Thread: The Trip

Hi Mowog, do you have the 2.7 or 3.0Lt & how heavy is your van

I fell of the end of the (electronic) world.

Canarvan Gorge is an awesome place. I will have some photos up soon.

I have 3.0L D4 the van is around 2300kg

The current fuel average is 15.9.

Towing with the D4 is just a dream on some roads you for get the van is even attached. The whole rig seems to have a natural happy speed of around a 100k today I have been doing around 90k on the Canarvan to Emerald leg.

Tomorrow we are off to Longreach.

Hi mowog, good to hear that the Disco is going well for you.
The economy is fairly good as well.
Looking forward to the pics
Cheers, Craig

The first online image from the trip.

The Moss Garden Falls.

Veeery nice pic.....keep 'em coming.

Hi Mowog,

I'd be interested in knowing your fuel economy if you dropped your speed to between 85-90kph. Over the years I experimented with my Pajero/Coromal combo and learned that the fuel economy improved exponentially the more it was reduced. The most economical for me was around 85kph.

Before people hook in to me yes I know it can be annoying for some drivers behind me but I was very careful to pull over and allow cars to overtake whenever there was a queue of 3 or more behind me.

By my calculations I would have anticipated a return of about 13-14lit/100km. Clearly if there are other factors e.g. headwind this figure would increase.

Cheers

George

We have just completed just over 4000klm of road trip with the caravan attached.

Let’s start with the performance of the tow vehicle. I have read the reviews about how good the Discovery 4 is as a car and tow vehicle. Nothing in any review can actually match the reality of how bloody good it is. The power available for towing is more than enough. A fine example of how good it was is the climb into the range north of Monto. I had some cars behind me before the climb, I saw them in the mirror desperately trying to catch me before the range. When the climb into the range actually started they couldn’t keep up the D4 and the van pulled away from the cars with no effort at all. It wasn’t until the downhill run that the cars caught up.

The roads…

What an amazing variation in road conditions we covered. Great wide and smooth highways to narrow dirt tracks. Some of the dirt tracks were actually better to drive on than the sealed roads. Here is another surprise I would much prefer to be on those narrow dirt roads with Road Trains than on good sealed highways with fools in cars. The Road Train drivers are professional and talented drivers. When I got back onto the East coast roads all the bad drivers came out to play. On the dual highway into the Sunshine coast I came across the be in front of the caravan at any cost drivers. These fools would pass me and slow down in front me. I had one numbnut in Toyota Camry do this to me 5 times. I had my cruise control set at 110 so my speed was constant. His 4 cylinder Camry couldn’t hold speed on the uphill sections of this road.

The most trouble…

Other Caravans!!! Seriously people some of you caravan’ers need to be shot. The number of single axle vans being towed by capable cars at 70-80k’s was amazing. Also the number of people towing vans with no UHF CB. The stupid prize goes to the fool towing a single axle pop-top with a late model Commodore at 60-70k on a with straight good quality 110k road. Here is a hint in Road Train areas if you travel at around 90-95k you will not have them sitting on your butt or overtaking you.

The actual trip…

Canarvon Gorge
What an awesome spot. Fantastic bush walks (exhausting) a place worth visiting again.

Longreach/Winton
The Stockman’s hall of fame how very dull and over rated that place is. The same can be said for the Waltzing Matilda Centre. I enjoyed the Qantas Centre at Longreach.

Roads of note…

Miles to Canarvon Gorge. Mostly a good road with some narrow sections undergoing road works.

Kennedy Development road Winton to Hughenden.
Sealed all the way but narrow and bumpy.

Gregory Developmental Road

What gem this road is. Sealed and unsealed wide and narrow a real adventure. A UHF CB is a must have for this road. There are regular call points along the road so that you get warning of Road Trains.

Undara Lava Tubes…

You must put this one on a must do list. The Lava Tube Tours are cheaper from the Bedrock Caravan park in Mount Surprise. Diesel was $1.67 at Undara and $1.37 at Mount Surprise.

Originally Posted by GeorgeK

Hi Mowog,

By my calculations I would have anticipated a return of about 13-14lit/100km. Clearly if there are other factors e.g. headwind this figure would increase.

George

I ended with an average of 16.5L/100

With the speed around 90-95k I was getting 15.5L/100.

On the run home I was running at 100-110k which was no effort for the D4. On some roads I had to back off because of the road surface.