1. What far away destination have you and your Jeep travelled to?

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1 1. What far away destination have you and your Jeep travelled to? In 2013 we took the Jeep to Cape York for a 5 week trip which was just amazing, however on our most recent trip we travelled to the Simpson Desert. This is an awe inspiring destination that everyone should visit once in their lifetime. It's only once you embed yourself within the vastness of these areas of the Australian outback that you learn to appreciate their beauty. This was an astonishing experience and one that is simply impossible to forget. We witnessed the most incredible array of kangaroos, emus, dingos, reptiles and so many birds all in their natural habitat. We were even lucky enough to see a rare native desert mouse. If we can do it in a petrol TJ, then pretty much any well-equipped Jeep can make this trip. 2. What route did you take? We travelled out to St George, and then headed south via Lightening Ridge and then onto a town called Warren. From here we headed west staying just East of Wilcannia at a fantastic caravan park. Continuing West we headed via Broken Hill and then over the border to our most southerly point at Peterborough. From here we headed North via Hawker and then into the Southern Flinders Ranges. We stayed at Rawnsley Park Station at the foot of Wilpena Pound.

2 WILPENA POUND Continuing North, we stayed at Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary for 3 nights and checked out the local area. TIP 1: If you ever get to Arkaroola, you simply have to take the Ridge Top Tour, which takes in the best the area has to offer. So much wildlife to see and the experienced guides make the tour great for everyone. YELLOW FOOTED ROCK WALLABIES

3 From Arkaroola we went West again to Leigh Creek to stock up on some supplies then headed North to Marree, and the start of the Oodnadatta Track. TIP 2: If you re out this way in the season, check out the Farina Bakery, which is set up by volunteers who are raising money to restore the ruins from the former town of Farina. We stopped in here for a look around and also to pick up some fresh bread cooked in the underground bakery. FARINA RUINS AND BAKERY We stopped at Marree for the night and TIP 3: If travelling out this way, be sure to get to Marree on a Friday night. The Roadhouse, which is a non-descript service station on the main road through town, has hands down the best roast night in Australia. Three types of roast meat, roast vegies, steamed vegies, just the type of home cooking we were after. FRIDAY MARREE ROADHOUSE

4 Leaving Marree we headed west along the Oodnadatta track to William Creek. We had 2 nights here and went out for a flight over Lake Eyre on a dawn flight. Seeing the lake in flood with the sun rising is something quite hard to explain and not something that can be easily topped as far as awesome experiences go. Highly recommended. EARLY MORNING FLIGHT OVER LAKE EYRE Getting to Oodnadatta became slightly less likely as we awoke the next morning as it had started raining, with all the rain that had been around, it wouldn t take much to close the roads. However, the rain passed over and even though the road was wet, it wasn t boggy and remained open so we continued north west to Oodnadatta and then before heading up to Mt Dare we took a side trip to our most westerly point on this trip which was the Painted Desert. THE PAINTED DESERT

5 What a sight! So glad we ventured out this way it really was a trip highlight, even before getting to the real purpose, which was to cross the Simpson Desert. Heading back east to Oodnadatta now and up to Hamilton Station for a night, before getting to Mt Dare. We d been warned of a relatively boggy section on the approach to Mt Dare, however the base was hard, so while it looked boggy, there was no need to rush in. Some other travellers did however, and there was a Mitsubishi Triton with hydraulic locked diesel being towed around Mt Dare. TIP 4: Snorkels aren t just for river crossings, if you don t have one, get one, it s that simple. We discovered at this point that the TJ had sheared off a bolt on the roof rack mount, which attaches to the bottom of the A pillar. Luckily I had spares so managed to remove the remaining bolt and put a new one in. It kept coming loose and before the end of the trip we sheared off another one, but again, we had spares. TIP 5: Look at possible weak points on your vehicle and carry appropriate spares on trips to remote areas. LEAVING MT DARE Leaving Mt Dare we drove on what can only be described as the worst roads we ve ever driven on in Australia. The corrugations were endless and as we were carrying an additional 80kg s of fuel on the roof, speed wasn t an option to overcome them. It took use the best part of 9 hours to get to Purni Bore, with a quick stop of lunch and to view the springs at Dalhousie. Doing this again, we would probably have stayed at Dalhousie and added a night to the overall crossing.

