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We've just returned from a 3-week Cairns to Central Oz trip and thought we'd put up a bit of a summary of the trip.
THE EQUIPMENT:
08 Prado Gxl D4D 6 speed manual (Whate else???)
TrackAbout Safari off road camper
STATISTICS
Total Distance travelled: 6,803 km
Fuel Used: 1015 litres
Fuel cost: $2,075
Average consumption: 14.9 Lt / 100 klm
Worst consumption: 16.7 Lt / 100 klm (Jervois Station - Cattlewater Pass - Ruby Gap - Alice) included large amounts of 2nd gear work on 4WD tracks.
Most expensive: Jervois Station (Plenty Hwy) $ 2.38 / Lt
Cheapest: Winton & Alice Springs: $1.91 / Lt
THE ROUTE
Cairns-Winton-Boulia-Donohue Hwy-Plenty Hwy-Cattlewater Pass-Ruby Gap-East MacDonnells-Alice Springs-West MacDonnells-Chamber's Pillar-Hugh River Stock Route-Uluru (Ayers Rock/Yulara)-Kata Tjuta(Olgas)-Kings Canyon-Mereenie Loop to Palm Valley-Alice Springs-Devils Marbles-Three Ways-Barkly Hwy-Julia Creek-Cairns
THE ROADS
Donohue Hwy (gravel) was generally petty good
Plenty Hwy (gravel) was generally crap! Around Jervois Station (NT) we travelled on the very to 150 - 200 klm because the road was so badly corrugated and cut up.
Cattlewater Pass: a great track about 70 klm in length from Plenty to Ruby Gap track. Mainly 2nd gear. Don't be put off by people telling you not to try and tow a camper trailer on the track. No problems with care. Dont' miss this track
Mereenie Loop (gravel): is a 200 klm "tourist drive" from Kings Canyon to Palm Valley turn off. This road had the biggest corrugations I have ever seen. We had to again revert to driving on the verge to keep our fillings where they belonged!
The rest of the roads were OK, some being pretty sandy but generally what you would expect in the outback.
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
The Prado: no faults at all. Alice Toyota dealer did the service before our return and detected no problems.
TrackAbout camper: no faults at all despite being airborne a couple of times due to driver inattention
Cooper St's (Light Truck): no punctures after about 3000klm off road with a lot of rocky sections. Minimal chipping with excellent grip off road.
Waeco 50 lt: worked perfectly the entire trip.
HEMA Navigator: still learing but was excellent. Ozi Explorer maps are great when in the middle of nowhere and geographically embarrassed.
Old Man Emu Suspension: absolutely excellent; handled fully loaded Prado with the trailer no problems.
Ipod: has to be the best way to provide music when travelling long distance. Also saves the CD player over the corrugations.
WHAT BROKE
WARN winch control box: the bolts holding the box to the mounting bracket on the bull bar tore straight through the backing plate on the 2nd day on the Plenty Hwy. We taped it up which held for the rest of the trip. ARB guys reckon they haven't seen it before. Interesting that there is no washer between the bolt head and the backing plate to add strength and spread the load. Going to fix under warranty this week.
THE HIGHLIGHTS (the whole area is just so spectacular it is hard to pick)
Cattlewater Pass: See above
Ruby Gap: No facilities but just the best place to camp. We were lucky to have the whole massive place to ourselves for our 2-night stay.
Chamber's Pillar: Remote, spectacular, awesome colours...what more can you say?
Uluru/Kata Tjuta (The Rock and the Olgas). There is nothing quite like seeing this places in the "flesh". The best photos cannot do them justice but TOO MANY PEOPLE.....The helicopter flight over Uluru and Kata Tjuta gives a truly different perspective of the whole vase area.
Kings Canyon: The Canyon Rim walk is absolutely spectacular
Palm Valley: Amazing valley full of palms in one of the driest places in Oz. The 5 klm walk is not to be missed.
WHAT P155ED US OFF
We had only one major gripe on the whole trip: the amount of rubbish on the sides of the road in what should have been a pristine area.
We were gobsmacked by the quantities of crap that had been tossed from cars because people are too lazy to take it to a bin.
We drove into Hermannsburg, which is an aboriginal community to have a look at the historical buildings built by the Lutheran Missionaries. The community is literally covered in rubbish: VB cans, VB cartons, plastic bags, car bodies, tyres, you name it. Overseas visitors must wonder what they have driven in to. To be fair, it's not just the communities. We stopped several times at open gates on the Hugh River Stock Route (great drive, by the way) and people obviously thought that while they were stopped they might as well empty their car/s of rubbish. Apologies for raving but it just gave us the sh1t5.
Hopefully we have managed to attach some photos to our ramblings, if technology doesn't beat us.
Cheers
Kevin and Margaret
PS Apologies to the Alice Springs guys who we wanted to catch up with but time just got away from us.
