Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Fitting out the truck
Final Preparations
It's the day before the off and we are making the final adjustments with gear and packing. The truck has had the once over, and all the normal spares have been packed (BFT and a can of WD40). Thanks to the generosity of Matt (our resident electric man), we have the loan of a solar panel, deep cell batteries and other assorted gadgets which hooks up for our "green energy" source to run the fridge and all the rechargables. We have had a dry run of packing most of the gear in the back and with the space we have, have decided on taking a bit extra fuel and water. Kevin's tool kit, spares and safty gear all fitted along with tarps, poles and recovery gear.
We have the carring capacity for 110 litres of fuel and 115 litres of water, this should be more than enough for where we will be going. The food will be interesting with sealable wet and dry esky setup (expecting to have to ward off a mice plauge), we will be taking limited supplies until Longreach where we can stockup before heading west. Most importantly the music has been organised, with each of us armed with a 2 gig thumb drive, with Kevin loading his collection of favourite 1000 and not to out done my 600 songs (I'm expecting most will complement each other and sorry Steve it's a Celine Dion free zone).
Next entry should be on the road. With such "great coverage" across the country from our national carrier, I'm expecting to do up loads every couple of days from where ever we can find access to the net.
One sleep to go!!
We have the carring capacity for 110 litres of fuel and 115 litres of water, this should be more than enough for where we will be going. The food will be interesting with sealable wet and dry esky setup (expecting to have to ward off a mice plauge), we will be taking limited supplies until Longreach where we can stockup before heading west. Most importantly the music has been organised, with each of us armed with a 2 gig thumb drive, with Kevin loading his collection of favourite 1000 and not to out done my 600 songs (I'm expecting most will complement each other and sorry Steve it's a Celine Dion free zone).
Next entry should be on the road. With such "great coverage" across the country from our national carrier, I'm expecting to do up loads every couple of days from where ever we can find access to the net.
One sleep to go!!
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Which way, where and when?
With the football season over (sorry Alex) its down to planning this week. First things, where do we want to go and which way round do we travel. Kev got the bible out (his addition of the Australian bush pubs) and we marked a number of pubs on the map. We want to ensure we include a visit to the Stockmans Hall of Fame in Longreach and climb Ayres rock. I always feel it necessary to include an educational stop over on a trip such as this so a stop in Balcaldine to the birth place of the tree of knowledge and Innaminka to see the dig tree. To finish up we need to include a spot of fossicking at Haarts range (to pay for the trip lol) and view a once in a life time image of water in Lake Eyre.
Taking account of all these factors, we have decided to head north first into western Queensland and then travel west into the Northern Territory via the Plenty Highway and then down into South Australia and back up to North Western NSW and back home. I estimate 7500 km's to travel over a 5 week period with around 24 pubs to drink at. So based on 9km a litre times an average of $1.60 a litre (recent info says Birdsville is charging $1.74 a litre for diesel) we can expect to to budget for $1400 to $1500 should cover fuel. Kevin says he will be trying the beer diet so we won't need much in the way of food.
We have both started with lists of things to take, with tools and equipment at the top. Kevin has a lot of good tools, spare parts, recovery gear and first aid stuff. I reckon we will have heaps of room in the truck with just the two of us in the truck. We decided not to go shooting on properties in Western QLD as it's all too hard with permits for rifles across 3 States and the Territory. Its time we had uniform federal gun laws, we all live in the one country!
Till next time and the next planning leg
Pub Crawlers
Taking account of all these factors, we have decided to head north first into western Queensland and then travel west into the Northern Territory via the Plenty Highway and then down into South Australia and back up to North Western NSW and back home. I estimate 7500 km's to travel over a 5 week period with around 24 pubs to drink at. So based on 9km a litre times an average of $1.60 a litre (recent info says Birdsville is charging $1.74 a litre for diesel) we can expect to to budget for $1400 to $1500 should cover fuel. Kevin says he will be trying the beer diet so we won't need much in the way of food.
We have both started with lists of things to take, with tools and equipment at the top. Kevin has a lot of good tools, spare parts, recovery gear and first aid stuff. I reckon we will have heaps of room in the truck with just the two of us in the truck. We decided not to go shooting on properties in Western QLD as it's all too hard with permits for rifles across 3 States and the Territory. Its time we had uniform federal gun laws, we all live in the one country!
Till next time and the next planning leg
Pub Crawlers
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
History
September 2011 - After nine months in the planning and a postponement from March due to flooding, we have set down October for the trip. Last time I went on a trip west, I kept a diary, time to update I thought, so will try a blog this time, although still need to figure out if I will have access to upload accounts of trip regularly.
Why the trip? It started from a book I gave as a Christmas present to Kev, on some of the great outback pubs across the interior of Australia. I thought it would be a great idea to select a number of pubs to visit and combine it with a bit of a trek. I have been to 6 of the pubs already, but I had only taken scant interest of their history and setting at the time. Now knowing how much Kev loves the bush and a beer, but also a genuine interest in history, I thought it a perfect excuse to trek with a fellow traveller and a good mate.
So the plan is to take my hilux, provisions and a couple of swags and head west for 5 weeks. The real planning is yet to begin, but we have heaps of time (3 weeks) lol. We still need to plan the route and decide on an itinerary (neither of us is into spontaneity) and the provisions to take. The truck is a goer, with a new motor (thanx Carla) and a new clutch and gearbox. We will have a couple of planning nights with a beer of the next couple of weeks and agree on a kick off date.
Why the trip? It started from a book I gave as a Christmas present to Kev, on some of the great outback pubs across the interior of Australia. I thought it would be a great idea to select a number of pubs to visit and combine it with a bit of a trek. I have been to 6 of the pubs already, but I had only taken scant interest of their history and setting at the time. Now knowing how much Kev loves the bush and a beer, but also a genuine interest in history, I thought it a perfect excuse to trek with a fellow traveller and a good mate.
So the plan is to take my hilux, provisions and a couple of swags and head west for 5 weeks. The real planning is yet to begin, but we have heaps of time (3 weeks) lol. We still need to plan the route and decide on an itinerary (neither of us is into spontaneity) and the provisions to take. The truck is a goer, with a new motor (thanx Carla) and a new clutch and gearbox. We will have a couple of planning nights with a beer of the next couple of weeks and agree on a kick off date.
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