Tibooburra to Blackall
Preparations we do before we hit the dirt!
There are several preparations we have to do before we travel on serious dirt roads. We're on our third microwave and TV. We've replaced our 4kg Camec Front Loader Washing Machine. We've paid big money to get the red dust out of our Diesel Heater.
The Diesel Heater inlet and exhaust are right behind the rear wheel on our Bushtracker, and the Washing Machine is rear of the tyres, the worst place for it, but we didn't know that when we ordered our van.
So our preparations are as follows:
Let the tyres on the car and van down, for extreme roads we use 25psi all round. Not so low if the roads are better. 20psi if we're on soft beach sand i.e. Ningaloo Station
Drive at a snails pace, always driving to conditions. If the tyres are at 25psi, watch the temperature and pressure increase via our TPMS. Slow down if they increase too much
Put foam around the moon roof to prevent dust getting in onto the bed. We actually leave this in place at all times
Cover the vents on the rear door. We also close the waterproof flap putting 2" thick sheet of foam over the vent, works a treat
Put champagne corks in the inlet and exhaust pipes of the Diesel Heater, and hold these in place with Doggie boots!
We've had our replacement 4kg Front Loader equipped with reinforced eyelets and a web under the drum to support it over rough roads, we got this hint from Bushtracker
We put the Transport Bolts back in the Washing Machine. This is additional to what Bushtracker recommend. They are very easy to refit and remove and with these in place I hope the new machine will not be damaged. We've had two holes cut into the top of the machine so we can easily fit these bolts
We strap the drawers up with occy straps which have high loads in them, cutlery, pantry etc Note the pink protectors to stop the elastic scratching the timber - these are off cuts from an old iPad cover.
We hold the fridge door bolt in place with similar occy straps. This is only necessary when on corrugations. Our door has a few war wounds from opening on its own.
We remove the microwave and put it on the bed. Take out the round plate and store it under the mattress, we actually take this plate out all the time, it just puts less load onto the base of the microwave. We have supported the base of the microwave with all sorts of spacers of wood and rubber
We remove the TV and put it face down on the bed
Cover both of these with an old fitted sheet so they are held into place. They have never moved so far!
Tibooburra is very near where Charles Sturt was based on his epic journey to find Australia's great inland sea.
His journey into the Australia desert set off from Melbourne in August 1844 and of course ill-fated. That put him near Tibooburra mid-summer where he was stranded for six months.
He even took a boat to navigate the inland sea
We also have a boat here, but not for the inland sea!
The Dingo Fence
It's a very long fence, just a mere 5,531 kms!
From Tibooburra we headed to Quilpie via Noccundra and their world famous hotel, well at least according to the owner.
Wilson River Camping at Noccundra
Dinner at Noccundra Hotel
From here we are back onto the tar for a bit, so up go the tyres. Bailey helping as always.
Then it was onto Quilpie and Windorah, where we camped by the Cooper Creek, or as the locals call it around here, Cooper's Creek.
The Knot-o-saurus at Eromanga
Joined with me were a few flying friends, these flies!
Windorah
The last time we were camped here by the Cooper Creek, Chuck and Sue were with us. We had to celebrate without them, but were joined by a few million flies. Not the same ones as at Eromanga or Noccundra, but I'm sure they were related.
Jayne trying to stand still for the photo holding a fly swat. Damn flies
"Ok dear, we'll try that shot again". Alas, same result!
It's an ideal spot alright. Nice and free too
Tonight's meal. Lobster tails with butter and garlic. Yum. Who said we rough it camping?
We thought we would go to Windorah for lunch at the pub, and if the flies were less there we planned to stay the night in town. We checked out the pub, worked out what we were going to eat, and I went to the van for my wallet.
When I got to the van, I looked up and said "Where's the bloody door?"
The whole outer door was missing. The fly screen was there, but no outer door. Totally gone.
We've been having issues with the bottom clip that holds the outer door locked to the inner door. We realised this a few days ago, as we were driving along Jayne was looking out through the rear-view mirror and actually saw the door fly open. We quickly stopped, realised what was wrong and replaced the bottom hinge which was the only damage and used the BushTracker water-proof door to hold it closed.
