6 day Trek around the Victorian Deserts

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Tiny and myself had a great trip around the three Victorian deserts over the last week. They being the Murray Sunset National Park, the western and eastern ends of the Big Desert and the two western blocks of the three parts of the Little Desert.

We entered the Sunset country midway down the western edge, on Pheeneys Track, and then drove down the Border Track, refuelling at Pinnaroo, before camping at Pine Hut Soak in the north west corner of the Scorpion Springs section of the Big Desert. The next day we did the Border Track, which was quite easy after the recent rains, but bumpy as usual. By the time we reached the Shaugh Track it was getting late enough in the day to escape out west to the bitumen, and make a dash for a camp ground on the north west edge of the Little Desert, in the western block.

This is where we had our first bit of fun in the mud! We actually had a bit of 'excitement' on the farm tracks as we headed down between the wheat fields, trying to find our camp site.
And then more strife as we skidded and slid to a stop in the muck just inside the park boundary an hour later. We finally found a great spot to bed down, but a lot later than planned. All smiles, but filthy cars carrying 'hundreds' of extra kg of mud plastered all under the chassis!

I would have to say the next day's driving through the middle of this Little Desert, west to east, revealed a variety of the most beautiful scenery. Completely different to what you would see in the rainforests of the Ottways, or the grand forests of the High Country. It really is worth a visit. Hard to describe, and unfortunately I cannot add pictures at the moment because my camera battery had gone flat at this stage. Hopefully Tiny will post some for us!

And that morning, in the western part of the Little Desert we had more 'fun in the mud', with a few close calls. I managed to extract myself each time, but I was glad I had the big Toyota '80 series standing by, with the snatch straps, and electric winch if needed. I quickly worked out that yelling out "Yaaaahhooooo" just before plunging head long into a lengthy puddle of muddy water usually ends in disaster, and much jibing from my mate for the rest of the trip!

Will continue the report with another post, so that I can get 10 pics up for the first two days of the trip. Hopefully Tiny will add a few more to cover the last three days shortly.
 

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millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
On the fourth day we spent a lot of time meeting the friendly locals in Nhill, and stocking up on supplies. A nice hot shower at the local caravan park, and some wonderful chats with a couple of the towns older 'characters', ex truckys in fact, as is Tiny, made for a great start to the day.

We also found out that the annual vintage machine show day, with exhibits coming from far and wide, will be held again, next June long weekend, at Jeparit. So we have pencilled in the Queen's Birthday weekend for another visit 'down south' to have a look at this, and do a few more tracks. We have plenty of 'magic' camp sites to re-visit, and maybe find some more. There's plenty out there.

We eventually left Nhill at about 2.30pm and made a quick dash up to Lake Albacutya. And again we 'struck gold' with anothy beaut camp site in the bush. We had worked out that using a shovel was a much better option than the long drop. It made for much more picturesque camp sites, and a huge amount of firewood on offer. And Tiny again taught me more of the ways to make the most of a trip in the bush - setting up camp before sunset, making the fire ( with Jiffy fire-starters ), cooking properly ( instead of just the baked beans in a can style that I had always done!) and the good yarn around the fire until a respectable bed time. Fully sober in our case, if not slightly hyped up after all the coffee!

Days five and six saw us travel through the Wyperfield, and up the Mount Jess and Mopoke Tracks to Rocket Lake in the north east corner of the Sunset country. Then through the middle of the Sunset Park, east to west, along Pheeneys Track ( more like Pheeneys highway! ). Again, the drive from Underbool up to Rocket Lake was a real delight. More rugged than the Little Desert, but full of its own charm and beauty. And another great camp site, chosen at random from the many on offer.

The last day taught me another lesson in basic four wheel driving; Have fun in the mud, but make sure you grease up your wheel bearings before leaving home. My old MQ performed well, right up to about 30 km before finishing this 1000 km plus trek. Just after hurling the car through a few more puddles, trying to wash off a bit of the mud underneath, a loud banging noise came from the front end. It 'went away' for about 30km but 'came back' again. The banging turned into a horrible metal 'crunching and grinding' noise, and we were prety sure by then that it was the front left wheel bearing slowly destroying itself.

So we hid the car over the top of a sand hill for safety, drove into Loxton about 130km further on, and gave the RAA man his longest retrieve yet! I reckon the car would be still be safe and sound for years to come if I had forgotton which sand hill! About 5 hours later, at 10.30 last night, the old Patrol was put to bed, in the mechanics workshop, awaiting repair. So a week to wait before bussing back out to Loxton to pick her up and then to finish the trip! And a much thinner wallet, I am sure. Oh well, at least I am supporting the local businesses up Loxton way!

