Big & Little Deserts

[NachaLuva]

After some delay, I have gotten around to doing a report (600+ pics to go through doesnt help lol)

While travelling to the 1st night's camp:


Venom, El Freddo, Dulagarl, Pezimm and myself met up at Snow Drift Campground in Wyperfeld NP



Next night was at Red Gum campground in Big Desert. After setting up camp we headed off for some fun at Thompson Peak Lookout, a massive, steep & very soft sand dune.

El Freddo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blSAkHVsq4M

Venom & myself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDrqrjJmCI

The next day, El Freddo & I went into Pinaroo to fuel up & do some shopping. While returning we got the bad news about Pezimm's radiator

Can't find the link, will add later...

With Pezimm getting towed back to Pinaroo, we set off down the Border Tr with Subaruby joining us.


View from the top of a dune:




We said goodbye to Subyruby, 3rd night was at a burnt out campground where we were beseiged by bees! Found this awesome snake-looking grass tree:

[NachaLuva]

The next day we continued down the Border Tr. Lots of wildlife:


At the end of the Border Tr:


We said goodbye to Venom and continued on to the Little Desert. Some light drizzle kept the sand manageable but it was still soft & deep. The next day Dulagarl & El freddo left for home while I continued onto my next adventure...the Flinders Ranges

[Tigger]

Great photos - I loved the videos too!

Thank you for sharing

[NachaLuva]

I dont like revving Marvin that hard but an occasional blat wont hurt & was needed there

[El_Freddo]

Wirregren Plain wooden water well:



Looking down the well:



Kelley lookout:





From here we headed to Underbool in the hope for fuel - but the store was closed - so was Murrayville so we continued over to Pinaroo in SA for a quick fuel grab, then back into the desert to came at the Gums.

Back into the desert and the sand driving:



From here we headed up to a dune where you get a good view of the western horizon and just about everything else too:



Unfortunately I couldn't make it up to the tallest section of this dune complex - I put it down to the road tyres I was on this year compared to last, as well as some slightly changed conditions in the track's surface at the base - super bumpy! Nachaluva and Venom were on the top of the dune you can see in this pic above.

Packing up the new tent in camp the next morning:



Camp:



Subaruby joined us here last night too.


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[El_Freddo]

While Subaruby, Venom, Dulagarl and Pezimm headed off to the Big Dune to have a play around, Nachaluva and I headed into Pinaroo for a group shopping session and to fill up that little gap in our fuel tanks and fill my one empty jerry can.

On our way we found this little beauty in the middle of the track:







We got our shopping done, had lunch in Pinaroo when we got news of Pezimm's radiator's demise. Not cool.
The boys got Pezimm sorted on a decent road and met Nachaluva and I at a pre-determined intersection back in the desert. And I now understand why it is important to have a double spoiler setup on your offroad wagon:



^ aka "Venom's bar"

We camped at the Pines after a discussion about how far we were willing to travel before setting up camp. I know I was keen for some sand 4wd'n but in the end we made the right decision about the campsite for the night - We also didn't know how much traffic was further down the track.

The next day we headed off - yesterday scorpion park at the beginning of the track was certainly not what I was expecting - and I was hoping it wasn't an indication of what the rest of the track held for us. SP was a mud racer track that had all the wrong things for a trip where you're trying to get way from infrastructure to enjoy some natural beauty. SP was no indication of what we were to experience:



My old thermo fan had been having issues - and this was apparent with the high temp Ruby Scoo was running. If we couldn't maintain 40km/h we needed to stop from time to time so the radiator could cool down. I borrowed a spray bottle from Dulagarl which helped a lot. I also re-routed the window washer spray to the radiator and disconnected the wiper motor - dash mounted water spray (garden nozzle used). Seemed to work a bit - saved pulling over as often!

We saw a lot of this with good dunes from time to time - both of which I really enjoyed:





At one dune Subaruby and Venom disconnected Subaruby's rear swaybar to try for more articulation and thus grip in the sand at times. I think it helped out a bit but Subaruby would be able to tell you more about that!




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[El_Freddo]

More pics of the trip down the Boarder Track - further down it was crazy to see the amount of area that was burnt out by a bushfire!









It was good to see some new growth occuring:



We camped at Redbluff camp ground - also burnt out except for one little section that turned out the be infested with bees until sun down. Anything with a scrap of moisture in it was a target!





The bees were a PITA but when they were gone the weather conditions were just right for shorts and a jumper.

The next day we were off further south - then head to Boardertown for fuel and in hope of a parts shop to buy a new thermo fan...

First stop was the dune where Venom and Nachaluva managed to watch the sunset from the day before (Venom escorted Subaruby safely to the blacktop for his return home):




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[El_Freddo]

Nachluva coming up a little too hard - he almost missed this corner



Dulagarl coming up:





What's a term for a group of subarus?



