Outback 4WD Trip 1977

We had taken a coach trip in 1974 with Centralian, only to have it cut short, firstly because we could not travel through outback Queensland because of floods, and secondly, that Centralian went into receivership half way through when we were at Tennant Creek. We therefore had decided that next time we would do it ourselves, in our own vehicle.

We owned a 1975 Suzuki LJ50 4WD that we had taken through much of the Victorian high country and for the six months before we took off, we had been working on setting it up for the trip. We had built a bull bar, added long range tanks, modified an old roof rack to fit and got a stack of spares.

Because we both had full time jobs, we only had a few weeks to do this trip, and to be honest, December/January was not the best time of year to be in the outback, but we decided to go anyway.

All the photographs here are scanned in slides and the resolution is not great. I've also tried to colour correct them as the colour was disappearing from the original slides.

A lot of the text was written at the time and I have retained references common at that time (eg. Ayers Rock) in the text. You can pick the parts added recently as I use the commonly used terminalogy (eg. Uluru). I thought I should leave it that way as a reminder that a lot has changed in over 40 years.

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia, over which we travelled, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

27 December 1977

I had actually planned to leave early on Boxing Day, but Di woke to a really bad toothache and luckily we managed to get into the Dental Hospital and get it sorted out. There would be nothing worst than travelling with a toothache.

The morning was pretty ordinary, with low cloud, occasional rain and a strong westerly wind. The wind was a real pain as the little Suzi was way overloaded and with stuff on the roof-rack, the wind resistance was rather large, especially for the little 3 cylinder 2 stroke 540cc motor!

As we were approaching Bacchus March, only an hour from home, the Suzi started to miss on one cylinder, and climbing up the steep hill out of Bacchus we were down to 30kph. I pulled over to the side to try to fix it while thinking the this was only within the first hundred kilometres of the trip. The problem turned out to be a fouled spark plug and soon she was "purring" along on all three cylinders.

We had to fight the wind all the way to Bordertown, just over the border in South Australia, where we camped for the night.

We started chatting to a couple of young Victorian guys (Mike and Kevin), also in a Suzi LJ50. They were travelling around looking for old bottles, but after they heard our plans to "do" the Birdsville Track they said they would like to join us. This suited us as we had hoped to find someone else who would be doing the track.

Birdsville is a typical outback town, and the first building of note was the pub. This is renown in Australia and was white, with red windows and doors. After a couple of not-so-cold beers, Mike and Kevin decided they had better phone home to let people know that they were now in Queensland, and not South Australia. We drove down to the Post Office to find 'the' public telephone was out of order. The postmistress, Helen, invited them inside to make the call. While they were making the call, the policeman, Gordon, arrived to post the mail and he stopped to chat for a while. He had been expecting us and we gave him the cards. He suggested that we might like a swim and agreed to take us down to the swimming hole. It certainly was refreshing. Gordon joined us, taking off his uniform, that is, shirt, shorts and thongs, and going in his under-daks. Once we had had enough we headed back to town and Gordon served us in the general store, after he had unlocked it. We then wanted some petrol, so Gordon walked across to the service station and filled our tanks. Finally we paid him the camping ground fees. We were the only people there. He then had to go back to the office and contact the passenger aircraft that was due in the next hour or so. I think he ran the town.

In the pub were members of a party of two Landrovers, waiting for the arrival of spare tyres on the aircraft. They had blown out three tyres on the way there, and during this day of waiting they got rather drunk. They came into the camping ground to fix the tyres and then left for Sydney late that night.

It was New Year's Eve and all the locals there going out to a station for a party, making us the only people in town. We were too tired to see in the New Year, so after a shower, where the cold water was hotter than the hot tap, we slipped into our sleeping bags and had a good night's sleep.

We left around lunchtime, planning to make Glengyle and Bedourie our stops on route. There was a lot of water lying around on the sides of the road, indicating that there had been a lot more rain there. About 50 kms out we hit a bad pothole that resulted in not only snapping a couple of the roof rack bolts, but also broke off the rear shock absorber mount at the spring. We tied up the roof rack with rope and left the mount to bounce around, as there was nothing we could do about it. Anyhow, it was a least an inch thick in mud and I had no inclination to crawl under the body to work on it.

We arrived at Glengyle Station without any further mishaps and talked to the station manager for a while before leaving. We stopped at Bedourie for a drink, but the pub was totally out of beer and soft drinks, although it had some warm Coke. Ah well, anything's better than nothing. We drove to the petrol depot to find the electric pump was not functioning so had to fill the tanks using a hand pump from 44-gallon drums. This was the second most expensive petrol fill on the trip.

