General – Debbie and Wayne’s

Having heavily modified our Patrol, to suit our needs both on and off- road, it was difficult to admit that she didn’t quite cut it as a tow vehicle. When we originally purchased her, towing was not a consideration, and as a capable off-road vehicle with camping in mind, she was perfect.

The decision to let her go was a difficult one, but probably long overdue. We had been extremely unlucky with the initial turbo failure and the subsequent rebuild stripped her of all of the power enhancing modifications that had been made. This was in part to maintain the new warranty but also, by going back to stock specifications, an attempt to make her more reliable.

This was the only car that we have owned that was purchased purely for recreation, and over the years, we have had some amazing adventures in her. From the canyons of Exmouth to the north, to the spectacular coast at Esperance in the south, the countless trips to the Goldfields, and not least, the epic adventure this year, across the Red Centre.

As I sit here now, recovering from my second dose of COVID, the front drive is empty, the Patrol has been sold. Someone else will be enjoying her. But that is ok, she has been built to be out in the bush and the way we have set her up, she is in for many more adventures, as long as they don’t ask her to tow a caravan.

So, what next? Mobi is sitting out there, feeling all alone with no tow vehicle.

It is well documented on this website that I wanted drive part of the great central road to Alice Springs. When a pal of mine told me about a road that went right through the middle of the desert, saving thousands of kilometres off the conventional route, I was not sure if I should believe him. After a little research, I discovered that he was not pulling my leg and that such a “route” actually existed. I hesitate to call it a road, because having finally completed the trip, some four years later the term “road” can only be used lightly.

In 2019, I had applied for the permits that are required to travel the route and we were only a couple of weeks from setting off, when COVID hit. All plans to travel in WA we’re suspended and a pretty rough couple of years was endured by all.

In 2023, we had upgraded our car to something far more suitable and had also purchased a small off-road caravan. We were now set to travel up to Leonora and do a little prospecting and then continue on to Alice Springs along the “Outback Highway” again the use of the word highway has a lot to do with the Aussie sense of humour rather than the reality of what was to face us.

Again, if you have read earlier posts, you will know that the trip had hardly got going, when a catastrophic mechanical failure on the second morning resulted in us being taken back home on a tow truck. The repairs ran into tens on thousands of dollars that led to many people advising us to write the car off. As the car was still subject to finance and we had spent a pretty penny getting it set up for off road travel we decided to bite the bullet and have it repaired. This also meant that we’re able to keep our promise to the Grandchildren and take them to Pirate Camp the following month.

So, this brings us to May 2024 and our most recent attempt, we set off again and this time we managed to travel about 100 kilometres further than the previous year, before I noticed a worrying noise coming from the engine. My first thought was that it was the turbo again, but how could this be? It was the turbo that failed last year, resulting in a complete engine rebuild. This time we were not far from Southern Cross, a small town on the easternmost edge of the wheatbelt and we managed to coast down hill into the town without blowing up the engine.

It was a Saturday morning, and the local mechanic was open until lunchtime. He was happy to take the car for a spin to diagnose the problem. I explained to him about the previous issues that we had had and concluded that it was unlikely to be the turbo and suggested that in his opinion it was probably the exhaust manifold as this had not been replaced with the engine rebuild last year. Fortunately, he had the part and would fix it first thing on Monday morning. This meant an unscheduled weekend at a free camp in Southern Cross, but we had little choice.

Fast forward to Monday morning and as promised the manifold was replaced, we were relieved of another $3k and off we went on our merry way. Unfortunately, it was soon apparent that this had not solved the problem. This time the diagnosis was that it was a belt pulley that was leaking oil. There was not a replacement part in the town, but the mechanic went above and beyond to get one for us the next day. The labour charges were much more reasonable this time, because, I think by now they had started to take pity on us. Again, once we got back on the road, we found the issue had not been resolved. By now we had several mechanics scratching their heads under the bonnet. Eventually, the turbo became the focus of their investigations. It was my worst nightmare, knowing that a failed turbo had caused the damage to the engine last year. Once the turbo was removed, it was confirmed as being the problem, but at this point had not caused any serious engine damage. A new turbo was put on an overnight truck from Perth and by 9-00 am the next morning, had been successfully installed.

