ATW: The Bight to Cape York

[whatcharterboat]

The Bell Gorge photo is a beauty.

John I'm going to start playing your numbers on the lotto so I can see those images in person. (the #s in sig )

Hi Dave, As I said earlier they had 100's of travel snaps that I was so envious of too. Check out exploroz.com for some good travel pics of Oz.

Oh and didn't Hurley already win lotto with those numbers on LOST. Lol.


This is the last pic I have unless I can pull some from the computer at work and of course there is still the report from Maryanne. We are going to get a map of their trip so far and scan it in so maybe I can post that later. Actually they just had a great offer on the truck (more than they paid for it ) which wasn't really for sale so they are now tossing up whether or not to head off on foot overseas or just continue with the truck in Oz.

I purposely threw this one in to demonstrate what the Anne Beadell and also some of the Canning are like as far as the trees and the width of the tracks.

Although the NPS cab is quite narrow (same as the FG649) this camper body is much wider. The saving grace here was that everything is streamlined so that any overhanging branches slide over the top. Something high, wide at the top and square wouldn't cut it according to Peter. He was of course referring to trucks like the big MAN's or possibly the larger Isuzu's. His opinion. I haven't done either of these tracks so I can't comment. Anyone???

Another story he told me >> when travelling the Canning Stock Route was after some 300 K's he was over taken by a Landcruiser and pulled over. The guy jumped out and abused him for taking the truck out there. Said he had done the Canning 4 times and there was no way that big thing was going to make it and how did he ever get a permit to do it anyway.

Pete was very deflated and was having second thoughts then but as he'd already come this far he decided to continue on. He kept waiting for the hard bits that were going to stop him in his tracks. They never came and he said the Canning was a lot easier than the Anne Beadell at the time.

Most guys that drive normal 4x4's haven't got a clue how well set up NPS's and FG's perform offroad. As Mickldo said many months back about Fraser Island >> when mere mortals are digging out there bogged 4bys and mucking around with Snatch em Straps , the FG's just cruise past without a care in the world.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Travel Notes

Sorry for the delay. Had software issues. These are the promised travel notes sent to me from Peter and Maryanne.

Thought it would never happen, but finally the house was sold and we were off in our 4x4 motorhome, based on an Isuzu NPS300 truck and converted by Allterrainwarriors. It is 7m long, 2.4m wide, 3.4m high and has a GVM of 6ton, a fuel range of roughly 1200kms and carries approx. 290lt of water. It has everything we could wish for, including a queen size bed.

We left Streaky Bay, South Australia, making for Coober Pedy via the Kingoonya Track, then west to Mabel Creek to meet the Anne Beadell (Highway) arriving at Laverton Western Australia 1400 exhilarating kms later. It is a two wheel, grossly overgrown track which traverses savannah, green desert, small but long red sand dunes, clay pans and the great Serpentine salt lakes. Len Beadell surveyed this great inland highway route in 1962 and it hasn’t been graded since. Great scenery and points of interest along the way, include Maralinga, the site of the 1953 atom bomb tests. No water at all and didn’t see a soul for 5 days.

Up to Wiluna and the beginning of the 1961km Canning Stock Route, with its 53 wells and 800+ sand dunes, some as high as 23m. The terrain is similar to the Anne Beadell with the inclusion of rocky ridges and salt creeks, which must be skirted if there have been recent rains. Some of the wells have been reconditioned by volunteers and there is ample opportunity for water along the route. Magnificent and varied scenery and plenty of camels. Birds abound at the wells.Left the Canning at Georgia Bore, the commencement of the Tallaringa Track and made inland through the Hamersley Range to Nullagine (where the local Indigenous community renamed Whisperer the Silver Bullet) to explore the Pilbara, especially Running Waters and the Carawine Gorge. Beautiful.

