to the Australia 2002 photo album
Across Australia in a Series 3 Land Rover
Part 1 - Preparation
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to the Australia 2002 photo album
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Across Australia in a Series 3 Land Rover Part 1 - Preparation
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Text and photography by:
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| It’s late November 2001, one
of those typical cold and rainy Northern European days. We’re sitting
around our fireplace with some friends, enjoying a nice bottle of
Australian wine. Inspired by the fruity taste of the Chardonnay, we soon
start to discuss the beautiful weather and rugged beauty of this country.
And of course the many 4WD trips you can make on this continent!
Australia is huge. Anyone who has visited this country must have been amazed by its scale. It stretches out over an area of roughly the size of Europe, with 19 million inhabitants, who mostly live in the narrow coastal areas. The central part of this continent is very empty. If you’re looking for a remote 4WD destination, this is the place to be! Australia is a continent and has several climatic zones, ranging from temperate to tropical. This means that a trip to Australia requires careful timing and planning. Being in a place at the wrong time of the year, you could either cook or drown (or both, if you’re unlucky!). The North is tropical, with a typical dry and wet season. Best time to go is from May - August. The South is more temperate and has perfect weather in spring and autumn.
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The outback - great 4WD territory!
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| The plan
Even though we have travelled through Australia several times, there are still many parts of the country we haven’t seen. We are keen to travel to Tasmania, and the infamous Simpson Desert has been on my shortlist for several years as well. Peter, one of our friends, has never seen the country and would like to see the Whalesharks on the Ningaloo Reef. These destination are all quite far apart and we decide to do some serious calculations on distance and time required. It turns out that the trip would require roughly three months and 15.000 to 20.000 km of mostly outback roads.
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The choice for our trip - a 1979 Series 3 Land Rover |
The vehicle
Of course this trip will require a rugged vehicle. Being a mechanical engineer, I rather prefer an old fashioned vehicle over a modern computerised city 4WD. Most of the breakdowns in remote areas occur with newer vehicles. Engine management systems could fail under the combined thermal and mechanical stress of the Australian outback. Severe corrugations and temperatures of 45+°C in the shade take a heavy toll on these type of electronic components. Older cars break down as well, but at least you have a fair chance of repairing them yourself. Therefore we decide to opt for a much older vehicle, preferably with a petrol engine. Although not as economic as a Diesel, the petrol engine is much simpler to troubleshoot and repair. After some analysis we set our mind on a long wheel base Series Land Rover. It has a much better ride than an FJ40 Landcruiser, and it is also a lot lighter, which can be of help when crossing the 1200 soft sand dunes of the Simpson Desert. After scanning the ads for several weeks, we find a Series 3 at Len’s Land Rovers in Pooraka near Adelaide. This company is very supportive of our trip and agrees to reserve the car for us, for a period of a few weeks, to allow an inspection by us upon arrival.
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| Preparations
Now our plan becomes much more serious and our preparations really start. Travelling through Aboriginal land generally requires a permit. Our trip will include the Gunbarrel Highway, and two permits are required for this section:
For travelling the Simpson Desert a "Desert Park Pass" is required, which sets you back AUS$85 (around £30). However, the pass is valid for a year, and a number of topographic maps are included in the information package. The Desert Park Pass can be obtained from:
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| The second thing you
definitely need is communications and navigation equipment.
In the desolate regions of central Australia a small mistake can be fatal. If you get bitten by a snake, or if you roll your car in the middle of nowhere, the help of the Royal Flying Doctors could be life saving. An HF radio is common in outback Australia, but good coverage is also provided with satellite phones. Hiring this type of equipment for a long period of time is almost as expensive as buying. Helped by Glocall in The Netherlands we decide to buy an Iridium satellite phone. The advantage of a satellite phone is that it guarantees better connections than a HF radio. The relative high cost of phone calls (ca. € 2/minute) doesn’t really matter in an emergency. It can also be used outside Australia, and that can be handy for future 4WD expeditions.
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Making a satellite phone call in the desert
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The latest in EPIRB technology - McMurdo Fastfind Plus
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In addition to the satellite
phone, we also equip ourselves with an emergency beacon (EPIRB) for back
up purposes. EPIRB stands for Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacon.
This device can be manually activated in case of an emergency, and warns
the local authorities via satellite, to start a search and rescue
operation. The homing signal from the beacon enables quick locating by the
rescue team. Locating is aided by the use of smoke signals and colourful
items on the ground. It is obvious that you ONLY set off the EPIRB in case
of an emergency, and NOT when your supply of beer has run out!
We were able to obtain the latest in EPIRB technology through Sartech in the UK. Our McMurdo Fastfind Plus has a built in GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver and relays our position to COSPAR-SARSAT (the search and rescue authorities) with an accuracy of less than 30 metres. This highly advanced device is about the size of a TV remote control and weighs only 300 grams.
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| For navigation we always rely
on our sturdy GARMIN
Emap. It has a built-in map with, surprisingly, lots of details of outback
roads, lakes and streams. Although the maps are not topographical and
sometimes outdated, it is still extremely useful for orientation.
As with all GPS receivers, you can upload waypoints for route planning. Waypoints are available from a number of sources, such as the book "Discover Australia" by Ron and Viv Moon. An example of such a route (in this case a part of the Simpson Desert) is shown in the plot below. It is common in outback Australia to find more roads than shown on the map. These roads can lead to cattle stations, mines or oil fields, and can sometimes be a little confusing. GPS can help you to find your way. Another useful function is backtracking, which can be extremely useful when you get lost (and works much better than bread crumbs!).
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Example of a GPS route
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| The gruelling dirt roads and
4WD tracks in Australia take a heavy toll on tyres, so you need to stack
up some spare tyres, mounted on rims. You also need a tyre repair kit,
including a bead breaker (to remove the tyre from the rim), extra inner
tubes and, of course, a compressor to re-inflate the tyre after repair. In
addition we acquired a set of simple recovery tools, such as a snatch
strap with D-shackles, a shovel, and a small hand winch.
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| A comprehensive hand tool kit
and a portable WAECO fridge completes our list of equipment. The fridge is
essential to keep our films cool in the soaring desert heat, but it doesn’t
hurt either to be able to drink a cold beer at the end of a hard day’s
work!
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Fitting the false floor
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Upon arrival in Australia we
inspected and test drove the car, and decided to go ahead with the
purchase. We fit the car with an auxiliary fuel tank, to boost the fuel
capacity to 110 litres. With an average of 7.0 km/litre, still not enough
for a Simpson Desert crossing, so we added three 20 litre jerry cans on
our roof rack.
I would like to make a note of warning here: corrugations cause severe vibrations, and the jerry cans need to be mounted on wood. Avoid metal to metal contact at all times, as this may cause the cans to rub through! The final modification to our Series 3 was to fabricate a raised floor in the rear compartment. This enabled us to sleep in the car, well protected from snakes and spiders. Four simple 1" square steel tube used as cross members, and a large plate of 1 1/8" plywood do the job. A Road Worthy Certificate and road tax was arranged by Len’s Land Rovers, and third party property insurance was obtained from the RAA in Adelaide. With the help of Len’s Land Rovers it took us only 4 days to prepare the car, including all the paperwork.
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The first section of the trips will lead us from Adelaide via Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney to Alice springs and includes the famous Birdsville Track and the Simpson Desert. Click here to read about our Simpson Desert adventure. |
Ready to go
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to the Australia 2002 photo album
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