Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Canning Stock Route trip report

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Canning Stock Route trip report

    Hi all,

    Here is a brief report on our Canning Stock Route trip. My wife has the SD card with all the Canning photos on it so I will have to post them up later. The whole report was too long for one post so I've split it into a number of posts.

    We left Gladstone on 2nd June and got back on 8th July, so were way for 5 weeks in total.

    The route was
    • Gladstone to Alice Springs via Winton/Boulia along the Plenty highway
    • Alice Springs to Wiluna via Uluru and the Great Central Road
    • Canning Stock Route (Wiluna to Billiluna)
    • Billiluna to Alice Springs on the Tanami Road with a detour up to Wolfe Creek Meteor Crater first
    • Alice Springs to Oodnadatta via the Binns Track
    • Oodnadatta Track to Maree then Birdsville Track to Birdsville
    • Birdsville to Gladstone via Windorah/Longreach

    The original plan for the return journey was to cross the Simpson but on reaching Mt Dare we found out that Eyre Creek was still impassable thus prompting a change to plan to return home via the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks. I have been long the Oodnadatta track a couple of times before but had never been up the Birdsville track.

    We travelled with a group of friends with whom we try to do roughly one trip per year. There were 9 vehicles in total, as follows:
    • 150 Series Prado (ours)
    • 200 Series Landcruiser
    • Landrover Discovery 3
    • Mitsubishi Triton (current model)
    • 3 x Nissan Patrol GU wagons – 1 x 2.8 litre, 1 x 3.0 litre and 1 x 4.2 litre engines
    • Nissan Patrol GU ute
    • 80 Series Landcruiser

    All vehicles were turbo diesels. The Triton was only a few months old and our Prado was about 8 months old at the start of the trip and only had 14,000km on the odometer. All the other vehicles were at least a few years old.

    We had been planning this trip for about a year and it was the main catalyst for upgrading from the 90 series to the 150 series. We needed a bit more room now that the kids were getting bigger and while the 90 series had never missed a beat in its 195,000 km’s I did not want it to start on such an epic trip.

    Quite a lot of preparation went into setting up the Prado. Most of the mods are detailed in my build thread and there is nothing out of the ordinary, it just takes a lot of effort to build a vehicle up into a capable tourer in a short period of time.

    All vehicles camped with tents or swags (i.e. no camper trailers) and we had to carry enough food for about 4 weeks. This was probably the biggest challenge – fitting everything in. I’m not sure if many people are aware but the 150 series actually has less cargo space that the 90 series (and I’m talking the GX here with no 3rd row seats and without the 3rd row cup holders and aircon robbing cargo space). All the extra room goes into the cabin. Anyway, that presented some challenges and the need to be innovative when design storage and when packing. Some of the things we did were:
    • I cut down the two channels that the black widow drawers sit on by 25mm
    • Removed the bolts from the forward wings on the drawers so we could pack in there as well (these are normally inaccessible)
    • Had a custom made stainless 55 litre water tank
    • Moved the fridge to the very back of the vehicle and utilised the space behind it for storing items that we did not need to get to often. I had to make up a board to fit in here to hold stuff in so it didn’t fall down whenever the fridge was opened.
    • Stored spares in the small space underneath the drawers (ie. Between the floor in the cargo area and the underside of the drawers, e.g. spare air filter, siphon hose and a few other items.

    Anyway, everything was crammed in - 4 weeks of food, 75 litres of water, bedding, toys/books/activities for the kids, etc, oh and of course 3 weeks worth of grog – and off we went.

    Three of the vehicles were from Gladstone and travelled the whole trip together, while the other six were from SE Qld. Everyone made their own way over to WA in their own time and the group assembled at North Pool before starting the CSR.
    andoland
    Senior Member
    Last edited by andoland; 15-08-2011, 03:16 PM.
    2010 GX Turbo Diesel

  • #2
    The first part of the trip was really just a mission to get to North Pool. We stayed in motels in Emerald and Winton the first two nights as these allowed us to drive longer that we would if we had to find a camp site (we didn’t leave Gladstone until 2pm on the first day). The first bit of adventure came about 60km before Winton where we noticed a Rodeo at the side of the road and as we got closer saw a family with three young kids (oldest about 4) trying to push it. We pulled up to see if we could help, to find that their engine had seized. The family were on their way from Mt Isa to Newcastle for a funeral. They had no phone reception so we helped them get in touch with the mechanic in Winton (which was a bit of a struggle as the only mechanic listed in the yellow pages no longer existed). Eventually we got onto the Winton RACQ but their tilt tray was already busy so we ended up towing them into Winton. Thanks must go to Central Motors in Winton whom we talked to on the phone (the RACQ agent) and who arranged accommodation for the family when we arrived.

