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Destinations > Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
Issue: January 2007
Words and photos by Vic Widman
4WD expedition - Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
* Sydney to Monkey Mia, WA
* A celebration of Outback endurance
* One for the history books
Offroad epic
The Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip was a 47-day, 14,600km Outback odyssey - and it was bigger than Ben Hur.
Rain. It was Saturday morning at Mona Vale carpark as a group of adventurers gathered for day one of the trip and it was bucketing. You could sense the nervous anticipation as everyone hoped the bleak day wasn't an omen. After all this was no ordinary tour. To celebrate 30 years of publishing Overlander and Great Divide Tours were driving from Sydney to Monkey Mia in WA and back via the Great Australian Bite. Gentlemen, start your engines.
Just before we took off I made the usual welcome speech and gathered a bottle of Pacific Ocean water from the raging surf, which we would deliver to the west coast at Steep Point in a few weeks time. It was incredible to think that on this journey we would enter every state except Tasmania.
The first day's driving was on a sealed road to Cobar, 700km west of Sydney. We got into the offroad stuff on day two as we headed for Louth to follow the quickly drying Darling River. It was a shame to see the river in such a poor state, however rain had fallen across the parched land two weeks earlier and a tinge of green was already sprouting from the red earth. It made for a colourful drive.
Some water still lay in low areas and one vehicle found that if you hit these puddles too quick, whilst it might look great for the camera, it didn't do your alternator any good, resulting in a quick trip into Broken Hill for repairs.
The crew took it easy on day two with a stop in the superb Underground Motel at White Cliffs but from here on it was all camping. Although a lot of ground would be covered during the journey the idea was to see as much as possible and experience the areas that had written much of our history.
Milparinka was one such place, a town that grew from that elusive search for gold in the later 1800s and which was made famous even earlier by Charles Sturt as he dragged a boat into the Red Centre believing there was an inland sea.
Tibooburra provided fuel and the first meeting with Overlander editor Matt who was joining us for the Simpson Desert part of the trip. Matt was riding in the Overlander 4WDOTY Range Rover Sport but it experienced a tyre problem and while he waited for repairs we headed north.
The group crossed into Queensland at Warri Gate. Long stretches of thick mulga crowded the dusty trail and then suddenly opened up into bare plains of gibber stones. Our first camp on a claypan was a memorable one with a full moon and plenty of firewood. The clear skies looked set in, which as we were to find would last for the entire trip.
The saga of Burke and Wills and their ill-fated exploration was relived at the Dig Tree and then the beautiful jump-up country with its harsh stony roads near the abandoned station of Arrabury provided some great driving. A quick visit to Haddon Corner saw the beginning of the great missing swag saga, which re-affirmed our faith in man's good will, but more on that later.
We hit Birdsville in a cloud of dust and found a near empty Birdsville Caravan Park. The owner Ruth was her usual helpful self and it was sad to hear that after all her time in Birdsville she would be moving on.
We had a fabulous meal at the Birdsville Hotel where we met up with the last of our troops but unfortunately Matt and his mate Hendo were missing. The replacement tyre meant a return trip to Broken Hill. That meant Matt was a few days behind us but vowed to catch up. Some unkind people in our group began taking bets on whether we would ever see Matt.
The next morning we spent an hour with John Menzies as he showed us around the Birdsville Working Museum. There seems to be some major changes occurring out Birdsville way with Ruth going, the pub up for sale and even John Menzies thinking of shifting his collection of Australiana to Tamworth. Let's hope this great Outback town can survive.
For the many first-timers in our group the Simpson must have looked daunting as we dropped tyre pressures in its shadow. Our trip across the desert to Poeppel Corner was uneventful except for one flattie. The dunes came and went as they do when you are crossing from east to west. There were few other travellers except for a couple of hardy souls in old Blitz wagon fire engines from Victoria.
At the western edge of the salt lake just before the corner we made our own Dig Tree for Matt who was still a couple of days behind. But instead of blazing a tree (there were none) we used some brightly coloured tape to identify the note that said "Dig 30 centimes to the East". Here we left coordinates for Matt as the next section of the track would see us going into the little ventured Northern Simpson.
With our permits safely secured and our GPS full of waypoints supplied by the Central Land Council we set off north. Last year on my trip through here we had rain on and off, so this year it was great to see the blood red sand dunes under a perfectly clear cobalt blue sky. Our camp that night was in one of the most isolated locations in Australia and the setting was perfect.