But for the 12kms from the creek to Windorah this water-proof door wasn't put across.
Those who own a van know these pins. Ours had worn off the catch part
So we quickly bundled ourselves back in the car and headed back the way we came. We spent about 15 - 20 minutes in Windorah so I was worried that it would have been run over by this point. Luckily it was only 12kms. There were two cars with camper trailers in front of us, and no way to pass them on the single lane of tar. So I radioed and asked them to keep a look out for a caravan door on the road and NOT TO RUN OVER IT!
Sure enough, at the cattle grid closest to the Creek, they radioed us "There's a door in the middle of the road".
They of course had to stop and have many laughs with us, or at us, over this.
Luckily the door landed on the road and skidded inside-side down, so there was absolutely no damage to the outside. But there also wasn't any way I could put it back on, as I only had one spare hinge using one of the two spares i carry previously and all three were broken.
We had dirt roads to drive from Windorah, and even without dirt I couldn't imagine driving with just a fly screen!
So we talked to Camec and arranged for a whole new door to be freighted to Longreach. To enable us to move on I screwed the two doors together. Seeing we were replacing both, there was no concern drilling holes in them.
It actually worked really well. But of course we only had a door, the flyscreen part wasn't operational. But hey, it'll get us there.
Bush mechanic at work
Fly veil to help me see what I was supposed to be doing
"In-the-way-Bailey" helping me by being "On the tools"
Windorah has this whizz-bang solar station, state of the art. Pity it doesn't work and is a lemon!
Yaraka
Yaraka is a tiny town of 18 people and one pub, and they offer camping for $3 a night with or without power. Our whole itinerary from leaving Sydney when we did, was so we could arrive in Yaraka on a Friday for their famous Pizza Night.
Camping comes complete with a swimming pool, and a free tour by the pub owner in the minibus to the top of Mount Slowcombe to watch the sunset. He gave a very informative history of the town and filled us in on everything we needed to know about Yaraka. We even met a couple from Loftus camped in the A-Van.
Friday night at the Yaraka Pub is pizza night. You specify the toppings and they whip it up. Very tasty and we ended up having two. The publicans were extremely generous and came around with free leftover wine and topped up our glasses. It was the same bottle of red Jayne was drinking from, so was extremely good value! There may only be 18 people living in town, but the pub was packed for pizza night. I was chatting to a couple of the farm kids there, the young boy was very talkative, being in Year 2 and living 40kms from Yaraka. Country kids are so friendly, it's a breath of fresh air. It gave me a good insight into farm life as a kid. He and his sister loved it.
In 2 weeks time they're expecting 500 people as part of a "Shit-Box" car rally who they have to feed, and find somewhere for them to camp.
The locals as well as the tourists were very friendly
Yaraka is know as the "end of the line" as that's as far as the rail line went. It doesn't go there now!
On the way to Yaraka, we stopped for afternoon tea. There was basically no GSM signal strength, so I thought I would give our fancy new Cel-Fi GSM booster a whirl. Raised the antenna and bingo we had full signal strength. So I checked my emails and there was one from Justin about a web domain I've been trying to get for over 11 years. It was going to auction at 1.00pm Saturday.
So I rang the guy who does bidding for domain auctions and while I was talking to him, Justin was giving me Messages on the status of the domain. So I was able to talk to this guy with full resources available to me. All in absolutely the middle of nowhere.
When we left Yaraka we had to drive 230kms to Blackall. There is absolutely no mobile service in this area, so it was up to our newly purchased second-hand satellite phone and its maiden use. Giving the broker last minute instructions on our bid, and then an hour later to get the results of the auction.
We had won the auction. At a good price. Something that just would not have been possible to pull of without communications and the excellent support from Justin back home.
All the time, brushing flies out of every orifice on my face.
Blackall
Camping in Blackall is beside the river. It costs $8 per vehicle.
It was really nice to have some grass underfoot again without the dreaded prickles. Bailey loved rolling on it.
However cheap it is, we still witnessed one older couple stopped just outside this area during the day, creeping in late at night, and moving out at sunrise. All to save $8. Then coming back later in the morning to fill up their van with free drinking water! So sad.
