OutbackBen
Forum Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2008
- Messages
- 36
Day 8: And back on the road, time for some serious dirt roads. We travelled from Kings Canyon through to Hermannsburg via the Mereenie Loop road. Pretty gnarley corrugations on this road and unfortunately this took its toll on Craig’s suspension.
A quick stop for a bite to eat and disconnect the trailers and we were off to drive the 4WD only track of Palm Valley through the Finke River National Park.
What a great track, Real 4wd wheel placement required and too many river crossings to count. As seen on the front cover, the Subaru’s did a fair but of showing off cocking their legs when that chance came up.
Back onto the blacktop for that afternoon and into Alice Springs to try and arrange the suspension parts that Craig required.
Day 9: Due to it being Sunday there was no spare parts shops open. So it was off to the West Mcdonald Ranges to visit all of the wonderful gorges that this place has to offer. Some people chose to go swimming in the COLD water (in the gorges). Next was a great walk up into Stanley Chasm and then back to Alice for a great BBQ dinner with a few cold Bevies!
Day 10: a sad day today indeed. It was time to say good bye to Craig, Chloe and Mitchell as they needed to remain in Alice for repairs.
The remaining 3 cars left Alice Springs to head for the Plenty HWY with a feeling of sadness. We really did miss your company Craig.
Onto the Plenty HWY heading for Outback QLD.
A few nights earlier and once again over a beer ( or two) we had decided to push through the Plenty and cover as much ground as we could to allow us some extra time. So what do we do with extra time in Outback QLD?? We travel all the way to Birdsville pub for a cold beer, great meal and a play on BIG RED in the Simpson Desert of course!!
We drove the full distance of the Plenty that day and even did a vehicle recovery along the way. Arrived at camp in QLD at around 10:00pm
Day 11: Time to go to the Birdsville. Back tracks (due to floods and running very low on fuel) was the order of the day and we arrived in Birdsville just in time for lunch at the Bakery; Unload he cars at camp and straight out to the Simpson Desert and onto Big Red. SUBI POWER!! Both of the Outbacks managed to climb Big red on the optional had track, Josh also did a great Job in his Navara and crested the dune with a very big smile on his face from the achievement. So it was off to thepub that night for dinner to celebrate the day’s adventures and then back to camp for a photo slideshow of action.
Day 12 and we are heading south east, through Windorah and Quilpie and then into Toompine to camp for the evening next to the pub. It’s a great little pub, well worth the visit.
Day 13: The dust storm morning. We awoke to strong winds and a dust storm that was just horrific. I wasn’t a happy camper that morning; and was very excited to be in the car and getting away from that place.
Destination Lightening Ridge. Once we found a place to camp in town we headed off to the thermal pools (other wise known as Crustyville) or (Critterville).
Interesting place to say the least.
Day 14 and Sandi’s tour guide abilities were back into action, she had our day planned out so that we wouldn’t miss anything; underground, above ground, galleries, museums we saw it all.
We were all very impressed with “The Ridge” and would highly recommend that place to anyone thinking of visiting.
Day 15: Time to head for Sydney. We all just wanted to keep driving but reality hit that we had to go back to work to pay the bills.
We travelled home via Dubbo and then back over the mountains, saying good bye to Josh at Oberon as he was travelling the back way to the ACT.
We all got along really well, we had early starts, big days behind the wheel, exhausting walks and challenging outback roads; but as a team we completed what we set out to do; plus more.
Great adventure and I can’t wait for the next one!
A quick stop for a bite to eat and disconnect the trailers and we were off to drive the 4WD only track of Palm Valley through the Finke River National Park.
What a great track, Real 4wd wheel placement required and too many river crossings to count. As seen on the front cover, the Subaru’s did a fair but of showing off cocking their legs when that chance came up.
Back onto the blacktop for that afternoon and into Alice Springs to try and arrange the suspension parts that Craig required.
Day 9: Due to it being Sunday there was no spare parts shops open. So it was off to the West Mcdonald Ranges to visit all of the wonderful gorges that this place has to offer. Some people chose to go swimming in the COLD water (in the gorges). Next was a great walk up into Stanley Chasm and then back to Alice for a great BBQ dinner with a few cold Bevies!
Day 10: a sad day today indeed. It was time to say good bye to Craig, Chloe and Mitchell as they needed to remain in Alice for repairs.
The remaining 3 cars left Alice Springs to head for the Plenty HWY with a feeling of sadness. We really did miss your company Craig.
Onto the Plenty HWY heading for Outback QLD.
A few nights earlier and once again over a beer ( or two) we had decided to push through the Plenty and cover as much ground as we could to allow us some extra time. So what do we do with extra time in Outback QLD?? We travel all the way to Birdsville pub for a cold beer, great meal and a play on BIG RED in the Simpson Desert of course!!
We drove the full distance of the Plenty that day and even did a vehicle recovery along the way. Arrived at camp in QLD at around 10:00pm
Day 11: Time to go to the Birdsville. Back tracks (due to floods and running very low on fuel) was the order of the day and we arrived in Birdsville just in time for lunch at the Bakery; Unload he cars at camp and straight out to the Simpson Desert and onto Big Red. SUBI POWER!! Both of the Outbacks managed to climb Big red on the optional had track, Josh also did a great Job in his Navara and crested the dune with a very big smile on his face from the achievement. So it was off to thepub that night for dinner to celebrate the day’s adventures and then back to camp for a photo slideshow of action.
Day 12 and we are heading south east, through Windorah and Quilpie and then into Toompine to camp for the evening next to the pub. It’s a great little pub, well worth the visit.
Day 13: The dust storm morning. We awoke to strong winds and a dust storm that was just horrific. I wasn’t a happy camper that morning; and was very excited to be in the car and getting away from that place.
Destination Lightening Ridge. Once we found a place to camp in town we headed off to the thermal pools (other wise known as Crustyville) or (Critterville).
Interesting place to say the least.
Day 14 and Sandi’s tour guide abilities were back into action, she had our day planned out so that we wouldn’t miss anything; underground, above ground, galleries, museums we saw it all.
We were all very impressed with “The Ridge” and would highly recommend that place to anyone thinking of visiting.
Day 15: Time to head for Sydney. We all just wanted to keep driving but reality hit that we had to go back to work to pay the bills.
We travelled home via Dubbo and then back over the mountains, saying good bye to Josh at Oberon as he was travelling the back way to the ACT.
We all got along really well, we had early starts, big days behind the wheel, exhausting walks and challenging outback roads; but as a team we completed what we set out to do; plus more.
Great adventure and I can’t wait for the next one!
