Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Have a good trip there Trev. Should be a beauty.

[AlenP Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AlenP]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Trev, Have a great trip, I will be about two days behind you on the CSR so if you get into trouble wait for the Mitchell party of 7 and we will see what we can do to help. Don't worry about your mobile out there cause there's no reception no where.

[Trev Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trev]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Well, we have made it to Hay and still driving the same car we left in. To all those friends who have been so rude and dis-respectful the ambition is to get back in this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuelled up at Sallys Corner. I think you can get up to about 30 litres extra in after the pump cuts out but you certainly hold up other customers. Anyway I don't think it was completely full so we'll see if we make it to Port Augusta on "one" tank full. Consumption looks as if it is the same as pre-chip but we will see by the time we get to Coober Pedy. Grabbed a coffee with about a million people at Maccas at Sallys. Stopped again at Maccas Gundagai which was peacful. It rained, light to heavy from Sallys Corner to about 50km east of Hay. There was the usual over supply of B-Doubles but they were good.Tomorrow looks as if it will be fine. The traffic escaping from Wagga towards the highway at 5.30pm was pretty horrible. The rain made conditions worse. The cabin at the Big 4 Hay is basic, clean and has everything we need for the few hours we will be here and at $75 is pretty good value. I have one rattle somewhere in the fridge but I will have to get to like it! The Prado is the usual Toyota smooth on the road. Cheers, Trev :P

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Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

We left Hay this morning at just after 6am in a balmy +2 degrees which didn’t last long as it was -1 degrees by Euston with a bit of fog thrown in for good measure.
Bacon and eggs at Euston, a break at Mildura to see some friends and back on the road. It was all pretty flat and green. Back in the old days of NRMA strip maps they listed a highlight of the Hay Plains as a 60 foot high hill. It is still there and this time it was nice and green. We give it a cheer and a laugh each time we go over it.
After Mildura things were still green which was in contrast to one trip where we could see the Emus pushing the fences down as they moved south to get away from the drought.
South Australia was beautiful, as usual, so lovely and green with soft crops everywhere. It is always so neat and tidy.
Lunch was at Burra and this is a town we want to come back to. The buildings were beautiful. We were stopped by the train from Perth at Crystal Brooke and it was so long it added another three weeks to the trip! It went on for ages and this time Carol did not count the carriages. Crystalbrooke was stunning and is a must see and stay.
We didn’t make Port Augusta on the one fill as the fuel light came on at Crystalbrook and I didn’t want to risk pushing it into Port Augusta although it turns out we could have. The consumption worked out at 13.05 litres per 100km which is worse than what it used to be. Maybe I should be looking at turning the chip down from 4 (out of 9) or throwing it away! The car certainly goes better but the cruisecontrol has to be the worst in the world in hilly country but is handy in keeping the speed down and stopping the speed creep. Cheers, Trev

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Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Said goodbye to Port Augusta just after 6am and another morning at 2 degrees. The trip to Coober Pedy is pretty un-interesting so here are some things we worked out. The odometer is 3% slow, the speedo is 3% slow. If we travel 100 km it reads 96 and if we are doing 100kph the GPS says we are doing 97ishkph that is if you can get the cruise onto 100kph. The lights will pick out, although you can read it, a smallish road sign at just over 2 km away. There has been very little road kill. We saw out first roos and emus outside of Port Augusta. The road trains have grown in size.
We took to-night’s meals out of the freezer so they will be defrosted by to-night. The temperature is a balmy 12 degrees.
We are about to head west so we will load up with some pics next time we hit reception. Cheers, Trev

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Sounds good so far Trev...

Looking forward to some pics

[Trev Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trev]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

With a bit of luck we should have some pictures



[\http://s926.photobucket.com/albums/a...adell%202010/]