Made for Broome via the Pipeline Road to do some shopping, then on to One Arm Point on Cape Leveque. Travelled to Derby, the jump off point for the Gibb River Road, 667kms of moderately well-maintained road with great scenery, numerous gorges and water crossings, some of which were a bit tricky because of boulders. Left the Gibb at the Pentecost River to follow the Kurrunjie Track, around the Cockburn Ranges to Wyndham. 50kms of very rough and challenging goat track which took 5 hours to complete. Great scenery along the way. Well worth the side-track.

On to Kununurra to join the Savannah Way which skirts the Gulf of Carpentaria, making our way up north. Broke the trip at Heartbreak Hotel, 130km west of Borroloola, to attend the Brunette Downs Races, a 560km round trip. We continued onwards and upwards until we reached Karumba to join the Burke Developmental Road to the Gamboola to Fairview Station Track through the Great Dividing Range joining the Peninsula Developmental Road and on up to Weipa. After this along the Sudley to Batavia Downs track making our way up to the Jardine River Ferry which lands you on Injinoo soil.

Cape York is 89km from the ferry along a well-maintained sand and rock road. Very easy traveling. Real rainforest scenery which is nothing short of spectacular. Made it all the way to the most northern point of mainland Australia for a photo. Coincided with school holidays, so it was very crowded. Mental note to self to check timing next time. Then made our way south and east to Cooktown and stayed at the Lion’s Den Hotel which is the start of the 4x4 route to Cape Tribulation. The trip and the scenery was awesome, with some of the steepest mountain climbs up to the Cape. Outstanding.

We have made it from one end of the continent to the other over some of the most challenging 4x4 roads, travelling about 11,000kms and survived with only one flat tyre. The Isuzu performed better than expected when talking about climbing very steep and sometimes fluffy topped sand dunes. We have seen some of the most spectacular and varied scenery Oz has to offer, met some really great people and had some truly awesome experiences; and we are not finished yet.........

 

[haven]

Looking good, John! I wish Isuzu would import their 4x4 trucks to USA.
And all of us are waiting to hear that Warriors has a model for export!

 

[whatcharterboat]

Thanks Chip, but I just don't understand why you can't get the NPS in the US. For over 20 years Isuzu have been number one in overall sales in Oz and I believe that in the small cabover market they are number one in the US too. Looking at the '09 American NPR models I see that you have far more options than us. For example I doubt that we'll ever see the big V8 gas engine or even the 205hp diesel however we've worked out an easy way of modifying our NPS to 205hp instead of the 155hp which is all we are offered from the dealers here .

Sorry getting of track there. The question still is "Why no American NPS?"

The '09 NPS is a quantum leap over the last model and in virtually every aspect it is better then the FG. I'm sure the American market is ready for it anyway. You've only got to read about how happy guys like Tree and Lehel are with their FG work trucks. Surely the word must be getting around and I'll bet Isuzu are monitoring FG sales very carefully right about now. They will certainly be ready to jump in at the right time anyway.

BTW Maryanne gave us a map of Oz with their route highlighted. If I can scan so it comes out clearly it might offer some more meaning to the travel notes above.

And all of us are waiting to hear that Warriors has a model for export!

Don't worry my boss is working on it. As I said to you the other day in the PM, there is just so much going on since about May, I can't keep track and yes we are thinking very globally now. Hopefully I'll be helping out more in the office over the coming months and Ill get a chance to update our website. Anyway it's all good. Just recently have quoted on vehicles for para military, mining, police, WHO,etc for US, Africa, Middle East, Russia, Indonesia etc. So expedition campers are just another step sideways. The other stuff pays the bills, but campers we really build because we want to.

Believe me, I'd love to see our name over there too. We are in the middle of another RTW FG which is heading to Africa in December and the first Isuzu Scout we built is heading off next year up through South East Asia but it will be quite awhile before either of those two arrive Stateside. BTW Both trucks will be containerized and we've also come up with our own container system which involves disc wheels bolted to a disposable floor frame which securely lock the truck in the middle of the container without the need for any tie downs or padding.

Sorry off track again. The point being "Yes, we are very keen to see an export model too".

