Sydney to Katherine – Dec 04

Warning! This will take a while to read – grab a few drinks……

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Saturday 11th December (Sydney to Nyngan)

Left Windsor at 9am, to meet dad at Penrith for breakie. Sad our goodbye’s and set off up the highway. Was a slow start due to traffic, but it started to thin out towards Lithgow. Noticed a really bad vibration coming into Lithgow, so we decided to stop and have a look. The front propshaft uni-joint had decided to fail – great start to the day. By the time I got the bloody thing off (the nuts were stripped) it as 2:30pm. Hit the road as a rear wheel drive, with the intention to make up some time along the way, but it wasn’t too be.

Stopped at Bathurst to pick up a uni-joint whilst I could, and then headed off towards Dubbo. From just out of Bathurst, we hit a major storm getting a great lightning and thunder show for the kids, but the rain and hail was bloody annoying to me. The Landy still leaks around Michelle’s feet (hahahahah), and we were down to 45 km/h for a lot of it. Didn’t realize exactly how far it was to Nyngan, but had very quickly realized by Dubbo, I tell you. Finally arrived at Nyngan by 9:30pm, and I don’t know if it was the kids or Michelle and I that was the crankier. The hotel was great apart from the shower – I could’ve pissed harder!

Sunday 12th December, (Nyngan to Broken Hill)

The day started nice and early (well 8:30) with the kids seemingly in a good mood and the Landy going along nicely despite only running on the rear diff. Had speeds running around the 100 to 105 km/h for most of the trip.

Distance today was around 600km’s, and the temperature was high 30’s for a lot of the day. Coming into Broken Hill mid-afternoon, the tyres on the trailer were picking up rubber off of the road, that bad that when I stopped, I had to look twice to make sure the trailer tyres weren’t coming apart. The roads out here are starting to be a tad boring, due to the long straights and no corners. It is easy to let your mind wander onto other things than your own driving. Noticed a lot of people wandering across their lane, and attribute this to nothing but boredom.

The new radio and speakers in the Landy are starting to show their worth now. Road noise at 100km/h isn’t exactly quiet, but the radio still sounds very clear and drowns out the road noise very nicely. Worked out how to connect the kids DVD player to the radio as well, so now they can hear their movies properly, although Shrek is now starting to be annoying. Plan on staying at Broken Hill for a couple of nights, need to get a little bit of work done to the Landy before I continue further up the road. Went and had a counter meal at the local pub, was a bloody good feed too. Had some luck go our way, they were holding the Carols by Candlelight that evening, so we took the kids down and had a great time. Is good that they can still celebrate Christmas even though we’re on the road.

Monday 13th December (Broken Hill)

The kids had us awake at 6:30 again. Gotta teach them to sleep-in, if that’s possible. Although I’m guessing it won’t be all that long until I’m bitching that they won’t bloody get up on time! Anyway the morning consisted of having a look around, doing the touristy type stuff that annoys the locals. Their seems to be three different types of people in Broken Hill. The aboriginies, the stuck-up whites that think they’re better than the aborginals, and normal going people (thank god).

Took the front propshaft in to get new uni-joints fitted. Got told that the joint was stuffed, and that it would cost $450 to fix! Had a look at the damage and it is something that will need replacing in the near future. Thankfully the damage was on the inner of where the uni-joint sits, so it will be fine to get me to the end of the trip. Asked the guys to put it together, and to run a bit of grease on the splines, as they were very dry. Got back to the hotel and went to put it in at around 6pm, and found that they had pressed the splines back on, so it wouldn’t slide whatsoever, am going to have to use the hand winch to release it sometime soon.

Was running out of light fast, and still had to finish packing the trailer and car for tomorrow’s journey. Got the trailer connector replaced, after someone at Nyngan the other night decided they needed it more than I did. The local elec guys only charged by $18 to do the wiring. Also did the wheel bearings on the trailer, as I’d noticed yesterday that they didn’t seem the best. A very busy day all up.

