Mercedes 1222A.. The beginning!

[Sitec]

As our season drew to a close early with KST, we went looking for alternatives, and ended up working for a larger company called APT. This came with positives as we were in a Mercedes for a start (which our bodies were thankful for). The trips are a lot less hands on as they don't involve camping and catering! Here's what we drive!



We are driving basically the same route, but a much higher spec trip. On our travels we see many of these... often moving as fast as us (100kph on bitumen).



Here's the famous Mitchell Falls. The power of nature is incredible, especially being able to get so close. The drive up here is an interesting and rough one! Being flown in from the parking area by chopper is pretty awesome though!

 

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With a laps of the Kimberley complete, it was time to head home. We were one of the last trucks around for the season, and the daily temps had got too the mid to high 40's. We spent another week in Broome, before heading south. Cable Beach was a favourite spot to wind down and watch the world go by.



Our trip south involved catching up with friends and enjoying many beaches accessible only by 4x4. We we're glad at this point to have opted for a 4x4 truck.



We also managed to catch up with some other trucks on a Truck Dune Day at Lancelin. This was a great way for us to see where we could actually go in Sand. With the steer tyres at 40psi, and the rear tyres at 35psi I was amazed that we were going pretty well everywhere the smaller trucks were going. The only thing lacking was power!! It didn't stop us getting bogged though!!



More to follow!

 

[Sitec]

Once through Perth, we were east bound for home. We called into a farm on the Wheatbelt I'd worked on 25 years ago. It was great to see everyone looking so well, and wander over somewhere I'd been 25 years earlier!



We managed to find some old coastal 'ports' on our travels, which made for great exploring!!



And lighthouses! Lots!!

 

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If anyone finds themselves in WA, the Pinnacles is also worth a visit. We spent an afternoon there, but could have lost several days wandering between the rocks.



Once back in SA we took the ferry between Lucky Bay and Wallaroo. Something we'd talked about doing before the truck was finished. It was a draw card, and generated lots of questions!



So, in 7 months, we covered 11000kms in our truck, over 21000kms in tour trucks and loved every moment of it. Our truck averaged between 25 and 30 litres per 100 km dependant on head winds! We had no major issues, and the two minor issues we did have were to do with me! The first was a water pipe blowing off when filling (someone had managed to forget fitting the hose clamps to one joint all together!!), and the second was the diesel tank moved on it's mounts causing a leak in the return line where it touched the underside of the hab box off road. Once the tank was re aligned and the clamp straps tightened tighter, it hasn't moved since! There's very little we'd change in the build, but I am going to try and gear the truck up a bit at some point, and increase the power from 220hp to 340hp.

 

[palebluewanders]

What a cool job and trip! Thank you for sharing, really great photos. We spent over a year driving around WA in a campervan but it was 2WD so sadly we didn't manage to see the Kimberleys at all. It's partly what convinced us to upgrade to a 4x4 overland truck. Looking forward to being back someday with our truck!

 

[180out]

the truck looks great, nice job on the build.

 

[Fred Skywalker]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

 

[Moorie]

G'day Simon,

Thanks for sharing the link on Facebook yesterday. A very relaxing handful of hours reading through 45 pages and viewing your handy work.

Out of curiosity, are the internals all finished, or still a works in progress?

Thanks again and safe travels, Stephen.

 

[Toby3]

That looks fantastic, well done

 

[Sitec]

So I've been a little quiet for a while. As always there's other things going on! Since we last spoke, we've completed another season in the Kimberley with APT and managed to go to the UK for a Christmas catch up with family! This time though we have rented our house out and became full time truck lifers in April 2023! So here's a little run down on how that panned out...

We unloaded all the stuff we took and didn't use last year, and then replaced it with a whole heap of other clutter we thought we might need, including warm clothes for the 10 week visit to the UK!



We also had the enormous job of emptying our house. Even though we'd left before, it felt different this time. We were leaving with no planned date to return! Our rental agent tells me it all still looks the same, just with a layer of dust on it!



With everything stacked in the shed, our Ute (Pickup) parked in there too, we locked the doors and headed North West again!



About a week later we found ourselves back in the warmth of Broome (the home of amazing sunsets)! We'd also decided to buy two mountain bikes, so I knocked up a quick rack to carry them.



I'm glad we did! They've been invaluable in getting us around Broome!

 

[Sitec]

Once back in the North West we set about preparing for the 2023 season! The bikes are our main mode of transport in and around Broome!



The start of the 2023 season was an interesting one. The Kimberley had just had the wettest wet season in 50 years, and there was so much rain that the nighty Fitzroy River was almost 50 km wide at one point. This water took out the Fitzroy Bridge on the Great Northern HWY (the only direct route between Perth & Darwin).



Without this bridge, the tour trucks have no way of getting to the Kimberley. Years ago (70's) there used to be an old low level crossing. With som quick work on the council's part, this was resurrected and doubled in size! It was all system's go in early May and we were one of the first two tour trucks to cross it!



With this new access, the tour season got under way! We found ourselves back in all the favourite spots, including Purnululu National Park, which is home to the Bungle Bungles! Stunning scenery and interesting roads!!



We also had unexpected rains which meant we had to fly over a lot of the Kimberley on the second lap as the Gibb River Road and others was shut! It certainly gave us a different view!!



With the roads open again it was back to normal. 3500kms in 15 days with a big percentage of that on dirt roads!



This is crossing the Durack River after the recent rains.

 

[Sitec]

With the tour season over we then had the opportunity to return to Purnululu to look after one of the Wilderness Lodges in there for a month. It felt very different doing the journey in our own truck!



It was fantastic having the lodge to ourselves! It was soooo quiet!!



By now the temps were climbing and we were seeing daily temperatures above 40 Deg. Let's just say we were glad of our AC!!! While in Purnululu, we had been chatting to friends Pat and Jele in their Unimog. (Look up 'Pat and Jele' on Youtube and you'll find 4 detailed video's on the Gibb River Road! Our home for the tour season! ). They decided to join us for a week and we did some exploring together!



The sunrise was well worth the 4:30am start!

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With our month in Purnululu finished, it was time to head back to Broome.

 

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On our way back we had another look at the progress on the new Fitzroy Crossing bridge! Wow those guys worked well! We saw it a month before it opened!



An incredible amount of work in 6 months! It opened a month later in December while we were in the UK.



This last pic is a hidden gem. The location was disclosed to us by some locals who allowed us to swim there. The Kimberley is vast, and continues to spring new and wonderful places on us, which is why we're back in Broome after our cold & wet UK visit counting down the days until the 2024 Tour Season starts at the end of April. In the mean time I have a few casual jobs and we are enjoying quiet relaxed days in a warm humid Broome. The wet season hasn't really happened here this season (though the rest of the Kimberley has still had reasonable rains). We still hope for a few more decent downpours! Until next time!

 

[Sitec]

G'day Simon,

Thanks for sharing the link on Facebook yesterday. A very relaxing handful of hours reading through 45 pages and viewing your handy work.

Out of curiosity, are the internals all finished, or still a works in progress?

Thanks again and safe travels, Stephen.

Hello! Just spotted this... a year later! The internals are a work in progress but usable! The bathroom, bedroom and shower and all externals are finished. The kitchen and living is perfectly usable, but needs the flooring laying, the overhead cupboards finishing and the 4 cheap plastic office works $50 draw sets (that have actually been fantastic) removing and the proper drawer sets building and fitting. I have most of it in the shed at home, but I'm 5500km away in another state working and playing! It'll happen... just probably not this year!!