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Connie Sue Hwy - across Aussie deserts

nugget

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This was part of my return leg of my first trip across Australia from Brisbane to Perth and back with as must dirt road as possible. Appologies to Hunner for the "blue" pics as some suffer from the same affliction as those in my earlier post as I did not find the problem till later...hack with a new cameraitis. Having the eye for detail he does he will again see I was still using 2 cameras hence some pics are OK.

The Connie Sue is a 650km track, mostly of which is graded somewhere between rarely and never, which runs north - south across the Nullabor Plain and Great Victoria Desert from Rawlinna on the Trans Australia Railway Line to Warburton, a community of our Indigeneous brothers.

Out here, no expenses is spared on signs. They may not be pretty but they are good for another 100,000kms!

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The Nullabor has never been accused of being over vegetated, just plain and big

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Part of the original track has been upgraded to a damn near highway as it joins two Abo communities... I mean townships of the 1st Australians... Fortunately there are some big sections of bulldust to make it a bit of fun at least

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The old Premier Downs Station is not quite so premier these days

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Survey markers along the track are handy navigation aids as generally the surveyors had a fair idea of where they were!

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The track split at the "The Shed", a landmark in these parts. The car coming in on the right was coming from the community with a bloke with 2 teeth and 4 lubras..Abo sheilas with no teeth. This turned out to be the only people we saw over the 650kms.

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nugget

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Recent fires have decimated sections ofthe desert regions


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Neale Junction is the intersection of the Anne Beadell and Connie Sue Hwy's

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Luckily fire hasn't gotten it all

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the corrugations are bone shattering and the ultimate test for suspension
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Feral camels are everywhere and these days we are seeing more camels than kangaroos!

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Damn fine looking truck there..wonder whose that is???

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Another part of the Aussie outback mastered with truck and driver surviving to fight another day.
 

nugget

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hahahh...yeah the guy who surveyed them and led the contruction team, Len Beadell had a real sense of humour and deliberately named them Highways. He surveyed this one with his wife and 6 month old daughter, Connie Sue, who was in a wooden crate lined with blankets between the seats!. No fancy child capsules in the early 60's.
 

Hunner

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8045_zpsc8af5976.jpg

ha ha
I like this one! Pre-cleaners are a good thing.
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Maybe if drivers pulled a harrow behind them it would flatten those studder bumps! What tire pressure you run?
Did you spill your wine?
Are you shootin Jpeg, large, fine?
 
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nugget

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Yes...just to the LEFT of the ISO button which I was actually aiming at....!!!!!

The pre cleaner does an amazing job...could not believe how clean the filter was ..relatively... when I check it.

Wine...mate this is beer country....The trick is to drink all the cans in the Engel at the end of each day otherwise they rotate as they vibrate against each other resulting ion them wearing through and exploding in the fridge...makes a bloody mess... much safer to drink them daily:)
 

nugget

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Just realised some of the pics I thought I had posted, got lost in cyber space.

Not sure if you have these in the states, but they are common in the Aussie bush, and so handy when there isn't a Wal mart equivalent with in a 1,000kms or so.....Spare Parts Trees...Of course some times it is hard to find the right model tree so you have to search about a bit....

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Hanns table top doesn't require oxygen to climb

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water vis a solar panel, pump and tank....easy...

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Hunner

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I only mentioned the wine because of your apparent upstyle sophistication with this new rig and second story motel room. lol
What freq do you use on the radio? Can you check in with the Mrs?
 
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LagunaH1

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Nugget, thanks for posting this. As always, I enjoy reading about your journeys and find myself jealous of how much room you guys have. Good question from Hunner...... made me think: Do you use sat phone mostly for comms, or do you use radios?
 

nugget

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The sat phone is really for checking in with the better half, or at least letting my son know where I am when I digress from the main track, just in case. Handy that someone knows roughly where you are.!

In Aussie we UHF is the norm rather than CB and Sat phone is rapidly replacing HF radio. I ahve never not gotten coverage with the sat phone and now that they have pre paid billing, it is cheaper as you can just pre pay for when you are away rather than have to sign up to say a 2 year deal like in the old days.

The Penthouse is very comfortable but the best part is that if there is any breeze, you can really catch it up there so it is cooler in the hotter weather than sleeping on the ground. Also you are higher than the branches housing the killer drop bears:)
 
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