Chambers Pillar and a problems with the Hilux

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One last treat for me was to visit Chambers Pillar, a very large chunk of rock about 150k south of Alice Springs. 

It is recommended to see it just before sun set, and just after sunrise. 

Unfortunately at sun set, the place was swarming with sticky little flies. The black blob in the sun set photo is one of them. Sunrise was much more pleasant before the flies congregate. 

The day was all downhill after that. 

While driving back from Chambers Pillar,

I suddenly lost all electrical power to the Hilux, and there was a burning smell from the engine. I whipped open the bonnet, and saw that metal bracket that was supposed to hold the battery in place, had lost one support, and was shorting directly to the positive battery terminal. 

The battery terminal was so hot, that it just wiggled in the battery case. 

The battery was totally stuffed. 

I did have a spare battery with me, but as luck would have it, the terminals were transposed, so to fit it I had to juggle the cables considerably. One good thing was of the three people who passed, all stopped to offer assistance. 

One chap, who had actually been at the same camp the previous night, actually got stuck into it, and said if it wouldn't go, he would drive the 100k still to go to Alice, and bring back a tandem trailer to float my ute back to Alice. 

Anyway luckily the lash up worked, and I drove very slowly the 100 k of road corrugations to a battery shop in Alice. The have fitted a new battery, and in hindsight my old battery was over 4 years old. 

The battery man did say, that I was very lucky not to have lost the whole car to fire. It seems it is not uncommon for vehicles to be total write offs with my type of battery short. 

I do still have some problems though. The fuel gauge no longer works properly, and I don't trust the odometer any more. 

Hopefully I can nurse it home to Melbourne. 

Alice Springs. The Tag Along destination.

Alice Springs is the end of the tag along part of the trip, and for the first time I will head South tomorrow. 

The trip has been most enjoyable with me learning new skills. 

In fact I have finally earned my stripes, and am now a fully qualified 2nd assistant dunny digger. 

There is a fair bit of routine in travelling in a group. When we reach a camping spot at the end of a days travelling, the first item on the agenda is to grab the axes, and chop wood for the camp fire. This is then lit, and then the dunny hole is dug, usually in a spot with a great view, but a discrete distance from the others. The tent is erected, and is pronounced fit for use. 

The following morning, the procedure is reversed. Firstly the fire is buried so that there are no ashes left, and then the dunny is dismantled, and the contents are totally burnt with a spinifex fire, and covered with the always present red sand. 

Dinner for some is cooked on the camp fire, and others cook at their vehicle. 

Then we all gather around the fire after sun set. 

Sometimes we stay up as late as 9.00 pm. 

Last night was a bit more unusual. As it was the last official bush camp spot, we had a communal afternoon tea with pikelets, and cheese and bikies etc. 

The weather however was stifling. When we finally went to bed, it must have been still in the mid thirties. It was just impossible to sleep. Finally about midnight there was some thunder and hard raindrops, which had everyone up covering their possessions. In fact it was a very welcome cool change. After finally getting to sleep, I was awoken by the loudest snoring I had ever heard. My nearest fellow camper was about 30 meters away, and I had never heard him snore at all before. Finally after about 10 minutes of this it ended with a loud MOOOOO. 

It turned out to be a young bull with a heavy breathing problem. Sounded just like snoring. 

Fortunately he headed off after that. 

Tonight we are are having a farewell meal at an Alice Springs restaurant. 

The we all head our separate ways. 

Giles Meterolgical Station

This morning the group had a wonderful tour of the Giles Weather Station, which was set up in the mid 50's to provide weather data for the atomic weapons tests at Emu plains and Maralinga. 

It is the only staffed weather station in 2.5 million square kilometres. 

There is quite a ceremony involved in the setting off of a weather balloon at precisely the same time every day of the year. At exactly the same time GMT, similar balloons are set off all over the world, for weather prediction. It seems that most of the work is done by computers now, so the duty operator was only too pleased to put on a performance, and didn't want to let us go. It seems he doesn't have that much to do now. 

There are three on the staff who take different shifts. 

This site was picked out by Len Beadell, and he also was in charge of bulldozing the road to Giles. 

There is quite a bit of Len Beadell memorabilia in the small museum including his original grader. 

After returning to the Warakurna camp ground, Mick gave us a very interesting practical demonstration of tyre repair. He is a fountain of knowledge on the subject. Strangely enough the females in the party weren't quite as interested. 

Rawlinson Ranges...The Gibson Desert

The area we are now in covers the Gibson Desert where poor Gibson, who apparently was not the brightest, lost his life in tragic circumstances. 