Little could have prepared us for the stunning beauty we encountered the next day, huge bright red sand dunes covered in wind-created ripples and a myriad of insect and reptile tracks made for a photographer's delight and we were happy to make slow progress and soak it all up.
Mind you, the metre high soft crests on the dunes, which saw us practically bulldozing the lip off each dune, also caused the slow progress. The readers were working well as a team, looking after each other and assisting with snatch straps as needed whenever a vehicle bellied out on the sharp crests.
After a couple of days in the Northern Simpson we finally heard Matt's voice on the UHF as he followed us out to the dry Lake Caroline, arriving in time for a memorable photo of twenty fully loaded 4WDs lined up on an isolated island in the middle of the lake.
Two vehicles were missing because one of the LandCruisers had suffered a major suspension failure when the rear of the front torsion bar broke away from its chassis mounting. Our crew of expert guides and bush mechanics had the parts welded back together and the vehicle on the road in less than three hours and they joined us at our camp under the giant river gums at the edge of the dry Hay River.
read on below advertisement
We spent two days with Lindsay Bookie and his cousins at the Batton Hill camp, they looked after us like we were kings. Lindsay is doing a marvellous job of opening up his land to visitors, and his bushtucker tour and sunset viewing of Goyder's Pillar are must-do events.
Overlander deadlines meant that Matt and Hendo had to peel off after just four days with the gang when we hit the Plenty Hwy. After reaching Alice Springs we had a rest day, giving us time to restock. A number of the readers also headed for home wishing they had another five weeks to continue this amazing trip.
We formed into one group and followed the Namatjira Drive to the beautiful Ormiston Gorge, which we explored on foot before continuing on an extremely corrugated road to Haasts Bluff. The scenery was stunning, huge rocky hills reaching out of the flat desert into that ever-present blue sky. There were lots of Kodak moments.
The road improved markedly as we reached the Sandy Blight Junction Road and we easily maintained 80kph, the long rooster tails of dust saw our convoy spread out over 20km but we were able to maintain radio contact over the UHF radios.
Quite often the best campsites are those that you don't know exist. When it came time to finding somewhere to rest after viewing the burnt-out ration truck from Len Beadell's old road construction party in the Kiwirrkurra community, the harsh terrain of spinifex was not very promising. But a side track in Pollock Hills lead us to a fabulous campsite with a dramatic backdrop of orange jumbled rocks which lit up brilliantly at sunrise and sunset.
We passed the remote Gary Junction still on what I term a good road, here the Gary Hwy swings to the south and it was typical of these roads out here, narrow, overgrown and just two wheel tracks with the centre section lined with spinifex. I had completed the lower half of this track in my last double crossing in 2001. We were going west though and the road to Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route was great. The scenery consisted of low mulga and red sand but the driving was relatively easy.
We camped under the groaning windmill at Well 33 and enjoyed hot water from our engine mounted showers. But what was most interesting was that the pond of water formed by the overflow from the tank at the windmill was full of gold fish! Does anyone know the story behind their presence?
Fuel was available at the store at Kanawarratji at the modest price of $2.50/L not bad given it was $2.85/L just two months earlier. From there we continued westward on the Kidson Track. This was an unknown route to most of us, but we needn't have worried as the road was in excellent order. But it did change somewhat, winding through red sand dunes, which were covered in the most amazing array of wildflowers. In fact, we were to see more wildflowers on this stretch of road than in the famed wildflower regions of WA near Geraldton.
At Lake Auld, a dry salt lake that lies across the track, we left the Kidson and continued on the WAPET road. It was along here that we entered what looked like a beautiful park with its many wildflowers lining the road and an avenue of weeping desert oaks, a stunning sight.
Vehicle-wise we were doing pretty good, a few more flat tyres, a couple of broken shocks, which were replaced and a fuel line that came adrift, fortunately the vehicle was diesel otherwise we could have had a very nasty incident.
Before we reached Marble Bar we dropped into Carawine Gorge, which is beautiful but a huge flood had hit it 18 months ago. The flood has taken away most of the shade trees so it made our planned rest day untenable. We moved further south and found a fabulous shady campsite under the oaks of the Oakover River. We lounged around, went swimming and shot heaps of photos of the beautiful reflections.
