Member Since: 15 May 2015
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 16
Fantastic photos and your holiday has bought back great memories of our Kimberley trip 2 years ago. Interesting we also sheared off the bolt holding our roof rack. Like you , we kept weight to a minimum on the corrugated roads.
16th Jul 2018 9:44 am
Lightwater
Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
It is nice to get home after 17,700 kms around roughly half of Australia. Carrying an additional 50 litres of fuel made it a lot easier & less stressful! I wouldn't have minded a bit more for the Gibb River Road as they only sell 91 up there. In most situations one simply needs an additional 20 litres, but more fuel allows you to fill up in regional centres at cheaper prices.
Average fuel consumption 10.48 L/100 km, 2/3 98, 1/3 95 & once a small amount of 91. Average $1.71 litre. 1855 litres!
Best run was north from Tennant Creek 8.5 L/100 km with a range of 739 km after refilling, but the car had a 1 L/100 km tailwind!
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Worst was dirt roads to James Price Point & the East end of the Gibb River Road at around 14 L/100 km.
Esperance
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On the home stretch we filled up at Esperance, topped up at Norseman & made it to Penong with various small side trips. We probably would have made it to Ceduna but detouring to Fowler Bay would have been a close call with a very strong headwind.
Norseman
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Norseman
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Norseman
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Norseman end
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The west end of the Eyre hwy we had a tailwind & for the first quarter of the tank only used 7.8 L/100 km. Around Eucla the wind direction changed & we got a strong headwind. The average from Norseman to Penong was 9.2 L/100 km.
90 mile straight, but it goes up & down a lot!
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Passing truck
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The Eyre hwy was a much more enjoyable drive, also taking our time at 5 days than from Bourke up through Queensland which is about the same distance.
Sunset Madura Pass
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Sunrise Madura Pass
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West of Eucla. Getting 10 litre containers on & off the roof was easy with the cradle. Just so much easier than fiddling around with straps.
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Great Australian Bight
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Nullarbor caves
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Nullarbor caves
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Condensation
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Auto detailing, think I will go elsewhere! Not sure if this one will pass your MOT test!
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Self explanatory!
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Cold morning, that's the excuse anyway!
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A few useful tools & modifications:
Bracket for tent poles etc in a gap behind water containers
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I will take less containers next time as it is easy to buy water as needed in town in 10 litre containers
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Repurposed 10 litre water container. Not ideal, but it is ok!
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Triple compressors with air gun in use!
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Coffee break!
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Back of car with net for hanging light items & two extinguishers at rear. Everything else sat in the front. The fridge sat on the passenger seat.
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Bell Gorge top view
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Bell Gorge bottom view!
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Detail!
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The fuel one needs to get to Bell Gorge!
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Adcock Gorge
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Flora & fauna Karijini NP
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Derby sunset
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Derby, a dozen cars with bullbar & aerial, one without!
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Awning & mosquito enclosure set up at James Price Point
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Although very well made the enclosure being next to the car is a pain to pin down in strong winds.
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Mt Isa Freelander convention!
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Exmouth, colour disagreement!
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Australian caravans! & this one was traveling at 115 kph as I found out when I tried to catch up!
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Crocodile Dundee Walkabout Creek Hotel
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
7th Aug 2018 6:03 pm
Yorky Bob
Member Since: 28 Apr 2015
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 4561
Wow
My Mrs shocked me the other day by saying maybe when she stops working next year we should do a big OZ trip (she has never camped). I am more than happy to take it on but getting hold of the right motor is going to be a logistical nightmare. I may come back to you guys and pick your brains re that at some stage.FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current
7th Aug 2018 6:59 pm
Bobupndown
Member Since: 26 Dec 2014
Location: Upside down behind the TV!
Posts: 2806
Brilliant trip, thanks for sharing the pictures.
Never seen an I4 Freelander before, wasnt aware there was a 4 cylinder petrol made at all, only rare I6 and Td/Sd4s over here.Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948
2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)
8th Aug 2018 9:42 am
Lightwater
Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
Thanks for the comments. It's hard work doing these trips. Need a holiday! Probably the two main things is to pace yourself, try not to travel too far each day. Also work out what you really do NOT need to take with you. You get better at this after a few shorter trips.
Winton dinosaur, only survived because it is older than I am!
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Awning mosquito enclosure. You had to be inside by 5:30 in Kakadu as overnight there were millions outside, the noise they all made! Never heard anything like it before, like a white noise drone!
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Mosquitoes queuing!
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Not only are the crocodiles in Kakadu dangerous! This one was about 2/3 the size of my hand sitting on the mosquito mesh..... outside! A few weeks later we had a smaller one inside the car. Managed to catch it & release well away from the car.
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Topend fly & mosquito swat!
One of two small water crossings into Purnululu NP. The 53 km road takes 2 hours with all the crests, blind corners & poor cambers, & being on guard for oncoming traffic. We had 14 vehicles on the way out, & they do not stick to the 50 kph request at the entrance! Or let their tyres down 10 PSI, that is another whole story!