The hero of the story is Giles, who was an amazing explorer of this part of Australia. 

Mick has been reading exerpts from his diary every evening and they are a gripping read. For those interested, Giles Diaries are available as a free download from Gutenberg Press as an e-book. 

It is quite amazing to stop and explore all those places he discovered and named. Most are either mountain ranges, or especially places where he found water for his party, and horses. And most importantly for future travellers. 

The Gunbarrel Highway " old section"

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Today was one of the toughest days on the road. We came up from our overnight camp at Warburton, and headed for the Jackie Junction, named after another of Len Beadell's daughters, and then headed east across the Old Gunbarrel Highway. 

This road on the Hema maps is notated with the word  abandoned. 

It is an important historical road, as it links the Bomb site with Giles, which was and still is the most remote meteorolical station in Australia. It's purpose was to tell the bomb people when the wind was blowing the right way to safely let off an atom bomb, and not blow radiation filled clouds towards the eastern states. Reasonably important I would say. 

The road is now not used, and is in pretty rough condition. To make matters worse, a very strong hot wind has been blowing all day, and the temperature reached over 36 degrees. 

The road corrugations were extreme, and there were heaps of termite nests in the road, which if hit was just like hitting a large rock at speed. 

On the road at various intervals were Len Beadell aluminium plaques attached to trees, which Connie is maintaing with fresh paint and a quick polish. 

It seems heaps have been souveniered, and now they use tamper proof screws. 

The road was so rough I really feared for the camper hanging on to the tray. 

The most amusing finale, at the end of the road was a sign pronouncing the road "Closed"

Tomorrow we are off to visit Giles, the meteorological station. 

10 days of rough travel

I am just re-writing this blog as somehow eblogger lost the first 4 days of posts. Maybe something to do with the iPhone battery running flat. 

These past days have seen a lot of new learning experiences. 

There is a protocol for travelling in convoy.  This involves a radio check in first thing. The order of the vehicles changes each day with a rotation system. The rear most vehicle normally notifies all vehicles in front of it are on the move. 

First stop was at "Hanns Camp". This is a few kms off the Anne Beadell hwy. 

Frank Hann must have been a tough character. He lived in this unbelievably remote spot for 15 years while he explored the area, and named just about every geographical feature. 

As I write this we are still following in his footsteps. I have so much respect for this explorer. 

We started off on the Anne Beadell highway, and are now on the Connie Sue highway. One memorable feature is the corrugations. They are bad. Seriously bad. I am amazed the vehicle hasn't rattled to bits. 

On the road we have numerous temporary stops for photo opportunities. These are mostly to take pics of wild flowers. Connie is very knowledgeable re these flowers, and can generally identify them by name. Both Mick and Connie are unbelievably dedicated in their love of the bush. They are always off exploring. 

The other two couples are really easy to get along with. One couple are a bit older, he is 82, and she must be in her late 70's. the embarrassing thing, is that they are really hard to keep up with on fairly strenuous rock walks. The other couple are also farmers, probably a tad younger than me. . 

At the end of the day we sit around the campfire, discussing the days sights. One evening, Connie played an audio talk that someone had recorded of an impromptu talk that Len had given. It was very interesting listening to the great man. 

I had my first go baking bread on the road, and it was sort of ok. It tasted great, but was a bit on the flattish side. 

We have been doing a lot of detours off the main track looking at various places mentioned by the early explorers. Our daily progress in distance is quite modest. 

This area is amazingly isolated. As i write this, we haven't seen one other vehicle or person since leaving Laverton eight days ago. 

The one thing I have seen is zillions of flies. Len Beadell's description of flies is very accurate. They continually land in your eyes and mouth. 

We have seen some wildlife including camels, goannas, and a snake. 

The ute is holding up well, although I have had to give some attention to the spare wheel carrier. Also of the four bolts which I installed to hold the plywood tray, with all the vibration two have lost their nuts. I must have forgotten to use thread lock on them. Fortunately I had a couple of spares. 

Twice I have had to top up the main diesel tank. This is a messy business. I will give it some thought when I get back. 

I am getting quicker at setting up camp, and packing up. The canvas roof is holding up to the occasional night of very strong winds. 

The country has some beautiful sights. 

Most of the area we are currently in requires permits some of which can be very difficult to get. I doubt many travellers see these vistas. 

Further to my previous writing, I have baked a second loaf, and it is much better. What I did was to reduce the amount of water slightly. 

