Thread: We're back

Got back from the GOE trip up the Canning Stock Route Wed night. I'll post up some pics later, once I've sorted them out.

Basically we headed south to north, Wiluna to Wolfe Creek, which we did in 9 days (actually 8, but we had to wait half a day in Wiluna for diesel, and spent an extra half day at Durba Springs). Apparently that's quite quick, but we never felt like it, and still managed to visit most of the photo stops along the way.

We then split up, some of us doing the Gibb River Rd back to Broome, and some going straight there. From there we went our separate ways, I took the Borehole Line Rd through old Shay Gap and Marble Bar to Newman and then back home.

We had:

• my RRS 3.0 ltr, on Cooper ATR 265/60R18
• a D4 3.0 ltr, on Cooper Zeon LTZ 285/60R18
• two D3 2.7 ltr, on Mickey Thompson MTZ 265/70R17

All were fitted with the GOE shortened rods, which we flipped to the high setting once we got to the start at Wiluna. This allowed us to sit at 50 ~ 60 kph when the track was reasonable without having to worry about clearance. At the start of the track I noticed I had previously torn the sidewall on one tyre, which gave us our one and only puncture 5 days later. Thought that was pretty good, considering one group of 4 we met had 15 punctures in 8 days, and another had 5 in about the same period!

Average fuel consumption ranged from 16.5 l/100 for the oldest D3 with us (actually RichardK's old D3, that had already done the CSR and clocked up around 230,000km) to 13.5 l/100 for my RRS (the lightest car, and running lighter tyres).

Only the afore-mentioned D3 had any issues - not surprising given its age. It had a worn lower control arm bush, that we think (once we found it, on around Day 6!) contributed to a suspension warning which required a restart/reset each time. This happened every other day. All the rest were trouble-free.

Must say we got some pretty odd looks from the normal Toyota groups that we met, most trying to figure out what my RRS was. We overtook the South Australian LR club on around Day 7 (they had started a week before us), but they were essentially the only other LR's we saw, save one Defender.

Corrugations were terrible (made the Gibb feel like bitumen), dunes were never-ending (yet we cruised up every one of them in high-range auto) and the rock outcrops were everywhere (and sharp). But a great trip with some great people

Cheers,

Gordon

Originally Posted by TerryO

Unfortunately some of those comments else where that you are referring to are just more proof Kev that the flat earth (leaf spring) society is alive and well and that any vehicle improvement that was introduced post 1980 is nothing but expensive and wasteful marketing BS.

Sounds like a great trip Gordon can't wait to see the pics, shame you didn't see and take a few pics of the low rider G-wagon brigade that were stuck out there for a short while.

cheers,
Terry

LOL...true, true...

I suspect that it was a covert attempt to re-ignite the 19" wheel debate....LOL!!!

Cheers,

Kev.