Central Oz August 2011

All going to plan I should be leaving South West WA 12th August 2011.
Heading to Hyden, Coolgardie via Victoria Rocks Road, Leonora through Ora Banda, Menzies then onto Laverton along the Old Laverton Road onto the Great Central Road to Ayers Rock.
From Ayers Rock to Curtin Springs to Kulgera along Mulga Park Road (Part of the Gunbarrel Hwy) across to Finke. Then head along the Oodnadatta track and down to Lyndhurst to get to Cameron's Corner along the Strzelecki Track.
From there follow the Cordillo Downs Road through to the Development Road onto Birdsville.
Head down the Birdsville track to Marree,Oodnadatta Track up to Alice Springs mostly following the Old Ghan Rail Line. From there..... Who knows may head North along the Tanami or backtrack the Great Central Road. Depends on time.
2 X S10's plenty of time, cashed up, why not........
Only thing that should slow us down is road closures due to rain...... in a desert..... in central Oz.... never happen.....haha
CUL8RR
See you later......

Here is the actual route taken in a clockwise direction....

Have fun

Pics pics pics.

Cheers
Graham

Pics Pics Pics
All going to plan I hope to log pics and info as we go
Just have to sharpen up my 'puter skills......
And have faith in Telstra to do as they do and provide me with the necessary "air time"
Don't plan on visiting many civilised areas of Oz but will update where possible.

subscribed...

have you seen this one? http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16582723#post16582723 though your route is more interior while Squily is doing Esperance across the Nalaboor then North into the NT before heading West. Still you never know... tracks might cross...

I will probably miss him by about a week....

Day 1

Hopefully reach the Breakaways today.
Still rushing around like a blue arsed fly......
Hopefully get away at 10....
May not have internet for a day or so, by then I should have some pic's to post.
Stay tuned

When are you guys in Laverton?
I'm leaving from there on Monday morning, planning 4 days to Yulara, then 2 days to Alice on the Mereenie Loop Rd.

G'day Kodiak,
Just got to Menzies.
Should be in Laverton hopefully this arvo.
Trying to get in front of this rain
Makes the clay sections around Davyhust...... interesting haha
If we get signal tonight I'll add some pic's
Cul8rr

Days 1,2&3.

After a late start we left Bunbury for the Breakaways.

Good to see everything is green

This is the cleanest these will be for a while

Dodging Mallee fowl in the wheatbelt.

Made camp at the Breakaways


Bunbury to The Breakaways

Victoria Rocks Road. Brilliant blue sky...... Last we see this for a while

Lunch at Victoria Rock

2nd night camped at Rowles Lagoon

Full moon and overcast

The Breakaways to Rowles Lagoon

Rowles Lagoon ski area....Post on the right shows the water depth .... hmmm

Day 3 was from Rowles Lagoon to Laverton
Ora Banda pub. Got here to early



Davyhurst pub. Got here a bit late

Menzies.

From Rowles Lagoon through to Malcolm on the Leonora to Laverton road was constant rain that made the ride interesting. Around Davyhurst there was a diversion road that was built using the local clay. Keeping both wheels heading the same direction was an eye opener. Nothing a few beers won't fix....

At malcolm this was the view south.... interesting

Views looking East. More rain

Nothing like a good challenge..
Waiting at Laverton for the fog to lift.
Update next time we get signal
Rowles Lagoon to Laverton

hi Steve, how are things going, it looks like you started out with a bit of wet weather mate.
i hope it has cleared a bit for you today, make sure that you have an extra beer at all the pubs for me,
i catch ya l8rr.

Gr8 pic's looks like you two are having a ball, good luck mate.
Diesel

Laverton was a lesson in patience waiting for the fog to lift. In hindsight it would have been a better idea to wait a few days. Great Central Road was closed for vehicles over 3 tonne.
Unfortunately patience isn't one of my virtues....
There was no rain when we left Laverton, That only lasted for a few k's then back to normal with the rain,mud,lack of vision..haha Another day in the office.
Looking East.... This is the only spot where we thought we could stand without our feet sliding of the road....

Looking West...

Until this.... At least he could stand...... Just


Hmmmm.... Now where did the traction Control stop doing it's thing


The funny thing about it was we had to go through this for 135km's. Good fight.. Unfortunately he only made it 134.7km's. I parked at the end thinking he will be there laughing his head with me.... When I turned to see him standing next to his bike,there was only one of us laughing, and it wasn't John.... haha
It took us 6.5hrs to travel 310km's... Huge day
Camped for the night at an alcohol free Roadhouse....... the fun just keeps going haha
Laverton to Tjukayirla Roadhouse

Camped at Tjukayirla Roadhouse for the night.
Surprisingly it didn't rain for the last hour or so coming into here....
The rain started about 8pm and settled in for the night.
Blue skies in the morning lasted till 8am and threatened to rain most of the morning.

Looked East and seen the clouds waiting for us. Getting to be like an old freind now.....

After a few hundred k's of corrugations both developed the same outcome.

Checked the levels and not much missing. A little bit of oil goes a long way.
After Warburton the road and weather was excellent

Mobile speed humps....

Blue skies

Looking West. Hopefully the clouds don't catch us again

Tjukayirla Roadhouse to Warakurna Roadhouse

I feel lucky that I got a bit of a flu going and didn't get there just for the worst of it. Hopefully by the time I'm there it will dry up a bit, looks like better weather is coming that way.

You missed a good ride Kodiak.
Took advantage of the good weather, put some k's behind us.
Finally made it to the border

Stopped at Docker River for fuel. Rocking sorta place.
As soon as we crossed the border the roads were ...... fun... haha
WA certainly looks after their roads a bit better
Miles of corrugations,soft sand, ruts.
Had a grader working halway which made things a bit better for a while.
Wouldn't be dead for quids. Having a ball.




Called in to se Lasseters Gold. Is it fact or fiction?

Lasseters cave

Views from above Lasseters cave

This is the end of stage 1. The Great Central Road. Laverton to the Olga's


As much as I would like to go to see Ayers Rock. I can't see it without the family...
So this is as close as I got this trip. Next time I will do the tourist thing with the family.

Camped at Yalara tonight and then it's of to Alice Springs to stock up and do some repairs.
Warakurna to Ayers Rock Part 1.... There seems to be a bit of a gap missing from the GPS along here....... Maybe I should have been a bit kinder to the Elders at Docker River.......

Part 2 of this weird bit of Oz....

I didn't miss it, I'm in Laverton and heading out that way tomorrow.
Did the Old Laverton Road and a few others in the area, most of them were like a dirt highway today :)

Left Ayers Rock on Thursday and took the sealed road to Alice Springs. With all the bush fires in the area a lot of the back roads were closed. Sourced some rear brake pads,filters and oil from the Yamaha dealer in Alice and kicked back and serviced the bike,sunk some beers by the pool chilled out for a while.
Random photo's along the way. Couldn't see too much with all the bush fires around the area.

Cool looking flower

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be heading down to Finke, Dalhousie, then onto Oodnadatta.

Love it!