    Winton to Yulara was uneventful. The Plenty Highway was in great condition and we sat on 90-95km/hr most of the way. It’s funny how different peoples views are of what is a good road or a bad road. About 100km out of Boulia we passed a vehicle towing a camper trailer heading east. Talking to him on the radio he said he had blown 2 tyres on the Plenty. I told him not to worry the road was great the rest of the way to Boulia, to which he replied that it was atrocious in the direction we were heading. I kept waiting for the road to get bad but to us it was great the whole way. We camped just past Jervois.

    We had some lunch in Alice, refuelled and headed towards Yulara. That night we camped at Curtain Springs and had our first experience of the mouse plague in Central Australia. While they didn’t bother us in our tent our travelling companions in their swags had a bit of fun. We were also told off by the grumpy owner for letting our kids play in the gravel piles in the middle of the camp ground, but that was made up for by the fantastic steaks we got from the kitchen for dinner. The next day we arrived at Yulara, paid $45 for an unpowered camp site, then went off to see the rock and the Olgas. Both were stunning but unfortunately due to a bit of wind around we could not climb the rock.

    We woke up the next morning to light drizzle and had to pack up in the rain which continued most of the day down along the Great Central Road. This road was also in great condition and again we could sit on 80-95km/hr most of the way, even though it was wet. There was only one slippery patch and the traction control did its thing to keep us on the road. The next day we continued through to Leonora.

    The following day we reached North Pool, after fuelling up in Wiluna, and met up with three other of our party. We spent two nights here while the remainder of our group arrived.

    We left North Pool on Saturday 11th June and arrived in Billiluna on Monday 27th, taking a total of 17 days. We travelled between 70km and 140km each day and I think this was perfect. We left camp around 8am each morning and were at camp by 2-3pm each day. There were 11 kids on the trip ranging from 6 months to 7 years old so it was important that they had plenty of time to play and not spend the whole day in the car. You could drive the CSR faster that this if you wanted to but I you would not be doing it justice. Two of the blokes in our group had been along the CSR before at much faster pace and saw heaps of things this time around that they didn’t see last time.

    The overwhelming memory of the CSR is how green it was. The spinifex was thriving and in places it was like driving through a field of wheat. There were flowers galore (red ones, yellow ones, purple ones). According to the two who had been along the Canning before, where they had only seen bare sand we could not see the sand for spinifex and shrubs. The downside was the amount of tree and shrub growth right up to the sides of the track in many places. At times we went for kilometres with shrubbery scraping along both sides of the duco.

    The driving was relatively easy and was not the challenge I was expecting it to be. The real challenge here is having your vehicle properly prepared to prevent a breakdown in such and remote place and ensuring you drive in such a way that you make it to the end with everything intact. Up to about Well 9 or 10 you are driving on pretty much station tracks and the dunes start around Well 10. While the dunes got bigger the further north we went they were certainly not as difficult as I was expecting. For some reason, the track up the southern face of many dunes was very lumpy (like moguls) and we found ourselves having to engage low range only so we could drive up slow enough to not bounce everything around. Otherwise high range 1st or 2nd gear got over most dunes. No-one in the party got bogged and there were only two dunes where I had to have a second go when I had used high range only to find some soft sand at the top and did not have the torque to get over. In both cases I simply reversed down, engaged low range and drove straight over. This did highlight one of the more frustrating features of the 150 series (maybe the 120 was like this as well, I don’t know) – to engage low range you have to come to a dead stop, push the clutch right to the fire wall to engage the same switch as for starting and be in neutral. Then you have to wait the 3 or 4 seconds for it to engage before doing anything. The first time I actually had to get the handbook out and check up because I could not get low range to engage. If you did the sequence correctly and turned the knob, but then tried to put it in gear before it had finished engaging it would not engage. It was so frustrating when I am used to be able to engage while rolling at low speed. You have to follow the same procedure when disengaging.

    Anyway, I don’t why the dunes were do bumpy on the southern face but I have a few theories – people now letting their tyres down (mine were at 16psi cold), driving to fast and/or towing camper trailers. If you let your tyres down – and don’t be scared to let them right down – you don’t need speed to get over dunes. Just engage low range and idle over.