Tuesday 14th December (Broken Hill to Port Augusta)

Well the first point of the day, is that Port Augusta is just far enough away from Ferrit to be nearly comfortable! (hahahahahahah). Had a great trip today. The only bugger being the headwind I was going into. Made top speed at around 80 to 90 km/h at best. The road is a very lonely one, not many other vehicles around. At least by monitoring Channel 40 on the UHF I can say good-day to the small road-trains that I keep passing. Managed to catch up with the Indian-Pacific train as well, got a few happy snaps to say that I’d finally seen it. Wasn’t as long as I’d thought it would be.

Found that Petersborough had a few rough edges, but that people like the girls at the Information Centre made it a worthwhile stop to make. Made an hours detour out to a place called Magnetic Hill. It was a case of need to see to believe, and let me tell you it was worth it. At the moment with the Landy and the trailer loaded up, I would be sitting close to 4 tonne at a guess. Even with this weight, and the fact that my vehicle is made out of a lot of Aluminium, I was still dragged backwards up the hill when in neutral. If you ever get the chance, take the time to visit it!

Made it to Port Augusta, without having any worries or problems at all. Went and had a look at their Outback Information Centre, and can thoroughly recommend to anyone to have a look there if they can. The show was well worth the $20 to look at, giving the viewer the full history of the Outback and Port Augusta itself.

Got the children to bed, and Michelle and I spent the night playing in an eight ball competition with mixed results. I have had probably too much to drink again, but I’ll deal with that in the morning. Weather was a comfortable high twenty degrees today. I have to recommend the Flinders Hotel as the best place we have stayed at so far. Cheap at $88 a night for all of us, and dinner was great (as well as the rum). Located in the City Centre it is easy to access everything that you need.

Wednesday 15th December (Port Augusta to Marree)

The day’s traveling started again at around 8:30am. Took it easy for today’s leg, after all I only had around 400kms to do. Blew out a tyre on the trailer during the morning run. By the time I pulled up it had ripped itself to pieces and damaged the rim slightly.

Stopped later on and bought a new tyre and tube due to the damage to the rim, and this tyre has now become my new spare.($100 later). The scenery was absolutely spectacular today, some of the best mountain ranges I have ever seen in Australia. Got a few photos on the way, but my camera really doesn’t do them justice.

Marree Pub is a great place to stay the night. The barmaid gave me the shits after blaming me for something I didn’t do, so she got told, but other than that it was a very pleasant stay. I am glad that we arrived mid-afternoon; otherwise we wouldn’t have had the time to see everything properly. Cooked up a feed for the kids and us, and then turned in for an early one. A very enjoyable day overall.

Hint: Drop tyre pressures when you hit the dirt road and slow down a bit – makes for an easy and more enjoyable drive!

Thursday 16th December (Marree to William Creek)

A very easy day driving wise, only 205 km’s for the day. But we wanted to make sure that we had a look at everything whilst we were here, hence the slow pace. It took us just over 5 hours to go from Marree to William Creek. One couple we spoke to in a brand new Prado had traveled down from Ayers Rock and we met them just out of Marree at around1000hrs, and they were absolutely flying (3 ½ hours from Oodnadatta to nearly Marree). Said they were having a look around. At what I reckon!

The road is in fairly good shape, a few corrugations now and again, but it looks like it is getting regular maintenance. Talking about that, they were constructing a new concrete bridge over the Margaret River at the moment – it’s getting easier to drive as time passes by. Won’t be too long until you’ll be able to drive it in the wet! Is that a good thing or not though!

The William Creek Pub would have to be one of the best pubs I’ve ever been in. Talk about making you feel at home! To give you an example, Michelle did a little bit of washing here today. When she went back to peg it out after fixing up the kids, she noticed that the lady here had already done it for her. Where else can you get that type of service? It was in stark contrast to the way we were treated at Marree. I would suggest to anyone doing this trek, to spend the night at the pub, and have a meal with them. It is worth the time, for sure.