Soon after leaving Bedourie the sky darkened to the extent that a major storm was forming, and heading in our direction. It hit 50kms from Boulia. The sky went black and the heavens just opened. The windows were quickly wound down. Within a few minutes the saltpans turned into lakes, and in the flashes of lightning we could see water horizon to horizon. It was four-wheel-drive time as the car was sliding all over the road. At least I think it was the road, but I could not see it. It was underwater, but the telephone poles were close to us, so we hoped it was the road. I was concerned that Mike kept falling behind. We had to get into Boulia before the creek crossing became impassable, which could happen very quickly. Water was coming inside the car, and the passenger side had several inches of water inside, allowing anything loose to float around. Eventually we reached higher ground and soon were in Boulia. It was then 10pm. Four hours to cover 50kms. We were so exhausted that we did not bother to put up the tent. We just went to sleep in the car. However, about 2am the discomfort got too much and we separated the cars enough to have the tent held up by the roof racks. It was simple and quick, and soon we were asleep again.

2 January 1978

It was after 9am when we woke. We had breakfast and Di did some washing. One of the locals who lived at the caravan park fell out of his van, still feeling the effects of the previous night's activities. Leaving Boulia we hit sealed road for the first time since leaving Peterborough, back in South Australia. Along the road a bit we found a rifle cover lying on the road - just what I needed. It has obviously been left on the roof of a car and eventually fell off.

Mike needed more fuel, so we stopped in Dajarra, half way to Mount Isa. We drove around looking for a service station that was open, but being Sunday afternoon we could not find any. We asked two truckies, and they said that although the store was shut, if we went around the back, then they would serve us. The owner was not impressed at being awakened from his sleep, and told Mike so - in no uncertain terms. As we left the town, a panel-van came round the corner showing stones all over us. One hit the wing mirror and broke it. It was with pleasure we wiped the dust of Dajarra from our feet. This was the only town on the whole trip were we did not receive a warm welcome.

We drove straight though to Mount Isa without stopping for lunch, so when we arrived there in mid-afternoon, our first stop was Kentucky Fried Chicken. I can never remember KFC tasting better. We found a Council run caravan park and camped on grass, and then had a beautiful shower.

We thought it would be nice to act civilised for the evening and go for a meal at a restaurant. We got dressed up and drove down to Domino's, a restaurant we had seen on the way in. Once we entered, the waiter asked if we wanted to have a drink before dinner and directed us to the bar, where the other partner served us. While chatting to the waiter we discovered that they too were from Victoria. It transpired that he had been an executive was EMI records and took off for a while to travel around and ended up buying the restaurant and doing it up. We soon discovered that we had mutual friends in Melbourne. Towards the end of the meal they brought out another bottle of wine, compliments of the house, and said that they were about to close the restaurant and invited us to stay and listen to some guitar music. This ended up with them inviting us to move our tent to the back of their house, but because of our limited time we had to decline the offer. We headed back to camp around 3am.

3 January 1978

Next morning we drove around town in an effort to find somewhere to get the shock absorber mount fixed, but being a public holiday most places were closed. However, we found a small workshop that was open, and he agreed to fix the problem. Instead of welding up the old mounts, he decided to make new ones - ones that would not break. And he was right.

After lunch we hit the road again, now heading West rather than North towards Camooweal on the Queensland-Northern Territory border. This road was sealed, but had so many potholes and patches that it would have been better if it had been dirt. Every couple of miles there was a rotting corpse of either cattle or kangaroo and the smell was overpowering. About thirty miles from our destination we passed a bus and a Landrover owned by Mount Waverley Scouts. The bus's engine appeared to have a problem with blue oil smoke billowing from the exhaust. They all waved as we went past. We arrived at the caravan park and made camp. A couple of hours later the scouts arrived with the Landrover towing the bus. The engine had expired. While they made camp we went for a shower. The showers were good, but the windows had no glass and when Mike turned around he saw a sea of black faces looking in. He was rather embarrassed. They also had no shower curtains, and when Mike was drying himself he saw a person in the shower. It was a six-foot-six stockman totally naked except for his hat. A strange sight!

We had problems getting rid of the scouts who hung around our tent like bees round a honey pot. It transpired that they were going to take the Landrover back into Isa to get the parts for the engine and they would rebuild it where they were. It was after midnight before the camp quietened down.

4 January 1978

After bidding farewell and wishing the scouts good luck we left for the Northern Territory and Tennant Creek. The road was featureless and with relief we stopped at Barry Caves for lunch. Barry Caves major claim to fame is that it has the most expensive petrol in Australia. As I had long-range tanks there was no need to fill-up. It took the remainder of the afternoon to reach the Three Ways Roadhouse, 15 miles North of Tennant Creek. This is the same spot at which our bus trip had finished some years before.

5 January 1978

Early the next morning we headed off on the 400-mile drive down to Alice Springs. This leg was all along the sealed highway - making the going much easier.

6 January 1978

The scouts arrived, having fixed the engine in the bus, and they all waved madly as the bus drove round to the bus camping area - well away from ours, but we did have a visit from a couple of them.

We spent some time walking around the town and looked at the various attractions.

7 January 1978

We drove out to look at some of the gorges in the area and also visited Pitchi Richi.

