Will driving from SYD to Kununurra kill me?
JUST DO IT!
Think about it. Take a few precautions. Don't do noth'in stupid, but just go do it. It will be one of the great adventures you tell your kids about!
When I was a young fella (a long time ago!) I used to regularly do Brisbane to Clermont (1400 km ?) and back in a Mini Moke!
Don't drive at night! Be very, very wary of roadtrains. Carry a basic tool box, a few spares if your that way inclined, water, emergency fuel, swag is handy, bit of tucker, two spare tyres is a good idea, cell phone, UHF radio - even a handheld could come in handy. In a little light car like a Sirion, BE VERY CAREFUL of crappy road shoulders - they cause a lot of single vehicle accidents. If you need to pull off the seal - slow right down.
DO NOT SWERVE VIOLENTLY to avoid hitting a roo or a pig (Best bit of advice I was ever given about bush driving). Stand on the brakes to slow down as much as possible. Steer a bit left or right as indicated to miss it if possible - but don't make a violent change of direction - you are better to hit the bastard. Lots of people die trying to dodge dogs, roos etc.
SWERVE as VIOLENTLY necessary to avoid hitting cattle, horses, donkeys or camels - cause those things will kill you (lost two mates to collisions with horses on the road)!
I had the Moke fitted with a roo-bar and blew a couple of weeks wages on the biggest, meanest driving light money could buy. You could start a bushfire if you turned it on while stationary. First time I drove the Moke with it I hit a roo in broad daylight and smashed the f*cking light!
Dr
PS: In 1977/78 I put 160,000 km on a V8 Torana in two years of bush driving. I coulda done Sydney to Kunnas in 2 days in that sucker. Fastest country road car I ever had - bitumen, dirt, mud made no difference! But man did it suck some juice! 14 miles per gallon - whats that today? 20L/100km !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Think about it. Take a few precautions. Don't do noth'in stupid, but just go do it. It will be one of the great adventures you tell your kids about!
When I was a young fella (a long time ago!) I used to regularly do Brisbane to Clermont (1400 km ?) and back in a Mini Moke!
Don't drive at night! Be very, very wary of roadtrains. Carry a basic tool box, a few spares if your that way inclined, water, emergency fuel, swag is handy, bit of tucker, two spare tyres is a good idea, cell phone, UHF radio - even a handheld could come in handy. In a little light car like a Sirion, BE VERY CAREFUL of crappy road shoulders - they cause a lot of single vehicle accidents. If you need to pull off the seal - slow right down.
DO NOT SWERVE VIOLENTLY to avoid hitting a roo or a pig (Best bit of advice I was ever given about bush driving). Stand on the brakes to slow down as much as possible. Steer a bit left or right as indicated to miss it if possible - but don't make a violent change of direction - you are better to hit the bastard. Lots of people die trying to dodge dogs, roos etc.
SWERVE as VIOLENTLY necessary to avoid hitting cattle, horses, donkeys or camels - cause those things will kill you (lost two mates to collisions with horses on the road)!
I had the Moke fitted with a roo-bar and blew a couple of weeks wages on the biggest, meanest driving light money could buy. You could start a bushfire if you turned it on while stationary. First time I drove the Moke with it I hit a roo in broad daylight and smashed the f*cking light!
Dr
PS: In 1977/78 I put 160,000 km on a V8 Torana in two years of bush driving. I coulda done Sydney to Kunnas in 2 days in that sucker. Fastest country road car I ever had - bitumen, dirt, mud made no difference! But man did it suck some juice! 14 miles per gallon - whats that today? 20L/100km !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by ForkTailedDrKiller; 16th Jan 2009 at 05:36.
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Take A Friend
You could take a friend to half the cost of your fuel, or maybe a backpacker??? try www.needaride.com.au may help you find a passenger of your choice. 
Don't bother trying Qld route for that next couple of weeks. There's a great big hole where the Rankin River crossing used to be on the Barkly Highway and more rain/flooding forecast.
Up the Stuart Highway's your best bet but keep an eye on the weather.
Don't contract pressonitis. 8 hours stuck in a swamp waiting for a tow, without radio or mobile phone reception and only the mossies for company is not to be recommended.
(And that was only 70km from TFC)
Up the Stuart Highway's your best bet but keep an eye on the weather.