Marble Bar proved to be a real hit with the small caravan park providing welcome showers and washing machines plus a beautiful sunset at the actual Marble Bar on the Coongan River. From here we diverted from our intended route because I found some quiet back roads that would take us to Newman. This proved to be a highlight as we discovered some amazing land formations and literally stumbled across some ancient Aboriginal rock art.
Newman is a huge mining town and the Whaleback Mine is even bigger. Our group enjoyed a mine tour where we learnt that a flat tyre on these trucks costs thousands of dollars to repair, this made those in our group experiencing tyre problems feel more comfortable about their repair costs. This also marked the end of our predominantly desert travel and from here on we would experience mountains, gorges and coastal scenery that would be stunning. Some of the best sights in Australia awaited our group. Part two of the Across Oz Overlander Readers' Trip will continue next month.
ENGEL fridge
Forty-seven days in the Outback in weather reaching over 36˚C gave the ENGEL fridge a real work-out. Even after the thousands of kilometres of corrugations we crossed, it never missed a beat. With the fridge interior temperature displayed on an exterior screen it's easy to monitor how it's going. For more info visit www.engelaustralia.com.au or phone 1300 302 653.
4WD Megastores
This company has long been a leader in the aftermarket industry and its co-owner, Craig Ruting from the Blacktown Store, supported the Across OZ trip. Craig completed the double crossing in his fully-kitted Megastore LandCruiser, proving what they sell in the shop has been Outback tested. Visit www.4wdmegastores.com.au for dealer info.
Southern Cross Canvas
Two products tested on the trip were a pull out canvas awning and a centre pole tent, both supplied by Southern Cross Canvas. The easy-to-erect awning, fitted to the roofrack, provided plenty of shade and was rugged enough to last the whole trip. The tent proved its worth after surviving a ferocious electrical and wind storm that ripped through the camp at Kalbarri. For more info visit www.southerncrosscanvas.com.au or phone (03) 9729 5056.
Great Divide Tours
Overlander would like to thank Vic and everyone at Great Divide Tours for helping organise this mammoth trip. Great Divide Tours has been in the business of conducting 4WD tag-along tours and driver training courses for over seventeen years. For more info visit www.4wd.net.au or phone (02) 9913 1395.
Words and photos by Vic Widman
4WD expedition - Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1
* Sydney to Monkey Mia, WA
* A celebration of Outback endurance
* One for the history books
Offroad epic
The Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip was a 47-day, 14,600km Outback odyssey - and it was bigger than Ben Hur.
Rain. It was Saturday morning at Mona Vale carpark as a group of adventurers gathered for day one of the trip and it was bucketing. You could sense the nervous anticipation as everyone hoped the bleak day wasn't an omen. After all this was no ordinary tour. To celebrate 30 years of publishing Overlander and Great Divide Tours were driving from Sydney to Monkey Mia in WA and back via the Great Australian Bite. Gentlemen, start your engines.
Just before we took off I made the usual welcome speech and gathered a bottle of Pacific Ocean water from the raging surf, which we would deliver to the west coast at Steep Point in a few weeks time. It was incredible to think that on this journey we would enter every state except Tasmania.
The first day's driving was on a sealed road to Cobar, 700km west of Sydney. We got into the offroad stuff on day two as we headed for Louth to follow the quickly drying Darling River. It was a shame to see the river in such a poor state, however rain had fallen across the parched land two weeks earlier and a tinge of green was already sprouting from the red earth. It made for a colourful drive.
Some water still lay in low areas and one vehicle found that if you hit these puddles too quick, whilst it might look great for the camera, it didn't do your alternator any good, resulting in a quick trip into Broken Hill for repairs.
The crew took it easy on day two with a stop in the superb Underground Motel at White Cliffs but from here on it was all camping. Although a lot of ground would be covered during the journey the idea was to see as much as possible and experience the areas that had written much of our history.
Milparinka was one such place, a town that grew from that elusive search for gold in the later 1800s and which was made famous even earlier by Charles Sturt as he dragged a boat into the Red Centre believing there was an inland sea.
Tibooburra provided fuel and the first meeting with Overlander editor Matt who was joining us for the Simpson Desert part of the trip. Matt was riding in the Overlander 4WDOTY Range Rover Sport but it experienced a tyre problem and while he waited for repairs we headed north.