[Trev Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trev]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Sunday Night
The road from Coober Pedy was dead straight for some time and in good condition until we reached the Mabel Station and the ABH intersection. The road to the right was a rough track and varied between a rough track and a rough road! And corrugations set in early. These were not your puffy little corrugations for kilometre after kilometre like on the road to Cape York. These were I’m going to kill you and after I have done that I will eat you type!
But the Prado has survived, God bless her, how tough are these cars! In between the corrugations there were plenty of Len Beadell survey marks to find and miss. You can marvel at how Len managed to drive through the scrub and fix all those punctures but you would wonder at why he did not overcome his fear of flying and just fly over and mark the routes? But that is another story. We should thank him for opening the deserts up for us. When the corrugations took a breather there were great, if small sand hills a bit like a mini Simpson Desert.
The tyre pressure was lowered to 26 psi which helped keep my teeth in place. The 9db antenna gave up the ghost early into the corrugations. That was a useless piece of advice. I was told you need a 9db out in the flat country but now I have none!
We have camped for the night just outside of the Conservation Park, really in the Prohibited Area! And for all those wishing to see me in gaol, we do have the proper permits. The useless fridge has decided not to work on gas so I have held the igniter down with a dumpy sledge hammer. Maybe I’ll put the hammer through it! But not until I get home. The fire is burning and the sun has gone down just after 5.30 with light until 6.30 so we are doing it really tough.
Monday Night
We have camped about 10 to 15 km from where camping is prohibited and tomorrow should see us in the shower at Ilkurlka! Although this will not be a pretty sight. This afternoon we saw our first vehicle on the ABH, a 100 series, taking it easy for a couple of months. Next came a Hilux which just down the coast from us and his mate in a Navara. We passed a group of Landcruisers setting up camp. So there are not many vehicles out here.
The corrugations toned down a fair bit and most of the bad sections had diversions where people had wandered off into the scrub to get around. We came to some soft sand hills and some beautiful green Spinifex rings. A couple of dingos loped along the road and we tried to get a photo of a huge wedge tail eagle. The bull camel was standing in the middle of the ABH and didn’t want to get out of the way. I managed to lose part of the flaring off the bulbar. I wonder if you can get spares.
There are no planes, flights over this place are prohibited, and the stars are magnificent. The Milky Way looked like someone had flicked the froth from a cappuccino over the sky.
Tuesday Night
I know it’s Tuesday because I had to look up the computer to find out! We must be on holidays. We are camped about 150km into Western Australia even if we did not see a border marker. There were welcoming signs from Ilkurlka Roadhouse.
The road from South Australia continued in the same manner with washouts, corrugations, sand dunes and narrow roadway. I am a bit puzzled to understand why they are happy to have camels and rabbits but make it difficult for people to see the place. For the South Australian side it would be a good idea to fold your mirrors in as they will get knocked in anyway.
The Serpentine Lakes were awesome. They appeared to go on for forever. You arrived on a hill and the lakes were below. The road leads down and meandered across the lake bed. Western Australia was on the other side and immediately things changed. No longer did we go around the sand dunes but went straight up them. And there were heaps of them with soft sand but easy going for about 30 – 40 km. The road then widened out to almost like a highway and from where we were doing 20-40kph in SA you easily cruise at 60kph. The only trick was the highway was across the bottom of the sand dunes and at the end of the straight is was usually a sudden right turn to get over the dunes. But it was a pleasant change. We passed a Land Rover 110 and a Prado with a Jayco which was about to drop its water tank and had already lost power to the fridge and lights. We wondered how far they will get.
The run into Ilkurlka was pretty late and it looked like many of the trees had silver paint on them. We investigated and the shiny silver was from the sun reflecting off the silky smooth wood. It was quite dramatic but difficult to capture on the camera.
The car changed over to the second tank at 730km from Coober Pedy and if you take the capacity as 94 litres that comes out as an unbelievable 12.8 litres per 100km. Maybe the final figure at Laverton will be of some use.
Ilkurlka Roadhouse was very pleasant and we caught up on a shower after I had fire the donkey shower up. Fuel was $2.45 per litre and the Eftpos machine had gone on walkabout so it was down to good old cash and no FlyBuys. It would be a good place to stop if you arrived late in the day.
Wednesday Morning
There can’t be many better ways to start the day than having a plunger coffee around a gentle fire while the dawn breaks. It is cold and the moon is just over halfway and is high in the cloudless sky.
We heard the dingos last night but they only lasted a short time while I guess the went back to keeping each other warm. The bed decided to deflate during the night which made us sleep with mother earth. That will be a problem which we will have to solve.
Part of the change yesterday was we saw two jets. So people are out there somewhere. It is also useless having your sand flag up high for most of the ABH as there are many overhanging trees on the track. And on the straight parts you don’t need it.
Wednesday Night
Made it into Laverton to the caravan park. The cottage is $100 for the night and considering the bed is dead this is a good option. I’ve attached the fridge and put cable ties on the rattling pipes. Hopefully that will solve the noise problem. I hade a new antenna for the UHF by cutting up the remains of one of the old ones. I gave it a test and some one replied that it was loud and clear. Now all I have to do is get it to stay there. Had a go at fixing the air hole in one of the seals in the bed up nothing would stick to the plastic except the racing tape. Will pump it up in the morning and see what happens.
The run into Laverton was a mixture of fast flat, twisty winding sand and small corrugations. The scenery was typical beautiful desert with the sand dunes getting smaller and further apart. There were more camels and a few roos. We couldn’t work out why the twisty bits were there between the fast straight sections. The sandy corners could be a problem if the speed was a bit high as the car tended to oversteer if things were a bit fast.
Yeo would make a great camp. It was neat and tidy and had a lot of character.
We met up with six members of the Landrover Club and when I got up them for driving Toyotas they said they were the recovery team and had given up and bought Toyotas. There was a nice Discovery in the group plus a Rage Rover Sport. I did warn him about the sharp bends at the end of the straights if her decided to burn the others off. They were going out for two months.
Laverton is interesting as it is pretty low on food. The truck arrives tomorrow and it must be a pretty big truck as it will also have glue etc for the service station. We haven’t fuelled up yet but will do so in the morning. The weather could be interesting with rain due in the next two days.
Hopefully I have posted some photos of the ABH and I will post the fuel details when we top up

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

With a bit of luck we should have some pictures

Hmm, no pictures there BUT here is a link:
Trev's Anne Beadell 2010
So nice photos in there. Looks like you guys are having fun.

