The Red Centre Way and the Road to Old Andado - Australian outback tour

[il padrone]

I have posted up the best of my photos from our 5 weeks in Central Australia on Facebook, here. Captions are still to come, and eventually a CGOAB journal.


Road trains, gotta love 'em 

[Danneaux]

Wonderful photo here and also those on Facebook, Pete. Very much looking forward to the CGOAB report in its entirety -- please don't keep us waiting too long!

All the best,

Dan.

[JimK]

Somehow I am not seeing more than a few photos on Facebook... there are so many buttons they could be hiding under!

[il padrone]

Select my 'photos' box then select 'albums' and they're in the Red Centre Way and the Road to Old Andado album.

[Danneaux]

Hi Pete!

Like Jim, I just saw a few photos...for some reason, I'm not seeing any entries for Red Centre Way or Old Andado under "Albums".

All I see are 23 entries under "Wall Photos", 8 under "Profile Pictures", and 5 under "Cover Photos".

Do we need to "Friend" you to see them?

All the best,

Dan. (...who's eager to see these! <rubbing palms in anticipation>)

[il padrone]

I'm pretty new to the intricacies of Facebook as well. Being a 'friend' may be the problem. If I look at the photos of people I know who are not 'friends' I only see their Cover, Wall and Profile photos.

I have a web gallery that I've used in the past, but they've changed their server and now only list photos chronologically, and I value the ability to organise photos in albums for easier access. Facebook does this and is much quicker to post photos to, but I'm wary of their approach to copyright. I need to fnd another web gallery that works with albums - maybe Flickr ?

[il padrone]

In the meantime I can post up a few other photos

Typical West MacDonnell Ranges scenery



The road - mostly only 1-2% grades and looong aspects, but with 50kgs on board and a headwind, this still had us working hard.



Serpentine Gorge



Rob at Glen Helen



Fires at Glen Helen



Tree on the ramparts



Fires at Mt Sonder. This stopped us climbing this scenic peak



Rough road surface on the Mereenie Loop



Kings Canyon



Views of Uluru and Kata Tjuta



Desert  oak landscape after burning off



Just a few to give an idea of the landscape. There are 183 photos in the album.

[Danneaux]

There we go, Pete! Thanks!

Outstanding, every single one!

Fantastic scenery, trip, and photography. Feel like I'm along for the ride!

All the best,

Dan. (WOWzers!)

[jags]

pete thanks a million for posting  those photos there stunning and as Dan said it's like being along for the ride.
MAGIC.

[JimK]

I need to fnd another web gallery that works with albums

I use Photobucket which does have albums. I can't compare it to Flickr though since I have no experience with that.

Thanks for the cool photos here though!

[il padrone]

Here are a few more photos for your perusal - Uluru and beyond.







Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)






In the Valley of the Winds



Uluru sunset



Desert Oaks in the mid-day heat (39 degrees)



Friends we met from the Chrysler Car Club caught up with us on the road - Stuart Hwy.



Kulgera Pub has character



Wide open roads on the way to Finke




Sunset along the Goyder Creek, many miles from any station property






Ducking and weaving on the sandy road




Mighty dusty chain, but she was still running silently



Finke township entry



10 kms of horror road - deep sand over big corrugations 



Goyder Creek crossing



Stand-off!



Crossing desert sand ridges. They were up to 14% grade, damned hard work with 60kgs of gear.

[il padrone]

Bearded Dragon on the road "If I don't move they can't see me"



Simpson Desert sun-rise



2000 head of cattle all yarded up to be trucked south to market



The sort of road that defeated us at Andado Station



Bearded Dragon near our accommodation at Finke




About all that is left of the old Ghan rail-bridge over the Finke River




Wedge-tail Eagle by the roadside near  Kulgera




Distant travellers on the road




Dinner at Monty's Bar in Alice Springs, last night of our trip

[jags]

my 2 grand daughters got a fright when they spotted that lizard 
that looks like one tough place to ride a bike,
btw what do you think of the extra wheel  trailer.

[Andybg]

Thanks for all the photos.

Certainly looks like a beautiful and challanging place to tour.

I am glad to see the bikes did their jobs and another vote for interest in the extra wheel trailer.

Cheers

Andy

[il padrone]

This is the route we traveled for the tour. We had to backtrack from the Simpson Desert at Andado, to Kulgera on the Stuart Hwy due to the deep sand road surface. We were limited in the supplies we could carry and did not know how much more sand like that we would face. After pushing through deep sand for over a kilometre (at 5pm) with nothing but more track like that ahead, we realised it was no longer fun and discretion was the better part of valour. It still took us 4 days of very hard riding to get back to Kulgera.

The Xtrawheel trailer was an excellent way to carry extra gear. I actually carried my normal rear pannier load on the trailer and put the heavier water bags (up to 20 litres) and much of the food int the rear panniers on the bike. The trailer just towed along behind the bike. Generally I never noticed it was there, apart from the added weight of the overall pay-load. The trailer itself only weighs 3 kgs and is very tough in design.