Lake Katherine_Alderly Station_Birdsville Track - Aug.-Sept.17

King Ash Bay - Departure 27th August

0630hrs final pack – cheerios to Errol, Helen, John n Carol, Reg and crew – off 0835hrs, dunny and fuel. 

KAB Track – not so bad as claimed 23.9kph, off side left most of the way, 52 minutes and one complete tie down – fluro green.

Electronic breaks intermittent, and running lights not working - ? loose wire’s. Pulled the plug apart when we camped up for the day, internals (plastic crumbled) inserted the pins individually and taped in place – Mt Isa for new plug.

 1510hrs pulled up for the day 371k’s, 69.3kph average and 5.45hrs drive time. Stiff head winds all day. Topped up fuel – 40ltr from jerry cans

Checking out the rest area, some rubbish also 30 discarded Vodka Cruiser - 5 broken, the remainder all in good condition.

0600hrs on the road to Mt Isa – 0730hrs – Subway for breakfast – small and stale bread – yuk!! Worse every. Auto shops for 7 pin van plug - $20.

Coles and stocked up for several weeks – food $160 + $88 beer + fuel $233 + dentafix $16

Called Roxbrough Downs very bright bubbly lady – yeah! no problem, but it’s freezing down here. 

Called Frank at Alderly – yep! Will be here when you pass thru in 10 days or so.

Bushtracker on the corner of South Urandangi and Boulia Road inflating tires – road good, been out to Cloudy Lake non fisho’s so no info. In fact the lake is so cloudy = no fish!

Turn-off to LAKE KATHERINE – 20k’s from the grid and station signage.

1600hrs – we found no one on site – camped up with annex done by 1730hrs. Found one opera net and 2 pairs of good gloves, plus and pig sty in the wash out with dunny paper and the real life pigs having pig-dozered the lake bank.

Chook curry on rice for tea!!

0530hrs – 11 degrees – heater on!! 0715hrs just warm enough to get moving outside – warmed up by removing 7 bucket loads of ash before we set our fire. Unload tinnie and good to go after breakfast, rig up our red claw traps and all placed 1000hrs.

Fishing gear organized and at our paper bark tree 1.2k’s up the lake an hour or so later 1 monster yellow belly and 9 barcoo grunter, troll back with no hook-ups. Clean the fish and then check the traps installing fish heads and frames to add flavour – only ONE Redclaw and a sunk trap with a short float string – troll for it tomorrow.

Truck – 6 wheeler in army camouflage pulled in around 1630hrs and set up camp – no boat or other floating device has appeared yet! Off to the Birdsville Races – Ian Gorman – truckie from Mt Isa, Andrew Lock (Lockey) and mates will be at the lake over the week end – memorial w/e for lost mates. George has passed away, cancer about 12 mths ago, fellow I gave the traps to and he gave me the Black Panther cutter.

Collecting fire wood 

Smoked Barcoo Bream - Yum!

Red Claw and more fire wood

My rod's twitching - let em' hook themselves

Sue had the knack of landing black Yellow Belly

Yep! it's still cool - note the found gloves

Day time temperatures you needed some shade

Smoked fish

Lake bank camping - bliss

Starting to get a few Red Claw in the freezer

Grapple to troll for lost traps

Cuppa

0515hrs 12 degrees in the van, heater and coffee on the go! 0700hrs hooked up ready to go, drop over to cheerio Peter and Graham – few good size YB on prawn baits yesterday.

0720hrs on the road, 1.9ks to the track, 18ks to Roxbrough HS, and 22k’s to the Hwy – 40ks, then 160k’s to Boulia, with 2 x 5k, and one 18k section of bitumen to the last 70ks into town of black top. Thus only 62k’s of dirt on the Hwy, all up 100k’s of dirt from Camp to Boulia.

Laundry at Boulia with one machine stalled on rinse, advised store – Oh! Turn to small load – bugger could have had 2 machine had we checked earlier. Got the laundry done, e-mails down loaded etc. Pub lunch – to late 1315hrs, only serve cooked lunches 12 to 1300hrs – Bugger!

Servo for bacon and egg burgers, generous with the bacon and even more so with the BBQ sauce.

Dunny dump on the way out of town, and arrive at Adlerley Station 1515hrs, caught-up with Rada – yep,4 years ago already when we were last here. Kid’s off working, Scott married with 2 kids, wife and kid’s live on the station, Scott working for Barkley Heli-Musters and away a lot of the time. Daughter off on a station working.

Entertained Bess – stick throwing and a dog biscuit.

Checked out the chooks, cleaned their water trough and lined the nests with hay – 6 eggs. Taylor the cook came over to collect and let the chooks out, just started to lay the last 2 weeks – Yep! It’s spring.

Rada's catering trailer when they go mustering out station. Gone are the days of swagging it!

Jake's off to Mt Isa with the truck requiring some Viagra - it's in limp mode with the turbo U/S.

Home made bearing cone removal tool

Serious brake pads and axle 

Now this would be handy 

Handy - can also use ginger beer

Vast difference from our 1st visit back in 2010.

Brisk cool breeze and a hive of activity – Jake loading the Kenworth to get checked out in Isa, lad’s helping tie down the truck etc.

Frank off in the chopper, now a Robison 44 - 4 seater, to work and the lad’s drive the vehicles back this evening, wander around and morning tea with Radha, Tayor the cook, Nick roustabout and the backpacker/gardener. As everyone is busy and getting ready to go mustering soon, decide to keep moving.

