|
|
|
Across Australia and Back In April club member Peter Thomas and friend took their 1983 Touring Wagon on an outback adventure that encompassed the Simpson Desert, the Gibson Desert, the Little Sandy Desert, the Tanami Desert, the Central Desert, skirted the Great Victoria Desert and Pedirka Desert. With only minimal problems the little car did a fantastic job of tackling some of the country’s worst roads.
The conventional red centre has a lot to see in a relatively small area. Allow a week to see Uluru, The Olgas, Palm Valley, Hermannsberg Mission, Henbury Craters, Haasts Bluff and the numerous gorges. The only time we got bogged on the whole trip was on our way down the Finke River gorge, home of the oldest river in the world. Although marked on maps as a 4WD road this is not such a great shortcut to Kings Canyon after all! There is tangible “ancientness” at these sites. We enjoyed visiting the unique scenery but we wanted to go beyond the tourist areas. It was a relief to leave the tourist trail and head west again. The Gunbarrell had no traffic on it and it presented a variety of surfaces ranging from bone-jarring corrugations that sent the car dancing, to smooth red sand dunes and the odd surprise rock patch that could have worked well as a tank trap. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, we passed through this remote countryside. There is 500K between service stations out here. It is interesting to note that a brand new sponsored Subaru Outback crossed Australia a week after us and decided that the Gunbarrel Highway’s corrugations were too rough for them. They diverted via smoother roads. Recent rains had greened it up so much that we kept wondering, “When do we get to see the real desert?” There was plenty of wildlife and flowers too. This is true outback country and the sense of remoteness is very powerful. It was autumn; the days were mild and the crisp clear night skies blazed with stars. A good warm sleeping bag is essential out here. Mount Augustus is one of those “well kept secrets” of Western Australia. It is twice as big as Uluru and twice as old, too. Every afternoon the setting sun transforms Mt Augustus from a huge brown rock into a huge glowing red rock, a living thing - its colours changing and glowing in the fading light. After a touch of civilisation and car maintenance at Carnarvon we visited pretty little Coral Bay for snorkelling in the turquoise waters and watching sunsets over the Indian Ocean. The rest of that corner of the country was pretty barren and we found ourselves missing the beauty of the desert.
It would have been great to continue exploring this region. There is so much to see. The Kimberleys, Kakadu and Litchfield Park were missed due to the pressure of getting back to work. Maybe next time? The shortest path from there to Alice Springs is down the Tanami Desert Road. This 1000 kilometre shortcut had been closed for months due to flooding but fortunately reopened the day we tackled it. Road reports had us worried about the Sturt Creek crossing which had been a metre under water. We spent the first night of this leg of our trek, camped at Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater. The crater is worth the visit but this is not a good place to camp. There is no provision for overnighting and we ended up driving tent pegs into the hard carpark ground. Next morning our fuel tanks were topped up at Mindibungu Aboriginal settlement which is located at the northern end of the Canning Stock route. Even here nobody was sure whether the road was passable. Next fuel is at Rabbit Flat Roadhouse, 400K down the road. Don’t forget it is only open three days a week! Finally we came to Sturt Creek and it was an anticlimax. There were a couple of soupy mudholes, and the water was hardly a foot deep. The Subaru bounced and slid easily through this in low range. The road ‘improved’ and soon we were covering ground at highway speed over the rough corrugations. Scenery here was really the most monotonous of the trip. Featureless flat Spinifex plains dotted with small termite mounds. Along the way we passed a couple of road train fuel tankers that were still bogged to the axles in the now drying mud patches. Rabbit Flat Roadhouse is unique. Being the only licensed premises on a thousand kilometeres of boring road it has to be sturdy enough to withstand the most serious drinkers. Even the servery has double layers of steel mesh and solid steel doors. The building and all its fittings are welded up from solid steel. They have a bombproof sturdiness that made us keen to be back on the road heading someplace else. Back in Alice Springs we refuelled from service stations that didn’t have steel mesh boxes around their bowsers, revictualled from shops that didn’t hide behind fortified steel screens, and recovered from the endless bone jarring corrugations of Tanami. Winter had arrived and the night temperature dropped to freezing. It was time to luxuriate under hot showers and sleep in a real bed with an electric blanket.
It was finally time to commit to one of the three routes across the desert. We had encountered some convoys that forced us to make a hasty retreat off the narrow track as they headed west. Every one of them was big, powerful, high and well equipped. Our apprehension grew when we compared their imposing presence with our intrepid attempt in a small, unconvoyed car. Would my preparations prove adequate? At least there was some traffic in case we had to ask for help along the way. After much agonising, we finally opted for the direct but rougher “French Line”. It brought a welcome change of pace. The dunes proved quite easy to scale and we made progress at a good pace. That first day we covered nearly 200k, mostly in low range second gear. The little Subaru loved it and didn’t come out of 4WD until after the infamous "Big Red" near Birdsville, three days later. We fell into a comfortable rhythm. Gently climbing each sand dune, slowing at the top to scan the horizon for oncoming traffic and to look down on the coming depression, then as long as speed was controlled, bouncing gracefully down the steeper face to the little valley before the next dune. Even then we had to be constantly alert for oncoming traffic, all of which would stop for a chat before negotiating the sometimes-difficult passing manoeuvre. There are 1100 sand dunes, or so we had read, but we didn’t bother to keep count. Each one is subtly different from the rest. Each valley is different from the rest. At the end of each day we set up camp quickly and efficiently while the last rays of sunlight painted the dunes extra red. Night time was where the true silence of the desert imposed itself. A bright full moon took over and drove the colours from the silent landscape. Our little campfire shed a comforting warm glow as the cold night closed in. While dinner simmered, Mars rose from behind the eastern dune and we brought out the star chart. The moon dimmed the stars a bit but there were still countless millions to look at. We slept well, snug under thick blankets and sleeping bag.