Thanks Chip.

 

[haven]

Once upon a time, Isuzu and GM had a close working relationship. Isuzu may have held back on the NPS 4x4 so as not to steal sales from GM's medium duty 4x4, the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick 5500. GM tried to sell its medium duty truck business for several years, without success. So they recently announced that the Kodiak and Topkick program was canceled, effective July 31 2009.

It's time for a letter-writing campaign. Everyone interested in expedition campers should use this link to send a message to Isuzu USA, encouraging them to import the NPS 4x4. Tell them their model lineup will not be complete until they offer a 4x4 cab forward truck.

http://www.isuzucv.com/app/contactus

 

[KEENO]

Mine is in! :drool:

Note: 500 caracter limit on the Isuzu email.... I guess I had much to beg for!

KEENO

 

[kerry]

If Isuzu brought the Crew Cab NPS to the US, FG sales could be in trouble since FG's seem popular with the landscaping crowd.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Once upon a time, Isuzu and GM had a close working relationship. Isuzu may have held back on the NPS 4x4 so as not to steal sales from GM's medium duty 4x4, the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick 5500.

Chip You're probably on to it as usual but just to back up the GM / Isuzu relationship thing .... This is the Vortec 6.0l engine offered in the American N- series Isuzus. I'm sure this is the same motor we see here in our Aussie GM sedans (Commodores which they sell back to you as Pontiacs??) and is probably the same motor as is in the H3's and probably plenty of other GM lines no doubt.

If Isuzu brought the Crew Cab NPS to the US, FG sales could be in trouble since FG's seem popular with the landscaping crowd.

Hi Kerry, One thing is that (in Oz anyway) the NPS is about 10 to 15 percent more cost so for guys who turnover their trucks every couple of years the FG's are still popular.

Tell you what. Next time we get a new NPS in I'll take a ton of closeups and do an FG v NPS thread and really go into detail. It's certainly not as simple as one truck being better than the other. For everyone on here (ExPo I mean) it's more about suitability for expedition use often in remote areas or foreign countries. So their are issues such as fuel computability, dealer networks and parts availability, life cycle costing etc.

Is that a plan??

 

[kerry]

Hi Kerry, One thing is that (in Oz anyway) the NPS is about 10 to 15 percent more cost so for guys who turnover their trucks every couple of years the FG's are still popular.

Tell you what. Next time we get a new NPS in I'll take a ton of closeups and do an FG v NPS thread and really go into detail. It's certainly not as simple as one truck being better than the other. For everyone on here (ExPo I mean) it's more about suitability for expedition use often in remote areas or foreign countries. So their are issues such as fuel computability, dealer networks and parts availability, life cycle costing etc.

Is that a plan??

Sounds like a good plan. The reason I think the NPS would trump the FG in the US landscaping crowd is that most landscapers around here send out crews of 4-6 people so they routinely use crewcab trucks rather than 2 separate vehicles. This rules out the standard FG as a workaday truck for landscapers even though many of them would probably like one because they typically plow snow in winter so want 4wd. This fact alone leaves me puzzled as to why Mitsubishi didn't bring the crewcab to the US since it would have broadened their market substantially.

 

[engineer]

I'll get you started,

1. Greaseable centre bearing on NPS/NA on FG
2. Tubeless on NPS/ split rims on FG
3. Cableshift selectors on NPS/ Linkage on FG
4. as a "general" rule , drivers like FG, mechanics like NPS

 

[DzlToy]

bump for updates on the original topic and to see if the FG vs NPS thread ever got started.

Thanks

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Jon, Sorry , no updates on the original thread. Last thing I heard was that Peter and Maryanne decided not to sell even after the amazing offer that was made on the truck and they were headed South to catch up with some family in South Oz.

As for the "NPS VS FG" thread >>>> I still plan to continue it as soon as I get a spare minute. I took plenty more relevant pics last week for it so hopefully soon and I certainly haven't done anything to it like I promised. Sorry.