The question now was, did we trust the car to complete the arduous and extremely remote trip that we had ahead of us? The route we planned to take may well be one of the most remote roads in the world, was it foolish to proceed?

Well, we did proceed and what an adventure it was. The main thing we learned was that the trip should have been planned over three months, not the three weeks we had to do it in. As far as the Patrol was concerned, the Outback Way is well known for the hundreds of abandoned cars along the route and I threatened the car that if it didn’t want to join them, then it had better behave.

We set off, three days late to spend some time with Greg and Liz and our gold detectors. We arrived after dark, not to be recommended, at the lease, somewhere between Leonora and Laverton. We only had a couple of days and although the flies were completely out of hand, it was great to catch up with them and some other familiar faces around the campfire and we even managed to find a couple of nice pieces of gold.

So, now the big one, once we left the bitumen at Laverton it was 1300 kilometres of almost entirely unsealed road until we got to Kata Tjuṯa, in the Northern Territory. To add to the drama, the route had been closed for several months, due to unseasonal rain and had just reopened. We had popped into the visitor centre at Laverton, had a coffee and wandered around the exhibition, thinking how civilised it all was. Once we got off the black top, we realised what we were in for.

We have driven on corrugated tracks before, in national parks and out in the gold goldfields, but this was another level. Bearing in mind that our confidence in our vehicle had taken a bit of a hit, this was extreme. We were driving a Nissan Patrol with a recently upgraded heavy duty suspension, designed for these exact conditions. However, the “road” was pushing it closer to its limits than I would have liked. If you hadn’t already worked it out for yourself, social media is not to be trusted. We had followed other travellers’ recent journeys across, and they will tell it’s a breeze and that a 4×4 is not essential, well I can tell you that they are talking bollocks. It is clearly doable because hundreds of people do it each month, but to suggest that it is easy on your vehicle and its inhabitants is complete nonsense.

The first point of interest on route was Giles Breakaway. Stunning, and easy to find as it was sign posted. Unlike most of the other “highlights”, many of which we missed. I had downloaded an app that was supposed to alert us when we came close to specific points of interest via satellite, but I couldn’t get it to work. I had a couple of spots in mind for our first camp, but we missed them both. By the time we did manage to find a spot off the road to set up, turning back was not far from either of our minds but we decided not to discuss it until the morning. It tuned out to be a good decision because dawn in the bush with the birds and the colours of the sunrise were always going to seduce us to continue.

Not long after we set off again, the first of my list of must-see items appeared. A green flash to the side and then the front of the car turned out to be a flock of wild budgerigars. Most of us who had pet budgerigars as kids back home in the UK would never dream of seeing them in the wild. It reminded me of our trip to the Pilbara, many years ago when the familiar sound of zebra finches invaded our picnic space, Debbie had kept zebra finches at the Rectory in Devon.

Not long after that, Debbie called “STOP” and over to our left were a group of camels. Apparently, a group of camels should also be referred to as a flock but that doesn’t sound right, does it? They were a little way off and were a little camera shy, but we did manage to get some photos.

Things were looking up, but a couple of hours later we heard a bang under the car and as suspected, when I got out of the car one of the rear tyres had shredded. This could have been a disaster because changing a tyre on a large 4×4 that has a lifted suspension is not without its challenges, but years studying YouTube clips on just this scenario, meant that I was equipped to deal with it. The first thing to do was to sit Debbie in a chair with a drink and a crossword puzzle, just far enough away for her to feel involved but not be in the way, so that when I needed her to crawl between my legs to line up the studs, she was on hand.

We made it to our next camp in the middle of the afternoon and had plenty of time to relax, have a campfire and enjoy the spectacular display that the stars put on above our heads, magic.