Small Big Lap, WA, Cape Leveque, Gibb River Road.

hhouston6

Forum Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
Messages
16
Location
Australia
Car Year
2017
Car Model
Outback 2.5i
Transmission
CVT
I spent 3 months around Aus in my 2017 Subaru Outback (petrol 2.5i) just this past June - October, with my 3-6 month pregnant partner. This was our first big road trip, and man was it bloody amazing! We left from Hobart, Tasmania and drove to Perth, up the West Coast, across to Katherine, and back down the centre to Hobart. I am by no means interested in 4wding for the sake of 4wding, and I've never been 4wding before so I took it extremely cautiously when I felt I had to.

Summary:
18,000kms, an average of 9.6L/100km, $2,900 on fuel
Mods to the car: Subaxtreme sump guard, Kings raised rear springs, Yokohama Geolandar AT 235/60r18 tires.
1 tire puncture (replaced for free under Yokohama road hazard warranty in Broome)
Got bogged once (let the tires from 15psi down to 12psi and got out)
No mechanicals
The car was most definitely overloaded after 50L water, food, beer, and a 10L jerry can. Maybe 50-100kg over the GVM of 2100kg for the longest trips between stocking up.

Some places of note we went to:
Francois Peron National Park,
Warroora Station,
Karrijini National Park,
Milstream Chichester National Park,
Cape Leveque - Kooljaman, Middle Lagoon, Pender Bay,
Gibb River Road - The RAAF quarry, Windjana Gorge, (Bell Gorge was closed because of fires), Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, Manning Gorge, Home Valley Station,
Pernululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park - Duncan Road back to Kununurra,
Edith Falls,
Oodnadatta Track,
Lake Eyre.

Things I was stoked with: Dometic car fridge, Kickass aux battery with DCDC charger, Adventure Kings solar blanket, Drifta camp kitchen, Kings rear springs, sump guard. The Kings rear springs kept all the weight in the rear of the car off the ground, and the sump guard warned me of impending rocks when things got a bit gnarly.

Things I learned: You need a flexible camping set up. You need something easy to set up and pack down for those times you're travelling every day, you need a set up that doesn't need pegs as a lot of campsites in the National Parks are on gravel, and you need something that will withstand wind when you're by the coast! We used an Adventure Kings awning and awning tent for our day to day set up, and then had an Outdoor Connection Aria air pole tent (huge!) for longer stays (3+ days). This worked great because during the dry season up north there is so little rain or wind! I found the awning tent was great on the hard pack gravel campsite because you can either leave it self standing, or use rocks to tie guy ropes down. Then the big tent needed heaps of pegs so only worked in soft ground and sand (with sand pegs). I did however find that the awning tent did not handle wind very well, and if you're packing up every morning, it want dry out, and the kings awning tent just got wet right through. Cheap canvas I guess? So if I were to do it all again I'd have to rethink the camp set up.

Favourite places: Cape Leveque, mainly Kooljaman and Pender Bay Escape. Also Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary, which I had to use the jerry can to get out from, thanks to there only being diesel at the fuel stop just before it. Francois Peron National Park was beautiful. Karrijini was amazing. Warroora Station just south of Exmouth is also a family favourite of ours and we go quite regularly.

Conclusion: The Subaru absolutely killed it. Good on fuel, comfortable to drive. The car got me into everywhere I wanted to go. I took it easy, tried to avoid any problems. I didn't go above 60km/h on the Gibb River Road and the corrugations were fine.

https://imgur.com/VROxsZ2
https://imgur.com/8T3yvKP
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https://imgur.com/hvdNKav
https://imgur.com/UaDLU1U
https://imgur.com/z7z6sM9
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https://imgur.com/efBxBFw
And this last one, I ran into a killer offroad Outback in Broome. Raised, with stock 18" rims and BFG KO2s 255/55r18. Squeaky clean too! I wonder if it's anyone on here?
 
Wow, averaging about 1500km/week, that's some mileage!
Regarding camping, did you consider a roof tent? I like the look of the iKamper.

(edit: kilometreage?)
 
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Seems like a great trip. I hope to complete my circumnavigation of Oz one day; western end of Great Ocean Rd to Perth then to Broome and I'm done. Then the Great Central Road just for laughs!
 
Awesome stuff. Not jealous.
 
hhouston6 said:
18,000kms, an average of 9.6L/100km, $2,900 on fuel

Things I learned: You need a flexible camping set up.

