A trip to the Corner Store.

[Newie]

Certainly doing it tough, but as Yella says, that all adds to the stories when you get home. I suspect that's little consolation at times for some wet, tired muddy Mokers with broken vehicles on the side of a track in the middle of nowhere, but it will all be worth it in the end 

Hopefully the more adventurous part of the adventure is behind you now and you can get on with some more trouble free touring and sight seeing without quite so much hard work to go with it.

[Halfpint]

Oh boy, what an adventure 
Hope to catch up and hear more about the trip, sounds like so much happened and I hope everyone is ok.
Give us a call if anyone needs a hand on the way home 
HP

[Terry]

Hi,

I think comparisons with Anzacs is a bit of stretch YT, nobody is shooting at us and lives are not in danger. This is just stories to tell the grandchildren.

Friday morning we packed up camp and explored Silverton, starting with the obligatory photo shoot of Mokes outside the Silverton Hotel. Then I lead the team out past the tip and down the old tramway to the Silverton Mine which for the first time that I have been here was no longer behind locked gates and fences so we got to play and look around. Found a nice steep track up the side of a hill for a look, seated on the comfy couch supplied for us. Back down we ran along the creek bed and then the old  tramway cutting and aqueduct back to the main road.

Next it was out to Mundi Mundi for a bit of Mad Max II trivia and parking the Mokes where the tanker was rolled in the final scenes and onto the dam so Alan could get the bonnet up again. Back into Silverton to the Mad Max museum while Alan played with the red one outside somewhat fixing the problems from the night before. And then onto Broken Hill, where I ran out of petrol on the way, to catch up with Smithy before he left for home with his patched up trailer.

Saturday morning saw Peter, Moe and Neil leave for Melbourne while I stayed to play for another day in Broken Hill with Team Mazy. Everything pretty much shuts at 12pm on a Saturday in BH.

Sunday morning, today, we started out early with a brekky at Maccas and top up the tanks and quick fix of my fuel line solenoids to get fuel into the back tank and we were on our way until about 100km out team Mazy called that they has lost all drive.

A bit of diagnosing and off with the flywheel to find they had torn apart a new clutch plate, see their build thread from before the trip to see the previous one, and this one looks much the same. All fixed a few hours later and off we went for about 50m before the ignition issue was back from Thursday. We limped along for few kms trying ideas out again but eventually found our way to roadhouse for a late afternoon Hamburger of biblical proportions while Alan set about replacing dizzy modules and plug connections. Back on the road with the problem seemingly fixed again we made it to Wentworth tonight on dark, with no headlights again, for a night in a cabin.

Terry

[Newie]

Damn, Team Mazy does it tough on these trips 

That clutch issue is certainly a strange one, especially now it's unfortunately been ruled out that it was a one off problem.

No doubt everyone just wants to get home at this stage, but will no doubt be analysed in depth in due course.

Hoping everyone has either made it home safely or well on their way by now without any more issues.

[Peter]

For those that may be interested I kept a log of millage and fuel and thought I would share some trivia with you.

For the planned trip Hay to Broken Hill the odometer gave me a total distance of 1574 Klm and I used 141.3 Ltr of fuel (8.9 L/100Klm)
For the total trip home to home is was 2900 klm and 223 Ltr  ( 7.7 L/100Klm) 

Looking at the GPS trip logs it gave me
Hay to Broken Hill 1448 Klm, 141.3 ltr at ( 9.7L/100Klm )
Home to Home 2671 Klm, 223ltr at ( 8.3 lL/100Klm )

Hay to Broken Hill involved approx 750Klm to 850Klm of dirt, sand, bull dust or gravel roads.


Peter

[Terry]

Hi,

we are all home now, except for the Red Moke which destroyed another clutch plate yesterday morning and has been banished to a NRMA yard near Mildura and Team Mazy enjoyed a nice rent a car for the homeward leg.

Terry

[Terry]

Hi,

and now some pictures....

The Mexicans heading north to meet with others, north of Echuca.


Breaking camp in Hay after our first night together.


We pulled up to help Neil with a fuel pump that was not pumping and I found I had fluid coming out of a rear brake pipe leaving a trail on the road. The pedal hitting the floor and the lack of slowing down also helped to determine there was a problem with my brakes.


Breaking camp at Ivanhoe on the second morning was the last nice sunrise we would see for many days.