[Trev Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trev]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Thursday Night
Here we are at Wiluna at the Gunbarrel Laager in a donga with the steady rain making the CSR less likely by the hour. We will have to see what the police do. Hopefully we will go out and try the early part of the track just to see how things are. We could be here for several nights or work on an alternative plan.
We had a call early in the day to say Wiluna was out of fuel so that is the reason we filled to the very top at Leinster. When we arrived at Wiluna we found the fuel truck had been there at 3pm so we have plenty of fuel for Saturday.
This next section is dedicated to my brother.
Bush camping and sleeping.
Although preparing to hit the sack while bush camping has not yet reached the dizzy heights of Fashion Week in Sydney or Melbourne with the correct promotion and financial backing it could do so. The big difference is you put more clothes on to go to bed in the bush camp than you do at home. Typically you change your jeans for a set of trackies, leave your sloppy joe on, take your ski jacket off and replace it with your son’s huge grandfather flannel shirt from Pasminco. You must leave your socks on and wear a beanie. Although not dressed by Gucci you are most handsome provided no one sees you. The Cook dresses up in something similar but replaces the beanie with gloves as she has not had her head shaved to save doing her hair. Sleeping is done in two bouts as you end up hitting the sack at 7.30 pm and being wide awake at 1am. You get up. Actually you both get up because you can’t move in the bed, wander around for a while and go back to bed and wake up in the dark (again) at 5am. You wonder if the world still exists and get up at 5.01 after not caring if it still does and light the fire from last night’s coals and make your plunger coffee. If this system is sufficiently promoted it could catch on.
One of the sweetest sounds is the rattle of the diesel as it starts in the morning.
Setting up camp is another activity you should never let any one see. You start looking for a campsite at a predetermined distance or time which is usually too far or too late to avoid the inevitable panic. The highly greased team swings into action. The tarpaulin is laid out and everything is taken out of the Prado mainly because you insisted that all the heavy things must go between the axles and you can’t get the damn fridge out unless the cargo area is empty. You set the fridge up with gas and the sledge hammer to get it to work, set the table up, connect the gas cooker and collect the wood for the fire. Meanwhile the cook has set out the tent and put the glassfibre stays together. You get the tent up, get the fly into position, tie it on and put the tent pegs in. You then sort the food out and cover the remaining bomb explosion with the other half of the tarpaulin. You then light the fire and have a coffee. Packing up in the morning is the reverse but with more coffee!
Below are the fuel consumption figures you can never find on the net.
Overall from Sallys Corner to Laverton 13.75 litres per 100km
Sallys Corner to Port Augusta was 13.05
Port Augusta to Coober Pedy 13.8 the tank was pretty close to full at Coober Pedy.
Coober Pedy to Laverton (the ABH) 14.5 which is 183.82 litres and includes a bit of running around at each end. We could have got to the caravan part at Laverton with a cup of fuel left.
Laverton to Leinster 18.87 which was the first time I have filled the tank to the very top. It took ages and about 14 litres after I had supposedly filled the tank. I found that by using a slow trickle you did not get the diesel froth.
On the ABH we saw a total of 21 cars.
Cruising out of Laverton this morning I realised the car needed a wheel alignment. It still does as I was told at Leonora the closest place for a wheel alignment was Kalgoorlie, 240 km away in the other direction.
We passed many mines on the way up from Leonora to Wiluna and they were enormous. I have never seen anything like them.
The pub at Wiluna is interesting as you can not buy a take-a-way drink on Thursday or Sunday. One of those days is pension day.
Having completed the Anne Beadell Highway the highlight was the desert scenery and the solitude. Would we do it again? Probably not unless the children or grand daughters wanted to. Are we pleased we did? You bet we are!
Now if we just sort out this rain.
Cheers, Trev
It will be some time until you here from us again and I think I'll start a separate post for the Canning. I hope the information we have sent is of use to you or helps in your planning. T

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

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Thats a great trip report.
and love the pictures, it sure is a beautiful part of australia.
Thanks for sharing this part of your trip.

[Trev Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trev]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

The sign says it all. So it's off to Marble Bar to see if we can get down to Kunawarritji which is a diversion of about 1000km.

[adam's prado Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close adam's prado]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

Sorry to hear that Trev, We work at Telfer which is about 450k's from Marble bar and The CSR runs thru the back of the site. We have had massive amounts of rain up here over the last 2 weeks, we have been lucky to get our supplies up here by truck as the roads were closed but in saying that they do open up pretty quickly aswel. Hope your trip gets back on track quickly so we can keep on enjoying your trip reports.
Adam

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Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

The trip continues under the heading of
Canning Stock Route top half
I have managed to load the photographs but lost the titles. Cheers, Trev

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Re: Anne Beadell Highway (1) July 2010

The trip continues under the heading of
Canning Stock Route top half
I have managed to load the photographs but lost the titles. Cheers, Trev

Just to make it easy for everyone... http://www.pradopoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9576