1100hrs cheerio’s to Taylor and Radha and into Boulia – refuelled, steering wheel cover for the FJ at the Waddi Tree shop, Chinese girl on a working holiday staffing the place, owned by Bob the servo owner – slow sales, even with all the tourist thru town coming and going to the BV races.

Lunch at the pub, so, so and on the road to Boudie all black top, roll thru town to camp up for the night – Glengyle Rest Area 321ks, 4hr 8min – bird watching site on a water hole, not many birds but some pigs. 

Around 1800hrs – on opening the fridge – no light, but had been on last time it was opened! Bugger – checked the light bulb secure and not blown all good. Nothing else to do but check the connections and thermostat that required the fridge to be removed, well moved forward 250 mm to get at the rear cowling cover and compressor area thru the bottom external vent. 

Checked the power supply – all good, push the connectors back on and the fridge ‘FIRES UP’, you bloody ripper. All reinstalled by 1930hrs and fridge cycled okay all night. 

A BUGGERED FRIDGE is not what you need with it full of fish fillets and red claw.

0515hrs 11 degrees – heater and coffee, 0600hrs off to where ever we make it on the track for the day.

0747hrs servo in Birdsvilles – 0800hrs open, thus check emails and banking, refueled and breakfast in the car park at the info ctr. 

Bev the lady whom advised us on the metal blue wrens, had just come back from Port Lincoln ( August )– servicing their plane at Tuna Air – cheaper to fly the 5hrs than 3 hours to Long Reach to have it serviced – Station owners that surrounds Birdsville. 

All good until the S.A. BORDER then the road turns to shit, it’s a disgrace, however 130k’s down the track they are working on the road, but slowly it seems as no one on-site at present.  Only 40+ k’s of good track then it starts to progressively get worse, with some good patches.  All the SA Gov. can do is put out little red flags as warning to the ‘BULL DUST’ holes, which are the smoothest part of the track.

Just after the Cliffton Hills dunny an abandoned camper trailer – axle and wheels torn out from underneath it. Axle and wheels separated by 50mtrs.

Kept moving to Mungerannie Station Htl - $10 to park on their ground, yak with Phil – knows Reg from Fowlers Bay, and is good mates with Reg’s brother in Murray Bridge – plus John and Deb had just passed thru and stayed in one of their cabins. 

Tea at the pub – Angus Beef snitz – 300gm, could only eat one portion, Sue would you believe had Barra and chips.

Right rear tire on the van and cracked rubber, down to 17.6psi and holding so far, will sort out in the AM, or risk it to Clayton hot tub for breakfast and a hot tank soak after the tire change.

0550hrs – start the process of changing the tire on the van, decanted 40ltr fuel to the Troopy, an hour later tire changed and good to go.

25k’s down the road, hard rock floodway, Troopy tire impaled, 45 minutes to change and off again to Clayton Station hot spa for a hot soak with the flies.

Another tie down for the collection

Still thinking about it___ But

___I'm in!

better in than out with the flies!

Made it to Marree as the track is pretty good from Clayton Station - BUT!!

Pie and Pastie for lunch and off to where ever we get to, then Bang, rocks falling off, then bang, bang somethings really wrong at 70kph easy to pull up in a hurry – the spare vintage 2010 Coopers tire we installed – had shredded, changed it out and now no spares for the 348k’s to Port Augusta – turn around. 

Sure lucky the tire stayed inflated, which allowed us to get off the left road shoulder, onto a cleared area flat area immediately opposite. 

 Drovers Run caravan Park – tires ordered, Monday on the truck / postie van, and fitted Tuesday at the earliest. Westlake SL386 Mud Terrain for $250 each fitted, these will end up as our spares with new Bridgestone’s and 2,100kg rims all round on the Troopy.

Oh, well time to slow down

Camp fire and damper for the travellers - made with ginger beer 

Drovers Run - is getting it's facilities organised slowly.

Now this is some serious rubber!!

RIP and good riddance 

Good rubber and little road noise, how ever will replace with Bridgestones and these will be the spares - no more vintage 'COOPER"

Only in an Out Back PUB.

On the road 0550hrs – after a restless night – wind howling until around 0100hrs. Thru Hawker in the pre-dawn darkness before the town stirred, winds up again already with 66k’s to Quorn. Need to top up with fuel pushing this wind, taking no chances of running out pulling into Port Augusta.

All good and ripped off with Pt Augusta fuel 1.279/ltr, Quorn and Lincoln both 1.219, the joys of travel.

Bridgestones on the Hwy just opening up at we pulled in – good deal $280, great service, pulled the van thru the shed, 15 minutes later all done.

Cruise thru to Whyalla and west land shopping Ctr – brunch at Subway. On out of town rain cells north and south of us, Cowell inflated the new Maxtrek tires to 60 psi, helped the Troopy rolling sway somewhat, then at Arno Bay – front tires to 45psi, this helped some more. However the road and wind still had as moving around, but better than previously.

Recess at Tumby Bay – coffee’s, with Kitchener Bun and a matchstick – Yum and kept us going to HOME at 1530hrs. 

Blowing and wind chill 8.9

Parked up in our street, as it’s windy and possible rain at any moment, will park up in the shed with more favourable conditions.

Connect up the FJ battery and cranked her up – all good. Sue unloaded the bare essentials, heater on and got Foxtel back online.

Chook curry for tea – Yum,yum!!

Crashed early 2000hrs