One of my main reasons for visiting Daly Waters was to meet up with Andrew Clelland, a friend from University in Canada. He has been in Australia for almost a year and a half working his way around the country. He is currently holed up in Daly Waters working at the pub. The plan was to make a two day camping trip into the outback to do some 4WD tracks and see the land. One plan was to head west into Gregory National Park, but the 4WD tracks were still closed due to flooding, so we ended up heading east toward Cape Crawford then north into the Limmen National Park to visit the Western Lost City — an interesting sandstone rock formation. It seems to be all about rocks in Australia.
A road trip in Australia wouldn’t be complete without a breakdown in the outback, so luckily I had two. On the way out to Cape Crawford, about 120km east of Daly Waters and 150km short of Cape Crawford, we smelt burning rubber coming from the Ute (read 4WD truck). We pulled over and popped the bonnet to take a look. One of the belts had seized and was melting the rubber. On inspection it was determined that it was the Air-Con unit that was faulty so removing the belt from it posed no other problems. Once we got the belt off we were on our way again. No drama. We pulled into the Heartbreak Hotel in Cape Crawford for a drink before heading North into the park. We drove some 150km into the park along dirt roads and made many creek crossings that were fun. We pulled into the marked campground at Butterfly Springs expecting to have it all to ourselves, only to discover every spot taken! It seems a Tag Along Tour was passing through and they used up all the spots. Tag Along Tours looks to be a tour where you pay someone to guide and cook for you, and you follow in your own vehicle. Some of the setups at camp were unbelievable. Satellites for TV, bbq’s that pull out of the side of caravans. The works. We promptly left and found an open piece of land in a new camp area just north of the Nathan River to lay our our swags and make a fire.
In the morning we cooked up a good feed of bacon and eggs and headed for a 4WD trail that would take us to the Western Lost City. It was about 30km long and weaved through ever changing terrain with many creek crossings. We reached the Lost City to find two other Utes parked. The Lost City is a collection of sandstone spires and rock faces that look a little like homes. On some of the rock there is flat pieces of rock that are cracking that look like stucco peeling off the wall. It was an interesting site. I drove the track out of the Lost City back to the road and toward Cape Crawford. Enter breakdown number two. As I was driving the left rear tire blew out and we had to pull over. Changing a tyre should be no match for two guys with university degrees. Clelland carries two full size spare tires. One problem: he only had the stock jack that comes with the truck, and for some unknown reason it was unable to jack the Ute up high enough. We ended up backing the Ute onto a dirt berm and jacking it up to its maximum, then digging out the dirt from under the tyre to free it. Once off it was easy to place the new one on and continue on our way. No drama, but we were behind schedule now.
To cap off two days we saw more wildlife on the drive home than the entire trip. We managed to miss the first 5 Wallabies and 1 calf that ran across the road — however the 6th Wallaby was not so lucky. We reached the Daly Waters Pub in time for a firework show in honour of Northern Territory Day (cough..also Canada Day).
(The entire set of photos can be viewed at flickr.)
1 Response to “Outback Breakdowns and the Western Lost City of Limmen National Park”