The first photo below shows part of the great job Tiny has done on his '80 series. It does not do the lighting justice. He has four sets of LED lights - two in a 'down lighting' mounting angle, and two on the side, as well as a dual lens spotlight to beam out further into the night. The 'state of the art' HF radio can be seen mounted up high on the left. Below it is the kitchen 'heavy utensils' cooking box, all set up on a home-made slide, and the big fridge/freezer to the right of it. There are inverters, a compressor and home-made pressure tank, an 80 litre stainless steel water tank, with two convenient taps, and many other gadgets all easily accessible from this end of the truck. But I think you will agree, the way it has been set up in the black finish, and all so neat, makes it look very high tech, and very proffessional. Well done mate!

I learned a lot about relaxing and enjoying the bush, instead of just 'driving through'. A typical 'smell the roses' experience was when we stopped for a short 400m bush walk to the Fishponds, in the Scorpion Springs section, and found the kangaroos just finishing their morning drink. Last year I just drove straight on and missed this lovely walk. At least I came back to do it properly.

And when we stopped for a photo on the Border Track, I did not even hear the many different bird calls coming at us from all around. It took several minutes before Tiny made a comment, and suddenly, as I listened, instead of just looking, it was as if someone had turned the volume up to the max on the TV! Absolutely amazing. Must have been ten or more different species all competing to be heard above the rest, and I had not even heard them!

And then an amazing spot where we stopped in the Little Desert the next day, where, sitting just 15m in front of us, were two kangaroos. But I was so overwhelmed by everything else to admire, I could not see them just sitting there quietly looking straight at us!

Cheers, Millsy.
 

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oznog05

Member
Excellent report. Sounds like you had a fantastic trip with loads of adventure, exactly what its all about.
 

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Great report Millsy must catch up and do these desert tracks sometime soon.

Sounds like a good idea. Look forward to meeting you Grumpy - whether it be up in the high country one day, or in these deserts halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide!
 

LowLux

Moderator
Great stuff as usual Millsy. Keep it up mate love reading the reports and checking out the pics. The Cruiser has a fairly tight set-up there.
 

Ekki Adventurers

4x4 Earth Contributer
Great report Millsy - and still making me feel jealous. Oh for the freedom - so close and yet so far.....
But anyway
Our favourite time to be in the bush crawling along is from 3 till dark, that's when the place really comes alive. A wonderful thing to take in the car is a birdwatching book. The are quite tough and it's wonderful to tick off each species as you see them. It's amazing how many there are when you start looking. Just a pity there isn't a marcupial/mammal book of an equal calibre. Have one but no where near as good.
Anyway great report
 

knot_gillty

Active Member
All i can say is "You lucky bugger"!! GippsSurfer and I were talking about doing a similar thing on Saturday night. We actually spoke of doing a few things Saturday night but the wives went to bed early and the scotch ran out too quickly...:eek::eek::eek::rolleyes:

It looks like you had a great time and you've done another great report.

Grumpy, we will definitely have to do this one!!! Anyone else up for a desert run??
 

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Great stuff as usual Millsy. Keep it up mate love reading the reports and checking out the pics. The Cruiser has a fairly tight set-up there.

Thanks folks. Always fun remembering the good times.

Yeah the '80 is great. When the MQ was 'garaged' over the sand hill, I was whisked away in luxury to Loxton! Its got all that beaut gear I described, but also, for the driver, it has the power steering, auto gearbox, heating, cooling, overhead console, CD player, central locking and power windows, remote heads for the UHF and the HF, etc. etc. Plus a whopping 4 point something motor that never had to spin faster than about 1500 revs/minute for the whole trip! Not to mention the coils and the steering set-up that let the Cruiser track in a nice straight line over all the deep sandy ruts!

But I still had fun wrestling the steering wheel around the tight corners on the flat tyres, and stirring the long gear lever to keep the revs up over 2000 as we climbed the little hills! And it was real fun not knowing which way the MQ would decide to swerve every time the wheels looked at a tiny rut!

I think we live in different universes. But we both had equally big smiles on our faces every time we got down and planted our feet back on the sand! A week to remember. Lookin' forward to the next one.

Tiny has only three weeks to go and he is off on a three week trip 'up north' with one of his good mates. Off to Dalhousie Springs via Tibooburra, Cameron Corner, Innaminka and Birdsville, and then across the Simpson! He's really doing it tough at the moment; I warned him about all the dirt and the corrugations, the mud and the flies. And he wants to do the Canning again! I reckon he and Bushnut are two of a kind!