Each morning the first light of dawn woke us and I stirred the ashes of last night’s campfire fire back into life. Remember to take your own firewood. This is a desert – there are no fallen trees. Hot porridge and mugs of steaming tea around the campfire for breakfast. Winter food. Even during the day it didn't get hot. Camp dissolved itself into the car quickly and after the routine check of oil, water and tyres we would break the desert silence, driving slowly at first to savour the morning light. Once again there was plenty of birds and wildflowers due to the preceding month’s rain. Eyre Creek was still flooded and the 60k go-around was a fantastic bonus akin to driving through a zoo. We had a little trouble cresting Big Red and after all those difficult kilometres the little car objected to taking us the last few kilometres into Birdsville. It just didn’t want to go home! A repeated fuel blockage kept stopping us even after I had replaced the filters and blown through the lines. With a little coaxing we pulled into Birdsville for a hot shower and civilised motel room for the night. Of course we took the regulation photo of our car outside Australia’s most photographed Pub. We had loaded up with a total of 125 litres of fuel in order to cover contingencies such as being forced to turn back at any point of the journey. Our actual fuel consumed between Mt Dare and Birdsville was a mere 70 litres but it was comforting to know that we had reserves. The rest of the trip home was plain sailing on sealed highways. This trip was an awe-inspiring journey through remote countryside. It was an unforgettable outback experience. Each place left its own ancient presence etched into our memories. The Subaru proved to be a capable touring vehicle for ‘our’ outback. Trivia: Time taken 8 weeks Distance 16,000k (About a third of this was sealed roads) Fuel 2084 litres (most of it at twice the city prices) Items that failed on the trip: Steering Rack tie rods (Len Beadell’s corrugations) Lower ball joint Fuel pump Distributor bushes (fitted s/h Dizzy in Carnarvon) Fuel filters One set of tyres fitted in Carnarvon. Vehicle modifications: Lift kit, 2 inch Sunraysia style 14 inch rims with 185x14x75R road tyres (not legal if they widen the track) Long range fuel tank – 65 litres (needs to be bigger) Coil spring assist to rear suspension (not legal) Gas shockies on rear Spares Carried: Ignition points, condenser, coil, sparkplugs and leads Fuel pump, fuel filters Two spare tyres, one on rim Tyre tubes, puncture kit, tyre levers Belts and hoses. Recovery kit Peter Thomas SC514 |
|
|
We
crossed the continent twice. Firstly travelling from East to West via the Plenty
Highway, through the red centre, down Len Beadell’s infamous Gunbarrell Highway
and then 600k of gravel to Carnarvon via Mount Augustus. On the west coast we
visited some of the attractions while heading north to Halls Creek, where we
turned back to eastward. Again we passed through Alice Springs then returned to
Brisbane via the Simpson Desert and Birdsville.
Broome
is a comfortable town, an oasis. The white sand of its Cable Beach beckoned and
we couldn’t resist taking a catamaran for a sail in the Indian Ocean. At last we
left the normal tarred road and followed the Gibb River Road to visit some more
hidden treasures of W.A. A visit to the awe inspiring ancient limestone reef of
Windjana Gorge was a “must see”. The gorge is home to a hundred or so living
dinosaurs (freshwater crocs) to distract you in case the geology of an enormous
fossilised reef hasn’t already inspired you. There are good bush campsites here
and some walking to see the place. Then a visit to nearby Tunnel Creek where we
waded into the darkness of the tunnel for 700 metres. There are fish in here,
and freshwater crocs too. So mind your step. 
Further
east we rejoined the tar until Halls Creek where we were advised to allow at
least 3 hours for the 150k trip into the Bungle Bungles. Since the first 100k
was a sealed highway we thought there was some mistake but no, that last 50k was
a challenging winding track with numerous creek crossings. In one of these
narrow creeks we had a bow-wave that went up over the windscreen wipers! But it
was worth it to camp and walk amongst those amazing striped beehive shaped
domes. A chopper ride was essential to put the whole scene into perspective.
The
Simpson Desert was next. It was the most moving segment of our journey. The
anticipated peacefulness of the Simpson didn’t start until we had a soak in the
soothing hot mineral waters of Dalhousie Springs. You just can’t rush these
things. Signs informed us that the water had taken 3 million years to travel
from the Great Dividing Range in Queensland and that it emerges at 43 degrees
Celsius, fortunately cooling down to a bearable hot bath temperature before
reaching our staircase. Once we had immersed ourselves in the steaming water,
the place took on a true oasis appearance. Birds chattered from the trees and
tourists chattered from the water. It was so good that we stayed the night just
to have another hot soak in the morning. The ancient red dunes could wait one
more day for us.