rottodiver
3rd January 2012, 04:47 PM
Heya to everyone and happy new year,
Well what a little adventure Ruth and i have had since boxing day.....
it all began bright and early boxing day... up at 3am and in the car at 3.30am (after packing the car christmas day) and off to exmouth we headed, for those who dont know exmouth is about 1300km from perth and it traditionally quite hot this time of year.. it was 44 the day we left so i was expecting some nice warm days camping next to the beach.
The trip up there was quite a good one, no dramas except the car started to get a little warm while inland a bit and really dry heat but not too bad.
we arrived at exmouth filled up with fuel and headed around to the west side right on the coast and into the national park(which is about 80 km away from the town of exmouth but to Ruth's delight the park have put in plenty of long drop toilets!!
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02562.jpg
there is a rangers station where you pay camping fees for each night and admission into the park.
we set up camp at one of the many camping spots wich sits about 30 meters off the beach, there were a few people around, the sunset was awesome and the beers while relaxing were just good!!
The next day we were up bright and early and went for a walk down the beach to see a couple little reef sharks doing some fishing,a few eagle rays and a couple turtles and a play with the crazy crabs (i call it play, i bet they just found me annoying) on the reef which was out of the water due to low tide.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0073.jpg
had breakky packed up and went down to yardie creek for a boat tour along the yardie creek in the gorges(great little tour...so informative and the wildlife was great too), here we saw 8 rock wallabies, 2 turtles, bats, eagles, goats(ferral) euro's (little kangaroos) and plenty of birds and was really impressed with the history lesson.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0127.jpg
after the tour i went and sussed out the spot where i can drive through yardie creek the following day to do the coastal track to coral bay... all looked passable!!
that day we went into exmouth and then slowly cruised back to the park chacking out all the touristy stuff like where all the turtles nesting the lighthouse look out etc
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0202.jpg
and then went to a new campsite and set up early so we could relax, until we got an annoying kangaroo that just had no fear of people and wanted to take over our little camp(looking for food i assume... as people must have already fed him in the past) for about an hour.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0214.jpg
so we went and had a swim and then got the rod and a few drinks just before the sun went down and went and did some fishing....we caught nothing(yes i know.. everyone catches fish in exmouth....not me).
Next day we packed up early and went a hike the mandu mandu gorge (which is about a 3km walk and an estimated 2 hours to do it.. we did it in an hour so i think 2 hours a little generous) which meant walking through the bottom of the gorge and then climbing the step tracks to the top and then up and down them to get back (4 out of 6 difficulty level), we took plenty of water, first aid kit and the sat phone all to be safe).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02412.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02442.jpg
Then it was off to torquoise bay for the famous drift snorkel, which entails walking down the beach swimming out 40 odd meters(more if you want) and then the current pushes you for 200 odd meteres and then yo swim across it back to the shore and do it again... but here you see so much marine life it is crazy.... all types of fish,reef sharks, eals, sea snakes, turtles coral(we did not see all those but they are there).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_PC280280.jpg
After all this we jumped in the car and headed back down to yardi creek to do the crossing.
i let the tires down and walked the crossing which was about a meter deep and flowing quite quickly which all seemed fine with some very soft sand bog holes on the other side... but all seemed ok!!
i went down and for a little back up flicked the lockers on cruised on through and out the other side...all great.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0104.jpg
we headed about 3 km to another campsite to camp the night.. not a car not a person anywhere just us and you guessed it.. another possessive kangaroo, this time of the toilet block.
That evening we did some fishing and ruth caught an emporer so we had that for dinner.
next day the games began!! we packed up and headed south to coral bay along the coastal run.. it turned out to be very very corragated and not a great deal of fun but the view was great, this is when after about 50 km i guess, something felt wrong with the steering, i got out and bingo.. the tie rod had come loose from nuts so both tyres were toed right in... time for a bush wheel alignment...(length of string and packers while up on the high lift jack). ok all sorted now... just a quick check under the bonnet......... the new you bewt "best they sell" auto transmission caller has fallen apart(the core and the thermo fan have seperated from the bracket... ok easy fixed with cable tires).
we were off again, a few hours later we were in coral bay, had some lunch and then headed to carnarvon...
next thing the alternator light came on with the sub and a/t temp light...
got out and checked it...yep alternator has died.
got to carnarvon 3 hours later, stopped at the closest carvan park and just as i pulled up the car dies.
brought out the car charger and plugged it it and did the frantic search for an alternator in carnarvon. finally found repco open and they said they can have one sent from perth the next day.... so we we set up had a swim in the pool and relaxed.. all will be good on Friday(the next day).
