Goin' Bush
THE SUNDAY AGE
Saturday August 5, 1995
I HAVE always been emotional, but I never thought that one day I would cry with pleasure at the sight of bitumen.
Three days before that tearful reunion, my husband and I had chosen the Plenty Highway as an adventurous alternative to the 1200 sealed kilometres between Mount Isa and Alice Springs: the Plenty Highway and its approaches are variably marked on maps as four wheel-drive tracks and unsealed major roads.
Literature on outback Australia warns travellers to check road conditions, but the daily RACQ report did not even mention our preferred route, so we resorted to a tried and true practice.
We rang the local pub.
'It's still raining in Alice but dry here now. You should get through. 'That 'local' was the Urandangi Pub, miles from anywhere.
Several kilometres of firm, graded yellow gravel led to a closed gate guarded by a mountain of bull. His manner implied disinterest in my activities, but I was not about to call his bluff. I had the gate opened, closed and firmly chained between us before he could snort. On the far side the graded gravel disappeared beneath mud with the consistency of porridge.
Still undaunted, we proceeded, our Subaru waltzing left and right, and eventually regained higher ground in an elegant if unconvincing performance.
Gravel. Third gear. Smoke. Bang! Packed tight with sticky mud and abrasive stones, one of our day-old tyres had come off its wheel rim and the car was listing badly to the rear port side. Spare tyres we had aplenty, but even with our jack at full extension the wheel remained stuck in the mud.
Backed by 33 years of mechanical ignorance, I peered under the car and leapt to the worst case, most dramatic, most costly conclusion: broken axle.
Rain hit the car in large, noisy drops. In the ensuing downpour we pitched our tent and prepared to wait, safe in the knowledge that there was little chance of us dying of thirst we would drown first.
Rain fell throughout the afternoon and into the night, its drumming on the canvas preventing sleep. I had visions of us floating into Alice on a flood of Biblical proportions and coming to rest on Anzac Hill.
Suddenly the tent was filled with light and we scrambled out on to the road to encounter some fellow travellers, standing in dripping red raincoats, with whom we sent off a message detailing our plight. Then we crawled back to bed and slept, only to be woken by dawn breaking to a drum-roll of rain.
I had not expected the cavalry a couple of muddy RACQ mechanics would have done but we were more than a little surprised by the midday arrival of one of our drinking companions from Urandangi. The RACQ team had turned back.
Alan jacked up our car, fitted a new tyre and declared the axle undamaged. My embarrassment was acute but I was too cold to blush.
Our troubles, however, were far from over. Twenty-four hours of rain had transformed the road into a bog and we could neither continue nor make a dignified return to Urandangi.
Subarus in deep mud bear a remarkable resemblance to whales on sand.
FOR seven hours Alan and his Mahindra four wheel-drive, my husband and I labored (I still cannot see the attraction of mud wrestling), covering 10 kilometres before our recalcitrant Subaru bottomed and refused to budge. As the four wheels spun, inches clear of purchase, the rain finally stopped.
At that point we abandoned the car and returned with Alan to the 'Dangi Pub', arriving cold, wet and filthy, but walking tall on great clods of mud.
Propped up against the bar, we decided to bide our time until the ground dried up. And what better place to be stranded than an outback hostelry with cold Elephant Beer, delicious Danish cooking, and uninterrupted views of western Queensland's flatness.
And so it was that three days after leaving the highway south of Mount Isa we forded the last water hole and drove four tonnes of congealed mud back onto the bitumen. Our taste for adventure was sated well, for a day or two at least.
FACT FILE Urandangi is approximately 175 kilometres south-west of Mount Isa and about 40 kilometres east of the Northern Territory border. The Urandangi Pub has basic accommodation, food and petrol.
HIGH insurance premiums and $4000 excess rates for hiring a four-wheel drive in Alice Springs are testimony to the trouble travellers sometimes have driving on outback roads.
Fortunately you can see much of the outback travelling on sealed roads in your own sedan. 20 WAYS TO SURVIVE THE DRIVE.
1.Have your car serviced before you leave.
2. In the bush, even road names can be misleading, for example, the Gunbarrel Highway is just bush track. Get good maps from the RACV or specialists such as Bowyangs.
3. Plan to stop every two hours and try to share the driving.
4. Just because the Northern Territory has no speed limit on open road, don't set your own records. 5. Plan ahead for fuel stops. Make sure you are familiar with your fuel gauge, and note, for example, how far you can travel on a quarter of a tank. You may need to carry your own fuel in metal jerry containers. Don't use cheaper alternatives and to be on the safe side, carry 20 per cent more fuel than you think is necessary. If you run short, go slow to conserve fuel.
