Melbourne - Perth - Broome - Alice Springs - Adelaide - Melbourne

Hi guys, already posted this in general chat but I figured it is more suited to this section.


6 - 8 week trip Melb - Perth, up the West Coast - Darwin & back! - Melbourne travel partners - Gumtree Melbourne Free Classifieds

Planning the trip above, probably for two months. Its not set in stone, and Im hoping to fit in a bit of off roading and get off the bitumen a fair bit!

Had a bit of good news today, Iv got an aunt over here and her business partner has a couple of sat phones and is happy to lend me one for the trip, which is great news because I was a bit worried about breaking down in the middle of nowhere, at least this should turn such an incident from a potentially fatal situation to a seriously inconvenient situation!!!

So has anyone got any advice, suggestions, what spare parts should I take? etc

All input welcome!

Chris

by the way, just worked out my fuel consumption and im gettin 15.1 MPG at the moment. This is with a 2inch lift, roofrack, 265/70 AT tyres, and probably 60% highway driving at 60mph, 20% sensible town driving and 20% "wow listen to this! iv got a V8!" town driving. Sound reasonable or should I be expecting better?

Is nobody interested??!

Take a fridge for beer. That and a sat phone and a spare wheel and your set!


Re: Fuel consumption I got about 10l/100km over 35,000km in a 300tdi Defender fully loaded with roof tent. Dunno what that is in old money.

Fridge for sure!

MPG sounds about right for a V8.

1 bit of advice regarding the Sat. phone. nominate a friend who you know well and can keep a level head. Some experience of independent travel would be an advantage as they will understand your situation better than an inexperienced person and will be better equiped to deal with contacts etc. Probably NOT a good idea to nominate a loved one or parent! they will likely prove to be less helpfull and worry! phone this one person 1st, then when your out of the **** give the others a quick call to let them know your allright.

thats my train of thought on that anyway.

G

cheers guys, yeh i thort the MPG would be about right... was just hoping that a 3.9 EFI would be a bit better than the 3.5 on carbs that I have in my 110. Well it is I guess, I average 13mpg in the 110 but I was hoping for more of a difference!

Yep Im probably going to get an Engel fridge. What size would you recommend? Or is there any cheaper brands I should consider?

size really depends on how you want to live and space in your truck. Will you be on your own or with someone else? We have a 40L Engel which is always full, even on a weekend to Wales. Drinks, snacks, fresh meat and salad, milk, butter etc. 40L was also fine for 4 weeks in Morocco. If your on your own, you should get away with the 35L version. I wouldn’t go smaller than this. If there are 2 of you I would get the 40L. I know lots of people who have bought 35L versions and wished they had gone for the 40L. The plan size of these is the same, it is the height that is bigger on the 40L, you can also stand up 2L bottles in it which you cannot on the 30L.
Engel are about the best you can get for fridges for the money, A bit more gets you a National Luna which are reputed to be excellent. Other contenders are Waeco (lighter, made of more plastic) and ARB (essentially an Engel). Do your homework and also go and physically see them so you get an idea on space.
HTH
G

Well for this specific trip, there is going to be four people (me, my cousin and two other backpackers, who we havnt found yet, but gona find!).

However Im thinking of it as a long term thing, so I will keep the fridge and ship it home when Im done in Oz. Not just buying it for this trip. I think Engels are $1200 and up, so Il definately look at the cheaper ones such as Waeco, however Id rather pay more for something that is better and will last many years, than get a cheapy and wish Id got a better one!

any of the fridges I mentioned will be fine. just find one that suits your needs and pocket. Dont buy one that is gas or 3 way or anything else. Get a make that uses a Sawafuji Swing Motor. These are found in all Engels and is what gives them their reliability. These draw very little ampage off your battery and can be run for a number of days (with engine off) if your electrical system is up to scratch. We ran ours for 4 weeks solid through Morocco, even the 36hr Bilbao crossing.

