Day 3 - Hughendon to Cairns

We packed up and set off from Hughendon around 9am.  Filled up with fuel to make sure of things and off we went.

The Kennedy development Road to "The Lynd" is again mostly dirt with some bitumen thrown in here and there.  Some quite rough and rocky bits but mostly in good order.  The amount of travellers was now get much more noticeable.

We stopped in at The Lynd roadhouse for lunch (with a bus load of tourists heading from Cairns to Darwin!). See below....

They specialise in Toyota - the only 4x4 to have in this part of the country.

 

Saw the odd cow!

 

We kept heading North. How good is the run up to Atherton?  We climbed really high and ended up in the clouds.  It was cold and quite windy up there.  Some nice views of their wind farm.  Check out the cows who were doing a climb of their own :)

 

 

 

We arrived in Cairns later in the afternoon and checked into the Coconut Resort Caravan Park.  Great place so far.  We are all set up and ready to pick up the girls who arrive tomorrow.

We have four days here to take in the delights of Cairns before we get on the road and head up North to The Cape.

Day 2 - Bedourie to Hughendon

What a cold night!  Nothing like near freezing temperatures to wake up to!

We packed up and headed North to Boulia (213kms) and then across to Winton (362km). Both of these roads are half sealed and half dirt.  No major dramas.  A few travellers around and the odd semi and road train. We kept stopping and pulling off the road to let others past.  Some people have no idea how to drive and go belting past you in the dirt at 100km/h showering you with rocks.

 

We were in Boulia and just after we had lunch and these emus just casually wandered past up the main street checking the place out

We saw another 200 series with one hell of a bull bar!

 

 

 

We arrived at Winton at about 5:30 and decided to keep going up to Hughendon (213kms) which meant a bit of night driving.  A few roos, sheep and cows around but no big deals.  Especially when you have HID lighting!!

Low Beam

High Beam

We are set up at Hughendon Caravan Park.  All showered and ready for a good night's sleep. We have an easy day of about 550km up to Cairns tomorrow.

Day 1 - Adelaide to Bedourie (QLD)

Well, we're off.  Ok - James and I are off anyway.  The girls are flying up to meet us in Cairns on Sunday.

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I had a few hours sleep and we left Adelaide and a very fresh 5 degree at midnight.  Uneventful to Port Augusta where we refuelled with the last cheap fuel and headed into the Flinders Ranges towards Quorn.  A few roos between Quorn and Hawker but nothing to worry about.  Arrived early am at Marree for a quick breakfast.  They hadn't had any bread deliveries for a few days so toasted sandwiches were out and a pie had to suffice for brekky!

Off onto the Birdsville track and headed up to Birdsvill e.  Again pretty uneventful for a couple of hours.  I then noticed for some weird reason after 300 odd kays of dirt that the odd stone hit the back window.  Just as I was slowing down to check it out - SMASH!  The back window shattered.  Luckily the tinting held it together and it's still together some 1500km later!

We taped it up and it seems fine.  Continued on into Birdsville.  The track was being graded and was quite cut up in a lot of places due to idiots driving on it in the wet and mud.  This is quite dangerous now as it has dried and there is ruts all over it.

We didn't fill up with fuel at Birdsville for two reasons. One, they have no BP so couldn't use the fleet card and two, as expected, fuel was $2.08 per litre.  We bought 60lt and intended filling up later.

We rang Windscreen O'Brien (national) from Birdsville to arrange a new glass in Townsville when we get there tomorrow.

We stopped in Bedourie and set up 'free camp' and had a really good meal at the tavern.  An early night

1 more sleep

Only one more sleep to go before we leave.  I can't wait!!!!

Although I am getting a cold and could really do without it at the moment.  I'm sure it'll be fine.

Snorkel Install

TJM fitted up the snorkel today.  It makes a good difference in lowering the intake air temperature by about 6 degrees over standard which in turn makes the intercooler more effective.

Playing at Loveday

Went out to Loveday 4x4 park yesterday to give the suspension a workout and a chance to settle in properly before we go. A massive difference when off road. Better wheel travel and the lift in noticeable because it stops the front end ploughing into the ground all the time.

Roof Rack Install

Going away for 4 1/2 weeks with 2 adults and 3 kids (especially one who is 17 months) requires that we take quite a bit of stuff with us.  I reluctantly decided that we had to have the roof rack on the vehicle to cope with all this.  We could have probably loaded the car and the camper right up but the trouble is that it makes things so hard to get to when you need them.  Anyway I went for the ARB steel bar as opposed to the TJM alloy bar mainly because it was $500 cheaper, about 600mm longer and uses a 'rail' mount with all eight captive roof mounts utilised.  We'll put the spare tyre,fishing rods and gear and chairs etc up on the roof.  Here's a look at the install.

Installed the rails...........

 

The rack installed..........

 

Mandatory shovel mount........

Suspension Install

Nearly ready for our trip now.

I had TJM (Reynella) install some aftermarket suspension in the Cruiser.  I felt the front end was way too long and I didn't like the way it points downwards at the front.  The put in new struts at the front which gave a 40mm lift and also compensates for the extra weight of the bullbar and winch.  The rear has a 20mm lift and I also installed Polyair bags which can be pumped up to cope with high loads.  I am really happy with the install.

Before the lift...........

After the lift.......

 

It does get plenty of suspension travel now.......