6 PURNI BORE Heading west to east is definitely the best way to go from a fuel consumption perspective as at no time did we have to have more than one go at a dune and the MaxTrax never came off the roof. The approach to the dunes and the easterly decent were pretty much all wombat holes, and we barely cracked 25km/h for the entire crossing, making for another reason to add an additional night. We also used less fuel than we expected, using around 28 litres to the 100k s, slightly better than the 80 Series Petrol in our convoy which used 29l/100. FRENCH LINE WITH SALT LAKE IN THE DISTANCE Camping options along the way were plentiful and we always felt like we had the desert to ourselves, at night. During the day there was a lot of traffic coming the other way, due mostly to the fact that the Birdsville Bash had just finished and people were heading home across the desert.

7 BUSH CAMPING All up the desert crossing went well for the TJ, apart from shearing off that other roof rack bolt and fracturing the heater core, meaning the engine coolant was being slowly pumped into the foot wells. This happened only a day from Birdsville so we kept topping it up with some spare coolant until we got to Birdsville. QAA LINE WITH SALT LAKE IN THE BACKGROUND A quick call to Todd and Anthony to confirm the best approach and we had the heater bypassed so we could travel home without incident, other than the fact that we were travelling through the 3 coldest days they d had in the region in 9 years! Needless to say we were rugged up inside the TJ for the drive home.

8 ON TOP OF BIG RED Reaching Big Red we stopped and watched people try to destroy their CV joints for a while and then continued into Birdsville. We made it! The only real issues our convoy had along the way was the Ford Courier on the trip ended up with a slight bend in the chassis which you can just make out in the image below. TIP 6: Dual Cab utes should keep as much weight as possible in front of the rear axle. WE MADE IT TO BIRDSVILLE

9 DRIVING HOME WITHOUT A HEATER. CROSSING THE COOPER CREEK 3. Did you get lost at all - if so, were there any new discoveries? We didn t get lost however we had to take a major detour from our original itinerary in order to meet some of our deadlines. We d originally planned to travel via Innamincka and then Cameron Corner on our way to Arkaroola. However unseasonal rain brought an end to that and saw us head south form St George right at the start of our trip. Luckily for us this turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip as we were to experience the Southern Flinders Ranges, which are simply spectacular. We definitely have to head back there someday as the landscape was simply stunning. 4. Have you ever towed with your Jeep? (if so, pics) Unfortunately, the TJ has a rather low tow limit of 900kg, which is drastically low for any reasonable camper trailer. I have towed close to this limit, however the TJ just wouldn t stop, so I can understand why this limit exists. I ve since upgraded the TJ to rear disc brakes and rear airbags, which would be quite beneficial for towing, so there may be a camper in the future somewhere. Either that or a Grand Cherokee!

10 5. What modifications do you have? Where do I start? Maybe from the bottom up. 32x12.5x15 Cooper STT s on Alloys Rear Disc Brake Conversion ARB Diff Covers Front & Rear with Extended Diff Breathers Tom Woods Double Cardin Tail Shaft Custom 2 Springs Rear Polyair Air Bags Rancho 9000 Adjustable Shocks Teraflex Slip Yoke Eliminator Extended Transfer Case Breather ARB Rear Bar with Tyre Carrier with Hi-Lift Jack & Reversing Camera ARB Rock Sliders Bushwacker Extended Flares ARB Front Winch Bar with 20 LED Light bar 9000lb Warn XD Winch with 40 meters of 10mm Dynamica Rope Quadratec mud grabber floor mats Custom made rear storage solution with slide out table 50lt Waeco Fridge on a drop slide 35lt custom made stainless steel water tank with 12v pressure pump JVC Stealth Stereo Head Unit GME 80 channel remote UHF Rugged Ridge Neoprene Seat Covers Central Locking & Alarm Poison Spyder hood vents SensaTyre Pressure/Temperature monitoring ScanGauge II engine computer interface Custom made overhead console with ipad for off road mapping Custom made roof rack with steel uprights and alloy rack Custom solar panel brackets for 80w panel Custom made Polaris Awning