Rufant
Well-known member
This is a trip report of a 6 day overland trek through outback Australia.
Part 1: The return to Warraweena.
Warraweena in the Northern Flinders Ranges, is a private conservation park. It is run by a highly charismatic ex-pat Swiss guy called Stony – the name, like his new homeland, no doubt adopted. Warraweena was also one of the first destinations we took our then new (to us) Land Cruiser. After that first visit it was definitely one of the best places I had been in a 4×4, and I was keen to get back – and as these things tend to go, 5 years went by, till I managed to make it happen again [in my defence we crammed an awful lot into those five years, road-tripped Europe, multiple 4×4 adventures in Australia, a year off driving around Australia, found a new path the health and fitness, did bikepacking – don’t fear your forties folks…].
On this trip our friend – The Accountant would be tagging along with his dog Kasper in his Range Rover.
Now, for regular followers it probably seems I’d given up on proper overland adventure. However it has been bubbling away in the background as we’ve got used to new jobs, routines, hobbies, etc. So a few changes to the set up prior to this trip. I’m now running BFG KM3 ‘mud’ tyres, after running the BFG all terrain pretty much mine entire 4×4 ownership – however the last set of KO2’s that we had for the second half of the round Australia trip were basically destroyed after thirty thousand km – so the switch to KM3 is as much about off road durability as technical ability, plus a new set of steelies in silver to brighten up the look of the Cruiser.
The camping set up remains essentially the same, I have considered other set ups and trialled a few things (such as sleeping inside the car), however the OzTent is still the best all round solution for what we do – we can be comfortable in nearly all conditions, go unsupported for at least a week, and yet everything still fits inside the vehicle, so we are unhindered in terms of off road ability. Our tent is definitely due for a replacement after about 15 years of regular use, including the year off around Australia. However it will soldier on for this trip at least.
I’m now running dual ‘Thumper’ batteries. One will run the fridge stand alone and all our other power requirements will come out of the new unit.
A few tweeks to the cooking set up – a Coleman dual fuel stove is now the main cooking piece, able to run Shellite fuel or unleaded petrol – the same as the Cruiser. A new hard anodized Trangia fits inside a lighter spun steel Bedourie camp oven. Also a new fire pit will allow easier cooking directly over coals.
Anyway, back to the trip. We meandered up to the town of Hawker, arranging to meet The Accountant there. It being the last stop for fuel and reliable phone service.
A couple of maps for reference:
Approximate route.
Zoomed out for reference to the country as a whole.
Another hour or so up the bitumen before hitting dirt for the 35 km run out to Warraweena. A quick chat with Stony and managed to get camp set up before dark. This would be home for the next 3 nights.
Quickly cooked up some snags (sausages), a couple of whiskies and bed.
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