VEC RATeX 2013 - Dalhousie Springs or Bust, Outback SA

[morts]

After the bitumen ended...

[Kombilover]

Brilliant trip.

Love the photos of all the dubs in the outback roughing it - cant beat it.

Cheers,

Scott

[morts]

Day 3 – Maree to Oodnadatta via Coward Springs, Lake Eyre & William Creek

From the outset the roads were quite rough and overall we had 5 punctures throughout the day, an intermittent electrical fault with the square but most significantly about 30km’s into this leg the bay window that had been helicoiled pulled up stumps with a burnt out No. 3 piston.

The Amarok support vehicle was summoned into action to begin the 400km tow to Oodnadata... As we had the satellite phone on board we returned to their position and within half an hour all the parts required for a rebuild were being arranged in Adelaide and were put on a Greyhound bus to Coober Pedy that day and then flown into Oodnadatta the next morning.

One thing also became quite clear – people in the Outback have far too much time on their hands! The water tank that has been made to look like a dog is HUGE and its head was once a full sized car...

The Oodnadatta Track follows the old Ghan route and we came across Algebuckina Bridge just before Oodnadata. It is 588 metres long and is SA’s longest rail bridge. (for the train spotters)

[morts]

......

[morts]

And Ooodnadatta...

[Cam Biscuit]

Epic trip Morts !

Great part of SA to travel through.

[Greypow]

What an excellent adventure

[NorCalRiviera]

I've driven some wild roads before, but someday I'd like to travel over there and make a trek like this.

[morts]

Epic trip Morts !

Great part of SA to travel through.

Absolutely Cam, apart from being to Coober Pedy a couple of times Blinman was about the llimit of my road trips so absolutely loved it.

[morts]

Day 4 – Oodnadatta to Dalhousie Springs via Mount Dare Station

Oodnadatta reckons it is the hottest, driest town in South Australia and it might be at the height of summer but it received 2mm of rained overnight and the forecast was for between 1mm and 5mm more today.
Our hosts at The Pink Roadhouse, Lynnie & Annie Plate, told us if we got 1mm we would be fine, however if we got 5mm we would be in deep trouble and even if we did manage to get to Dalhousie Springs we may not get back! This information was dissected by the tribal elders with some members electing to remain at Camp Oodnadatta with the crew who were staying behind to re-build the engine of the bay window kombi.

Of the 15 air cooled VWs that departed from Adelaide only 7 were setting off for our destination of Dalhousie Springs with the Amarok to follow. There were 3 bay window kombis, 2 beetles, my split window kombi and the square. After filling up with another half litre of oil we got to the starting grid in last place and set off behind the only bay window double cab making the trip.

All went well for about the first hour and then the double cab pulled over. It had hit a rock that had knocked the oil filter off its housing and it was leaking oil profusely. Due to the terrain radio contact was patchy and we couldn’t get in touch with the main convoy so we stayed with the stricken dc for half an hour before setting off solo. They were soon picked up by the Amarok and towed to Hamilton Station where they stayed overnight.

Up until now the roads had been sandy but after Hamilton Station the terrain soon alternated between indistinct rocky trails to long, sticky clay pans. And then the rain came....
After travelling in convoy it was eerie being out in this vast landscape alone and looking at the horizon in all directions only to see dark clouds and rain enveloping the land. As the conditions deteriorated driving over the thick red clay became quite treacherous and it was like driving on ice. It took us about two hours to catch up to the main group and the only reason we did was because some of them had been bogged! We had slither and slide about a kilometre past one of the kombis before we could find a suitable spot to stop so we didn’t suffer the same fate! Thankfully it wasn’t far to Mount Dare Station, fuel, lunch and a little respite...

[morts]

The next 12km stretch of track was by far the worst, it wasn’t even a track, just rocks and we were limited to 20km/h so it was a hard, slow slog. We were behind the square and at one stage it spat out a rock the size of a small gas bottle behind it and it wasn’t long after that the contents of his bonnet storage were strewn all over the track! The gas bottle rock had completely ripped out his spare tyre housing!

We finally arrived at Dalhousie Springs at dusk to a rousing cheer from some campers who had heard over the radio that a bunch of old Volkswagens were heading their way.

Dalhousie Springs is a thermal spring on the edge of the Simpson Desert about 80kms south of the NT border. The water is constantly 33-35 degrees Celsius and after a feed we stripped off and soaked in the spring as the sparse cloud cover slowly drifted across the moon and a kaleidoscope of stars...

[woval56]

That looks like so much fun, good on ya morts for getting amongst it

[froger]

What a great friggin trip Morts .. Love all the old relics along the way ( especially the rail stuff ) . Makes me want to get out that way myself for a look ..

[morts]

Day 6 – Oodnadatta to Coober Pedy

Due to the recent rain the road to Coober Pedy was closed to two wheel drive vehicles, however our hosts again came to the rescue and lobbied the authorities on our behalf informing them that we were a well organised and resourced bunch who would be able to make the journey under our own steam. We were therefore granted a special dispensation to travel on the road which didn’t turn out to be overly challenging apart from a few sections anyway.

The landscape from Oodnadatta to Coober Pedy is very flat and open and this was the windiest leg of the journey by far. It was definitely noticeable driving as the car was moving around quite a lot but it was when you got out of the car I don’t think I have ever experienced such windy conditions... The aerodynamic styling of the kombi didn’t help when it came to our fuel consumption on this leg either which went through the roof!

The main mishap on this day apart from a few punctures was when a fast moving road train flicked up a rock that shattered the windscreen of the low light single cab and to add insult to injury the single cab was also one that suffered a puncture...

[Kombilover]

Still lovin this trip.

Lots of kombis on this years RATEX - the line up looks great.

I was always told if a road train is coming to get well off the road out of the way of windscreen breakage is likley.

That is a seriously smashed windscreen!