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Gibb River Road river crossing
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Sawpit Gorge near Halls Creek
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James Price Point
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James Price Point dinosaur foot prints at low tide, 8 metre tides here!
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LPG roadtrain. Hope they don't go off like on the Italian motorway!
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Singe lane bridge between Derby & Broome
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It's salt
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Lunch at Sandfire, it's about the only place between Broome & Port Hedland, 612 km!
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Burrup peninsular
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Port Hedland. I spoke to a worker & there are 3000 roadtrain movements on this road every day. 98 wheels on this one. Another conversation about flat tyres, a retired driver got 18 flat tyres in one incident!
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Albert Tognolini rest area, stay here before going into Karijini NP if coming down from the north
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Karijini Hancock Gorge
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Karijini Hamersley Gorge rock formations, the colours in this gorge are amazing.
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Karijini
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Into the sun
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Away from the sun
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Outback airstrip
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Franciois Peron NP
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Redtailed Black Cockatoos
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Sunrise
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Corrigin dog cemetery
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Some previous dog participants in this cemetery
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Wave Rock
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Salmon Gums
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A screw missing due to corrugated roads!
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Dust under the black plastic strip
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The 2 studs on the body for the boot gas struts needed tightening up. Also blew a lot of dust out of the tiny temperature fan under the steering wheel. The boot hinges, heaps of dust in the two cavities in the bodywork.
Cooling the car as quick as possible for the night. We didn't use the free camps noted on wikicamps that much as they are too filthy & had far more flies, due to the filth. We got pretty good at spotting places to sleep for the night like this old gravel pit which was probably last used 10 years ago. We had a spade to bury number twos instead of leaving them lying around!
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Nullarbor sunset
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
9th Aug 2018 6:32 pm
mikehzz
Member Since: 04 Sep 2009
Location: Springwood
Posts: 749
Great pictures Interesting fact for those that don't know, the Royal Flying Doctor Service is almost completely self funded via donations and doesn't charge for its services, they're free. We had a speaker come to our 4wd club and give a talk about them. I'm full of admiration and donate when I can out in the little bush towns and pubs.
On another note, if any of you are thinking of coming out and emulating this awesome trip, there are two things to keep in mind. Come in our winter time, the summer will kill you and a lot of the places in the north are closed. Winter is very pleasant here. The second thing is to be careful of the car rental company you choose. I've read some horror stories about Australian 4wd Hire where people have been hit with big bills when returning the cars. Do your research, join some forums such as exploroz.com.
10th Aug 2018 11:43 pm
Lightwater
Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
............Thanks for the comments. Winter is the best time, but up north get it done before July to avoid the worst of the influx of Grey Nomads. Also be more remote in the lower profile National Parks during school holidays. No different to southern Europe!
Get a Hema map or 2, for example Western Australia https://shop.hemamaps.com/products/western...0067149942 so you get a better feel for distances & see the whole state in one go. & also for all the areas without mobile access. IE most of the state!
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Some of the best scenery in Australia is simply the night sky. You will look up every night, even more so on a moonless night, there are more starts than you can poke a stick at! If you have binoculars you can clearly see 3 to 4 moons orbiting Jupiter, at the right time of year, which are difficult to see in the city!
This photo was with a Canon G9X sat on the car roof on timer for 10 shots. I only stacked 4 of the shots in the attached photo to reduce sensor noise as there was little to gain stacking all 10 photos. ISO 400 F2.0 15 seconds per exposure. It's not the best camera for this sort of work but the Sony sensor has impressively low noise levels.
Southern Cross is 1/3 from the left & about 2/5 up from the bottom. The pointers to the Southern Cross bottom left
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720 x 480 crop from original 5436 x 3624 photo.
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On the third photo of the ten, I was fortunate to record a comet. It is very faint but one can just see the path it took between the two red crosses.
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We often slept overnight in gravel pits next to main roads. They do not sound nice but they are practical & often the best place to stop. You see a caravan or two pulled up in one about 4 pm for the end of the day. Often you can find the old disused gravel pits which are overgrow & look quite nice. They are all a maximum of 50 metres from the road unless they are the extra large ones.
We also got pretty good at not using the gravel pits marked on wikicamps as these were not as nice. Found a massive one between Wave Rock to Esperance.
Also transmission repeater towers are good places & you can get a bit further away from the road.
There are basically no cars or trucks through the entire night around Australia in the north, west & southwest.
Gravel pit
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Aerial view
Disused gravel pit
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Gravel pit
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Disused gravel pit
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Transmission repeater tower camp spot for the night along the endless roads!
General photos:
Exmouth
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Francios Peron NP
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Francios Peron NP Herald Bight Beach
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Near the Pinnacles
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Sawpit gorge
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Purnululu NP
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South of Camooweal
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Eagle circling for prey from the road!
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
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16th Jul 2018 9:44 am
Interesting fact for those that don't know, the Royal Flying Doctor Service is almost completely self funded via donations and doesn't charge for its services, they're free. We had a speaker come to our 4wd club and give a talk about them. I'm full of admiration and donate when I can out in the little bush towns and pubs.
