The big lap - Australia

[suby]

In March 2015 we started an epic lap around Australia. As we live in Brisbane, so we did not concentrate in the eastern states and really started from the Air peninsula SA and then heading west. We took many photos so will try and limit the following posts to just car and camp related images.

We have a non lifted standard 2011 Forester auto. We had a few minor issues - one flat tire that also destroyed a rim on the Gibb river road. We replaced the rear springs and struts in Alice springs due to saggy but syndrome. The rear sank further and further on the trip, despite moving as much weight as we could to the trailer. I tried to keep between 60-80 Kg on the tow-ball. The trailer is light weight aluminum and steel. It's about 800-900kg fully loaded with 80 liter water tank and jerry cans etc. We also damaged a rear trailing arm, and control arm that scrubbed two tires because of wheel alignment issues. We had the wheel alignment fixed as best we could in Alice, and replaced the parts when we got back to Brisbane.

It's interesting that the control arm may have been saved by having the vehicle lifted, but it would not have helped with the trailing arm damage.

In the end it did not cost much for repairs and is just part of doing the journey. I saw a couple of big 4WD, drivers looking worried about there undercarriage on the Gibb....

I certainly will lift the forester before or next big trip. I see that recently the ADR rules have changed/ or changing to allow stability controlled vehicles a maximum lift of 50mm.

The ADR bureaucracy is what prevented me legally lifting the Forester before this trip.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

 

[suby]

Coffin Bay SA

Some photos around Coffin Bay

I have a fridge in the back with 50 watt solar collector on the roof box

 

[suby]

I do have a question. What is the quota? I will not be able to post many photos as the quota looks quite small.

"There may also be an overall quota limit to the number of attachments you can post to the board."

 

[Kevin]

It was 5 - I've changed it to 15. I look forward to seeing more of your adventure!

 

[Robbks]

Mate
Start a photobucket account, upload them all there and just paste the image links with tags
that way the full images get posted rather than thumbnails and chewing up server space here.
like this

[IMG]https://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/robbks/DIESEL/2015-09-26%2005.45.12.jpg

 

[suby]

Image tags

Okay Robbks And Kevin, I will try and use image tags....

The following are from the Air peninsula SA through and across the nullarbor....

 

[suby]

South West WA

The old guy was explaining the finer points of two-up at Kalgoorlie. The only legal two-up ring in the country. I had one bet and made $50...

The next photos are from around Albany, Parry Beach and Pemberton Arboretum camp sites.

 

[Tigger]

Some great pics there What a wonderful adventure!!!

 

[suby]

South West WA - Point Leeuwin

The following are from Point Leeuwin up to Busselton.

We did a bit of bush bashing north of point Leeuwin. It took a few hours to get out, as there is a mishmash of tracks, and most not marked on Hema maps. Some parts where overgrown with rocky boulders on the tracks. I carry a sat phone and Epirb, so can get out of trouble if ever needed. We exited via Boranup Karri Forest and camping area back on to caves road.

Me moving vegetation out of the way on the track.

Around Margret River.

Busselton Jetty is good to see. The community run and maintain it after industry deserted it. A reef habitat is thriving on the pylons, and a viewing shaft with windows can be accessed for a fee. Lots of fish and underwater life. And even saw a school of tailor go past.

 

[suby]

Perth and Rottnest Island

We had a week in Perth, but will only post a few photos as they are not car centric.

"Little Creatures" Fremantle

Photo from Rottnet Island. You can see Perth in the background

The early Dutch explorers thought the fluffy Quokkas where rats. Hence the name Rottnest (Rats Nest)

 

[suby]

North from Perth to Denham

Bee keepers

Nambung station pinnacles

I got about half way across Francois Peron NP in an attempt to get to Cape Peron and then got stuck and needed to be pulled out. I need more clearance!
The track to the point is I guess about 40 kilometers long of soft sand. So the Forester did okay for not being lifted.