The Landy is still going strong. Unfortunately it is still a rear-wheel drive only, but that doesn’t seem to be hindering it at all. Found that 30psi is to low for my tyres, so I’m going to up them to 250kPa (36psi) all round. The good old Army recommendations still work spot on for the Landy. I was finding that any speeds over 70km/h the vehicle would start wandering over the road. I would suggest to anyone headed out this way to look at around a 20% reduction in tyre pressures for the track. Anymore and you’ll risk your sidewalls.
We had an enjoyable drive scenery wise today.

Lake Eyre South looks fantastic. The views from some of the areas are spectacular to say the least. And some of the areas where water is sitting are unbelievable. One minute you’re looking at a very barren land, the next there’s a sign pointing you to a small hill where there’s running water on top of it. Was absolutely amazing. Towards the end of the days driving the ground started to turn towards redish sand. I’m wondering if this is a sign of what’s to come tomorrow.

With no air-conditioning in the car, you start to get a bit of a feel as to how hard it must be to work and live in this part of the land. I take my hat of to those that do, as well as to those that first pioneered this area. There is no other way to put it, other than it must be/have been bloody hard work.

Talking about weather today was the hottest day we’ve had so far. When we got to William Creek the temperature gauge was showing 39 degrees in the shade of a tree. But all in all, it didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as we thought. It has been quite comfortable so far, and speaking to a lot of the locals, they are saying that late January and February is the time not to be here, when it quite regularly tops 50 degrees. Now that’s a bit to hot for a vehicle with no air-con.

Actually I wouldn’t suggest it with one that did, in-case you had to change a tyre, the air-con breaks etc. We found that the heat today is probably about the maximum that you’d want to go walking about the attractions in, especially with the kids.

The kids have been fairly good so far. A few tantrums now and again, but generally seem to be handling the heat quite good. This has been a big change of climate for them, and will continue to be so until we get to Katherine. I figure the hottest days are coming from here until at least Alice Springs where hopefully the humidity difference afterwards will be a welcome relief to this dry heat we are currently getting.

Got radio reception today as well, only the cricket commentary (which Michelle didn’t like too much), but heard that we are in for a heat wave over the next 3 or 4 days. Considering we are going into areas like Oodnadatta, Coober Pedy, Erludunda and Ayers Rock, this could prove interesting. It has been a good break from things like the TV etc for the kids. The long hours in the car can get bit long for them, but it feel it does them some good to get out and have a look around. We are allowing them one to two movies a day to watch, dependent on where and what we are doing. Obviously today they only got the one, but on days where we are only doing highway runs, they are allowed to watch a couple.

We are also finding that our water consumption (and drinks) is quite high. 5 litres that is normally recommended in articles I have read is probably about border line I reckon in the warmer months. We would be going through near on 50 litres a day for drinking and cooking with only a little bit going towards the washing up side of things. The kids and myself especially are going through the stuff like it’s out of fashion.
Anyway, all up a very enjoying and satisfying day.

Friday 17th December (William Creek to Oodnadatta)

A very mixed day. Both frustrating and enjoyable moments. Left the pub at around 9:30, slept in a little bit. Got around 80kms up the track and realized that the camera was still at William Creek. Turned around to go and get it, and then the mudguard on the trailer folded up and tore the tyre to shreds. So I cracked the shits, left the trailer there and did the fly down to William Creek and back without the trailer. Got back to the trailer around midday, fixed the damage, and put a new tyre on and continued along the track towards Oodnadatta.

Was a nice drive in, but there wasn’t anything that spectacular as such. A few bridges that were worth a look, but overall was a quicker drive today than yesterday.

Got into Oodnadatta, and this is where the day turned to shit for me. Went into the Pink Roadhouse to get my tyre replaced, and got told that Adam had left for Adelaide this morning. So I asked if anyone else could do it for me. I got told no there isn’t. So I asked if there was anywhere else in town that can do a tyre for me. No was the answer. Can I use the equipment, I am a qualified mechanic and tyre fitter. No you can’t. Me: Fair enough, thankyou for your time. She couldn’t even sell me a bloody tyre, because Adam wasn’t there!