Don't contract pressonitis. 8 hours stuck in a swamp waiting for a tow, without radio or mobile phone reception and only the mossies for company is not to be recommended.
(And that was only 70km from TFC)
I knew a pilot many years ago whom put his car on the back of a large truck as general freight to go to PH fm ML. He then sat up front with the trucky & spent what he said was some of the most amazing lifes experiences along the way, he was 18 at the time & that's when the Rd to PH was very ordinary.
Perhaps have yr car transported up there & have it arrive in one piece. Of what the Drsaid is anywhere near the truth why would you even take yr little toy car out of the garage!
Hey DrWhen I read yr comments yr fast car on either dirt or bitumen quickly brought back a few awful thoughts I had the displeasure of obtaining the othe night. Young guy, fast car, V8 'bombadore' & 140k's+ on dirt rd drunk, result? busted neck & a diffrent way of life from now on for him, was he lucky? debatable to some degree
Still good advice all round there Dr
Wmk2
Perhaps have yr car transported up there & have it arrive in one piece. Of what the Dr
said is anywhere near the truth why would you even take yr little toy car out of the garage!Hey Dr
When I read yr comments yr fast car on either dirt or bitumen quickly brought back a few awful thoughts I had the displeasure of obtaining the othe night. Young guy, fast car, V8 'bombadore' & 140k's+ on dirt rd drunk, result? busted neck & a diffrent way of life from now on for him, was he lucky? debatable to some degreeStill good advice all round there Dr
Wmk2
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1/ Take you car to a good mechanic a few weeks before heading off.
2/ Carry crap loads of water including enough for an entire cooling system refill.
3/ Zip down to supercrap get a 10 buck puncture repair kit and a 20 buck aircompressor and know how to use it. $30 is cheap insurance when you hit an old bolt at 100 clicks. doing highway driving you are more likely to get a tread puncture than sidewall.
4/ It has been said before but I'll carry on... DO NOT TRAVEL AT NIGHT!
5/ Take the extra day and enjoy the scenery.
2/ Carry crap loads of water including enough for an entire cooling system refill.
3/ Zip down to supercrap get a 10 buck puncture repair kit and a 20 buck aircompressor and know how to use it. $30 is cheap insurance when you hit an old bolt at 100 clicks. doing highway driving you are more likely to get a tread puncture than sidewall.
4/ It has been said before but I'll carry on... DO NOT TRAVEL AT NIGHT!
5/ Take the extra day and enjoy the scenery.
1) Young guy
2) fast car, V8 'bombadore'
3) 140k's+ on dirt rd
4) drunk
2) fast car, V8 'bombadore'
3) 140k's+ on dirt rd
4) drunk
Dr
PS: Note how carefully I worded that - It was a different era!
Ah an old Dr is a wise Dr right?
Trouble with 2days cars is that they have too good a power to weight ratio & pwr steering, the latter you most likely never had in yr rocket & therefore actually helped yr 'leadsled' stay in a straight line even whilst tugging at the wheel to turn:-) RTS was probably yr biggest engineered feature, by 2days stds rudimentry
Wmk2
is a wise Dr right?Trouble with 2days cars is that they have too good a power to weight ratio & pwr steering, the latter you most likely never had in yr rocket & therefore actually helped yr 'leadsled' stay in a straight line even whilst tugging at the wheel to turn:-) RTS was probably yr biggest engineered feature, by 2days stds rudimentry
Wmk2
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another key bit of advice if fuel, if possible make the most of QLD fuel prices, the best thing you can do is fill up the car and a few jerries at Mt Isa and then smash accross to 3 ways..
DO NOT SWERVE VIOLENTLY to avoid hitting a roo or a pig
Quote:
Something to keep in mind if you have time to think. But remember the natural reaction is to swerve. It's the way we are wired!
DO NOT SWERVE VIOLENTLY to avoid hitting a roo or a pig
Dr
Did BNE -CNS and up into Cape York back in the 1990s in an old Mitsubishi. Most of what has been written here is good advice, here's some from me. If you come to a STOP sign in the middle of nowhere, with no other cars in sight for miles in any direction, you stop and count like you did on your driving test before moving off. Why ? Because that's the intersection the coppers will be watching. Expensive lesson
Same for speeding, they trap in the middle of the Nullabor Plain so any isolated road is fair game to make up the monthly ticket quota. Don't drive at night, hit two roos myself driving at dusk. I'm sure you are sensible enough not to drink and drive.
