[humdingerslammer]

ANNE BEADELL HIGHWAY EXCURSION (ABH)

I had been planning to do the ABH for some time, particularly after my son had noticed a space on that part of the map of Australia where it sits: between Coober Pedy in South Australia and Laverton in Western Australia, a distance of about 1350 km of dirt, dust, corrugations etc. The space has now been filled in. The JKU was fully loaded and pulling my trailer camper which probably all up weighed about 750Kg.

I started on the ABH at about midday. Turned left from the Stuart Hwy about 3km north of Coober Pedy. First place to come across is Mable Creek Station, which you skirt rather than see. This is an aboriginal owned station, as far as I could tell. This part of the track is really a moderately maintained, rough all weather dirt road that also acts as a conduit for opal miners.

From Mabel Creek Station I spent the afternoon travelling to Tallaringa Well. The ABH to here was very rough and corrugated, with jump ups, washaways that took you by surprise, some minor sand and some small sand dunes. I averaged about 30km/hr. I camped o/nite at Tallaringa. Quite warm about 37C.

Next day up with the birds and headed toward Volkes Hill Corner. I lowered my MT tyre pressures to 20F and 22R. The terrain here had everything, including much more sand. The dunes were very small and a bit cut up but nothing to worry about. The main problem was sand that had been washed down into gullies and riverbeds. In 35C heat for most of the day (it got to 40C) the sand was hot, dry and slippery. For the most part I was only getting through by making sure I had enough speed/momentum at the start and enough power/correct gear to keep the speed up.

Often was caught unawares with the sand – it appeared out of nowhere (around the next bend kind of thing) and it was deceptively deep. I would work my way around jump ups and washouts (some 3 feet deep) and then … shite - bloody sand again!! So from going from a crawl rate over washouts etc. I had to somehow get power and speed up within a second or two, to make sure I was not going to be bogged in more bloody sand!

I was actually very lucky not to get bogged in this section although there were a number of times where I could feel the MT tyres spinning for grip and hear the engine chug, chug, chugging to get through. At these times, 4WD low and more/sometimes less power was needed to keep up any momentum that I actually had, which sometimes was less than the speed of a baby crawling!!

Gear changes while in the sand were sometimes necessary but, by gosh, they had to be quick because the sand just sucked momentum like crazy. Mostly 2nd gear in 4WDH was okay, but I soon learned the value of 1st gear, full revs (screaming 5000rpm) all the way through. Some of the sand tracts went for 300 metres and more.

In all the research I had done re the ABH, there was virtually no mention of this extent of the sand I encountered. Even YouTube videos failed to show it, apart from a few dunes. More stress was on the corrugations which were nowhere near as concerning.

The sand sucked fuel. I was lucky to get about 3.5Km/l over this section and the following day. My fuel use increased by 30%. Yes, 30%. In fact, because I had not anticipated the extent of the sand, and found no real mention of it, I would have run out of fuel if Ilkurka was not there (more later). I took 145L ULP in the bottom tanks and 190L in jerry cans which I thought was enough to get me to Laverton, according to all the fuel usage figures I had read in various reports. I would have consumed less if I did not have the trailer, I know, and if I did not have as much weight. But sand is sand, and hot, dry sand is a mongrel!! I have never, ever used so much fuel in the gas guzzler.

Oh, yes. I met the only car I would see on the ABH on this section. The driver (on his own like me) told me that the next section to the WA border was nothing but sand and that I would not get through with the trailer. Funny, I had just done a day of sand and got through. I think he was in for a sandy surprise as he headed east.

From Volkes Hill (correct spelling I think is Vokes) where I stayed o/nite, the next section was to Ilkurka R/H which is provided by the aboriginal community of about 200 people ranging from babies etc to young ones at school to 20-30yr olds and some older and very much older folk.

This section (about 300km) of ABH reflected what I have written above, but with even more sand stretches and a lot of washaways that were quite deep and not always visible, hard calcrete jump ups, dried creek beds and very close driving between vegetation: if you like paint on your car, expect to lose some on this section.

As I mentioned, fuel was sucked out of the tanks at an alarming rate and it was on this day I realised that I would have been in deep poo if not for Ilkurka. Along this stretch of the ABH, the washaways were a real problem. Some appeared right at the end of the sand tracts and it was at one of these spots that I heard a hell of a bang. I was about 20km from Ilkurka. I got out and noticed that the trailer axle looked a bit askew. The wheels were still on so I decided to get to Ilkurka. It was 43C at this time, about 4pm, and I did not want to be stuck on the ABH doing trailer work.

I filled up the ULP ($3.00 per litre and $466 lighter), booked in and went out to the camp station. This had pit drop toilets, shower, shade roof and water tanks and was just really nice - $10 per night. Hot as hell though.

Here I had a closer look at the trailer. The axle had gone from askew to bloody hell!! A closer look found that the left centre locating pin that holds the springs together and that also holds the axle central to the springs, had snapped clean off. Here is where I think I said OMFG!!!! In the middle of bloody nowhere!!! A stuffed up trailer. Bugger me.

I took the trailer over to the workshop area of the station to have an even closer look. I jacked the trailer up. The Manager (Phil) helped me out with a couple of extra stands (I always carry 2 of my own). I took the wheel off and, would you believe it, the bottom leaf spring had snapped clean in 2. Having done so, the centre pin would have been very loose and simply snapped off. That’s what I thought anyway.

Well, hell! How do I fix this? I am a nurse, not a trailer mechanic. Anyway, it was late in the day (still 40C) and I needed a rest. I put the wheel back on and wobbled over to the camp site.

Food, and a fitful sleep because of much thought during the night over how to get out of this situation, which included donating the trailer to the indigenous community, I decided that I would have another good look in the morning.