Then we went to book into our accommodation. Was shown this house where we were to stay. We were told on the phone, that yes we have accommodation, yes it has air-conditioning, blah blah blah. Everything we were told on the phone, was not the case. And on a 42 degree day in the shade, it was not the day to piss me off.

Thankfully I found an old fella there that restored my faith there. He owns the shed next door to the Pink Roadhouse. He stocks tyres, as well as provides a recovery service too. If anyone ever wants to know how to change a tyre by hand, then watch this bloke do it.

Anyway, I decided not to stay in Oodnadatta, so I told them to shove their accommodation up there ass, and if they don’t like it then tell people the truth over the phone. Packed up the kids and headed off to Coober Pedy. Noticed that my trailer wiring has decided to pull itself apart, and I’ve also lost my connections again.

Got into Coober Pedy at around 8:00 pm, and went and booked in a day earlier to our accommodation. It was nice to have a decent shower and clean-up some after more than 1000km’s on gravel roads in less than three days, as well as the 40 degree plus temps. The kids are enjoying themselves at the moment, and staying underground certainly is a different experience

Saturday 18th December (Coober Pedy)

A nice easy day today. We all slept in this morning, it is so different to wake up and not have any sun coming through. Turned on the lights and it still felt like it did when I went into bed last night. All though it was 9:15 am, and the kids and us had just woken up.

Went upstairs and made some egg and bacon rolls for breakie, had a look over the car and organized a mine tour for Michelle and the boys to go on. Worked out to be $52 per adult, with kids half price.

The front tyres have scrubbed out on the Landy by the looks of it, most likely caused by the damage to the steering rod, which was made worse by the corrugated roads. It is looking like I will have to replace them before I get to Katherine. I am not happy about it at all, but there’s not much I can do about it. I am hoping that Alice Springs will have a new rod that I can use. I am going to have to do something about it before I put new tyres on, that’s for sure. The tyres have really done a remarkable job, they have completed nearly 30,000 km’s now, and have traveled on everything from snow, mud, bitumen, sand, gravel as well as this trip. They have been given a really bad time, and put up with it. For a $175 tyre, I certainly cannot complain, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I am planning on packing up tonight, getting everything ready so that we can leave early in the morning. We are only traveling 450 odd km’s tomorrow to Erldunda but it would be good to beat the heat hopefully

Sunday 19th December (Coober Pedy to Alice Springs)

Well we slept in again. I just can’t get used to not having the sunlight streaming through the window of a morning. I am actually quite jealous of the buggers that live underground – it would be the way to live in Sydney I reckon. We ended up departing Coober Pedy at around 9am.

Decided to try a little test on fuel consumption today. With the previous days on the road nudging on 15 litres per 100km’s, I wasn’t overly impressed. So I dropped my speed down to 85 to 90 km/h to see how I went. End result being from Coober Pedy to Erldunda I used 49 litres for 500km’s. And that was towing a trailer and with the Landy fully packed up and two space cases and two jerry cans full on the roof rack. Now that’s what I’m talking about, the only bugger being that it meant a couple more hours on the road. But I didn’t miss anything, especially the road-trains over-taking me!

Marla was an interesting stop. The area is very clean and modern, with the fuel station being one of the better ones I had encountered. But the service at the fish and chip shop is absolutely pathetic. Was one of the first times I’ve ever seen my wife Michelle go off at someone other than myself, and it was enjoyable to watch. To cut a long story short, it took them 30 minutes to cook $4 chips, whilst the kids and I were waiting in 40 degree heat. I can’t say that I was really that impressed either.

By contrast the stop at Erldunda was great. The people at the service station were great, and were willing to answer any questions that we put to them. Can’t have asked for anymore, other than a reduction in fuel pricing. The average so far this trip has been around $1.40 per litre. You can see why I have slowed down a bit for!