The evening routine, is stop around around 3.30. First thing is to get the communal fire going. Then Mick digs a not very long drop dunny, and a erects a small tent around it. (If you type in dunny, iPhone corrects it to funny. Very funny)

Some couples cook on the fire, and about half an hour after sunset, people gather round with the chairs and cups of tea. 

All in all it is a very pace, and I am adjusting to it. 

The roads have been badly corrugated. Especially the Connie Sue highway. I am amazed the vehicles stand up to it. 

I am now writing this last bit in Warburton, which is a long way from anywhere in West Australia. Just spent $240 filling up with diesel. 

First 3G reception for 10 days. 

Next  mobile coverage in 3 days. 

Laverton. The official start of the trip.

On Sunday I stopped at Kalgoorlie. It was bucketing down, sp i treated myself to a motel room. Sunday turned out to be a poor choice of day, as most of the things to see and do are shut on a Sunday. The most noteworthy act was to order a coffee at  McDonalds, and while trying to look nonchalant with my supermarket bought scone, managed to collide with a post and the cup and coffee exploded on the floor. 

They were nice enough to make a replacement, but I got the message since this time they gave me a cardboard take away mug. 

At least Maccas are always open. 

After checking out the famous open pit, which was hard to get a decent pic of , I was on the road again. 

Next stop was Leonora, which at first glance didn't look that interesting. However just out of town was the "Sons of Gwalia" mine and abandoned town and museum. What a sensational place. The museum was just my cup of tea with lots of old steam engines including a 1000 hp winding engine from 1912. 

But the highlight was the old abandoned workers houses, and I was suitably inspired to get the Canon 5d out of its case, grab the tripod and spend 3 hours taking pics. I can't post these, as they are high res raw images, but I was truly inspired. 

The other interesting thing about Leonara was the assortment of campers in the campground. Most of them turned out to be amateur gold prospectors, who spent their days with metal detectors. They were a pretty rough and ready bunch, and I did get shown some of their finds. 

Now I am Laverton, the real start of the trip. The odo already reads 4473 km since home. 

Waverock

Another great Australian vista. 

I am pleased to have actually have visited the spot and seen the famous rock. The only downside, is that while reversing in to the camp spot, I put a dint in camper body by reversing into a low slung tree branch. A pity I decided not to bring the reversing camera. 

Next stop for me is Kalgoorlie. It could be interesting, as I heard on the news that 800 bikies from the Rebel group were travelling across the Nullabor and due in Kalgoorlie tomorrow too. 

Esperance

Visiting Esperance was never on the plan, but I have made good time so far, covering over 3000k in the first five days, so I decided to have a day off at Cape Le Grand National Park. This one of the great attractions of Esperance, although it is 45 k from the town. 

i think the pics says it all. A great place to spend my birthday (although no mobile reception here)

After quite a bit of rain last night, and an overnight camp that was great except for one little thing. A mile long diesel train ran within 30 meters of my camping site. And it passed through twice during the night. Once at 11.00pm, and then again at 3.30 am. Both times waking me up. The actual diesel locomotive was so loud, I really felt my hearing could suffer permanent damage. 

Still the camping fees were only 5 dollars. I am not sure what the cost for the audiolologist will be. 

Today makes up for it. This is the most beautiful spot, and includes extremely tame kangaroos hanging around the camp. 

Because I am ahead of time, I plan to make another detour and go to Kalgoorlie via the very famous Wave Rock, and then onto Laverton for the start of the trip. 

West Australia welcomes me

It doesn't seem that long ago, but this afternoon I received a classic West Australian reception by going through quarantine, and having the best oranges I have ever tasted, confiscated. But more of that later. 

My trip from St Andrews  to Adelaide was fairly uneventful.  The Hilux, in spite of its huge diesel load, seemed to travel well on the open road. 

In Adelaide I spent the night at a mates place, and after having fun checking out their respective workshops and models, headed off. 

I had a slight problem with the TomTom app trying to send me on a never ending loop by making multiple u-turns. 

That night I spent at a camp site near Wilmington. 

Then on the road again towards the West. The road wasn't very interesting, so I took a slight diversion to stay over at Streaky Bay. What a great camp spot. 

Right on the beach. 

I also palled up with another lone traveller, who had the love of his life with him. Namely his almost brand new Harley Davidson Trike and mini trailer full of camping gear. Talk about the odd couple. 

He was from Sydney, and we got on reasonably well

More about WA in the next post. 

Following Len Beadell's footsteps

This plan on this trip is start in Laverton WA, and travel some of Len Beadell's iconic roads.