Did you buy the RRC in Aus? just wondering about shipping and other such things

G

yeh bought it over here. I would have loved to have shipped my 110 over, but as I am only on a temporary working holiday visa I was unable to do so. You need to be a citizen or have permanent residency to import a car, and you need to have proof of ownership for at least a year in the previous country, so I couldnt get someone else to import it for me either. I did get a price for shipping of 1100 GBP though.

Cheers for the advice!

Get ready for miles of BA , esp across nullabor and heading north in WA .
There are some really good Aussi fridge freezers for less than an engel, and some outperform engel (I bought one after having engel) . Do not drive at night unless you have a big bullbar, and a good set of driving lights. You will also find that a lot of the road trains travel at night because its cooler, and so they get better mpg , and dont blow so many tyres. Land rover (range rover spares) are usually available on overnight freight , dont expect any in other than main centres eg , Melbo, Perth, adelaide etc . Carry hoses, serp belt, inc one for without aircon compressor in loop , other things, like unijoints, bearings are universal and fairly available. , alternator can usually be fixed or altenative found locally . Carry two spare wheels, as you can have to travel very long distance without spare if you have a puncture. Plenty of water, as you need to drink quite a lot to prevent dehyrdration , esp in summer months . If you need toget anything done make sure you sort a price out at the start , as things can get very expensive very quick, as they dont expect to be seeing you again . Beware of bush mechanics ! If you need to know anything more specific pm me . HTSH

great advice thanks.

Well i bit the bullet and bought a 40 litre Engel today. I know what you are saying about other fridges, but to be honest I have heard mixed reports about other fridges eg. Waeco.. mostly good but some bad. I think it has been nearly all positive feedback I have heard about the Engels.. ok so they are a couple of hundred $ more than some of their competitors but I would rather have a quality product that should last me a good few years.

So far very impressed.. fitted it and wired it in to my 2nd battery, and (although it was empty) it took about 15-20 minutes to get from 15 degrees when I switched it on to around 2 degrees.. on a fairly warm day (not that hot though! It is winter!).

Anyway we will see how I get on with it, but Im pleased so far! Plus it came with loads of camping accessories, a smaller 12V cooler, a small camping stove, a picnic cutlery set.. some storage boxes for food.. just small things but actually quite useful!

Forgot to mention , with V8 rangie, make sure that your cooling system is working really well , viscous fan . hoses etc . as even in winter north w.a. can get into upper thirties . Stick to bitumen as much as you can , as novelty of dirt track (off road) driving soon wears off , after a few hundred miles of corrugations and dust , getting to places of interest , eg bungle bungles , ayres rk etc usually involve all the dirt you want. plus if it rains they close the roads pretty quick to stop them cutting up, and A$1000 a wheel for ignoring the closure was possible ! Buy fuel in the main towns and as soon as you can as the further out you get the more it costs , quite big variations .

what sort of range do you think I will need? Im looking at about 350km a tank at the moment, should I get some jerry cans to increase this?

There was a place in victoria used to do 120 litre main tank replacements think he did 40 litre auxilary tanks aswell for old classics

found him dunno the geography of it all but heyho tis closer than round here

http://www.browndavis.com.au/rangerovertanks.html

hey, thats great cheers. Hes in Bayswater so not far from me at all. Maybe an hour or so.

Il give him a ring tomorrow, although I suspect his prices will be waaay over my budget! If I was going to keep the vehicle for a great period of time It may be worth it, but I will probably sell it in 18 months, when my two year visa is up and Il come home!

350k is a bit short , Ok on main bitumen but if you are thinking of going halls creek to Alice on the tanami (about 1000k) you need more range at least 500k
a jerry is about 100k so two bolted to tailgate outside would do the job

Hi Chris When are you planning to travel? Depending on your route you may find some of the more remote areas closed during summer (it appears o/seas tourists were dying too often in the out back) Have you considered an ice box? no battery drain and keep gear cold for days, cheaper too.I'm in Adelaide so you can pm me if you want any more info.

Hi Chris, If you are coming through Kalgoorlie, drop in for a beer. Always good to see a new face and there's plenty of Rangies in this town'
Cheers Brian