Big Desert Trip March 2014

Aim and Dan

Day One

Two utes Left Swan Hill at 2 and made their way along the Northern highways of Victoria with one goal in mind. The Border Track. 

The trip became filled with snarky remarks and stupid comments over the UHF. A phone call, a wrong turn and the cover of the brand new Bushman almost flying off added to the many stops along the way.

We fought our way through the fruit fly station with smiles and openings of eskies. "Going home?" one bloke asked. Really. You just seen the amount of food on board, (No fruit) camping gear and wood... On a Friday! Not to mention we're supporting Victorian number plates crossing into South Australia. To be obvious. No, we're not going home. We're out looking for a good time. 

Arrived in Pinnaroo at 4:30 Gave the utes a drink then headed out to the border track full of beans and eager to plough into some sand.

We flew down the dirt road only to find a large yellow sign. Our hopes dropped as the sign announced track closure between November and April. Really! Why didn't the internet say so?

After a few minutes on the phone to Parks Victoria, we discovered the border track belongs to South Australia. Of all our luck. Travel 300Kms to find a closed track. What do we do now?

Apparently, there is a working bee going on along the track. Even if the ranger was nice enough to let us enter, there was no hope of us going down.
So, we headed in anyway, then took a sharp left at the big desert sign, back into Victoria! Well, a left after many photos on many different angles.

We were finally on sand! Dan, who hit every puddle he could find, was already driving a filthy vehicle. My dark blue one seemed to attract the fine partials to the paintwork too.
A few minutes down the track and still in two-wheel drive (With the hubs locked in) we climbed a few baby dunes. Took more photos of the landscape and the vehicles of course, then decided to let our tyres down. 18psi. Now the fun begins.

First, still a baby, but our first larger one we climbed, forced us to select 4WD halfway up unless we wanted to listen to a couple of engine revving hard and going nowhere. After all four wheels engaged, both climbed all sand dunes easy.

4WD, meh, who needs it. Knocked it back out, because having less control over a vehicle in sand is fun!

Look mum, no hands! The steering wheel turned itself as the front wheels followed the ruts. Good fun to watch until you realised the corner wasn’t deep enough to keep you on track and the ute goes sideways. Still a blast to fight it back into submission.

The rain might have washed away most vehicle tracks. They aren’t the only ones to imprint their mark along the narrow road. Emu and kangaroo tracks stood out in the white sand.

While looking for a campground before night falls, we were surprised to discover just how far we had travelled. Nowhere, compared to the highway. An hour was only a few ks. But who cares for time while you’re having fun! Soft spots play with our utes ability to hold a constant gear and power through. Looking for more of a challenge on the track, we came to a crossroads. Straight through the sand drift built up in the middle. Sand flew off the tyres as we fought our way through, then off to find the Red Gums camping ground.

Night crept upon us. Over another small dune and we found the camp spot.
Tall gum trees sat centre of the clearing. Strange thing to see in a desert. But different. We parked the utes, made camp, burnt the BBQ meat and found a shopping mistake. Wholemeal bread! Dan! How dare you buy something healthy for a 4WD trip. Smothered it with butter and a greasy sausage, that’s more like it!

The rest of the night we spent sitting around the fire and planning the next day. Make sure you take warm clothes. It gets very cold in the desert at night. We forgot all about this warning while we sat there in T-shirts. It wasn’t even a big fire.

An intruder waltzed into camp while we studied our very few maps for our next trek. Will be more prepared next time! A marbled gecko made his appearance in the red gum leaves.

Well, that was day one of the desert trip. No border track. But we're in! Still no idea what we're in for tomorrow!

Day Two

Best entry in a guest book I’d ever seen. Bit of light reading to start the day.

It’s even funnier for us. We came from close to Lake Boga, so we knew exactly how far it was back to Melbourne from both places.

Left Red Gums camping area and traveled along Coburns track. Met a few dunes. Owned them. Did some ridge driving and lots more photos of the utes and the landscape from higher peaks.

Then trouble started. We found some dunes that whipped our arses and sent us on our merry way. The Navara climbed first, but lost power. The second time, the driver lost her nerve, yes me, and gave up because of a slight fear of heights and backwards driving. The Mighty Triton then became stuck in the soft sand created by the Navara. We gave up, took a few photos of the track that put us to shame and continued on.

Where we wanted to get.

Where we got.

The country changed as we traveled east. It became sketchy bush land and hard sand. Boring, as Dan called it. We made our way to one of the main roadways. A highway compared to some of the tracks we've been on.

