millsy
4x4 Earth Contributer
Had a great time ploughing through a couple of the tracks in the Little Desert yesterday.
Left Adelaide midnight Friday and slept by the Murray at Mannum. Finally reached the top of the Big Desert National Park ( Murrayville - Nhill track ) just before sunset and found a nice little camp site next to the main track with a steel camp-fire surrond and heaps of wood piled up for me! 'Cooked' a simple dinner ( can of baked beans! ) and relaxed a while by the fire. Then it started to rain, and so decided to zip down the 60km of dirt road to the southern end just in case it rained all night and the road would become impassable.
Sunday morning, after a night with no rain afterall, I decided that I would be taking too much of a chance going back to try the Milmed Rock track. I had a quick look at it as I went passed it the night before. It looked very sandy, and being a beginner, by myself, decided that getting into trouble on a 40km long stretch of sand, allready 40 or 50 km from the nearest town, and especially since I had not seen any one else on the main track, was not a good idea.
But the Little desert sounded a bit safer. I decided to drive along the Dahlenburgs Mill Track, which runs for about 15 km East to West through the middle of the Little Desert.
This track runs off the fairly busy bitumen road that comes down from Nhill.
Well I set off in 4L, 2nd gear, and went well for the first km or so. Fun! Then the wheel ruts got deeper. The sand seemed softer and was all churned up from previous de-bogging attempts ( lots of branches and pieces of wood all over the ruts that people had used for traction. ) I was thinking of reversing out, but after a closer look picked the best path, and gave it a go! Success! Whoa!
Then I noticed that damn clicking noise starting up again. So I decided to go back to 2H.
The old girl didn't flinch. I had dropped the pressures down to about 18 psi to get through the first challenge, and even in 2 wheel drive we seemed to be getting through. Every now and then I chickened out on the really bad bits and went back to 4L just to make sure!
Was all a lot of fun! Finally reached the Dahlenburgs Mill site ( Mill long gone - now just a new tank next to a defunct windmill, and a new diesel pump on the bore. ) Then turned South down the Salt Lake Track. Great scenery! Some great regrowth on a flat plain between the low sandhills. I think they were Banksias. Are they the one with the large green flowers. There must have been 500 acres of them, all about 5 feet high crammed in next to each other. I suppose this forest will thin itself out in time as they compete for nutrients and sun light. About three lakes surrounded by larger gum trees on the Salt Lake Track - very nice.
To finish the day I discovered Mount Arapiles not far West of Natimuk. Drove to the top of this great rock-climbing venue and looked out across the Little Desert about 25 km to the North-West. Then the evening dash down the highway to Geelong last night.
Had the rest day today, looking after the grandkids and servicing the daughter's Commodore, and tomorrow heading North to have a look at the Wentworth to Menindie track, and then working out how to get back to Adelaide on some dirt from there.
Left Adelaide midnight Friday and slept by the Murray at Mannum. Finally reached the top of the Big Desert National Park ( Murrayville - Nhill track ) just before sunset and found a nice little camp site next to the main track with a steel camp-fire surrond and heaps of wood piled up for me! 'Cooked' a simple dinner ( can of baked beans! ) and relaxed a while by the fire. Then it started to rain, and so decided to zip down the 60km of dirt road to the southern end just in case it rained all night and the road would become impassable.
Sunday morning, after a night with no rain afterall, I decided that I would be taking too much of a chance going back to try the Milmed Rock track. I had a quick look at it as I went passed it the night before. It looked very sandy, and being a beginner, by myself, decided that getting into trouble on a 40km long stretch of sand, allready 40 or 50 km from the nearest town, and especially since I had not seen any one else on the main track, was not a good idea.
But the Little desert sounded a bit safer. I decided to drive along the Dahlenburgs Mill Track, which runs for about 15 km East to West through the middle of the Little Desert.
This track runs off the fairly busy bitumen road that comes down from Nhill.
Well I set off in 4L, 2nd gear, and went well for the first km or so. Fun! Then the wheel ruts got deeper. The sand seemed softer and was all churned up from previous de-bogging attempts ( lots of branches and pieces of wood all over the ruts that people had used for traction. ) I was thinking of reversing out, but after a closer look picked the best path, and gave it a go! Success! Whoa!
Then I noticed that damn clicking noise starting up again. So I decided to go back to 2H.
The old girl didn't flinch. I had dropped the pressures down to about 18 psi to get through the first challenge, and even in 2 wheel drive we seemed to be getting through. Every now and then I chickened out on the really bad bits and went back to 4L just to make sure!
Was all a lot of fun! Finally reached the Dahlenburgs Mill site ( Mill long gone - now just a new tank next to a defunct windmill, and a new diesel pump on the bore. ) Then turned South down the Salt Lake Track. Great scenery! Some great regrowth on a flat plain between the low sandhills. I think they were Banksias. Are they the one with the large green flowers. There must have been 500 acres of them, all about 5 feet high crammed in next to each other. I suppose this forest will thin itself out in time as they compete for nutrients and sun light. About three lakes surrounded by larger gum trees on the Salt Lake Track - very nice.
To finish the day I discovered Mount Arapiles not far West of Natimuk. Drove to the top of this great rock-climbing venue and looked out across the Little Desert about 25 km to the North-West. Then the evening dash down the highway to Geelong last night.
Had the rest day today, looking after the grandkids and servicing the daughter's Commodore, and tomorrow heading North to have a look at the Wentworth to Menindie track, and then working out how to get back to Adelaide on some dirt from there.
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