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July 1, 2007

The roadtrip that almost didn't happen...a couple times

A simple plan. Kyle arrives, roadtrip the next day to Gregory National Park and some 4wd adventures with some scenic views of the Victoria River. That was the original plan that had to be altered after we received some 71.8 mm's of rain. This being unusual of course as we are in the middle of the dry season in the Northern Territory.

Lots of rain and dry soil makes for bad washouts. I rang the Timber Creek Ranger Station and was disappointed to find that all the 4wd tracks were closed as the rain had done some significant damage. Day negative two and the destination had to change. Checking the NT road conditions website, I found that the Nathan River Road was still open so I decided to make a return trip to Limmen National Park. This was the park that Nat and I had driven through when we did the Mataranka, Roper Bar, Cape Crawford loop. It was a nice dirt road with some creek crossings and there was still the Western Lost City to explore via a 4wd track.

When Kyle hopped off the bus, I greeted him with a Labatt Blue (did I mention that I'd encountered some liquor rep's in Alice that imported Canadian beer?) and explained the change of plans. Other than the change of destination, the rest of the plan would remain the same...unplanned other than drive somewhere, see some interesting scenery and camp and drink beers.

On Saturday morning we fuelled up, packed up and headed out, managing to leave by 9:30am which I consider an accomplishment. Once on the road, I realized that I forgotten the Landcruiser manual, which I immediately took as a bad omen. The one trip where I don't have the book that describes how to fix problems - is bound to be riddled with problems. 110km from Daly Waters, on the Carpenteria highway, a foul, burning smell began eminating from underneath the bonnet (aussie for hood). Upon pulling over, I discovered that the pulley on the air conditioning unit had seized (possibly a fault with the magnetic clutch) and the belt was spraying rubber everywhere. At this point, I took several minutes to contemplate the situation. I'm not a big fan of working in and around hot engines, so I did what any sensible man would - sat down and had a beer while everything else cooled off. Once I'd wrapped my head around things and sorted it out, the problem was solved by simply removing the belt. I hadn't used the aircon since Alice Springs and we didn't need it for this trip so the roadtrip would go on!

After 2.5h of driving we reached the Heartbreak Hotel in Cape Crawford. From here, we headed north and onto the Nathan River Road. It was a nice afternoon's drive with picturesque creek crossings, cattle on the road and good tunes on the stereo. It really is impossible to adequately describe driving in the outback, with nary a cloud in sight and Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil blaring through the ute.

When Nat and I travelled this road (in the opposite direction), we had stopped at Butterfly Springs and were surprised to find a tour bus and a campervan already there. Being the beautiful spot that it was, I had planned to camp there on Saturday night. A nice secluded spot with swimmable water and BBQ pits supplied. This was not the trip where things went according to plan though. When Kyle and I arrived at Butterfly Springs, the place was packed with 4WD's and campervans. There wasn't a single campspot available. Turns out there was a tagalong tour staying there and that accounted for 10 of the 14 or so spots. It was a pretty interesting concept - The guides drive ahead in a Landcruiser ute loaded with supplies and food etc, while a convoy behind them enjoys the scenic drive without worrying about going out bush alone. This particular tour was doing a 24 day round trip tour that started in Alice Springs and was heading up through Arnhem Land.

Not wanting to cramp the style of a bunch of grey nomads (with a slightly more adventurous taste than their bitumen ridden peers) gone bush, we headed further north to the Ranger station to ask advice. It used to be the Nathan River homestead and the old cattle yards are still visible on site. The old homestead was converted to an office and was surrounded by tall, immaculate gum trees and a vibrant, green lawn. Other than the isolation (a partial cure of satellite internet and tv was evident), it was the ideal home out bush, with echoes of John Williamson's classic:

I've been around the world a couple of times, or maybe more,
I've seen the sights, I've had delights on every foreign shore,
but when my mates all ask me the place that I adore,
I tell them right away.

