Back from outback tour

[weeds]

Hey

A short overview, I will do a detailed trip report in the SA section soon, before anybody askes no pics yet as I'm still a 35mm user.

Got into brisbane late yesterday afternoon from doing the Simpson Desert, Oodnadatta and Strzeleki Tracks.

Unfortunlatly my wife Megs could not make the trip due to docotors orders so I my dad came along meaning we only had a short time frame '16 days'. My two year old stayed home with mum however my five year old came along as the back seat driver.

16 days
6830km
789L diesel

Fuel consumption
-Trip Average 8.6km/L or 11.6L/100km
-Best 9.3km/L or 10.7L/100km
-Worst 7.5km/L or 13.3L/100km
-Highest fuel price $1.75/L Mt Dare

Land Rovers Spotted along the way
Defenders 17
Discoveries 36
Rangies 8

Mechanical Hic-ups
Day 6 Clutch Master (had kit on board 'thanks MR Automotive for talking me into taking one' rebuilt at Mt Dare).
Day 11 heater box leaking (by-passed heater)
Rear tyres copped a lot of damage, tried differant trye pressures, maybe I should have travelled the high speed trackes in 4wd.

Simpson Crossing
I had a nervous night sleep in birdsville after having just had the fuel pump modded and two days of poor fuel consumption 7.5 and 7.6km/L along with watching a heap of other 4wd entering the caravan park with a heap of jerries on there roof racks. Although I was carrying 165L of diesel the fuel usage figures for day 2 and 3 was playing on my mind. After checking the distance and taking into account my fuel usage would increase on the sand I settled for buying another jerry in the morning. Thank god the fuel station didn't open till 8am as we drove past a 7am couldn't wait as a 12 vehical tag along was leaving at 8am amd I didn't want to be caught behind them, in the end I could have chance a double crossing with the fuel on board. We were driving into a hell of a head wind on day 2 and 3 cannot believe it knock the fuel economy around so much. I was starting to think my solar panel as a wind break was a dud.
Birdsville - QAA - French - Knolls - Rig- Mt Dare
648km
78L Diesel
8.3km/L

oops, a bit longer than i intended

[hiline]

all went fairly smooth then [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

always good news

welcome back :wink:

[Grizzly_Adams]

Brilliant - well done :-)

Great info too, can't wait for the pics 8)

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Great to hear you made it back alive. Can't wait for the photos too. Did you pick up your confluence along the way?

[VladTepes]

Welcome back ya bast.....

No really - glad to hear you had a great time.

Can't wait for full report and photos - but I will anyway. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

[Redback]

Good stuff, a great place the desert eh, can't wait for the pics either.

Those roads are a killer on tyres though, what pressures did you settle on, i found 24psi the best on our Disco.

[Disco300Tdi]

Welcome home Weeds

Not bad out there eh..

[weeds]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Not bad out there eh..[/b][/quote]
Yep enjoyed it heaps, would love to get back out there, it will have to wait til i cover other parts of Aus. If i do other parts of SA or NT I would do the simpson again on the way.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>what pressures did you settle on, i found 24psi the best on our Disco.[/b][/quote]
I crossed the simpson on 25psi and after a few days mucking around with tyre pressures I went with 30psi all round, I though 25 was a little low for doing 90km/h on the trackes

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Did you pick up your confluence along the way?[/b][/quote]
Yep visited 26 135, after sneeking onto a property and driving 6km across as I pulled up there were a fresh set of tyre marks so I will have to wait and see. I was going to visit 26 136 even though another guy indicated he was visiting it on the web, I still had a heap off fuel on board and drove off the rig track south for about 2km just to see how tough it was making your own track. Now I know what you guys went through. I ended up skipping it as I did my clutch master cylinder in the morning and the fact of going off the main track with no other cars in support.

[George130]

Sound like you had fun. Makes the national gathering next year more appealing.

[gruntfuttock]

Good to see you had a good time.

Great to see you back onboard. Look forward to seeing your write up, WITH pics 8)

Hope the wife is better.