My first week long road trip into the heart land of Australia was last week. In usual Brian fashion this meant a whole lot of planning. The idea started out with a trip to Coober Pedy, a small opal mining town in north central South Australia that is mainly underground. The summers there average around 45 degrees Celsius ( 113 F) and with a lot of empty mines around living underground in a temperate climate is a good idea. It’s also the place where Felicia gets punch in one of my favourite movies, “Pricilla, Queen of the Desert”. The town lies 900 km (560 miles) north of Adelaide which is about 800km (500 miles) west of Melbourne. In total 20 hours drive from home. While doing my research I found several national parks in the area that would be cool to visit along the way. I also spoke with some friends and got the locals input on what I should do. As I usually do, I'd hoped to pack about 50 things into a single week long trip. In the end I settle on visiting the national parks and skipping Coober Pedy. It was just too far away and there was nothing within 300 km of it. So I opted for national parks instead. I took Tommy the Tank in for a oil change, new radiator (it needed this when I bought it and I didn’t want it breaking down on this trip.) and a belt/hose check up. I bought myself a RACV membership (Victoria’s equivalent to AAA). I picked up a GPS unit, a Tom Tom for Tommy and a IPOD for myself. I also rented a satellite phone, just in case something happened, because once you leave the towns of Australia you quickly leave any form of civilization and that means no cell phone signal! I left my flatmate Michael with the basic itinerary and told him to expect text messages when I could get a signal so I could be track should a poisonous spider or snake get me while adventuring in no man’s land.
Saturday morning August 29th, Tommy was all loaded with enough supplies to outfit a small army and I hit the road. I drove northwest of Melbourne towards the town of Mildura, Victoria, in the corner of the state near New South Wales and South Australia border. My real goal for the first night was the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. This was only a 6 hour drive and would give me time to enjoy the afternoon once I arrived. So out the Calder Highway I go following the GPS statistics. About 3 hours into the drive I learned to not always trust the thing. It told me the Calder highway ended and I should get make a turn. Being the map whore that I am I knew the blue line I was following went all the way to Mildura. So I kept going while the GPS told me I was on no road at all.
Once I arrived at the park. I did the usual tour of the 2 campgrounds. At the Lake Hattah campground there was only 1 inhabitant but they had 3 cars and looked like bogans (rednecks)
so I headed to Lake Mournpall Campground instead and got the whole place to myself. Once settled in I went looking for the lake. A short walk into the small gum trees I found out the lake itself is really just a large puddle amongst some vegetation. While this is the winter in central Australia gets very little rain and these “lakes” really just collect the run off at the low point and it puddles up until the sun evaporates it all away. In the picture is a great view of Lake Yelwell. Note all the water, it must be just refreshing as all get out in the summer! After a little sax practice in the late afternoon I prepped my fire pit for dinner. But Mother Nature had other ideas. Every so often the wind would pick up and a storm cloud would roll through dumping a some rain for about 10 minutes then moved on. There really wasn’t that much rain but it was the wind at gale forces that kept blowing coals out of my fire pit. I was spending more time stamping out the coals than enjoying the fire. For those that don’t know Gum trees have a paper bark, sort of like white birch trees but a little thicker. This bark peels off the trees all year long and creates great piles at the base of the trees and is perfect for making campfires with. Even when it’s wet, it dries out quickly and burns very well. I was afraid of starting something I couldn’t put out myself and a fire extinguisher was not on my supply list so the camp fire was doused as soon as dinner was done. After dark with no campfire there’s not much to do and I climb into the back of Tommy about 8:30 for a semi good night’s sleep. I say “semi” because I was having a problem with the battery powered air pump and it didn’t put enough air in my mattress for a good night’s sleep. Later in the story you’ll hear more about this learning adventure.
