Any Hummer people here?

[nugget]

Haven't been on for a fair while..been busy working on the H3 and touring.

This part of a recent trip. We did 6,200kms from Brisbane to Adelaide then returning via Woomera, coober Pedy, The Breakaways, William Creek, Lake Eyre, Maree, Birdsville, Big Red then back to Brisbane.

That night we camped in the Woomera caravan park and I did a bit of work..well drinking!!

I love Aussie signs..the last line is…Germans 4 ½

Next stop was “The Breakaways” and the scenery was just magnificent

Coober Pedy is a modern day Dodge City in a way. The premier opal mining town in the world, fortunes are made and lives are lost. It is so hot out here that most people live under ground..and I am not kidding. We did not have time on this trip to explore the town in detail but it is on our list of places to go back for a better look.

The hole country side is like Swiss cheese…every mound of dirt has a mine/hole along of it.

 

[nugget]

Next stop was Lake Eyre which is a massive area, 50 feet below sea level but in the almost middle of Australia. Early explorers were always looking for the “inland sea” as it gets some water in it every 10 years or so. It floods every 40 to 50 years which is the reason for our visit. This is seriously remote territory and the signs should not be ignored!

German tourists did ignore the signs in the middle of summer in 1998. They got bogged in sand and tried to walk the 37 miles to petrol station/hotel at William Creek. He returned to the car but she decided to continue with 9 litres of water. Out here, summer temperatures often reach 120F. She made it about half way and when they found her, the soles of her shoes were melting according to local folklore.

The region is just so desolate and has this black rock…you can just imagine how hot this gets in summer. Of course the H3 made it to the top easily.

We then followed the Oodnadatta Track which runs along side of the old Ghan railway. We first saw it 12 years ago and there is a lot less of it today. Originally finished in 1929 it went from Adelaide to Alice Springs up near Ayres Rock…1500kms or 935 miles.

There are some great ruins of the old stops along the way

 

[nugget]

At Marree we turned left onto the Birdsville track. Out here things are big..one of the local cattle stations (Anna Creek)is 15,000 square miles..bigger than Belgium!! Even the signs are big!

It was about here that things went slightly pear shaped. We stopped for a comfort break and as I went to the back of the car I noticed a bit of smoke..not good as the engine was turned off. A quick look underneath soon confirmed that leaking brake fluid was finding its way onto the hot exhaust and copious amounts were dripping from the union where the flexible line joins the hard line above the rear axle. The broken bracket that secures the lines to the diff housing looked like it might have something n to do with it all!

A check under the hood confirmed that the dripping fluid problem as about to be solved as the master cylinder was almost empty. Of course the resultant problem was no brakes and as we were still 80 miles from the nearest town, and it was approaching dusk, the trip was going to be slow. Wendy was fantastic…every corner was suddenly somewhere between and instant death and 5 miles per hour maximum, every ripple in the road would plummet us into oblivion, and every shadow on the side of the road was a 2 ton bull ready to charge into our path. Miraculously we made it to Birdsville in one piece and her world looked significantly better after 2 scotch and cokes!
Next morning it was to the mechanic who is a legend in these parts who diagnosed a broken brake line which he fixed in no time at all.

With brakes fully functional again, and Wendy’s stress level returning to earth, we headed out to Big Red, a 300 foot sand dune on the edge of the Simpson Desert. This is the run up…

This is the cresting

And this is the celebration

 

[nugget]

All the bouncing around broke the mounting bracket again so it was back to see Barnsey the mechanic again…appears that I might have made 1 mod too many without extending the bracket or lines!!

Whilst waiting for the brakes to be fixed, Wendy was having a look around town and found that there was a new bakery whose specialty was..wait for it….Curried Camel Pie!

