The teardrop tour.

[sportsman 1]

Hi all,

Finally got some photos of the tour onto Photobucket, lets hope I can get them onto here, otherwise this thread is going to look really really silly ;D ;D ;D

Lunch stop at Hahndorf, second day out. Note wet stuff on ground. Didn't see any more for 6 1/2 weeks.

Campsite at Port Augusta.


Clean kitchen. We were yet to stock up on the "Oodnadatta seasoning" .

Note how full both car and van were packed each day. There were 4 of us travelling until we reached Alice Springs.


Starting point at Port Augusta, only 1,221 km to Alice (via the bitumen for the wussies)

Start of the Oodnadatta Track just out of Maree. It has already been 2 1/2 days from P A and 1 1/2 days on the dirt. Cracked the radiator today, Bars Leaked it to Coober Pedy where we had it repaired

Short stop at William Creek, to here we only did one small section of bad road (40km), little did we know how bad it was going to get

OH DEAR! It seems we have a slight problem with the wheel alignment on the van Karon. I see the problem, must be where the chassis used to be holding the front spring hanger is missing. We roped the axle back forward and continued 40km into Oodnadatta. Found a bit of scrap iron strap which we proceeded to drill and bolt into what was left of the right hand chassis. Never gave us another problem all the way.Thats the van anyway, we left Coober Pedy glad to be on the asphalt at last and proceeded to burn a valve on the way to the next petrol stop at Marla. Was probably leaking when we left home

Crossing the Northern Territory border, temperature today 14 degrees and a cold wind.

Joe at the rock, Myrtle was resting back at the campground.

Camping at Kings Creek Station 35km from Kings Canyon. No Karon, I will not show them the photo of me on that bloody camel

Finally made it to Alice, the girls went home ;D, Karon went sightseeing with her brother and I discovered what a terrific workshop I could make out of a Teardrop kitchen. Yes I'll clean it up before cooking tea dear

Back on the road again, camping at the Devils Marbles.

Now for a quiz. Which one of these things is a home for creatures who like timber and living in the outback. A. All of them



I must go now, you can all wake up and go back to whatever it was that you were doing before you came across this drivel,

see you all out there,

Leigh & Karon

[Roehm3108]

Great pics and story guys. The Hahndorf pic made me all nostalgic. I stood working on a cake stall in front of the butcher shop across the road and behind the TD with exactly the same sort of weather PLUS a howling wind to boot. From memory, it rarely DOESN'T rain in Hahndorf
Ray

[cobber]

Great photos Leigh & Karon,

Many of the spots you visited bring back memories to those of us who have driven “around the block”, but to have done it in the old Vauxhall with a TD in tow is something special..... something you won’t ever forget, congratulations.

Cobber.

[Don Ricardo]

Great photos Leigh and Karon.

Are you going to post some of them on that other forum you joined? Now what was it called again...? ;D I am sure some of the folk who responded somewhat negatively to you would be astonished. But not us - we know the quality and capabilities of our vans and vehicles.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the pics. What a wonderful trip and great memories.

Don Ricardo

[Deleted]

Hi Leigh and Karon.

Thanks for getting these pictures up. I appreciate how much transferring , cutting and pasting it takes to string a good set of pictures together and tell your story.
Obviuosly not as difficult as repairing a chassis in the middle of no where.
Your pictures have inspired me to keep hold of the dream of getting out there to the rock with an old car and van. i have had about 3 or 4 "expressions of interest " in a Vintage van tour up through QLD, NT and down to S.A in 2009. Will definitley get in contact with you or catch up with you re best stop over / camping places on the track etc.

As JBJ has already mentioned . It is great to see an old cars and vans make this trip and overcome mechanical failures that most modern day travellers nowadays would consider to be irrepairable.
Good to see there is still some of us "bush mechanics" still out there thats willing to "have a go" and do what John williamson mentions in "True Blue".. "Tie it up with wire , just to keep the show on the road"....rather than sit on the side of the road and wait for the local road service to get us out of the shit.

Looks like dust proofing the car and van will be high on the agenda when prepping for the trip. Also difficult to decide on what to take and what to leave out . Would feel much happier knowing i had a good drill, and a fair range of tools rather than have 6 different sized fry pans taking up the same space .

Sounds like the dirt section of the oodnadatta track is getting shorter as the years go by. I reckon they are taking thier time doing it up because people actually want to do some part of an outback trip on the dirt. .Just so they can justify buying a $100,000 4X4 and off road caravan outfit ;D and get a bit of red dust on thier mudflaps.

Anyway Leigh and Karon congratulations on completeing the trip . Truely a great adventure , and to do it living out of a teardrop just makes it a bigger achievement. Greats stuff guys .

Reddo
P.S.
The van you looked at when you called in at my place is going to the Dandenongs. I think it is being picked up this afternoon . just waiting for a call from a tilt tray driver who is on his way down from Brisbane.