6. In remote areas electronic banking is for city slickers! As fuel is a significant cost and may be twice as expensive as in major centres, many motorists use an Ampol card to buy petrol (apply at Ampol service stations). Travellers' cheques are widely accepted.
7. Members of the RACV have reciprocal membership with interstate automobile clubs.
8. Check your car insurance and, if you're planning to be away for more than eight weeks, some house insurance companies will only cover you if you have notified them first.
9. Consider taking a St John Ambulance first aid course.
Travel with a first aid book and a basic medical kit. Consider ambulance and health insurance, and sort out any health problems.
10. Set off with at least one spare tyre (if not two), tyre- changing tools, a jack, fan belt, radiator hose and a tow rope. Tyres must be in first-class condition as retreads are not suitable. If you're towing a caravan, you need to take spares for it too.
11. You will be driven mad by flies. Repellent might help, but you may have to resort to wearing a veil as well! Good sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat and 15+ blockout are a must.
It can be freezing at night in central Australia be prepared.
12. Travel with a minimum of 20 litres of drinking water.
If there are more than two of you, carry an additional five litres of water per person.
13. Local police know the local road conditions, and can tell you too. Let them know your plans, and advise them when you arrive.
14. The majority of outback roads are unfenced. Watch out for camels, cows, horses, donkeys, buffalos and emus. At dusk and dawn take extra care for nocturnal feeders such as kangaroos and wallabies. At night animals tend to keep to the middle of the road as this is often the warmest spot.
15. Road trains can be 50 metres long. They are unable to stop quickly or manoeuvre easily. Hang back until it is safe to pass. You need at least a kilometre of clear road, and if the driver prevents you from passing, he may be actually protecting you from oncoming traffic you cannot see. Watch out for the shoulder on sealed roads, it is not uncommon for the edges to be rough or even drop away dramatically.
16. Walk across any river crossings before driving through.
Keep an eye out for potholes and watch the current. Most flash floods usually recede within 24 hours, so if you're in any doubt, wait it out. 17. The golden rule for dirt-road driving is: don't brake hard and don't swerve quickly. Drive at half your normal speed.
18.Leave gates as you find them.
19. If you find yourself in a dust storm, remember it will pass quickly. If your vision is obscured don't soldier on.
Wind up the window and wait!
20. If you break down or get seriously lost, wait with your vehicle. There is more chance rescuers will see your car rather than you on your own. Conserve your water, sit in the shade outside, not inside your car, and be careful not to become sunburnt and/or dehydrated.
Construct an SOS sign out of green vegetation, rocks or digging in the sand. Make sure it is large enough to see from the air. Light three fires in a triangle about 30 metres apart and burn greenery which will smoke.
Don't panic. If you've told someone about your travel plans they will send out a search and rescue party.
FIVE GREAT OUTBACK TRIPS.
`Motoring Holiday Guide from The Reef to the Rock', produced by the Queensland Tourist and Travel Corporation and the Northern Territory Tourist Commission is available from selected newsagents and the Queensland Government Travel Centre.
1. Simpson Desert, Central Australia. Old cattle stations, salt lakes and red sand dunes provide adventure plus in Australia's harshest desert. About six days from Alice Springs to Birdsville, no water supplies for the last three. Suitable for high-clearance 4WD vehicles.
2. Gibb River Road, Western Australia. Six hundred corrugated kilometres through the rugged Kimberley. Spectacular gorges, billabongs and the waterfalls and rivers of the Mitchell Plateau are accessibly only by 4WD. Allow at least a week.
3. Canning Stock Route, Western Australia. The ultimate 4WD journey. A 1400 kilometre long-haul adventure from the Kimberley to near Meekatharra through the forbidding Gibson Desert. No repair facilities for much of the trek. Fuel drops necessary.
4. The Mereenie Loop, Northern Territory. Alternate 2WD route from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon and Uluru via the West MacDonnell Ranges. This is Albert Namatjira countryQred and mauve time-worn mountains, blue skies, white ghost gums, red sand dunes.
5. The Gulf Track, Northern Territory and Queensland. A challenging dry-season only 4 WD adventure through the remote gulf country of Northern Territory to Queensland. Fishing, bushwalking, bird-watching opportunities.
© 1995 THE SUNDAY AGE
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