Early to bed means early to rise. I was up with the sun at 6am. Just the birds and me to enjoy the cool crisp 5 degree (41F) winter morning air. I pulled out Coleman camp stove to make some hot chocolate while I dismantled the bed and got packed up. It was now time for a little test run
of the 4x4 and to hopefully not leave the bumper (see my Easter blog entry in April for more details) somewhere in the woods. I pulled out the national park map and picked a small 20k loop road to get a little experience in before the more adventurous plan I had for the day. The test run went well. I saw several flocks of Cockatoos, Grey ones, sulphur crested and plain white ones along the way. Some grey kangaroos and a couple more of those fabulous lakes in the area. Before heading back to the Calder Highway, which in this part of Victoria is just a single lane road in both directions, I stopped at the bustling town of Hattah Lakes.
Here I was hoping for a home baked pie for breaky and to get some info on the Murray Sunset
National Park on the west side of the road. My plan was to do 150km of 4x4 across it into South Australia. My hope was that whoever ran the store new more than I did. What I got was a cellophane wrapped frozen reheated pie and a lady that in 11 years had never ventured into the national park she stared at all day long. I also got to take a few pictures. One of the store, where the proprietor's home was literally attached to the back side of the building. One of the highway and one of this directional locator sign. See if you can find Chicago and New York City on it and read the distances.
Getting back into the truck I headed west into the Murray Sunset National Park. I tried to set my GPS for Puana, South Australia, the first town you come to after crossing the park but it was just too small and not listed in my GPS. The first section of the park was crisscrossed with many dirt tracks going all over the place around a bunch mostly dried out small lakes. Luckily I had printed out some maps of the area from Google and this allowed me to be sure I was going in the desired direction along what was named Last Hope Track. The road itself was wide and levelled. I didn’t really need the 4 wheel drive but being a
man I had to put Tommy into it anyway. I cruised along at about 65kph (40 mph) happy to finally be 4x4 and off the main roads. Every so often a couple kangaroos would hop across the road, at times out pacing me in the truck. About 50km into the journey the vegetation changed from open scrub brush to 4m (13’) trees. The road name changed to Pheney’s Track and got less level, narrowing down to a single car width. With the rain from the night before puddles had formed in some of the ruts and it was here that I really started to use the 4x4 functions of my rig. Once I realized that I needed to keep all the windows closed including the large sunroof to protect my bedding just below it. I started aiming for these puddles. Now it’s not the hair raising experience I had on my first trip to Australia and Fraser Island back in 2004 but it was a lot of fun to splash through the mud and bounce along in the remote wilderness of north western Victoria. Following Pheney’s Track for some time I no longer needed the Google print outs. 
There just aren’t that many roads in this part of the world, but there are street signs to follow. The GPS was freaked out and kept telling me I was Unnamed Road, which I grew to LOVE! The whole trip across the park took me about 4 hours and by noon I was back on paved roads and into South Australia.
I proceeded north into the town of Loxton, where I stopped at the information centre and made myself a picnic lunch waiting for it to open. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and I was enjoying the sunshine from the comfort of my shady covered picnic table when Elaine arrived for her shift at the office. Also just as she arrived an elderly couple showed up with a load of items for some sort of display which I helped them unload before getting my questions answered. Elaine told me about the wonders of Loxton. Chiefly being the Tree of Knowledge, this shows the many flood levels of the Murray River. She also told me of the Murray River National Park a place that was not on my radar really. As it turns out there’s lots 4x4 to be done there and I was looking for a nice spot to play my saxophone. After an hour or so along the river it was time for the journey to continue. Loading up my gear and back into the driver’s seat I set out again heading towards my next destination, the Flinders Ranges National Park. I passed through the small towns of Wigley Flat, Maude and Mt Bryan. All barely able to call themselves towns, some had general stores some just a couple residences. Most didn’t have a petrol (gas) station. As sunset began to arrive I realized my 2nd night would be spent in a hotel as no camp grounds existed in this flat wide open farm land. I was tense and sore from a long day of driving. The thought of sleeping on a half filled air mattress millimetres above plywood was not as appealing as a soft cushy bed and a HOT shower. So I stoped at the first place I found in Peterborough South Australia. I had come over 1000km (620m) in 2 days since leaving Melbourne and there was a lot more driving to be done in the next 5 days.