0600 morning comes, trailer back to the workshop area, jack it up etc, wheel off. Loosen and remove the retaining bolts and plate between spring and axle, 4 of the 7 spring leaves fall to the ground (great!! that’s all I need) and confirm that the bottom (smallest) leaf is in 2 pieces. I lift the axle up to find the broken head of the retaining bolt. Hi tensile ¼ inch steel bolt snapped just like that! I think that I must have hit a concealed and deep rut or hole in the road or a rock to do this kind of damage. And all day I had barely got above 30km/hr. Bad luck, eh!

Well, now. Am I rooted or do I have a bolt? I always carry an assortment of nuts, bolts, washers etc. but where would the right one be, if I have one? The JKU has that many nooks and crannies that I use for storage… anyway, I find 3 x ¼ inch hi tensile bolts but all are about an inch too long. What to do? I can’t cut them and the thread finished too low down to hold the spring leaves together. I don’t have the gear to extend the thread upward a bit.

Solution: take half an hour to drill a hole in one half of the broken spring leaf. Stepping up in drill bit sizes to get through the spring steel, which is very hard to drill. This was done in 38C heat at 1000 in the morning in a steel shipping container, where a drill press was located and that the Manager allowed me to use. Delicate me could only stand in the extremely hot container for about 30 seconds before having to go outside to recover. I take my hat off to everyone who does this sort of work in this type of environment and temperature day in, day out. Seriously, I thought I was going to drop, or die.

I put the spring together on the trailer and use 2 near fitting nuts as spacers to overcome the problem of a screw too long (when did I last experience that) and, lo and behold, everything comes together. One side is a 7 leaf spring and the other is now effectively a 6 leaf spring. 1pm comes and the job is done. Elated? Over the moon? You bet!! One side of the trailer sits higher than the other, but who cares. I am just delighted that its got 2 wheels that are once again parallel to each other. I know I will get the trailer home.

I decide to stay the 2nd night at Ilkurka RH and the Manager asks me to come over for a meal at about 5pm. He cooks curry and I bring stuffed vine leaves (why not) for entrée and a couple of containers of spaghetti and meatballs, which we consume. His dog, Shadow, which has clearly dingo in him, keeps us company. Phil is a pom who started in Australia as a field officer with mines, doing survey/sampling work. He has been at Ilkurka for nearly 15 years and I enjoyed his conversations about indigenous matters, about which he is very knowledgeable. Thanks, Phil, for your help and I really did enjoy your company.

Next morning I take off for Laverton. More bloody sand. 50Kms out I get bogged in really deep sand, at least 2 feet deep. Out with a shovel, 4 Max traxs and I am out in about 10 minutes. Learned from this… too slow, wrong gear but was caught completely unawares by this bit of sand which was about 400 metres long.

70km from Laverton, to the west of Yeo Lake homestead, I hit deep pools of water and deep mud and even worse washouts. Can you believe it? A week earlier the whole of the Laverton area and inland had received a huge amount of rain. There were lakes of water to the side of the ABH and, unfortunately, lakes of it on the ABH. So I go from hot dry sand etc to deep, wet, thick mud. Same technique, really. Power on/correct gear, good speed/momentum, don’t change gear through the pool, eyes peeled for washouts on the other side (hope there are none hidden in the pool), thank the stars or whatever that you have new MT tyres on and go for it!!

Reach Laverton late pm covered in mud. I have done the Anne Beadell Highway. Wooptido!! Someone was a joker to call it a highway.

The ABH throughout was very flat and featureless. It is, after all, scraped out of very ancient Gondwana sea bed: hence the sand, dunes that have been there for millions of years, and calcrete from billions of tons of dead sea creature that had accumulated for who knows how many millions (even billions) of years. Bishop Riley’s Pillar is about the only thing that sticks out above the horizon.

As far as a track goes, this was the most challenging in terms of terrain and its variety that I have done over the years. It was very rough and unpredictable and, because of this, I found it much more challenging than the Canning Stock Route which takes its toll mainly because of 10 days of unrelenting corrugations. The CSR is more scenic, though. The ABH is much more isolated (I saw only 1 car) and you really do need to prepare for the possibility of a long wait if you experience a break down and can’t get yourself out of it. I was lucky, perhaps, but I do travel prepared. Your vehicle, tyres etc must be in top shape. Don’t take a trailer. There was a stranded double axle trailer in the RH yard… same problem.

I can’t give enough praise for the contribution to safe outback travelling that indigenous communities make for us coming from the cities etc. Ilkurka community is just one example. Stay at their facilities and pay for the use. It’s one way that they can provide for themselves. These facilities often have multiple uses. For example, Rangers stay there on their way to doing various work, workshops, community get togethers etc so don’t wreck the joints.

Remember, too, that these places are very isolated. For example, as Phil explained, to get a $200 deep cycle battery to the RH to power the camp site means a $2000 dollar transport cost and a $5000 sparky fee. So, before you leave to do the ABH (and after reading this post I know you will) contact the RH and see if they need anything. Help them out. Particularly, take things like pen, paper, pencils etc for the kids to use in the school. Books, DVD etc. And sport things, like footballs etc. and pumps and pins to pump them up… a ball is no good flat!! It can really make a difference.

Despite the trials of this trip, I had a ball. Completed in about 5 days. I will add to this post if I think of anything else of significance. Also, when I can I will add some photos. I didn't do the Connie Sue like I had intended. Phil said it was too rough to risk another trailer problem, and much, much more isolated. Always listen to the locals. Oh, well maybe next year with the roof top tent. What else broke? 1 sway bar spring steel. Vibrated the tow ball loose - down to one thread before I noticed it at Ballan petrol station.