(Chorus)
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.

You can see me in the kitchen cooking up a roast,
or Vegemite on toast, just you and me, a cup of tea.
And later on we'll settle down and mull up on the porch,
and watch the possums play.

Chorus

There's a Safeway up the corner, and a Woolys down the street,
a brand new place theyve opened up where they regulate the heat,
but I'd trade them all tomorrow for a simple bush retreat
where the kookaburras call.

Chorus

Some people like their houses with fences all around,
others live in mansions, and some beneath the ground.
But Me, I like the bush, you know with rabbits running 'round,
and a pumpkin vine out the back.

Chorus x2

Asking the Ranger for advice (he's gotta be kept in practice, it would be far too easy to become complacent in that paradise) we found that there was another campground just past the Limmen Bight River crossing. We again went north and found the spot empty and peaceful. A fire was started, and a nice steak dinner cooked and enjoyed with some barley pops and stories of what everyone back home was up to.

Sunday we headed back to the Ranger station and collected the key for the gateway to the Western Lost City. It wasn't actually that dramatic but you need some exaggeration on a roadtrip. We had been following our path on the GPS maps and the 4wd track seemed to weave in and out of ones shown on the map. After about and hour and several points where we were almost convinced that we'd missed a turn or hadn't got the punchline of some bad joke where the Western Lost City was actually lost, we arrived. Well worth the trek in my mind. Without a gravel road and Park signs or barriers present, it actually felt like we'd found something lost...despite the fact that there were already some adventurous nomads (slightly grey) there taking pictures.

Kyle and I hiked up to a crest where we could have a look around. The back end of the formations was a shallow valley that spread out to the horizon where other hills and ranges stood guard. After some mild freeclimbing, I'd managed to cross a few crevasses and arrived atop the actual formations. Looking down to where the 4wd's were parked gave a sense of scale and also isolation as they were the only visible signs of man's presence. It was a moment that although short, seemed to stretch on and on. I could have stood there all afternoon just drinking in that type of isolation. It was the type of feeling that would only resemble a faint echo of that felt by early explorers first coming across such landscapes.

Shaking myself out of the dreamlike state, I realized I hadn't seen Kyle in a while and we had a long drive back to start. I climbed down with a few good pictures and found Kyle down at the ute.

The drive back was much like the drive there. Lots of blue sky, red dirt and savannah like bush and scrubland. Relatively uneventful until a soft bang about 15km from Cape Crawford. I yelled at Kyle to pull over and went to survey the damage - the rear left wheel had blown. Not just a flat, a blown sidewall. Now this shouldn't have been a major drama. I keep two spare wheels with me cause it's not uncommon to run into problems offroading. The problems arose when I pulled out the factory supplied jack. I managed to have a good laugh in spite of the difficulties. The jack was essentially the same one that my parents have for their Camry.

It was adequate enough in strength to lift the 'Cruiser, but came up quite short in...you guessed it - length. Even with several large logs under the cooking plate/jack base, it would only lift the frame enough to barely get the rim of the wheel off the ground. The problem was that lifting the frame just took the weight off the springs which were free to expand. Eventually we sorted it out and backed the 'Cruiser up onto a small berm so the rim was sitting above the road level. Then we had to dig underneath the plate where the springs are bolted to the axle, as the short jack was too tall to fit under that ideal jacking point. From there things went a little smoother. With the 'Cruiser jacked up, we were able to remove the blown out tyre and fit the spare on (once enough dirt was removed from under the wheel).

Packed up, we headed to the Heartbreak Hotel again to grab a pie for dinner. The rest of the trip back to Daly Waters went without event... other than the calf and 8 or 9 kangaroos that I barely missed... and the one kangaroo that I didn't - ouch. Another roadtrip in the books and a great Canada Day story in Oz - told over Kokanees, Labatt Blue and even a Crown Royal and Coke.

Posted by Dr.Unk at July 1, 2007 9:23 PM

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