After deciding to risk a run from White Cliffs across to the Silver City Highway we dodged rain storms for the next 150km or so.


Terry

[Terry]

Hi,

and some more pictures....

We stopped to lower the tyre pressures on a little patch of bitumen but the combined dust and rain storms did hurry us along a bit.


It was a close call for the people down the back of the convoy getting through dust storm as it cross the road.


And when the road gets a little bit of water on it, the surface sticks to the tyres and it tears up the road. We were lucky it was just a quick shower but much more water and we would have had a different three or four days than we did.


When you lead on dirt roads dust is not as much problem for those following you, but you do tend to find mud holes first so you can warn those following.


And this red mud just sticks to everything. Even dry days and km's of corrugations this mud was still hanging on.

[Terry]

Hi,

and yet some more....

somewhat relieved and happy that we made it through to the Silver City Highway and a mostly bitumen run into Milparinka.


Along the way was the most amazing sun set I have witnessed that the photos don't really do justice to. It was like rain on fire. Unfortunately we were still trying to beat the rain to Milparinka so we didn't get much time to stop and take some better photos.


After arriving in the dark and rain we woke the next morning to see it had be raining all night and maybe parking the Mokes close to the door was not the best choice. A trip to the toilets over near the white box meant you grew about 2-3 inches with the mud that stuck to the shoes.


Due to the very generous hosts of the tourist precinct we were able to camp out in the Courthouse for our forced stay in Milparinka otherwise it would have been a very dismal effort down at the camp ground near the river for two days. Other travellers got stuck in the Hotel for days while we were there which I am sure was nice but not as unique as 'our' courthouse. It is now the second time I have camped in the court house, the last being in 2004 when it just finished, but it is not normally an option so we were very fortunate as I said.


This very narrow verandah become our kitchen and only outside space not involving mud for the days we were there.

[Terry]

Hi,

and even more pictures...

Even after the river dropped, the closed road and the mud and slop on the way out meant we had another 36 hours in Milparinka.


After two days we decide to try a trip to Depot Glen and Pooles Grave that the 4wd's in the Pub said we wouldn't get too due to this creek crossing. They were right, sort of, but we had a Plan B.


I found a way through by heading down stream and zig zagging our way across the creek beds to get to the other side.


We finally get out to Tibboburra on the Wednesday morning but while we are taking this photo someone drives up and closes the road south that we had just come up behind us so we are trapped in Tibboburra.


Once it rains up there, the roads are automatically closed so it wasn't looking good for us coming into Tibbo.

[Terry]

Hi,

and still more pictures to come....

Luckily we only got stuck in Tibbo for a few hours before the Cameron's Corner road was opened so we headed out with our first stop at Mokely Creek for a photo shoot.


It wasn't all dry with small lakes along the road, but the track had been raised and sealed.


The Mokes lined up at the Dingo fence on the NSW side with South Australia in the background.


And the Corner Store as we rolled in.


And breaking camp at the Corner the next morning.

[moemoke]

Here are some of my photos from the trip. Still trying to sort them out from the 4 or 5 cameras I had on the trip.

Just North of Hay at the sunset viewing area, We were a bit early.



but the sunrise the next morning at Ivanhoe was a beauty.



Sunset at Cameron Corner was also spectacular



On the Border Downs track, reminded me of the sign at Cameron Corner, "It's not the middle of nowhere but the centre of everywhere"



I do like the 'big sky', the sunsets and sunrises in the outback and the sky at night with the millions of stars, it all adds
to the enjoyment of a trip like this.

[Maddog]

Fantastic photos Terry and Moe, thanks for taking the time to share them.

MD.

[Halfpint]

Thanks for the stories, and the pics are great
Night time skies are amazing out there.
That mud though!
Thanks Peter, it’s always good to see some stats on fuel usage. The Mokes all do it a little differently depending on their set ups, loads and roads  .
That clutch issue is intriguing me, and others I’m sure.
Thanks for sharing the adventure 😎.
HP

[Drakman]

I so have to add a trip like this to my "bucket list".

 The photos make it seem like the hardships were nothing but added adventure.

The clutch issue is intriguing me for sure Halfpint, is it exactly the same thing as happened at Tamworth?  From memory the centre of the clutch drive plate fractured and tore out of the plate, is that correct?

Dave