Wendy said it tasted fantastic. Unfortunately it did not agree with her in the long term and she was doing dunny sprints for the next 2 days.
It was time to turn for home with plenty of dirt roads in front of us…

The scenery out here is just something special

We even found some Aboriginal Wells where the nomadic tribes would dig holes in the ground which would then fill with water during the rains. The small opening would restrict evapouration and leave water for the returning tribe.

Last night on the road and it was with some sadness that Wendy and I climbed into the swag for the last time on this trip. What we do know is that there is still plenty to return to see!

The rig ran like a dream and the supercharger gave me heaps under foot when I needed it without missing a beat. All the mods worked out really well…especially now the brake bracket is extended!!!!

 

[DiploStrat]

Curried is the ONLY way ...

to even think of eating camel. And even then he got the last laugh!

Looks like a great trip. Good thing that the distances in Oz are so short!

Out of curiosity - what did you do for fuel? Is your beast a diesel?

 

[Desert Dan]

Thanks for the trip report Nugget.

That looks like some great country!

 

[02TahoeMD]

Great pics there, thanks much for sharing. Would love to ship my truck to Oz someday and go exploring. Thanks for the trip report.

 

[nugget]

to even think of eating camel. And even then he got the last laugh!

Looks like a great trip. Good thing that the distances in Oz are so short!

Out of curiosity - what did you do for fuel? Is your beast a diesel?

The camel laughed for 3 dasy actually and I think Wendy lost abut 2 kg's!!!
She said it was delicious on the way in.

The H3 is a 3.7L 5 cylinder petrol which has been supercharged. The tank is 90L and the red tank on the roof is a 50L spare tank which I gravity feed into the main tank.

My consumption overall was a bit ordinary as this is the first trip since the supercharger and engine mods have been done. In the early stages I used a lot of the mumbo pedal and paid the price as the over all trip economy was 20L/100kms. The last 1500kms odd kms from Birdsville to Brisbane I sat on a steady 100k/hr and got 15.3 l/100 which I reckon is fantastic for all my mods, 35's etc.

 

[nugget]

Great pics there, thanks much for sharing. Would love to ship my truck to Oz someday and go exploring. Thanks for the trip report.

Just make sure you come through Brisbane!!! I'll have a cold beer waiting.

 

[RedDog]

I love it! Fantastic!

Just don't tell my Jeep pals that I want a H3T pickup. Silver with heated leather please.

 

[nugget]

I promise not to tell...my lips are sealed!!!

One of the 4WD magazines here in Oz took a H3 and a Jeep Rubicon on some of the tracks I just did and after the first day, everyone wanted to ride in the H3

I was talking to the photographer who did that trip and he said the Jeep felt like it just wanted to wander all over the dirt roads and had an alarming habit of jumping onto the wrong side of the road on the corrugated sections.

The H3 was soooo comfortable..and funny you mention the heated seats which I suspect might be a big winner in ALberta!!! I did not think they would ever get used here near the tropics but my wife has a back problem and she loves it on long trips. Turns the heat on her lumber region and it really helps! And there was a fair bit of pressure on her on her lumber region after the camel pie!!!

 

[nugget]

Don't think i ahve shown my supercharger, snorkel, custom air box and precleaner.

As you can see, the original airbox had to go to make room for the supercharger and the replace it with an open K&N. Fine for airflow but not much chop offroad, especially near water.

I decided to make my own custom airbox after the snorkel was fitted.

They terminated the snorkel inside the guard so I could fit it to my the new airbox.

Got a section of pipe from a local engineering workshop

Moulded a polyurethane end/lid so I could change the filter

Hooked it up inside the guard

 

[nugget]

Then added a Sy-Klone pre cleaner

Job done and works great.

 

[Rusty-Ford]

that is a nice looking and working H3... great job.. and please keep feeding us outback aventure/picture hungry people some good stuff!

 

[rickc]

Hey Nugget:

I always look forward to your posts. I used to subscribe to Aussie 4WD Action and I've seen your posts on the Hummer Network.

What do you make of the new lift laws being discussed in NSW?