Have "flight following" with someone back home. ie Leaving X at this time on this road, spending the night at Y. Check in when you get there.
Safe journey.
Same for speeding, they trap in the middle of the Nullabor Plain so any isolated road is fair game to make up the monthly ticket quota. Don't drive at night, hit two roos myself driving at dusk. I'm sure you are sensible enough not to drink and drive.
Have "flight following" with someone back home. ie Leaving X at this time on this road, spending the night at Y. Check in when you get there.
Safe journey.
Silly Old Git
Mr Hat agree
Attended (RFDS SA)a couple of well roasted morts in a valiant that had been tail gated with a couple of jerries in the boot
They never even got to the door handles
Attended (RFDS SA)a couple of well roasted morts in a valiant that had been tail gated with a couple of jerries in the boot
They never even got to the door handles
Ahh Pruners.
Don't you love that you can get 3 pages of "help" on how to drive to Kununurra from the city of your choice but the introduction of a 'mulit crew pilot license' only draws 2 pages of replies? To answer your question, with a bit of luck, yes. Then we will have one less "expert" suburban warrior to answer the same stupid question next year. My advice, stay at home, do your instructor rating and help churn out foreign students. That will keep your Mum happy.
FTDK
You have owned a V8 Torana??? Man, You are are a legend like Brocky was. I hope you still got it because the damned things are fetching over 20k's on Ebay in pieces these days.
Anyways to do the trip to Kunnus i would not do it in anything smaller.
You loose one cylinder you still got more than twice the number your "sirloin" has with only marginal more fuel consumption.
You want to battle the bush, be a man and drive a V8 like real man do!
Anyways to do the trip to Kunnus i would not do it in anything smaller.
You loose one cylinder you still got more than twice the number your "sirloin" has with only marginal more fuel consumption.
You want to battle the bush, be a man and drive a V8 like real man do!
I almost owned a V8 Torana, I passed the eye exam so got a CPL instead.
Oh well.
Don't regret that anywhere near as much as when I could have bought a mint condition Cyan Blue LJ GTR-XU1 with 33,000 kms on it for $3300.00, but didn't.
Now that still hurts.
Oh well.
Don't regret that anywhere near as much as when I could have bought a mint condition Cyan Blue LJ GTR-XU1 with 33,000 kms on it for $3300.00, but didn't.
Now that still hurts.
Will driving from SYD to Kununurra kill me?
Interesting comment there 'Sir HC', just goes to show that a lot in here have a SOH & want to excape from the doom & gloom that finds its way into these pages, all too often even fo just a brief time
I guess to some the original Q is somewhat well how should I say 'dumb' but some people don't understand even the basics of driving, fair enough we are not all clever. Still this thread is now good for a laugh after some good tips have been put fwd & we all need that
'PF' you must hate yourself for not buying that car. On the day considered a thoroughbred, now pretty basic but collectable. 33000 k's, $3300 & the LJ had a 3300 cc donk, weird! Thread drift here but hey why not, it's gunna get slammed shut soon enough anyway. My very first G/F's mum had a LC Torana 2250, the baby six. She always wanted me to go out and put the hub caps back on so the GMH Lion was facing the right way up when parked, she couldn't understand why they always ended facing all over the place after even a short drive.......hmmm go figure..............
true story, I still stay in touch with her after 35 yrs, Torana long gone sadly, would love that car now even with crooked hubcaps!
Wmk2
I guess to some the original Q is somewhat well how should I say 'dumb' but some people don't understand even the basics of driving, fair enough we are not all clever. Still this thread is now good for a laugh after some good tips have been put fwd & we all need that
'PF' you must hate yourself for not buying that car. On the day considered a thoroughbred, now pretty basic but collectable. 33000 k's, $3300 & the LJ had a 3300 cc donk, weird!
Thread drift here but hey why not, it's gunna get slammed shut soon enough anyway. My very first G/F's mum had a LC Torana 2250, the baby six. She always wanted me to go out and put the hub caps back on so the GMH Lion was facing the right way up when parked, she couldn't understand why they always ended facing all over the place after even a short drive.......hmmm go figure..............true story, I still stay in touch with her after 35 yrs, Torana long gone sadly, would love that car now even with crooked hubcaps!Wmk2
Last edited by Wally Mk2; 16th Jan 2009 at 22:45.