8 January 1978

Another Suzie arrived - this one from WA, and driven by Dave along with his girlfriend. Having told them of our plan to head across to Kings Canyon before going to Ayers Rock, Dave agreed to join us as far as the Canyon.

About 50 miles south of Alice Springs we stopped at the bridge over the Finke River to show the others the high flood level painted on the monument at the bridge that was a least 50 feet above the current water level. We had seen this on our previous trip. We were absolutely amazed to see the whole monument washed down stream and the beautiful gums that were near to the site had totally disappeared. It must have been one hell of a flood!

Dave thought it would be a good idea to light a fire and soon had a large one that it was impossible to get within 20 feet of it. Late that evening car headlight appeared on the horizon, slowly getting larger. There was no doubt that they were heading our way - there was nowhere else to go! When the Land Rover along with an ex-army trailer arrived, it turned out to be a group of schoolteachers who had basically driven non-stop from Melbourne in just two days. Even more interesting was the tent that they started to pitch. It must have been 20 feet square. It was very late when we got to bed.

9 January 1978

Early in the morning, long before the heat of the day started, we commenced our climb up to the top of the canyon. The camp soon looked very small way below us as we entered what is known as the 'Lost City'. This is a unique rock formation that resembles a Middle Eastern city and has even streets along which it is easy to walk. Somewhere near the far end of the canyon are a rock pool and some palm trees, but we were unable to find it. It was a very interesting walk. We returned to camp in time to meet the people from the Land Rover just leaving to climb up the canyon in the noonday sun.

We broke camp and returned to Wallara Ranch House for lunch, and then drove south to meet up with the main Ayers Rock road. The Suzie started to have a misfire, which we traced to a blocked fuel filter and once we changed over to the spare, the motor fired into action. This was to be the last problem with the engine for the trip. Obviously the petrol we had been using was rather dirty.

It was dark by the time we reached Ayers Rock and soon set up camp. The ground was very rocky and driving tent pegs in was not easy. In fact I worried about the tent staying up for the duration of our stay there. Our plan was for a two or three day layover to rest before heading for home.

Another guy stopped to chat with us early in the morning and so we met Herman - the German (as we came to know him). Herman had been working in Sydney and was on his way to Perth - hitching his way across. At Port Augusta he decided to come up and see Ayers Rock. We invited him in for a drink and he stayed three days!

10 January 1978

This morning we climbed the rock. It is just one of those things you had to do. It is hard work and is rather dangerous in some sections. There is a visitors' book at the summit that was duly filled in. That evening was still very hot - in fact it had been so hot that we had not eaten anything all day. To escape the heat we walked over to one of the motels to have a drink. It took only one can of beer and we could hardly stand up. Eventually we arrived back at the camp and Di cooked up spaghetti bolognaise for everyone. Later that evening it rained.

11 January 1978

On our last day there we had a dust storm while we were touring around the Olga's, and the tent nearly blew down. In fact it did blow down, but one of our neighbours set it back up for us. That evening we drove out some way from the rock to obtain some pictures.

13 January 1978

Another day’s drive saw us pull into Coober Pedy. Mike had some friends with whom he wanted to meet up. They ran one of the opal shops and mines. We went to the camping area, which like everything else there is underground. The camping spot is a dug out flat area were you could cook, eat and sleep. Nice and cool.

Mike's friends invited us to come for dinner that night and we had very pleasant meal. We were shown the mine and now the opals were finished. The Radikas had lived in Melbourne and had been going to night school to do jewellery making. During one-school holidays they had come up to Coober to find some opal for the class assignments, and had liked it so much that they returned to Melbourne, sold up everything and moved to Coober permanently.

14 January 1978

We had been to Coober a couple of times before, so after a brief look around the following morning we left Port Augusta.

Some 50 miles before Woomera we stopped to help the driver of a broken down car. The automatic gearbox oil cooler pipe had broken and pumped the oil on to the road. We fixed the break, filled the gearbox with oil and without any thanks from the driver, we drove off. Half way between Woomera and Port Augusta we got a puncture - the first for the trip. Mike thought this was great so he already had had five. We stopped in the caravan park in Port Augusta and camped on grass for the first time in three weeks. It was heaven. Di and I walked down the road and telephoned her Mum to let her know we were now back into civilisation.

There are two caravan parks in Port Augusta. Previously we had stopped at the one next to the highway and were kept awake all night by the sound of trucks passing, so this time we went to the other, but were kept awake all night by the sounds of trains shunting. You have to laugh!

15 January 1978

An easy day's drive brought us into Adelaide and we thought a nice comfortable bed in a Motel would be the way to go. However, we had got so used to sleeping on the ground that the bed was too soft. We rolled the sheets and blankets on to the floor and slept soundly.

16 January 1978

We drove from Adelaide to Bordertown and spent another night there. I didn't get bitten this time.

17 January 1978

We arrived back in Melbourne and as we still had a few days on holiday to go, we invited Mike and Kevin to join us at our beach house at Rye. It was a nice quiet way to finish a fantastic trip.