The next day and guess what no alternator... they promised the next day (Saturday 31st) so we hired a car and cruised around carnarvon...... nothing really to see there, went to the plantations for bananas and mangoes and strawberries which where yum!!
relaxed and in the pool again..
Saturday arrives....... the alternator does not!!! Repco are apologetic but will not be expecting a delivery until wednesday 4th jan...
but the woman at repco is friends with the local wrecker who has one..... i met him and he grought me a 50 amp one from a gq(thinking the gq is a gu....great wrecker hey), the brackets looked good but the plug was ina different spot... thought i would try it..... eventually got it to fit and guess what...shorted the whole car out... 100amp fuse blown... straight on the phone to repco.. they dont have a 100 amp fuse.... rang the wrecker again told him the problem so he picked me up and took me to another of his yards so i could find a fuse in a car..... i found 2 and took 2..
ok old alterantor back in the car new fuse, back to repco to get 2 new car batteries as back up(with plenty of discussions on this forum as to whether i would make it with no alternator), and off we drove to monkey mia...360 km away.. evrything went well.
got to monkey mia and immediately extended the stay to 2 nights instead of 1 so i could relax and do a straight drive home without stopping...
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_P1010307.jpg
monkey mia was awesome, we got a powered site to charge the batteries and organised 2 boat cruises and had new years even at the "monkey bar" in monkey mia.
The emu with it's 8 chicks was cute until they would not leave peole alone and became invasive (Ruth was over wildlife by the end of this trip hahaha).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_P1010311.jpg
We saw the dolphins that came to the beach we saw dugongs(briefly from a distance) but most of all had a great time..... very relaxing!!!
then the time for the trip home arrived and after reading the idea on this forum i set up the solar panels on the roof of the car and plugged them in and left under a blanket of clouds!!! for 400 km i had clouds haha, but on the flip side it was a cooler drive considering we didnt run air con. i would like to have stopped a little more but i didnt turn the car off so it was a straight run...except shell beach to check it out!!!
we got home 91/2 laters with 10.7 volts and the batteries(which i had linked together) without having to put the back up ones in!!!
this has been an awesome trip although eventful but we both got home safe and that is all that matters
Scotty
p.s got up this morning and i have a flat tyre as i have run over a teck bolt somewhere along the line and one of my front tryes is totally ruinrd from my effort of a wheel alligntment and having no where to get it alligned.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0166.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0132.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02712.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02692.jpg
Well what a little adventure Ruth and i have had since boxing day.....
it all began bright and early boxing day... up at 3am and in the car at 3.30am (after packing the car christmas day) and off to exmouth we headed, for those who dont know exmouth is about 1300km from perth and it traditionally quite hot this time of year.. it was 44 the day we left so i was expecting some nice warm days camping next to the beach.
The trip up there was quite a good one, no dramas except the car started to get a little warm while inland a bit and really dry heat but not too bad.
we arrived at exmouth filled up with fuel and headed around to the west side right on the coast and into the national park(which is about 80 km away from the town of exmouth but to Ruth's delight the park have put in plenty of long drop toilets!!
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02562.jpg
there is a rangers station where you pay camping fees for each night and admission into the park.
we set up camp at one of the many camping spots wich sits about 30 meters off the beach, there were a few people around, the sunset was awesome and the beers while relaxing were just good!!
The next day we were up bright and early and went for a walk down the beach to see a couple little reef sharks doing some fishing,a few eagle rays and a couple turtles and a play with the crazy crabs (i call it play, i bet they just found me annoying) on the reef which was out of the water due to low tide.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0073.jpg
had breakky packed up and went down to yardie creek for a boat tour along the yardie creek in the gorges(great little tour...so informative and the wildlife was great too), here we saw 8 rock wallabies, 2 turtles, bats, eagles, goats(ferral) euro's (little kangaroos) and plenty of birds and was really impressed with the history lesson.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0127.jpg
after the tour i went and sussed out the spot where i can drive through yardie creek the following day to do the coastal track to coral bay... all looked passable!!
that day we went into exmouth and then slowly cruised back to the park chacking out all the touristy stuff like where all the turtles nesting the lighthouse look out etc
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0202.jpg
and then went to a new campsite and set up early so we could relax, until we got an annoying kangaroo that just had no fear of people and wanted to take over our little camp(looking for food i assume... as people must have already fed him in the past) for about an hour.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0214.jpg
so we went and had a swim and then got the rod and a few drinks just before the sun went down and went and did some fishing....we caught nothing(yes i know.. everyone catches fish in exmouth....not me).
