4WD – Kevins Adventures in Life and IT

Wolfe Creek

Wolfe Creek. Ask anyone who has seen the film Wolf Creek if they would go there and the answer is extremely likely to be “No!”. But if you’re this close it’s hard to say no, especially if you love photography and really strange spots.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to go all round Western Europe when I was younger, and as I’ve gotten older some of the most beautiful ski spots in the world, and some of the best places in the world for work.

Wolfe Creek stands apart from these places and is in the same league as Uluru, Pearl Harbour, and Normandy for the haunting stillness, and sense of grandeur.

Wolfe Creek is a crater from a meteorite impact around 300,000 years ago and is about 870 metres in diameter and 60m deep. To get there you have to go down the Tanami Road. Calling it a road is a bit of a leap though as it was a dirt track about 8 lanes wide through cattle country, and the cattle were crossing it whilst we were going along it, and graders were on some sections but not others. Continue reading “Wolfe Creek”

Dual Battery Setup – Part Two

Disclaimer: this is how I put this together, it is not intended as a guide, and is based on my limited personal experience. I am not an electrician, nor do I accept any personal liability for any accidents that may occur after reading this post. Always speak to a professional and be aware that electricity kills.

Well the second battery has been a constant source of pain throughout the trip. It seems to finally be resolved, however it’s been a long and exquisitely painful journey.

After arriving in Karijini I had some help from a friendly camper next to me with the cabling. It turned out he was a sparky, so I let him loose and didn’t check his work, after all I’m just a tinkerer. Turns out i should have watched this a bit more.

The Gibb River Road is pretty much non stop corrugations, which work electrical connections loose. Cue one dead battery. Pretty much every night I was having to borrow power from Brienne in order to keep my battery going. At the end of the road we stopped in Kununurra and I bought an Optima Yellow Top. I should have done this in the first place as you can run these until they have no charge, and then recharge them. The one I ended up going with wasn’t like this and ended up in the scrap heap after a week. A swap of the battery, check the solar works, and off again to Lake Argyle. Where the battery was dead once more. Continue reading “Dual Battery Setup – Part Two”

Windjana to Bell, A Tale of Two Gorges

The plan for today was quite simple, spend some time at two gorges. I spent the morning doing some mechanical checks on the truck, specifically looking at the suspension to see if any of the nuts had come loose on the gravel roads that we’ve silent a lot of time on recently. As the suspension has been upgraded this was a basic check, with the left front shock needing a bit of tightening. I also managed to get some photographs of the Wedgetail eagles that make WA home, and are up here in huge numbers. I must admit I had thought these beasts were up there with Yowies and Dropbears as I’d never seen one until now.

Continue reading “Windjana to Bell, A Tale of Two Gorges”

The Gibb

Today we reached the Gibb River Road. Two years of planning (somewhat weakly as my better half says), dreaming, and reading as much as we could get our hands on. We left Broome, and headed to Derby for a refuel and then a 5km backtrack to the start of the Gibb.

And its just another bitchumen road. What the hell has gone wrong!

Well it is for the first 50km. Then the gravel starts. And it steadily gets harder. Here we go, it’s getting fun. After more roadworks, they seem to have cursed this trip, we get to Tunnel Gorge. This is a naturally occurring tunnel, formed by water over the centuries that goes for about 750m. The creek that has formed it still runs through it, providing a rare chance to walk a tunnel that has a creek and bats flying through it.

Continue reading “The Gibb”

80 Mile Beach

First off, I don’t know how long the beach actually is, wikipedia claims it is 140 miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Mile_Beach.

I do know it is stunning and that it is the only time in my life that I think I’ll have access to as much beach as this with no one else present.

The reason why – the drive to get here. It was horrendous. We left Karijini, refueled at Port Hedland, and then turned off at the sign for the caravan park, before taking what I can only describe as the “wrongest” turn on the trip so far. We’ve spent hours backtracking across a station to get here, all of the roads appear to be unused for a significant period of time, and the fields of kangaroos and cattle don’t appear to know what to make of us in our trucks. Given the chance though I’d do it all again. This place is stunning, and we really are spoilt in WA with our choice of beaches, this appears to be one of the best. Continue reading “80 Mile Beach”