Last month the +1 and I did our 3rd trip in the outback and had a hoot.
4 states, 5k km.
Melb. - Silverton (outside Broken Hill) - Tibooburra - Innamincka via Cameron Cnr - Birdsville - Marree - Flinders Ranges and home.
Doing the Birdsville or Strez Tks was high on the agenda, just to see how well the Fozz would cope and also to enjoy those wide-open plains. We'd done the Ood. Tk twice.
In the event, two of those legs were classified by the SA road authorities as 4WD only at the time and the Foz coped well. It was dealing with water over the road and dried out ruts. We found the Foz had the 20cm clearance that most 4WDs have so with an alloy sump guard and a similar track there was no drama. (LoL, we did end up doing some 30 km of the old Strez due to misleading signage and poor nav on my part, with the tank rapidly draining over 2nd and 3rd gear diversions and the missus white-knuckled but got to Inna without embarrassment).
We even did Little Red outside of Birdsville (with the tyre pressure dropped to 20psi) when a bunch of proper 4by drivers were parked below unwilling to try it (mind you, the missus walked up!).
Two events kinda captured the essence. One was a Tib. local who said 'you can get anywhere in this country provided you're prepared to stop'. Very appropriate if kinda Irish logic. The other was at a bush camp outside of Blinman in the Flinders R, when in the morning it was so cold the fridge temp dropped a degree when I got out the stuff for brekky! -2 at 8am!
We towed a light off-road CT which also coped well, apart from some odd lekky light probs.
Our std practice is to set up camp, pref. a bush camp, for 3 nights, to make the setup/packup time overhead worthwhile.
Best bush camps? Actually hard to pick this time. Penrose Park in Silverton (semi-bush). Tibooburra Aboriginal Land Council camp 3 km outside of Tib. (little known gem). Cullyamurra Waterhole on the Cooper Ck outside of Innamincka (stunning amount of birdlife). B/ville Campground overlooking the Billabong (equally stunning birdlife).
And while we knew it was going to be cold, it was bloody freezing and thank heavens I'd hacked a 9kg gas bottle as a brazier and taken the chainsaw along.
Electric and electronic failure seem to be the price I pay for these trips. At one stage I had 3 mobiles and the satphone that wouldn't work/connect when they should've and a new Jaycar laptop charger that failed to perform.
Many thanks to Kevin for his advice on tyres. Out there is rough on the rubber. I'd had fitted a new set of D697s which performed faultlessly and took along a spare wheel and spare tyre, both D693s.
Details: MY08. Subaxtreme sump guard. CT: Johnnos light off-road CT. ISatPhonePro sat phone.
4 states, 5k km.
Melb. - Silverton (outside Broken Hill) - Tibooburra - Innamincka via Cameron Cnr - Birdsville - Marree - Flinders Ranges and home.
Doing the Birdsville or Strez Tks was high on the agenda, just to see how well the Fozz would cope and also to enjoy those wide-open plains. We'd done the Ood. Tk twice.
In the event, two of those legs were classified by the SA road authorities as 4WD only at the time and the Foz coped well. It was dealing with water over the road and dried out ruts. We found the Foz had the 20cm clearance that most 4WDs have so with an alloy sump guard and a similar track there was no drama. (LoL, we did end up doing some 30 km of the old Strez due to misleading signage and poor nav on my part, with the tank rapidly draining over 2nd and 3rd gear diversions and the missus white-knuckled but got to Inna without embarrassment).
We even did Little Red outside of Birdsville (with the tyre pressure dropped to 20psi) when a bunch of proper 4by drivers were parked below unwilling to try it (mind you, the missus walked up!).
Two events kinda captured the essence. One was a Tib. local who said 'you can get anywhere in this country provided you're prepared to stop'. Very appropriate if kinda Irish logic. The other was at a bush camp outside of Blinman in the Flinders R, when in the morning it was so cold the fridge temp dropped a degree when I got out the stuff for brekky! -2 at 8am!
We towed a light off-road CT which also coped well, apart from some odd lekky light probs.
Our std practice is to set up camp, pref. a bush camp, for 3 nights, to make the setup/packup time overhead worthwhile.
Best bush camps? Actually hard to pick this time. Penrose Park in Silverton (semi-bush). Tibooburra Aboriginal Land Council camp 3 km outside of Tib. (little known gem). Cullyamurra Waterhole on the Cooper Ck outside of Innamincka (stunning amount of birdlife). B/ville Campground overlooking the Billabong (equally stunning birdlife).
And while we knew it was going to be cold, it was bloody freezing and thank heavens I'd hacked a 9kg gas bottle as a brazier and taken the chainsaw along.
Electric and electronic failure seem to be the price I pay for these trips. At one stage I had 3 mobiles and the satphone that wouldn't work/connect when they should've and a new Jaycar laptop charger that failed to perform.
Many thanks to Kevin for his advice on tyres. Out there is rough on the rubber. I'd had fitted a new set of D697s which performed faultlessly and took along a spare wheel and spare tyre, both D693s.
Details: MY08. Subaxtreme sump guard. CT: Johnnos light off-road CT. ISatPhonePro sat phone.
... 
all sorts of places with a standard 5000 lb 50 mm ball and hitch behind my '68 LC without the slightest problem. It had hydraulic over-ride brakes on the front axle.
) twice!! The van was on its roof, still attached to the Falcon which was on its side! Thank goodness no one was injured. The rig was ravelling down a long hill. The driver said to me "The trailer started to sway, and I just touched the brakes"!