It is at this point I’ll break and you’ll have to tune in again to hear about the rest of my journey.
Happy birthday go out to several people. Some I mentioned before but they are worthy of another plug.
On September 20th, Leslie Jones, my redheaded sista from Portland is the big 49! On the 22nd my lovely niece, Erica is the Sweet 16! On the 23rd one of my dearest friends, Melissa Curelli turns officially 40 something! (3 months before me but happily 5 months after Shelley) On the 28th my OLDer brother, Mark is well on his way to middle aged at 43.
And a special thanks goes out to Kate Scott of Portland. I just noticed she is my 1 “follower” of my blog. I know many of you follow my adventures but she’s clicked a few extra buttons (which ones I don’t know) So thanks Kate!
Saturday morning August 29th, Tommy was all loaded with enough supplies to outfit a small army and I hit the road. I drove northwest of Melbourne towards the town of Mildura, Victoria, in the corner of the state near New South Wales and South Australia border. My real goal for the first night was the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. This was only a 6 hour drive and would give me time to enjoy the afternoon once I arrived. So out the Calder Highway I go following the GPS statistics. About 3 hours into the drive I learned to not always trust the thing. It told me the Calder highway ended and I should get make a turn. Being the map whore that I am I knew the blue line I was following went all the way to Mildura. So I kept going while the GPS told me I was on no road at all.Once I arrived at the park. I did the usual tour of the 2 campgrounds. At the Lake Hattah campground there was only 1 inhabitant but they had 3 cars and looked like bogans (rednecks)
so I headed to Lake Mournpall Campground instead and got the whole place to myself. Once settled in I went looking for the lake. A short walk into the small gum trees I found out the lake itself is really just a large puddle amongst some vegetation. While this is the winter in central Australia gets very little rain and these “lakes” really just collect the run off at the low point and it puddles up until the sun evaporates it all away. In the picture is a great view of Lake Yelwell. Note all the water, it must be just refreshing as all get out in the summer! After a little sax practice in the late afternoon I prepped my fire pit for dinner. But Mother Nature had other ideas. Every so often the wind would pick up and a storm cloud would roll through dumping a some rain for about 10 minutes then moved on. There really wasn’t that much rain but it was the wind at gale forces that kept blowing coals out of my fire pit. I was spending more time stamping out the coals than enjoying the fire. For those that don’t know Gum trees have a paper bark, sort of like white birch trees but a little thicker. This bark peels off the trees all year long and creates great piles at the base of the trees and is perfect for making campfires with. Even when it’s wet, it dries out quickly and burns very well. I was afraid of starting something I couldn’t put out myself and a fire extinguisher was not on my supply list so the camp fire was doused as soon as dinner was done. After dark with no campfire there’s not much to do and I climb into the back of Tommy about 8:30 for a semi good night’s sleep. I say “semi” because I was having a problem with the battery powered air pump and it didn’t put enough air in my mattress for a good night’s sleep. Later in the story you’ll hear more about this learning adventure.Early to bed means early to rise. I was up with the sun at 6am. Just the birds and me to enjoy the cool crisp 5 degree (41F) winter morning air. I pulled out Coleman camp stove to make some hot chocolate while I dismantled the bed and got packed up. It was now time for a little test run
of the 4x4 and to hopefully not leave the bumper (see my Easter blog entry in April for more details) somewhere in the woods. I pulled out the national park map and picked a small 20k loop road to get a little experience in before the more adventurous plan I had for the day. The test run went well. I saw several flocks of Cockatoos, Grey ones, sulphur crested and plain white ones along the way. Some grey kangaroos and a couple more of those fabulous lakes in the area. Before heading back to the Calder Highway, which in this part of Victoria is just a single lane road in both directions, I stopped at the bustling town of Hattah Lakes.Here I was hoping for a home baked pie for breaky and to get some info on the Murray Sunset