Breakfast was had up here by some to get away from those bloody bees while others had a bit of a play up and down the different tracks this dune offered.

Then more cruising:



I'd heard about car swallowing bog holes which was a concern at the back of my mind. We found them at the southern end of the track but were able to easily avoid them:






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[El_Freddo]

After our refuel in Boarder Town we headed to Little Desert via Serviceton - basically at Serviceton all there is are a few houses, wide open fields of crops and a historical old railway station where apparently the trains were stopped for a clean/refuel/re-catered etc so the station is HUGE to accommodate a large train load of people; it's very impressive!







Rain across the fields - I love the contrast of these clouds in each image (included above):



^ This rain was very light throughout the night after an absence once at camp. Our last day was in the rain for most of it; still very light until heading home where it got very steady and heavier too.

On our way out to camp we came across some Red Winged Black Cockatoos - a very rare bird and quite spectacular to see!



Last night's camp:



New tent completely setup:



Nachaluva in our rear view mirror - just before I got Ruby Scoo "proper bogged" due to just cruising along looking around rather than concentrating on the changes in the track:




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[El_Freddo]

We stopped for lunch at this water hole (can't remember the name off the top of my head):



The Little Desert is an interesting area - lots of varied vegetation with some clusters of Yellow Gums from time to time, some with a water source on the surface, some, like this one, without:

Nachaluva's Foz and Ruby Scoo:





From here Dulagarl directed Nachaluva towards the black top for his extended trip to the Flinder's Ranges.

So Dualgarl and I cruised along in a two car convoy, stopping occasionally for awesome pics like these:





The driving was good and before we knew it we were both at the same location that we parted company this time last year! I got these pics...



(Ruby Scoo's "white walls")



Then we heard an engine in the distance and were interested to find out who else was out here as we'd not seen any evidence of anyone but us being in this area. Soon enough we spotted a Silver Forester that looked oddly like Nachaluva's - because it was

Gold. I don't know how he managed it but the fresh tracks he was following were ours - only arrived 5 mins after us (if that)!

Awesome trip, it needed to be longer!

In the end I found out that my front left outer CV joint suffered a split boot due to the noise it was creating at times on the way home. A new one is on the way. The only other thing that died was my thermo fan.

Thanks for Pezimm, Subaruby, Dulagarl, Venom and Nachaluva for making this trip another worthwhile and enjoyable one - I just wish work wouldn't "get in the way"...

Cheers

Bennie

[Tigger]

Great tracks and beautiful country! Yarney tells me good things about Victoria, I think we may have to come down for a visit soon

[NachaLuva]

Great tracks and beautiful country! Yarney tells me good things about Victoria, I think we may have to come down for a visit soon

For sure! There's lots of tracks here from hard rocky climbs to sloshing around in mud to slippin' & slidin' on clay Sand is a bit further away though

[rubisubi]

Love the photos dude, do you mind me asking what type of camera you use?

[NachaLuva]

Love the photos dude, do you mind me asking what type of camera you use?

If you meant mine, some of them were with an old Canon compact PowerShot A590. Most were with my Samsung S4. I then used Microsoft Office Picture Manager to crop & enhance (contrast & brightness).

Not as flash as El Freddo's DSLR!

[yarney]

Great trip report
You guys make me sooo much want to get there you never know;)

Jan

[El_Freddo]

Love the photos dude, do you mind me asking what type of camera you use?

Mine's a Nikon D7000 - awesome camera. I really need to get some different lenses to properly utilise the camera's ability. It's just time and money to sort it out. I'd love a fixed 50mm lens again... someday

My biggest issue is keeping the dust off my lens - I'm a bit lazy about that and sometimes it shows with dark marks in my images, some you can see in the sky of the pics on the previous page.

Great trip report
You guys make me sooo much want to get there you never know;)

Jan, if/when you do I'd love to be there - and I've got the general areas for you to tour your way across Victoria to enjoy a bit of everything
I'd start you in Murray Sunset NP, then head over to the Boarder track, from here head back into the Big Desert SP, across to Wyperfeld NP. Then black top it to the Grampians (although I've not 4wd'n out there... yet), then Mt Cole; Wombat and Lerderderg SF/SPs; Cobaw SF then across to Bunyip or up to Woods Point (not been here either, but the general area is EPIC), from WP head down to Walhalla via many, many awesome tracks of steep ascents/descents with many great campsites to be had!
From here black top it to Dargo where you can easily hit up the high country again. Head over to Swift's Creek then cut through the forest east of this town towards Malacoota/Merimbula (I'll be checking out this area next weekend with all going well!).

From there you can start to head north again - you will have done the majority of "important" 4wd areas of Vic with exception to the Little Desert NP and the Otways NP on the Great Ocean Rd. If you drop Mt Cole off the agenda you could do the Otways instead

My thoughts anyway! I'd love to do all of that in 8 weeks or so!! It's not too much to ask is it

Cheers

Bennie