The Northern Territory and South Australian governments have obviously put in some effort into the border area. The displays were quite helpful and informative. A toilet block is getting developed at the moment, as is a number of others along the Stuart Highway on the Northern Territory side. It’s good to see them start to cater for the travelling public.

We made it into Alice Springs at around 7 pm. Booked into the Novatel, and as is usually the case, the service wasn’t anywhere near as good as a decent country pub! But the town does have 28,000 people now.
Overall a long, but enjoyable day with nothing else going wrong with either the Landy or the trailer.

BTW – we decided to drive straight through to Alice Springs instead of going to Ayers Rock. This was due to the damage to the tie rod and the front tyres. Trust me, it was done with great reluctance, but hopefully one day we will get back out that way!

Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st December (Alice Springs to Katherine)

Had a look at the front tyres this morning. We were lucky to get there without the front right blowing that’s for sure. Went down to K’Mart to buy a tent in case we needed one, the way the trip had been so far I was waiting to get stranded somewhere! Whilst there I noticed that the had a tyre store, so I wandered in for a look. I have to say that they have a better range than I’ve seen some Sydney stores have, and the prices aren’t too bad at all.

I ended up buying just one Desert Dueller, and using my spare tyre for the other side. This was done for two reasons, the first being money issues, and the second being that AT’s tend to wear a bit slower than MT’s. The better MT went as my spare. I ended up leaving there $220 worse off, but it was still better than my first thoughts.

We left Alice Springs at 2pm with no real destination in mind. I just wanted to get some km’s done before the end of the day, and hopefully make Katherine by tomorrow. The problems were starting to mount up with the Landy and the trailer, and it had wasted a lot of our holiday money. We felt that the best idea was to make sure we made it in the first place, and then start on fixing the Landy up as best we could in time for the July trip.

Part way along the road we stopped and had lunch at one of the rest stops along the highway. This one too was having a new toilet block built, which made us think that they are going through a upgrading stage at the moment. It will be good when it’s finished. Shame they aren’t putting up little playgrounds now and again for the kids, like the NSW government has done between Nyngan and Broken Hill.

After lunch we were overtaken by a gentleman in a Ford F100. We got engaged in a conversation over the UHF for quite a while. He invited us to camp overnight at a place called Devils Marbles. As we hadn’t been there before, never mind heard of the place, we decided that we would have a look for sure. About 50km’s up the road, I saw his car swerve all over the road and then into the gravel. I called out over the radio thinking that he’d gone to sleep!

Turned out that his rear passenger tyre had blown out, and with no power steering at 90km/h it was a handful to pull up. To everyone reading this, keep that in mind when you drive in the Territory. Tyres have an uncanny knack at blowing out on you, and even though it’s an unlimited speed limit, remember what can happen if you do blow a tyre at the speed you are doing!

We pulled over and helped him change the tyre and continued on our way. As we were traveling along, he was explaining the full history of the areas to us! It was great having our own tour guide. The next stop was at a town where they believed was a UFO landing site. They had an interesting display outside of the service station and were quite willing to talk about it. Sorry, but I can’t remember the name of the place at the moment.

By the time we arrived at Devils Marbles, it was coming on dark so I was unable to get any photos sorry. But I will say this, don’t drive past the turn-off. You would be missing a great scenic area, and it would also make a great camping area as well.

We decided that we wouldn’t camp the night, and with the weather getting worse we felt that driving at night time would be good for the kids. So we stopped and I made some Spaghetti Bolognaise and had a couple of quiet drinks with him (I only had two for those that wish to say something here!) whilst we got to know each other some more. Turned out that he had lived in Alice Springs for the last 15 years and was heading to QLD for Christmas. It’s people like this that make traveling an enjoyable experience, and I must say that his company was great, as was his knowledge of the area. The UHF would have to be one of the best items in my vehicle at the moment, and I never regret the day I fitted it.

