Birdsville Track Roadtrip 2011

[AB]

Sounds like a great trip mate!

Love the photos!!!

[snicko]

What a great write up !! And the pics are awesome!!

[Sir Roofy]

Wow what an amazing trip
thanks for the great write up mate
that brought back a few memories of days gone by

[AJoz]

Up early on Friday and campers packed we were on the road by 11am….. yeah we were travelling with kids.

First stop was for some souvenir shirts in town then another early lunch from the bakery. A quick stop outside the racetrack for some photos and in no time we were heading South to the border and on to Mungerannie.





About an hour after the border we exited a washaway creekbed and immediately came across three vehicles parked on the side of the road with punctures. I slowed down to see if they were all OK and thought this must be a bad spot for punctures. Sure enough I’d only just sped back up when Julie called on the radio to say they had a puncture. Not wanting to risk a puncture myself we did a seven point turn on the track to avoid the really bad gibbers on the verge. We headed back to help Andrew & Julie change their rear drivers side tyre. It had a 50mm longitudinal split between the tread blocks so is probably a write off. They say bad things happen in threes so Andrew was probably a bit on edge for the rest of the trip but no more dramas were had.



One of the other vehicles with a flat was a Holden Crewman ute with alloys and low profile tyres. He had five punctures already and was setting up camp on the side of the track waiting for more tyres to be sent down from Birdsville. Live and learn I guess.





The rest of the drive down to Mungerannie was uneventful. We arrived there at about 4pm, paid our camping fees and set up camp next to the wetlands and swimming hole.











The kids didn’t need any encouragement for a pub meal so after a swim and walk along the wetlands it was into the bar for drinks, dinner, eight ball and some chat with Phil, Pam and a few locals.

[AJoz]

We woke early on the last day of the trip and the kids really did get stuck in this time and we were ready to hit the road at 9am but didn’t actually hit the road until nearly 10am as we all had a last swim and relax in the thermal pool. We probably would have liked to spend all day there but we had a long drive ahead and a big dust storm had blown in without warning.








The short 80km run down to the Cooper Creek was concerning as not a single vehicle came the other way. Either the ferry was broken or had stopped running because of the strong winds. We arrived at the crossing and were relieved to see the ferry heading our way with a 4WD on board. Andrew & Julie went across first and left straight away so we wouldn’t be driving in their dust.







A quick ride and we too were on the South side. The ferry crew told us that I the wind got any stronger they would have to shut down the service.



The last 600km of the run home were easy going. We stopped for fuel and lunch at Marree, pumped the tyres back up to road pressure at Lyndhurst and then made good time on the blacktop to be home by 7pm on Saturday night.



Another successful outback trip completed. The two Patrols performed faultlessly, as expected, the TD42Ts didn’t overheat, 5th gear didn’t break, nothing rattled loose, the Mickey Thompsons didn’t explode at the first sign of gibbers, the home made camper trailer survived and best of all I brought all four kids home safely and with my sanity intact.

To finish on, here’s the last photo I took on this trip. Right on sunset between Quorn and Hawker. Outback serenity…..



Thanks for reading.

cheers

Andrew


Footnote:
Sunday was Fathers Day, when dads get to sleep in, get breakfast in bed and get to relax all day watching footy on the telly.

I wish!

Unpack the car, unpack the trailer, set up the camper, remove all of the bedding, hose the dust off the swags, blow down the chairs, wash the trailer and wash the Patrol. The kids did help though.

So here she is on Sunday night, tucked away in the shed where it will stay until the next adventure.

[growler2058]

Well done mate top write up and absolutely brilliant piccies thanks heaps

[GUtsy ute]

What an awesome write up and photos Andrew!
Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

Cheers.

[AJoz]

Thanks all. Glad you enjoyed the story and happy snaps.

[Bigrig]

Too right we did mate - as said, that was a bloody good write up with photos etc ...

[Maxhead]

Awesome thread Ajoz, great writeup and quality pics.. Cheers