    We didn’t always camp at wells because many don’t have any firewood, but we generally collected wood along the way. Finding a campsite for 9 vehicles was surprisingly never difficult.

    Pierre Springs (Well 6) was beautiful and had good water. There is a toilet here as well.

    We refilled our water tanks at Georgia Bore near well 22. We came across another party of 3 vehicle here travelling south and they informed us they had seen lots of camels, whereas we had seen none. We saw heaps of camels from well 22 onwards.

    We had ordered a fuel drop at well 23 through the Capricorn Roadhouse and the fuel was there, well marked and clean. Being the first trip with this vehicle I wasn’t sure what the fuel economy would be like and I didn’t want the extra weight of a jerry can on the roof so the fuel drop worked out well. We shared a 200 litre drum between 3 vehicles taking on roughly 65 litres each.

    Well 24 was flooded and the water was not drinkable.

    We fuelled up at Kunawarritji, the community near well 33. The Prado took 82 litres here, so combined with the 65 litres at well 23 I used a total of 147 litres from Wiluna to Well 33 over a distance of 1092km, including a 40km round trip from North Pool back to Wiluna to get a tyre repaired. So even without the extra trip back to Wiluna I would have needed some extra fuel just to be sure of making it.

    Kunawarritji community has a brand new set of cabins and amenities block (showers, toilets, washing machines) and we took the opportunity to have a shower and wash clothes. We also filled out water tanks at the community. There is plenty of water at well 33 but with all the rain they weren’t sure how good it was but it turned out to be good clean water.

    At well 33 a couple came past in a Nissan GU ute with a tray-on type camper on the back. Their ute had air bags in place of the coil springs and the spring towers had collapsed so they had to travel the rest of the Canning riding on the bump stops.

    The corrugations were terrible from well 32 to about well 35 and there were the odd patch of bad corrugations for the rest of the track.

    Well 46 had water but travellers we met a day or two before told us they had pulled a dead brown snake out of this well, so that ruled it out even as washing water. We could see at least one other snake living in the timbers of this well.

    Well 49 had water which we used for showing and washing up. A couple of the group were using it for tea after boiling with no apparent ill effects. We camped here for two nights – it was not a great campsite but we needed a rest day and there was plenty of water. The kiwi’s in the GU Patrol with the broken suspension also camped here one night.

    Highlights were:
    • White gums at Pierre Springs
    • Climbing Durba Hills to Canning cairn.
    • Durba Gorge where we spent 2 nights – this place is an incredible grassy oasis, with tall gum trees and thousand of budgies and cockatiels nesting in the trees. There was water in the gorge which we used for showering and dish washing. We were also able to listen to the 2nd State of Origin here, although the outcome was not great for us Queenslanders
    • Breaden Hills – spectacular red hills
    • Lots of camels north of well 22
    • The scenery the whole way along. As I said above the amount of vegetation was incredible.
    • The isolation – I was expecting to see many more travellers but at times we went 3 days without seeing any one. We probably saw 6 other groups the whole length of the CSR.
    andoland
    Senior Member
    Last edited by andoland; 11-07-2011, 06:07 PM.
    2010 GX Turbo Diesel

    Comment


    • #3
      We refuelled at Billiluna after waiting for the shop to reopen at the designated 2 pm. Refuelling here was an interesting exercise – you had to nominate how many litres of fuel you wanted then pay for this amount in the shop, then take the receipt to the bowser where the fellow proceeded to put in the nominated amount, however the bowser worked off dollars not litres and he could only do it in multiples of $90, $50 and $20 so it was a bit of a long process.

      On completing the Canning several of us went up to Wolfe Creek Meteor Crater while the rest continued down the Tanami back towards Alice. As Rabbit Flat roadhouse is now closed we grabbed a small amount of fuel at Tilmouth, just enough to ensure we could get to cheaper fuel at Alice. The Disco had to get fuel at the aboriginal community of Yuendemu but it sounded like this was a place to avoid if possible.

      The Tanami is certainly no longer the horror track you used to hear about in the past. This was the first time I had been along it and again it was 80-95km/hr the whole way. There were some sandy spots and some corrugations but nothing too bad.