Next day we packed up early and went a hike the mandu mandu gorge (which is about a 3km walk and an estimated 2 hours to do it.. we did it in an hour so i think 2 hours a little generous) which meant walking through the bottom of the gorge and then climbing the step tracks to the top and then up and down them to get back (4 out of 6 difficulty level), we took plenty of water, first aid kit and the sat phone all to be safe).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02412.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02442.jpg
Then it was off to torquoise bay for the famous drift snorkel, which entails walking down the beach swimming out 40 odd meters(more if you want) and then the current pushes you for 200 odd meteres and then yo swim across it back to the shore and do it again... but here you see so much marine life it is crazy.... all types of fish,reef sharks, eals, sea snakes, turtles coral(we did not see all those but they are there).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_PC280280.jpg
After all this we jumped in the car and headed back down to yardi creek to do the crossing.
i let the tires down and walked the crossing which was about a meter deep and flowing quite quickly which all seemed fine with some very soft sand bog holes on the other side... but all seemed ok!!
i went down and for a little back up flicked the lockers on cruised on through and out the other side...all great.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0104.jpg
we headed about 3 km to another campsite to camp the night.. not a car not a person anywhere just us and you guessed it.. another possessive kangaroo, this time of the toilet block.
That evening we did some fishing and ruth caught an emporer so we had that for dinner.
next day the games began!! we packed up and headed south to coral bay along the coastal run.. it turned out to be very very corragated and not a great deal of fun but the view was great, this is when after about 50 km i guess, something felt wrong with the steering, i got out and bingo.. the tie rod had come loose from nuts so both tyres were toed right in... time for a bush wheel alignment...(length of string and packers while up on the high lift jack). ok all sorted now... just a quick check under the bonnet......... the new you bewt "best they sell" auto transmission caller has fallen apart(the core and the thermo fan have seperated from the bracket... ok easy fixed with cable tires).
we were off again, a few hours later we were in coral bay, had some lunch and then headed to carnarvon...
next thing the alternator light came on with the sub and a/t temp light...
got out and checked it...yep alternator has died.
got to carnarvon 3 hours later, stopped at the closest carvan park and just as i pulled up the car dies.
brought out the car charger and plugged it it and did the frantic search for an alternator in carnarvon. finally found repco open and they said they can have one sent from perth the next day.... so we we set up had a swim in the pool and relaxed.. all will be good on Friday(the next day).
The next day and guess what no alternator... they promised the next day (Saturday 31st) so we hired a car and cruised around carnarvon...... nothing really to see there, went to the plantations for bananas and mangoes and strawberries which where yum!!
relaxed and in the pool again..
Saturday arrives....... the alternator does not!!! Repco are apologetic but will not be expecting a delivery until wednesday 4th jan...
but the woman at repco is friends with the local wrecker who has one..... i met him and he grought me a 50 amp one from a gq(thinking the gq is a gu....great wrecker hey), the brackets looked good but the plug was ina different spot... thought i would try it..... eventually got it to fit and guess what...shorted the whole car out... 100amp fuse blown... straight on the phone to repco.. they dont have a 100 amp fuse.... rang the wrecker again told him the problem so he picked me up and took me to another of his yards so i could find a fuse in a car..... i found 2 and took 2..
ok old alterantor back in the car new fuse, back to repco to get 2 new car batteries as back up(with plenty of discussions on this forum as to whether i would make it with no alternator), and off we drove to monkey mia...360 km away.. evrything went well.
got to monkey mia and immediately extended the stay to 2 nights instead of 1 so i could relax and do a straight drive home without stopping...
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_P1010307.jpg
monkey mia was awesome, we got a powered site to charge the batteries and organised 2 boat cruises and had new years even at the "monkey bar" in monkey mia.
The emu with it's 8 chicks was cute until they would not leave peole alone and became invasive (Ruth was over wildlife by the end of this trip hahaha).
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_P1010311.jpg
We saw the dolphins that came to the beach we saw dugongs(briefly from a distance) but most of all had a great time..... very relaxing!!!
then the time for the trip home arrived and after reading the idea on this forum i set up the solar panels on the roof of the car and plugged them in and left under a blanket of clouds!!! for 400 km i had clouds haha, but on the flip side it was a cooler drive considering we didnt run air con. i would like to have stopped a little more but i didnt turn the car off so it was a straight run...except shell beach to check it out!!!
we got home 91/2 laters with 10.7 volts and the batteries(which i had linked together) without having to put the back up ones in!!!
this has been an awesome trip although eventful but we both got home safe and that is all that matters
Scotty
p.s got up this morning and i have a flat tyre as i have run over a teck bolt somewhere along the line and one of my front tryes is totally ruinrd from my effort of a wheel alligntment and having no where to get it alligned.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0166.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_0132.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02712.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/rottodiver/4wd/th_IMG_02692.jpg