Last Big Trip (MAYBEE)

[jimbamb]

Gday everyone,
Just a short report,
Got away on time and had our first night at Bab Ban springs.Thats a pic of the rig.. Had stops at theodore jerico,cloncurry, clem watson park near mt isa,See pic,aspen downs,the pebbles near tennant creek, and on to alice.
been here for a few days getting organised but RAIN has made us change our plans.The kimberleys and tanami track are closed.
We are leaving today and going straight across to canning via gary hwy and talawana track.from there head south down canning sr to wiluna and up to newman..
will be off air for a few weeks se will post update then..
cheers
jim and kay

[shrunken pojie]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to reading more of your trip reports. Have fun and stay safe.

Phill

[mangomick]

Mate
Take the time to check out the gorges in the Karijiniis out east of Karratha in the Pilbara. Really worth spending a few days there and walking down a few of them. Like being in the bowels of he earth.
Have a great trip. That country is fantastic

[jimbamb]

Well,its certainly been an eventfull trip so far.. As in my last report we had to reschedule everything due top unseasonable rain. Here goes..
Left alice as planed and headed out towards glen helen and onto Gary highway sounds simple enough doesn't it, Well it rained and we had 400 km of plowing thru mud and trying to keep on the road/puddle.Finally stopped raining near kiwikurrajust in time to pay $2.80 a litre for fuel..
Continued on to gary junction and down gary highway to windy corner and onto Talawana track to canning.
Finally made it to well 24 on the canning stock route and headed south.. I took a wrong road and whi;lst trying to turn around got bogged in sand..let the tyres down and got out and finally got under way.we camped at Durba springs ( a really nice water hole )for a couple of days and kept heading south
we got to well 6 after a week or so and thye mazda decided it needed a spell and wouldn't rev over 3000.
after some concideration I recon I knew what the problem was bur wasnt game to try fixing it out there..we decided to travel west over a private road to newman Checked out a few really nice places before our travelling parteners took a wrong turn and we spent some time driving around mine roads finally going back to where another road turned off. after about 40km I found a mine truck driving around and he confirmed we were heading in the right direction.
continued on into newman where i had a go at fixing my truck and found it WAS the filter on top of the injector pump that was blocked.. cleaned it out and was as good as new again..HOW DOES DIRT GET PAST FUEL FILTERS THAT COST OVER $50????
While checking the vehicles we found an oil leek on the land cruisers transfer case..not a simple job as first thought.. requires the case to be dismantled.. 2 days and $380 later we were on the road again
400km and some of the worst corrugations i have seen/felt later we were back at Georga bore.just below well 23.
Now north and up the canning to well 51 passing thru some of the most amazing country everything from wide plains to sanddunes the vegitation varies so much including sections of desert oaks,they make excellent places to camp..Each well is different most in disrepair but some have been restored
finally drove into Halls creek around 5 weeks after leaving alice.
Had a Couple of days there before meeting up wit our son( WAMJAM) and heading south to tunnell creek and up Gibb river road . then on to Mitchell plateau and falls and u[p to coast at Port Warrender The last 8 km took 2 hours to negotiate each way..and a bit of fishing.In 10 ft punt with electric.
Scott got a nice 81cm barra and we got a good feed of grunter cnd cod as well as some gt and fingermark.We had 2 nights there before heading south back to King edward river and north to Kalumbaru..We had a couple of nights there(At mc gowan island resort??? No hot water no power no toilet paper. and only $40 per night.
Took a charter out fishing $220 well spent Caught a nice Spanyard one lady on the boat got a 5 footer.Scott got a big GT and another bloke got a huge black jew.sadly all attempts to revive him failed so they picked him up and took him back..we also had sailfish chasing the lures for a while.what an experience!!!
we then went bottom bashing for a good feed of FINGERMARK,and red sea perch,and heeps of trevors..
Back on the road and south to gibb river and home valley and el questro and into kununurra.
As we came into town we decided to come over the Ivanhoe crossing BAD MOVE!!!!! Fan hit radiator And $438 bucks later and another wait till one was flown in from perth.Whils putting it in we foung where a stick had punctured the intercooler(fixed it with araldite)
We were then ready to head back to alice via the Tanami track..Made all the righr enquiries and told the track was open..WRONG!!! drove 360 km to Halls creek only to find it closed and still raining..Another 360km back top Kununurra and east to Buchanan Highway and south to Alice 1540 km
So now the next part of the trip awaits we have done 13000 km so far andnext week on across the great central highway to laverton etc and i have been informed we have to do the remaining 5 wells in the canning so it continues!!!!!
Next installment eventually
Cheers Jim

[GBC]

Sounds epic. You are LUCKY to be driving in mud in the centre Well maybe one day you'll look back and think of it that way eh?
Best of luck for the remainder of the trip.

[wamjam]

Gday Thought I'd post a few pics of the olds trip from where we joined up with them at halls creek to Kununara. Bit late but hear goes.
Scott

;first camp
;road to port warrander
;old mans mac
;road to kalumburu
;pentecost river

[jimbamb]

Heres a few pics of wildflowers in wa

[aushol4me]

Never the last trip!!!
We did a big one in 2006 for over 6 months and LOVED it. Hope to go again soon but maybe we need longer next time. If you want to see where we went, even costs (petrol, accom etc) and lots of photos and stories then go to my website http://www.aussieholiday.com.au We started it up because of the trip in 2006.