National Park on the west side of the road. My plan was to do 150km of 4x4 across it into South Australia. My hope was that whoever ran the store new more than I did. What I got was a cellophane wrapped frozen reheated pie and a lady that in 11 years had never ventured into the national park she stared at all day long. I also got to take a few pictures. One of the store, where the proprietor's home was literally attached to the back side of the building. One of the highway and one of this directional locator sign. See if you can find Chicago and New York City on it and read the distances.Getting back into the truck I headed west into the Murray Sunset National Park. I tried to set my GPS for Puana, South Australia, the first town you come to after crossing the park but it was just too small and not listed in my GPS. The first section of the park was crisscrossed with many dirt tracks going all over the place around a bunch mostly dried out small lakes. Luckily I had printed out some maps of the area from Google and this allowed me to be sure I was going in the desired direction along what was named Last Hope Track. The road itself was wide and levelled. I didn’t really need the 4 wheel drive but being a
man I had to put Tommy into it anyway. I cruised along at about 65kph (40 mph) happy to finally be 4x4 and off the main roads. Every so often a couple kangaroos would hop across the road, at times out pacing me in the truck. About 50km into the journey the vegetation changed from open scrub brush to 4m (13’) trees. The road name changed to Pheney’s Track and got less level, narrowing down to a single car width. With the rain from the night before puddles had formed in some of the ruts and it was here that I really started to use the 4x4 functions of my rig. Once I realized that I needed to keep all the windows closed including the large sunroof to protect my bedding just below it. I started aiming for these puddles. Now it’s not the hair raising experience I had on my first trip to Australia and Fraser Island back in 2004 but it was a lot of fun to splash through the mud and bounce along in the remote wilderness of north western Victoria. Following Pheney’s Track for some time I no longer needed the Google print outs. 
There just aren’t that many roads in this part of the world, but there are street signs to follow. The GPS was freaked out and kept telling me I was Unnamed Road, which I grew to LOVE! The whole trip across the park took me about 4 hours and by noon I was back on paved roads and into South Australia.I proceeded north into the town of Loxton, where I stopped at the information centre and made myself a picnic lunch waiting for it to open. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and I was enjoying the sunshine from the comfort of my shady covered picnic table when Elaine arrived for her shift at the office. Also just as she arrived an elderly couple showed up with a load of items for some sort of display which I helped them unload before getting my questions answered. Elaine told me about the wonders of Loxton. Chiefly being the Tree of Knowledge, this shows the many flood levels of the Murray River. She also told me of the Murray River National Park a place that was not on my radar really. As it turns out there’s lots 4x4 to be done there and I was looking for a nice spot to play my saxophone. After an hour or so along the river it was time for the journey to continue. Loading up my gear and back into the driver’s seat I set out again heading towards my next destination, the Flinders Ranges National Park. I passed through the small towns of Wigley Flat, Maude and Mt Bryan. All barely able to call themselves towns, some had general stores some just a couple residences. Most didn’t have a petrol (gas) station. As sunset began to arrive I realized my 2nd night would be spent in a hotel as no camp grounds existed in this flat wide open farm land. I was tense and sore from a long day of driving. The thought of sleeping on a half filled air mattress millimetres above plywood was not as appealing as a soft cushy bed and a HOT shower. So I stoped at the first place I found in Peterborough South Australia. I had come over 1000km (620m) in 2 days since leaving Melbourne and there was a lot more driving to be done in the next 5 days.
It is at this point I’ll break and you’ll have to tune in again to hear about the rest of my journey.
Happy birthday go out to several people. Some I mentioned before but they are worthy of another plug.
On September 20th, Leslie Jones, my redheaded sista from Portland is the big 49! On the 22nd my lovely niece, Erica is the Sweet 16! On the 23rd one of my dearest friends, Melissa Curelli turns officially 40 something! (3 months before me but happily 5 months after Shelley) On the 28th my OLDer brother, Mark is well on his way to middle aged at 43.
And a special thanks goes out to Kate Scott of Portland. I just noticed she is my 1 “follower” of my blog. I know many of you follow my adventures but she’s clicked a few extra buttons (which ones I don’t know) So thanks Kate!
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