      After refuelling and restocking the fridge and pantry at Alice we continued south down the Binns track. It was just me and the two kids from this point on as my wife had to fly to Brisbane from Alice to be with her father who was due to have surgery to treat cancer. We were also down to 6 vehicles as three of the others had more time and were going off to see more of this area.

      The Binns track was a fantastic drive. The road had been recently graded and I can only assume this was to repair damage from heavy rain as I couldn’t think of any other reason the government would spend money maintaining this track.

      Campsite on the Binns Track:


      We stopped in at Old Andado homestead for a good look at what life would have been like 50 plus years ago out here. Molly Clark, who lived in the old homestead until not too many years ago, virtually walked out and left it as is. You can camp here if you like and there are basic cabins available which are just a room with two bare bunks.

      Leaving Old Andado the track skirted some water and on cresting the first dune we were greeted with the sight of a huge lake. Luckily there was a significant track around and we continued on without any problems.

      Water near Old Andado homestead:


      Huge camel footprint


      We continued on to Mt Dare homestead where we refuelled and discovered that we could not get through to Birdsville via the Simpson due to Eyre Creek being impassable even via the northern bypass track. This was quite a disappointment to the group as many of us had been into the desert before (we went up the Hay River track in 2009) but had not crossed it. So we came up with plan B – the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks.

      That night we camped beside the road until about 5pm when a ranger turned up and told us we could not camp there and had to move on. Apparently there was a sign that said camp only in designated areas but somehow all 6 vehicle missed it. So we packed up and moved a few km up the road to one of the designated camping areas, with the ranger following shortly behind to check that we had in fact done what he asked.

      Dalhousie Springs was a highlight with a long swim in the warm water on a cold day. We all came out feeling clean and refreshed.

      Dalhousie Ruins
      2010 GX Turbo Diesel

      Comment


      • #4
        Sunset over Alberga River


        The trip along the Oodnadatta track was uneventful, stopping for the obligatory ale at William Creek hotel. The airstrip was busy with lots of people flying in to see the water and charter operators offering sightseeing flights.

        Algebuckina Bridge


        Water in Lake Eyre South


        On the Birdsville Track we crossed Cooper Creek on the punt and while we were there did a chopper flight over the area to have a look at the incredible amount of water there. There was a charter helicopter and pilot stationed at the creek offering 15 minute flights for $85 per person which was too good to refuse, especially as I had never been in a helicopter before.

        View of floodwaters around Birdsville Track at Cooper Creek


        About 160km out from Birdsville we came across a couple driving a Mercedes ML300 stranded at the side of the road. They had gotten a flat tyre and the only spare they had was a space saver which then also punctured about 15 minutes later. I tried to plug the original tyre but the cut was in the side wall and was too long so the plugs did not hold. I was able to plug the space saver spare and it held air. These don’t seem to have any steel in the tread. Birdsville was too far away for them to reach on the space saver so their plan was to go back to Clifton Hills station about 20km back and see if they could arrange some help from there, so I advised him to limit his speed to about 20km/hr. The vehicle was shod with 265/40 profile highway tyres on 21” wheels which were no match for the sharp rocks on the track.

        A quick stop in Birdsville for lunch and then on to Windorah where we had a great night in the pub watching Qld wrap up the State of Origin. It was all bitumen from there to home.

        All of the vehicles made it through the trip with no significant dramas. My 5 year old UHF aerial broke on the corrugations and so did the latch on my fridge slide, but this was a home made job and undersized so I was not surprised. The 80 series had their auxiliary battery fail not far from the top of the CSR but were able to run their fridge of the main battery, requiring a jump start most mornings.

        There were no flat tyres on the CSR and only three for the whole trip, of which two were unfortunately mine. The first was on a smooth, recently graded stretch of the Great Central Road where I ran over a stick about the thickness of my thumb which was buried in the road surface and which staked the rear left tyre. I got this tyre patched at Wiluna but am not sure if it will ever be usable as there are broken steel cords showing at the puncture site. My second flat was on the Birdsville track where it seems that a sharp stone cut through a tread block.

        I have a DigOptions premium GPS unit and this performed faultlessly on the trip. We were very surprised with the performance of the DVD player which did not skip once.

        The outside of the vehicle took quite a beating though. I haven’t washed it properly yet but one of our fellow travellers has done so and reports scratches down to bare metal. The 200 series owner had coated his vehicle with a paint on paint protection film and I now wish I’d done the same. The underside has also lost quite a bit of paint from scraping over shrubs in the middle of the track and from being blasted by stones on the fast dirt roads.

