This Kimberley/Pilbara Trip has finished. The final Odometer milestones were:
CARNAGE, CARNAGE, CARNAGE. In an earlier post The Doc commented “The first 5 kilometres out of Barcaldine was like a kangaroo slaughter house.” Barcaldine (pronounced Bar-cool-den) is on the way to Longreach, the birthplace of QANTAS in Outback Queensland.
The Doc made the return trip yesterday. Kangaroo and wallaby carcasses were littered everywhere: grey ones, red ones, young ones, old ones, small ones, big ones, all dead. To give some idea of the scale of the carnage, the road is 110km long, there is a carcass every 5 meters, giving a total of over 22,000 carcasses. If someone said The Doc was wrong, the real figure is 50,000 carcasses The Doc would not argue the point.
One grey nomad commented over the UHF radio: “I have never seen so many dead roos”. Even the truck drivers were discussing the body count.
The area is gripped by a severe drought drawing the roos to the roadside and their deaths. The least number of carcasses is now on that first 5 kilometres out of Barcaldine!
Having been on the road for nearly 2 years The Doc decided to write a guide for off-road trailers. It is mostly common sense and it will apply to most trailers, not simply those used off-road. Having the trailer serviced is a separate issue and should be done before any major off-road trip.
It is written for trailer newbies, like the The Doc was at the start. So some readers may find it simplistic, but you will be amazed at how many people make no checks and pay the price.
If you buy a new trailer The Doc also suggests some other checks including that all nuts and bolts are tightened correctly including the wheel nuts, nuts on the jockey wheel and the towing hitch.
Guide for off-road trailers checks when on the road can be read here.
North of Derby in The Kimberley, King Sound to be precise, there are amazing mudflats only visible from the air. A small taste:
The Doc is now in Alice Springs for 2 days preparing to go to AWC’s Newhaven Sanctuary on the Tanami Track north of Alice.
This trip started with a visit to AWC’s Bowra Sanctuary and will finish with AWC’s Newhaven Sanctuary. The 2 big AWC sanctuaries for birders. The Doc would love to get some good shots of Princess Parrots at Newhaven, time will tell.
Then The Doc will make his way home after 4 months on the road. The most likely route will be the Plenty Highway (starts just north of Alice Springs) to Boulia in Queensland then back to the bitumen through Longreach and Outback Queensland to Ballina for a week, then Sydney.
Using the Great Central Road saved 1,500kms and 2 long days driving and he hopes the Plenty Highway will give a similar saving. This trip has roughly another 4,000kms to go, bringing the grand total a bit under 30,000kms over the 4 months. It has been a long trip on rough roads and the body is beginning to say enough.
A few photos from Laverton in the West until Uluru in the East along the Great Central Road.
With the return trip under way from Western Australia quite a few kilometres have been travelled in the last 5 days. New milestones include:
A few snaps from this time.
A view looking up at Cliff Lookout. Click on photo to see full size.
Quite a few kilometres since the last ODO Update, and what a collection of places visited:
Currently located at Kalbarri on the WA coast north of Geraldton. The Patrol will get a minor service next week. The Doc will then make his way to Laverton and travel across the Great Central Road arriving at The Olgas, the most famous part being Uluru, aka Ayers Rock.
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