The group crossed into Queensland at Warri Gate. Long stretches of thick mulga crowded the dusty trail and then suddenly opened up into bare plains of gibber stones. Our first camp on a claypan was a memorable one with a full moon and plenty of firewood. The clear skies looked set in, which as we were to find would last for the entire trip.
The saga of Burke and Wills and their ill-fated exploration was relived at the Dig Tree and then the beautiful jump-up country with its harsh stony roads near the abandoned station of Arrabury provided some great driving. A quick visit to Haddon Corner saw the beginning of the great missing swag saga, which re-affirmed our faith in man's good will, but more on that later.
We hit Birdsville in a cloud of dust and found a near empty Birdsville Caravan Park. The owner Ruth was her usual helpful self and it was sad to hear that after all her time in Birdsville she would be moving on.
We had a fabulous meal at the Birdsville Hotel where we met up with the last of our troops but unfortunately Matt and his mate Hendo were missing. The replacement tyre meant a return trip to Broken Hill. That meant Matt was a few days behind us but vowed to catch up. Some unkind people in our group began taking bets on whether we would ever see Matt.
The next morning we spent an hour with John Menzies as he showed us around the Birdsville Working Museum. There seems to be some major changes occurring out Birdsville way with Ruth going, the pub up for sale and even John Menzies thinking of shifting his collection of Australiana to Tamworth. Let's hope this great Outback town can survive.
For the many first-timers in our group the Simpson must have looked daunting as we dropped tyre pressures in its shadow. Our trip across the desert to Poeppel Corner was uneventful except for one flattie. The dunes came and went as they do when you are crossing from east to west. There were few other travellers except for a couple of hardy souls in old Blitz wagon fire engines from Victoria.
At the western edge of the salt lake just before the corner we made our own Dig Tree for Matt who was still a couple of days behind. But instead of blazing a tree (there were none) we used some brightly coloured tape to identify the note that said "Dig 30 centimes to the East". Here we left coordinates for Matt as the next section of the track would see us going into the little ventured Northern Simpson.
With our permits safely secured and our GPS full of waypoints supplied by the Central Land Council we set off north. Last year on my trip through here we had rain on and off, so this year it was great to see the blood red sand dunes under a perfectly clear cobalt blue sky. Our camp that night was in one of the most isolated locations in Australia and the setting was perfect.
Little could have prepared us for the stunning beauty we encountered the next day, huge bright red sand dunes covered in wind-created ripples and a myriad of insect and reptile tracks made for a photographer's delight and we were happy to make slow progress and soak it all up.
Mind you, the metre high soft crests on the dunes, which saw us practically bulldozing the lip off each dune, also caused the slow progress. The readers were working well as a team, looking after each other and assisting with snatch straps as needed whenever a vehicle bellied out on the sharp crests.
After a couple of days in the Northern Simpson we finally heard Matt's voice on the UHF as he followed us out to the dry Lake Caroline, arriving in time for a memorable photo of twenty fully loaded 4WDs lined up on an isolated island in the middle of the lake.
Two vehicles were missing because one of the LandCruisers had suffered a major suspension failure when the rear of the front torsion bar broke away from its chassis mounting. Our crew of expert guides and bush mechanics had the parts welded back together and the vehicle on the road in less than three hours and they joined us at our camp under the giant river gums at the edge of the dry Hay River.
read on below advertisement
We spent two days with Lindsay Bookie and his cousins at the Batton Hill camp, they looked after us like we were kings. Lindsay is doing a marvellous job of opening up his land to visitors, and his bushtucker tour and sunset viewing of Goyder's Pillar are must-do events.
Overlander deadlines meant that Matt and Hendo had to peel off after just four days with the gang when we hit the Plenty Hwy. After reaching Alice Springs we had a rest day, giving us time to restock. A number of the readers also headed for home wishing they had another five weeks to continue this amazing trip.
We formed into one group and followed the Namatjira Drive to the beautiful Ormiston Gorge, which we explored on foot before continuing on an extremely corrugated road to Haasts Bluff. The scenery was stunning, huge rocky hills reaching out of the flat desert into that ever-present blue sky. There were lots of Kodak moments.
The road improved markedly as we reached the Sandy Blight Junction Road and we easily maintained 80kph, the long rooster tails of dust saw our convoy spread out over 20km but we were able to maintain radio contact over the UHF radios.