Conclusion: The Subaru absolutely killed it. Good on fuel, comfortable to drive. The car got me into everywhere I wanted to go. I took it easy, tried to avoid any problems. I didn't go above 60km/h on the Gibb River Road and the corrugations were fine.
Click to expand...
That's a good number for a tourer's fuel consumption!

A rooftop tent is a good flexible camping solution. I like the ones similar to what's on @Kevin's roof top. I tour alone so the rear of the vehicle is good enough for me, but when I am with other people, a tent is to be setup and the ground is too rocky, something offset from the ground is a good alternative. Swags are OK but I can't justify the price they are sold for here. Buy 3 and you will have the same price as a roof top tent.

The Gibb River Road corrugations are popular with breaking something on real 4x4s even at 60kph. Can you tell more about your journey through those corrugations? Cheers.
 
Yeah I definitely considered a rooftop tent. My budget favoured something else though... I also needed the extra space in the pod and roof racks. I had recovery tracks, a rooftop garbage bag, spare wheel, gas bottle, fishing rod, wetsuits, towels, snorkelling gear etc, and much more on the roof. Where would all this go if you had a rooftop tent? I also like having a long term camping solution... set up for a week and you can drive the car away without packing up. I thought about it for months! Rooftop tents are just that bit more expensive.

The Gibb River Road corrugations! @ABFoz. I came across many different opinions about how to drive the Gibb. Some said highway pressures to protect the sidewalls of the tyres and highway speed to just float over the top. I heard of people getting 3+ blow outs over the course of the Gibb doing this! I decided to follow the conservative opinion. I let the tyres down to 25psi front and 30psi rear. I was in no rush, in fact because we were there in september it was getting hot, so the longer we took to drive through the day the better! So when the rocks looked sharp I went super slow. The corrugations seemed to be fine with the low pressures down to about 50km/h but got worse the slower I went. I went maybe 70 a couple of times but when you start feeling safe is when the road will catch you off guard... a big stone or dip out of the blue with no time to slow. So I set my max at 60 and just enjoyed the drive. No troubles at all, no breakages, nothing!

A couple of other things I wanted to add:
I just got the car serviced and it turns out the nylon spacer which came with the Subaxtreme sump guard had broken and been lost. This spacer stops the exhaust from rubbing on the guard. I would suggest replacing that spacer with a steel one the moment you get the sump guard, or asking Subaxtreme if they can make you a steel one.

Now for the big controversy. At no point through the trip did I say "Gee I wish I had that 2" lift kit installed". I definitely used the sump guard for a gauge, and if it hit something I would get out and check the clearance. And I will reiterate - this is where the rear springs were awesome, kept the rest of the car much higher than the sump guard even with the weight.
 
Speaking of GRR corrugations - how were the creek crossings? The Pentecost River crossing?
 
It was such a dry year, we didn’t cross a single drop of water. Pentecost was 100% dry! Tens of creek crossings into Mornington wildlife sanctuary, and to the gorges there... all dry. Sort of glad because the crossings were my biggest worry, but now I want to see it wet!
 
awesome trip. Great that your Subie could go to all those places. It's been on my to do list for many years until kids happened then you realise the Subie is way too small for bush camping.
 
Some nice scenery, wow, thats a long trip you can do on your island !
 
Thanks @hhouston6 - what a great trip! Just wondering about the GO15s. Was the puntured tyre a write off, couldnt be plugged? What sort of damage was it? Do you think this is the best tyre ( for the 18" OEM rims) for that sort of trip.? Would you have preferred BFG KO2s? Im looking at buying GO15s soon. Cheers
 
@Bill_P the puncture was a bit of a freak incident I think. It was a piece of wood which was so smooth and sharp the tyre repair guy was sure it was a rusty nail. But yes it was a write off as it was in the shoulder of the tyre. I plugged it with a kit, but couldn’t get it professionally repaired. So full replacement. Yokohama road hazard warranty for the win.

I think I might have been a bit more comfortable with the KO2s when off-roading on rocks, but I’ve never been off-roading before so really not sure how capable the GO15s are. Might have been more the ground clearance I was worried about. Overall I was really happy with them for this trip as they are almost as economical as a road tyre. And since probably 99% of the trip was on sealed or gravel roads, I feel it was the right choice. If you like offroading and go a bit harder than me.... maybe the KO2s.
So many people told me I had to go down to 17” rims. I didn’t have the money. 18” worked awesome. I’m glad I didn’t bother changing the rims out.
 
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