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THE EQUIPMENT:
08 Prado Gxl D4D 6 speed manual (Whate else???)
TrackAbout Safari off road camper
STATISTICS
Total Distance travelled: 6,803 km
Fuel Used: 1015 litres
Fuel cost: $2,075
Average consumption: 14.9 Lt / 100 klm
Worst consumption: 16.7 Lt / 100 klm (Jervois Station - Cattlewater Pass - Ruby Gap - Alice) included large amounts of 2nd gear work on 4WD tracks.
Most expensive: Jervois Station (Plenty Hwy) $ 2.38 / Lt
Cheapest: Winton & Alice Springs: $1.91 / Lt
THE ROUTE
Cairns-Winton-Boulia-Donohue Hwy-Plenty Hwy-Cattlewater Pass-Ruby Gap-East MacDonnells-Alice Springs-West MacDonnells-Chamber's Pillar-Hugh River Stock Route-Uluru (Ayers Rock/Yulara)-Kata Tjuta(Olgas)-Kings Canyon-Mereenie Loop to Palm Valley-Alice Springs-Devils Marbles-Three Ways-Barkly Hwy-Julia Creek-Cairns
THE ROADS
Donohue Hwy (gravel) was generally petty good
Plenty Hwy (gravel) was generally crap! Around Jervois Station (NT) we travelled on the very to 150 - 200 klm because the road was so badly corrugated and cut up.
Cattlewater Pass: a great track about 70 klm in length from Plenty to Ruby Gap track. Mainly 2nd gear. Don't be put off by people telling you not to try and tow a camper trailer on the track. No problems with care. Dont' miss this track
Mereenie Loop (gravel): is a 200 klm "tourist drive" from Kings Canyon to Palm Valley turn off. This road had the biggest corrugations I have ever seen. We had to again revert to driving on the verge to keep our fillings where they belonged!
The rest of the roads were OK, some being pretty sandy but generally what you would expect in the outback.
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
The Prado: no faults at all. Alice Toyota dealer did the service before our return and detected no problems.
TrackAbout camper: no faults at all despite being airborne a couple of times due to driver inattention
Cooper St's (Light Truck): no punctures after about 3000klm off road with a lot of rocky sections. Minimal chipping with excellent grip off road.
Waeco 50 lt: worked perfectly the entire trip.
HEMA Navigator: still learing but was excellent. Ozi Explorer maps are great when in the middle of nowhere and geographically embarrassed.
Old Man Emu Suspension: absolutely excellent; handled fully loaded Prado with the trailer no problems.
Ipod: has to be the best way to provide music when travelling long distance. Also saves the CD player over the corrugations.
WHAT BROKE
WARN winch control box: the bolts holding the box to the mounting bracket on the bull bar tore straight through the backing plate on the 2nd day on the Plenty Hwy. We taped it up which held for the rest of the trip. ARB guys reckon they haven't seen it before. Interesting that there is no washer between the bolt head and the backing plate to add strength and spread the load. Going to fix under warranty this week.
THE HIGHLIGHTS (the whole area is just so spectacular it is hard to pick)
Cattlewater Pass: See above
Ruby Gap: No facilities but just the best place to camp. We were lucky to have the whole massive place to ourselves for our 2-night stay.
Chamber's Pillar: Remote, spectacular, awesome colours...what more can you say?
Uluru/Kata Tjuta (The Rock and the Olgas). There is nothing quite like seeing this places in the "flesh". The best photos cannot do them justice but TOO MANY PEOPLE.....The helicopter flight over Uluru and Kata Tjuta gives a truly different perspective of the whole vase area.
Kings Canyon: The Canyon Rim walk is absolutely spectacular
Palm Valley: Amazing valley full of palms in one of the driest places in Oz. The 5 klm walk is not to be missed.
WHAT P155ED US OFF
We had only one major gripe on the whole trip: the amount of rubbish on the sides of the road in what should have been a pristine area.
We were gobsmacked by the quantities of crap that had been tossed from cars because people are too lazy to take it to a bin.
We drove into Hermannsburg, which is an aboriginal community to have a look at the historical buildings built by the Lutheran Missionaries. The community is literally covered in rubbish: VB cans, VB cartons, plastic bags, car bodies, tyres, you name it. Overseas visitors must wonder what they have driven in to. To be fair, it's not just the communities. We stopped several times at open gates on the Hugh River Stock Route (great drive, by the way) and people obviously thought that while they were stopped they might as well empty their car/s of rubbish. Apologies for raving but it just gave us the sh1t5.
Hopefully we have managed to attach some photos to our ramblings, if technology doesn't beat us.
Cheers
Kevin and Margaret
PS Apologies to the Alice Springs guys who we wanted to catch up with but time just got away from us.
[/img]
Snaga
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