Had lunch at Big Billy Bore. As we finished our ham and cheese rolls. Ants appeared out of nowhere and attempted to steal our food. Too late boys! We're finished. A few more words in a visitors book and we jumped back on the desert highway.

Still a little bored after a few k’s on the hard limestone surface, we pulled off onto another track. In the distance stood a dune. How could we pass? I swear it was the roughest track we’d ever been on! Luckily, things were tied down on the climb or there would be things still scattered over that dune.

Reaching the top, we discovered very soft sand. The Triton bogged down on a drift at the peak. Dan leapt out at the chance to use his new Trax in the sand. We learnt something up there. Trax don’t do well in soft sand. The tyres grabbed the plastic ramps and shot them down at a 30 degree angle. We spent the next five minutes digging them out!

Reaching the top wasn’t the only perk. I had a phone dying and the USB charger for it couldn’t be found. (Later found in the back of the ute) While up there we found a USB led. The exact one I was after! Plugged it in and I was right to take a few more photos. What are the chances. On a dune, in the middle of a desert!

Next track, the Milmed Rock Track. Just a few k's of good sandy soil with many waves. The Triton hummed along. The Navara bounced its way through.

Visited the Milmed rock, took more photos then continued onto a few more camping grounds.

Both were as if we'd driven back into the mallee. Trees shot out of the ground as it changed to loam. The mallee in the middle of the desert. Dan was happy. Mud! It was a hard bottom, but still got to drive through some water!

Almost shamed by another hill. Triton struggled with 4WD engagement, but made it up. The Navara almost. But almost is didn't, although in snatch strap range and climbed the rest of the way with a little help. We continued down an unsigned track. Bad idea. A little overgrown and our toys couldn’t fit. Turn around and go back up the hill.

Navara made it. Just. Grazed the side of a small tree on the crest and folded the side mirror on the passenger side.

Not enough room for two. I continued down. After reaching the bottom decided to check on Dan. “Did you make it?”

“Ah, have a problem. I'm on my side.”

Well, that’s all we needed. On his side on a hill that I really can't climb and how do we get it back on its wheels and will it go!

“Only kidding. I'm coming down now.”

I'm not writing the words I called him. But, they were colourful.

The Mighty Triton did come to a bit of trouble. Coming around a corner the sand drift was a little too soft, and the Triton a little too low to the ground. Bogged with two wheels spinning on opposite axles.

Snatch strap time. The Navara tugged the other ute out with a struggle and a brand new, now burnt clutch.

Found another camping ground and some P platers out for a day trip by the look of them. One had a smart comment. Whatcha doing out here in a trooton. Well this Trooton made it this far. Ok, with some Navara power and a burnt clutch.

The track eventually came to an end and we know where the bushfire consumed some of the desert plant life. Fed the tyres some air after a few wrong directions and turns we found Lake Albacutya. Sigh. No water, but West Beach is a great camping spot, except for the ants and flies. Thankfully, they go home at night and mozzies were minimal.

It had toilet facilities and even showers! More than we expected.

Camped for the night and planned to burn all firewood brought and stay warm. Though, despite all the warnings, the temperature didn't drop as severe as expected. Disappointed. Two sleeping bags and only using one!

We spent our last night listening to a bit of music, eating un-burnt BBQ meat, and laughing at Dan communicating with a mopoke.

Day Three

The day we head for home.

We packed up. Dan had a friendly chat with the local ranger about how rough Milmed Rock track was heading the other way while I was down taking some photos of the empty lake.

A track started at the end of the boat ramp. We headed down that one, straight across the middle of Lake Albacutya and to the boat ramp and campground on the other side.

A kangaroo watched our progress from the very few shady spots of the lake bed. Dan didn’t even see it as he searched for any sign of water to drive through.

On the other side we found a little more four wheel driving in the dry lake sand, then it was time to head home.

We took the back roads. The seemed straighter than the bitumen route. Loam roads between large paddocks crossed over many bitumen roads. I expected them to be rough and shake us around a bit. We were surprised to find the narrow one-vehicle roads to be much smoother than our own highways back home. The only problem was the dust. The fine red soil created a huge cloud behind the Navara and Dan couldn’t see a thing.

We reached Lalbert in no time at all and headed the back way into Mystic Park. Both of us used about a tank an a half for the whole weekend and had a great time. Can’t wait to do it again. Hopefully next time the border track will be open and we can call it the Border Track Trip for real!