Brisbane to Broome via Gibb River return via Tanami Desert

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Biggest think for newbies is to buy a quality compressor and start playing with different pressures and speed. The more training on what to do for newbies the better.
Try using 20 -25 psi on corrugated roads. Keep your speed to 3 x psi ( 25 psi x 3 = 75 kph) and start to let the car tell you what it likes. Depending on the type of spring, shock and tyre will change the pressures used but not by much.
If your towing a trailer remember to lower the pressures on those tyres as well. The axle will thank you.

Glad you where not hurt with your little moment but please try to reduce speed and pressures when the corrugations start.

Rusty.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Leaving in the morning.

Rusty.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Arrived in Broome today. Bungles were great, not rough at all. Dropped tyres to 25psi. Derby tomorrow for horizontal falls tour then back via Gibb River. Will do the Tanami as brothers 150 should have the new motor after blowing pot #2 320 km west of Katherine.
Rusty.

[drew_1 Find all posts View Profile Close drew_1]

thanks Rusty, keep us updated. Keen to hear your Tanami experience

cheers
Drew

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Well we have done every thing we wanted with the exception of Broome and above. Used the Tanami Highway and I mean Highway it was super smooth to Alice then the Sandover to Mt Isa.
Will post a report next week after we get home and offload the 500kg of red dust from the car and camper.

Rusty.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Gibb River Road, Mitchell Falls, Bungles all were better than the pictures show. The Horizontal falls are one of life's bucket list places everyone should experience. As is Mitchell Falls.

Rusty.

[awwricecracker Member Find all posts View Profile Close awwricecracker]

Well we have done every thing we wanted with the exception of Broome and above. Used the Tanami Highway and I mean Highway it was super smooth to Alice then the Sandover to Mt Isa.
Will post a report next week after we get home and offload the 500kg of red dust from the car and camper.

Rusty.

Great to know the tanami is smooth at the moment, I'm planning to go to alice late september, anything can happen between now and then though. Looking forward to your pics

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Here we go. This may take a bit of time and some pics will be out of order.

Days 1-4. Brisvegas to Katherine.
Finally the day has come for our long awaited return to travel after last years engine failure. Spirits are high and we depart at 2:30 am for the long first few days. Night one we made it just past Longreach at a great spot called Darr River. Night two has us at my niece's place in Mt Isa. It is here we meet up with my brother and wife. Night three was a small spot 200 meters off the Stuart at Churchill Head. This camp was behind a hill so no noise from the highway.It was this night we heard a bad noise under the bonnet, close to the turbo charger that sounded like the turbine spool was hitting the sides. Turns out it was the alternator clutch bearing had seized and now had started to move thus the cracking sound. Just as well i brought the spare.


Stuart Hwy. Smoko.



Flynn memorial.



V8 Supercar Transporter.



Alternator change. Failed clutch pulley. Just as well i had a spare.



Sunrise on the Stuart.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Days 5-10
Katherine came begging and the shops needed to supply us with fuel and food other than the border fruit drop for the next few weeks.
This plan can to an abrupt halt when Nev's 150 decided to change things. Putting a hole in number two with an injector failure. Only had 88000 km on the clock. When he called on the radio all i could see in the mirror was a large blue cloud with the car coming out.
Luckily we had just passed a camp spot and was able to tow the now dead 150 at walking pace the 1200 mts. Any further we would need to take the tailshafts off as the 150 dose not have a neutral position.
Quick inspection was made and confirmation it was not a roadside repair. Nev and i quickly dropped the trailer and made the 50km dart back to Timber Creek to arrange a tilt tray and repairs under warranty at Katherine Toyota.

Prado will be in Toyota for two weeks so off to Darwin to pick up a hire 4wd Troopy to continue the trip.




Smoko just before the 150 went bang.



Next morning after the bang.



Timber Creek. US Army.



Lake Argyle.



Roast Lamb and Veges. YUM.

[MUMSRIG Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MUMSRIG]

What happened to the 150?

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Day 10-14.
With the 150 stuck in Katherine and Nev in the hire troopy we have changed the trip a bit and will do Gibb River road on the way back.
Bungles where fantastic and the road in not as bad as some travelers had told us (nothing unusual). Tyres down to 22-24-22 and speed under 80 no problems. They don't allow twin axle trailers in here and that would be to stop the caravan fraternity from killing themselves. Most of the people that had left the caravans did not let any air out their tyres and the looks on their faces was priceless.
It was here Nev finally launched the new toy, a quad chopper drone with high definition camera. Some of the footage you get from these things is just fantastic.



Bungles.



My Sue.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

What happened to the 150?

Number 2 went bang. Only had 88000 at the time.

Bugger.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Days 10-13

From the Bungles we had a booking at Broome to ride the camels and the following night booked for the Horizontal Falls overnight stay.
Because of the previous days lost in Katherine we ended up only having the afternoon in Broome and really this was a mistake. Next time will stay here for a week.

Stone shield worked better than i thought it would.



Sue launching the drone. Every one should have one of these.



Camels on Cable.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Day 15.
Short drive today from Broome to Derby for the afternoon flight to Talbot Bay for the overnight stay out on the water.
If you haven't been to this natural wonder make sure you ut it on your bucket list. It is that good and the people who work on the floating resort make it that much better.
They even offered to take Nev and my son out on the third fast boat to capture some footage with the drone of the big boats going through the falls.



Driving on Cable to get some drone footage.



Horizontal Falls from the helicopter.

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Day 15 -
Sort of lost track of the days here.
This is where my brother and wife left us to do the run back to Katherine to pick up the reconditioned 150. The original plan was to do the Gibb as a two car team but this left us on our own. This meant we had to be extra careful as no second car as backup.
Camped at Windjana for two nights to inspect Tunnel Creek and the local water hole with 30-40 fresh water crocs. Then back up to the Gibb and on to Silent Grove for a night and did the short walk to Galvans Gorge.
Next day refueled at Mount Barnett for the Mitchell Plateau run. The main road was really good, 80kmh at 24-26-24. After making the left turn into Mitchell NP dropped tyres to 20-22-20 as the corrugations became short, deep and rough. Again people are not letting air out of tyres making the corrugations worse. Camp at the national park. The helicopters here just don't stop. The base is 200 mt from the campground so don't expect a quiet time during daylight hours.
The walk to the Mitchell Falls is not as hard as some would have you believe. We set out early in the morning with more food then we needed, water bottles and camera gear. This is another of the Bucket List places you must go to. The destination is worthy of the rough trip in and out. It was also here that we (QLD) gave them (NSW) a hiding. We could only listen on the radio.


Tunnel Creek,



Mitchell Falls