Cheers, Millsy.
 
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millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Great report Millsy - and still making me feel jealous. Oh for the freedom - so close and yet so far.....
But anyway
Our favourite time to be in the bush crawling along is from 3 till dark, that's when the place really comes alive. A wonderful thing to take in the car is a birdwatching book. The are quite tough and it's wonderful to tick off each species as you see them. It's amazing how many there are when you start looking. Just a pity there isn't a marcupial/mammal book of an equal calibre. Have one but no where near as good.
Anyway great report

I certainly would like to improve my knowledge about nature! Am still having a bit of trouble working out the difference between the Buloke and Cyprus Pines. I saw on the Google that the Buloke and she-oak are the same thing.

And the birds. Well there is a whole lot to learn there! Both in what they look like and of course, what call goes with waht bird. Last Easter I had a nice chat with a bloke at the Scorpion Springs camp ground about recording bird calls. That was his hobby. And he played the calls back through very sophisticated equipment so that he could analyse the waveforms on the oscilloscope! There is a lot to it. So I should get one of those books and get started.

Tiny tried teaching me the difference between a kangaroo foot print and an emu. Last year I saw what looked like a big dog lope along the track about 50 metres up the track, but then dart off into the bush. May it have been a stray dingo in the Scorpion Springs park? If I had thought about it I could have stopped and inspected the prints for further reference.

And a couple of weeks ago, in the Wyperfield area, Mark was showing me the difference between kangaroo poo ( I think they say scats ) and rabbit droppings. So a lot to learn about the animals too.

Are you getting away for a weekend before O'Tooles? Its a long time to wait! Maybe a quick trip over the border to give your new tent another airing? Scorpion Springs is pretty close, just south of Pinnaroo. And a great walking trail from the camp ground there to the Fishponds, about 9km away. Very pretty area of the Big Desert.
 

BEK

4x4 Earth Contributer
Road Trip !! Road Trip!!

I can feel a BORDER TRACK TREK coming on MIllsy:D

Cmon mate put some dates out there and lets see how many are interested:)

How many days do we need ?? 4 would be good 3 a bit tight maybe.???

That way us Vics are only 4 hours away if we start south and head north.

Even distance to return home for the Vics and South Aussies of around 7 hours

If anyone can organise this YOU CAN MILLSY:D:D
 

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
I can feel a BORDER TRACK TREK coming on MIllsy:D

Cmon mate put some dates out there and lets see how many are interested:)

How many days do we need ?? 4 would be good 3 a bit tight maybe.???

That way us Vics are only 4 hours away if we start south and head north.

Even distance to return home for the Vics and South Aussies of around 7 hours

If anyone can organise this YOU CAN MILLSY:D:D



OK BEK, youv'e got me thinking!

First thoughts are these;

Spring is great for these desert areas because the flowers are blooming.

The middle weekend of the SA school holidays, that overlaps with the last weekend of the Victorian school holidays will make it easier for people to bring their kids along. Will check the exact dates tonight.

A three day trip, so some people, who can manage it, can get a day off work. Monday for the Croweaters, and Friday for the VICs, as explained in the next paragraph. And of course those that are on holidays will be able to tour for as long as they like!

Pine Hut Soak campground, in the north west corner of the BIg Desert ( Scorpion Springs Conservation Park) could be the meeting point. People from SA get there Friday night after work. The VICs take Friday off work and drive up through the Nhill/Murrayville Road, and do some nice tracks across the top end of the Big Desert. So both groups will be arriving at Pine Hut Soak on Friday evening.

Saturday is the Border Track, possibly nipping out, as we did last week, at the Shaugh Track to make an early camp at the western end of the Little Desert. Then Sunday we trek through the first two blocks of the Little Desert. The Croweaters camp for the night, and the VICs keep going to get home Sunday night. Some VICs might want to do just one part of the Little Desert and head for home a little earlier on Sunday afternoon.

And on Monday the SA group can decide how they want to go home. Some might like to head up the Nhill/Murrayville road and do the top end of the Big Desert coming out at the start of the Border Track, and then up to Pinnaroo and home. Others might prefer to do one or two more tracks in the Little Desert and then just head up the Dukes Highway.

What do you think BEK?
 
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tiny0001

New Member
You have posted some great detail there millsy and the pics are fantastic. It was a pleasure to be out in the bush with you.
 
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