By the time we left, it was already 10pm. The kids were sound asleep and Michelle was starting to head that way herself. Then the bloody fan belt went on me. It is only a 20 minute job, but I had to unpack half the back of the Landy, then hook up the light and whilst burning the crap out of myself, change the belt. Meanwhile we had around 5 vehicles go past us, with not one stopping to ask if we need a help! Lovely people I see!

With that problem fixed I continued along the road. I got engrossed in a conversation with another road-train driver that overtook me! Before I knew it ½ hour had gone past and I was in Tennant Creek. I only stopped for a drink, thinking that the three-ways roadhouse would be open for fuel. It wasn’t. So I took the chance and continued on, with the worst case being that I’d sleep outside the servo if none were open.

I got extremely luck at 3:30am. The boys apparently had kept one of the pubs rocking until early hours of the morning, and the manager was still cleaning up. I asked him if he wanted $80 in sales, so he opened the servo and I got some fuel, as well as another stubbie cooler. Made some tracks and was having a great drive.

Just before Daly Waters I nearly needed some new gruds I tell you. I had a nice sized roo jump out in front of me, so I went to the right. It bloody followed me, so I braked and went hard left. Let me tell you, if you ever see a kangaroo near Daly Waters with a broken tail and right-angles, that was me! Luckiest bloody kangarro I’ve ever met. Then whilst my old heart pressure was still coming down, I came around the corner and was confronted with cattle all over the road. So I added my skid marks to those that were already there whilst cursing the bloody cattle that were bigger than my bullbar!

Thankfully the rest of the drive to Castle Waters (name?) was uneventful. I arrived there at 4:30am and promptly fell asleep. I woke at 6am and continued the 70 odd km’s to the next town. I bought myself a coffee and a 600ml coke. The kids reckon I didn’t come down of my high for at least 3 hours – I never drink coffee as a rule!

Just 30km’s from Larrimah things took a turn for the worse. All I heard was a really bad clunk, then smoke started pissing out everywhere. I pulled over straight away and shut-down the Landy. After the smoke cleared (I thought the bloody thing was on fire at first), I took a look around the transmission/transfer case area.

I narrowed it down to the transfer case pretty quick, considering it was nearly burning my skin of my hand. I took out the plugs thinking the worse, and it was confirmed unfortunately. To keep a long story short, the contents had boiled dry, overheating the box and causing the gears to melt (read: burred gears). So with nothing much I could do now, and considering no-one would stop to help, I filled up the box with new fluid and proceeded to travel the 30km’s into town with a top speed of nearly 20km/h. That was great fun I tell you.

We went to the Larrimah pub (only place to go when things go wrong) and contacted a civilian contractor about towing it to Katherine. I was told it would cost $600 and promptly had a heart attack. I was only 170km’s out for crying out loud. So I pulled up a favour and a Isuzu flatbed made it’s way out to me. With the Landy and the trailer loaded, I arrived at Tindal in style!

Wednesday 22nd December (Katherine)
With the day started fresh, I was hoping to still continue with the plans we originally had, just without the Landy. I went down to hire a car, and $65 later, and that’s what it’d cost me until the Landy was back on the road, we went for a look around. The Katherine Gorge is as gorgeous and scenic as everyone says. It is definitely a place I will be spending more time exploring.

We went and had a look at our new house, as well as the new base that I’ve been posted too. It all looks like it revolves around a very close community. Getting used to the way some of the aborigines behave up here is certainly different. I am one of these people that always got taught to never hit a woman, and it certainly takes all of my self control to not get involved when I see it. Michelle got called a “white fucker” today. It was quite funny when she came out of the shopping centre and told me!

I also had a win this afternoon. One of my friends had an older corona sitting about that I can use until mid January. I just had to buy a new battery, and sort out a few little problems. The help that we have received from our friends up her in Katherine, as well as the people we didn’t know at the Larrimah Pub, has been absolutely fantastic. I can’t explain enough how much their help is appreciated by us!

Overall the trip was great, and a bloody nightmare. Would I do it again??? You bet, you can’t help bad luck. Just hopefully next time I go through without one trouble!