Quite often the best campsites are those that you don't know exist. When it came time to finding somewhere to rest after viewing the burnt-out ration truck from Len Beadell's old road construction party in the Kiwirrkurra community, the harsh terrain of spinifex was not very promising. But a side track in Pollock Hills lead us to a fabulous campsite with a dramatic backdrop of orange jumbled rocks which lit up brilliantly at sunrise and sunset.
We passed the remote Gary Junction still on what I term a good road, here the Gary Hwy swings to the south and it was typical of these roads out here, narrow, overgrown and just two wheel tracks with the centre section lined with spinifex. I had completed the lower half of this track in my last double crossing in 2001. We were going west though and the road to Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route was great. The scenery consisted of low mulga and red sand but the driving was relatively easy.
We camped under the groaning windmill at Well 33 and enjoyed hot water from our engine mounted showers. But what was most interesting was that the pond of water formed by the overflow from the tank at the windmill was full of gold fish! Does anyone know the story behind their presence?
Fuel was available at the store at Kanawarratji at the modest price of $2.50/L not bad given it was $2.85/L just two months earlier. From there we continued westward on the Kidson Track. This was an unknown route to most of us, but we needn't have worried as the road was in excellent order. But it did change somewhat, winding through red sand dunes, which were covered in the most amazing array of wildflowers. In fact, we were to see more wildflowers on this stretch of road than in the famed wildflower regions of WA near Geraldton.
At Lake Auld, a dry salt lake that lies across the track, we left the Kidson and continued on the WAPET road. It was along here that we entered what looked like a beautiful park with its many wildflowers lining the road and an avenue of weeping desert oaks, a stunning sight.
Vehicle-wise we were doing pretty good, a few more flat tyres, a couple of broken shocks, which were replaced and a fuel line that came adrift, fortunately the vehicle was diesel otherwise we could have had a very nasty incident.
Before we reached Marble Bar we dropped into Carawine Gorge, which is beautiful but a huge flood had hit it 18 months ago. The flood has taken away most of the shade trees so it made our planned rest day untenable. We moved further south and found a fabulous shady campsite under the oaks of the Oakover River. We lounged around, went swimming and shot heaps of photos of the beautiful reflections.
Marble Bar proved to be a real hit with the small caravan park providing welcome showers and washing machines plus a beautiful sunset at the actual Marble Bar on the Coongan River. From here we diverted from our intended route because I found some quiet back roads that would take us to Newman. This proved to be a highlight as we discovered some amazing land formations and literally stumbled across some ancient Aboriginal rock art.
Newman is a huge mining town and the Whaleback Mine is even bigger. Our group enjoyed a mine tour where we learnt that a flat tyre on these trucks costs thousands of dollars to repair, this made those in our group experiencing tyre problems feel more comfortable about their repair costs. This also marked the end of our predominantly desert travel and from here on we would experience mountains, gorges and coastal scenery that would be stunning. Some of the best sights in Australia awaited our group. Part two of the Across Oz Overlander Readers' Trip will continue next month.
ENGEL fridge
Forty-seven days in the Outback in weather reaching over 36˚C gave the ENGEL fridge a real work-out. Even after the thousands of kilometres of corrugations we crossed, it never missed a beat. With the fridge interior temperature displayed on an exterior screen it's easy to monitor how it's going. For more info visit www.engelaustralia.com.au or phone 1300 302 653.
4WD Megastores
This company has long been a leader in the aftermarket industry and its co-owner, Craig Ruting from the Blacktown Store, supported the Across OZ trip. Craig completed the double crossing in his fully-kitted Megastore LandCruiser, proving what they sell in the shop has been Outback tested. Visit www.4wdmegastores.com.au for dealer info.
Southern Cross Canvas
Two products tested on the trip were a pull out canvas awning and a centre pole tent, both supplied by Southern Cross Canvas. The easy-to-erect awning, fitted to the roofrack, provided plenty of shade and was rugged enough to last the whole trip. The tent proved its worth after surviving a ferocious electrical and wind storm that ripped through the camp at Kalbarri. For more info visit www.southerncrosscanvas.com.au or phone (03) 9729 5056.
Great Divide Tours
Overlander would like to thank Vic and everyone at Great Divide Tours for helping organise this mammoth trip. Great Divide Tours has been in the business of conducting 4WD tag-along tours and driver training courses for over seventeen years. For more info visit www.4wd.net.au or phone (02) 9913 1395.
