed to the pink roadhouse for fuel and a look around. Then off to Dalhousie ruins for a look, then to the springs to camp for the night. When we got to the springs the lack of shade, and heat was too much, so we made the trek out to Mt. Dare.
I have to say that the road from oodnadatta through to Dalhousie was bad. Rough and covered with gibbers and really in bad condition. The road through to mt dare was worse!!! Obviously had enough rain to really make it bad! You could have hidden a Nissan micra in some of the corrugations! Into the pub to book a site and the obligatory beer, and fuel at 2.24 for ULP ouch! Ended up emptying the Jerry's in then topping up from the pump. The girls decided we would eat at the pub tonight! I know better than to argue! During tea we admired Geoffs slide show of broken patrols, trailers, and caravans. He was quite pleased to tell us how many bent GU chassis he has fixed, and don't get him started on trailers and caravans! Interesting tho there were no mitsubishis on his slide show!
Day 6 mt dare to Alice along the old Ghan track. We really needed to keep our minds on the job from finke to Alice. Lots of soft bits in the sand which would drag u in if you weren't concentrating. When we hit Alice, it was quite bizarre driving on a bituminous road often 4 days on corrugations!
Stay tuned for part 2 later on!
Cheers haggis
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