        Some fuel consumption statistics for the trip:

        Distance travelled – 10,383km

        Fuel used – 1,308 litres

        Total fuel cost - $2,598

        Some Fuel Prices

        • Warburton 2.45/litre
        • Kunawarritji $3.20/litre
        • Well 33 fuel dump $3/litre
        • Billiluna $2.60/litre
        • Tilmouth - $2.05/litre
        • Mt Dare $2.15/litre

        Total fuel economy for the trip – 12.6 litres/100km

        Fuel economy on the CSR
        • Distance travelled – 1788km
        • Fuel used – 249 litres
        • Fuel economy – 13.95 litres/100 km

        Economy for the top half of the track over the sand dunes was somewhat higher than the lower section.

        I’ll post photos up when I get them.

        Ando
        andoland
        Senior Member
        Last edited by andoland; 11-07-2011, 06:15 PM. Reason: spelling
        2010 GX Turbo Diesel

        Comment


        • #5
          Awesome write up mate, looks like a you had a great trip.

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks for taking the time to write a great report. Hope you all have fun.
            [CENTER][SIZE=2][B][COLOR=blue][COLOR=blue]150 GXL 2009, T/D Auto [/COLOR][/COLOR][/B][/SIZE][/CENTER]

            Comment


            • #7
              Wow, thanks for the write up and pictures!

              Sounds like it was an awesome trip!
              Cheers, Damo

              2005 V6 GXL

              Comment


              • #8
                fantastic. thanks for writing it up. can't wait to do it sometime.
                2011 150series GXL

                Comment


                • #9
                  Love the trip report, great photos, the wife had a read and well, what can i say, THANK YOU. Been talking about corner country up to Birdsville over Big Red and ???? She is now more interested and can understand why I have been slowly adding bits to the mighty Prado so its ready to tackle everything when we go next year.
                  2005 120 Prado Pilbara Auto Diesel ARB bullbar snorkle Ultimate suspension 265 70 17 ORS draw system cargo barrier water tank PIAA 150 lights
                  soon MCC Rock sliders and Brush bars
                  Wish list HUGE

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks for taking the time to read and for the comments.

                    mpr7or, the next 12 months or so will be the time to go while everything is still green.
                    2010 GX Turbo Diesel

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Great report on a very interesting trip. Thanks. Can you say a little more about the paint on paint protection?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I dont know a lot about it. It looked a bit like pvc wood glue when it was applied - white and runny - but dried clear. It looked to be a mm or so thick. It seemed to hold up pretty well but wore off the leading edges, e.g. wheel arches, so the owner reapplied it to these areas. He is still away as far as I know so I haven't heard how well it worked. It is affected by rain - the vehicle had a number of places where it had run after they had about 4 days of rain. It went all wrinkly and saggy in a few places.
                        2010 GX Turbo Diesel

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by andoland View Post
                          I dont know a lot about it. It looked a bit like pvc wood glue when it was applied - white and runny - but dried clear. It looked to be a mm or so thick. It seemed to hold up pretty well but wore off the leading edges, e.g. wheel arches, so the owner reapplied it to these areas. He is still away as far as I know so I haven't heard how well it worked. It is affected by rain - the vehicle had a number of places where it had run after they had about 4 days of rain. It went all wrinkly and saggy in a few places.
                          check this site. It might be the same.
                          autoskin.com.au

                          Cheers,
                          Melbo
                          Melbo
                          GXL-D4D-Auto-Graphite

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Terrific write up... Must be amazing seeing that amount of water in Eyre.
                            [img]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f296/1cut808/MUMSRIG/Mitch-Prado.jpg[/img]

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Awsome read, looking foward to the rest of the pics

                              Comment

                              canli bahis siteleri bahis siteleri ecebet.net
                              mencisport.com
                              antalya escort
                              tsyd.org deneme bonusu veren siteler
                              deneme bonusu veren siteler
                              gaziantep escort
                              gaziantep escort
                              asyabahis maltcasino olabahis olabahis
                              erotik film izle Rus escort gaziantep rus escort
                              atasehir escort tuzla escort
                              sikis sex hatti
                              en iyi casino siteleri
                              deneme bonusu veren siteler
                              casibom
                              deneme bonusu veren siteler
                              deneme bonusu veren siteler
                              betticket istanbulbahis
                              Working...
                              X