Big Lagoon

Denham

Monkey Mia

Shell Beach:
Some old buildings in Denham are made from the shells. Building blocks cut from naturally compressed shells. The shell depth is 10 meters in places.

Shark Bay
We could see sharks and turtles swimming in the water below. The sea grass beds (dark patches) are some of the largest in the world and are the core of the ecosystem.

 

[lee467]

Great pics....
I wish I had the time to do even a little arc of the big lap!
I do have a question - Are you happy with your roof pod? I'm in the market for one, since you took one around the country, any deficiencies must have become obvious....

I just watched the DVD, 'The Big Lap' did you need to do many water crossings?

 

[suby]

Yes happy, as the price was good.

I purchased it at Supercheap,on special about $300 two or three years ago. No dust inside but only used it to carry spare tire, 800 mm recovery tracks and other lightweight things. Dust was not a problem.

Having said that I did a trip from Brisbane to Innamincka with the box and lost one of the 4 U bolts attached to the roof bars on the way to Cameron Corner. A quick fix with cable ties fixed the immediate problem. Back in Brisbane I bent a new replacement out of threaded rod. I use nylock nuts just on top of the threads so a U bolt will never be lost again.

Its a bit of work to fit the box unless its a decent trip. I would only use it for a longer trip i.e a week or two at a minimum.


Cheers

 

[suby]

Some great pics there What a wonderful adventure!!!

Thanks Tigger, It was a fantastic trip.

 

[suby]

Dry season

I just watched the DVD, 'The Big Lap' did you need to do many water crossings?

Only 2 both on the Pentecost river. I will post some pics latter. The country was dry at the time. I planed the trip so we could cross deep river crossings in the dry season.

 

[suby]

Ningaloo

Traveled up the coast to Carnarvon onto Coral Bay then Cape Range NP. some great photos of the blow holes and coast line etc but will not post as I like to to keep it short. We stayed a week at Osprey camping ground within the national park. You need to be self sufficient with water over your stay. The Ningaloo coast is fantastic as the reef is only a few meters from shore. On the east coast you usually need a boat to get see the reef environment.

At this point of the trip I changed the fridge (47 litre Evercool ) in the Forester from combination fridge and freezer to fridge only. The days where hot and hard to keep things frozen with limited solar collectors when parked in the hot sun. I have a 50 watt collector on the roof box, and 40 watt folding collector from Aldi I can use as windscreen collector.


The underwater life was amazing and only meters from shore.







Cape Range NP

 

[suby]

karijini NP

Karijini is amazing, and has several world class gorges with some great walking tracks. The rocks are rich in iron ore. I young guy showed me how he could stick his iPhone with a magnetic case to the rock walls!. It started to rain and we decided to leave after 4 days, and its lucky we did as the next day the closed the park because of rain. People have died in the narrow gorges due to flash flooding.

had a refreshing swim Fern pool below, and a few other pools in the park...












Pack-up time. Rain on its way....






This was on one of the walks I did. However I did not proceed up this bit as it started to rain and Its and class 5 walk with slippery rocks. They warn people to exit the gorges when it rains.


I swam a few hundred meters up Hamersley gorge

 

[jf1sf5]

Beautiful trip you did, very nice photos too !

 

[suby]

Pilbra

Thanks for commenting jf1sf5, I still have many photos to come. I am posting a few each day as I dig them out of the archives.

Next we headed to "Marble Bar" Australia's and perhaps the worlds hottest town. (from wikipedia) The town set a world record of most consecutive days of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or above, during a period of 160 days.

The drive passed new rail and road infrastructure obviously for iron ore mining. We had a few beers at the pub, and after talking to the publican we decided to take the back way through pastoral areas to the north and skip Port Hedland. It's a great drive through the Pilbara it was all dirt road until we reached highway 1 via the bore track, south of Sandfire roadhouse.












Pilbara Coppins Gap

 

[havachat]

Really interesting trip report !