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~Rich~
Member Since: 16 Mar 2009
Location: Sydney
Posts: 627
  
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| Simpson Desert Trip Australia / Geographical centre - July12 |
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I've just come back home from an amazing adventure to the Simpson Desert in Australia.
We had 3 vehicles, a Nissan Patrol, Mitsubishi Pajero and my D3. All diesel 2005 models.
We crossed the lower South Australian part of the desert with ease and then ventured off to the remote Northern Territory area with permissions from Aboriginal communities. We did not see another vehicle or people for 8 days and covered some really tough terrain for 6 days averaging only 7 kph for 2 of those days.
We did have some problems and in fact had to leave the Patrol in the desert as we could not repair a pulley on the alternator. Let alone it not having any brakes either as a brake pipe had been damaged by the rear coil spring mounts and chassis cracking!
We managed to fit the couple into the other 2 cars and drive out of the desert back to Birdsville 250 k away.
A new alternator was flown into Birdsville and a recovery / repair trip was successfully completed.
The Patrol however is now being trucked to a capital city for an accessor to inspect but it sounds like it will be repaired and not written off.
I carried 266 ltrs of diesel and 100 ltrs of water.
The only issues I had was a broken baffle in my main muffler, no impact had occured.
Also I had an emergency air inflation kit and one inline connector suffered a leak which I fixed out in the desert.
My photos can be viewed here:
http://www.tripcolor.com/user/27837/trip/5...68E5F00C0B
Note not all the GPS photo locations are correct as I turned my phone to flight mode to save battery life but did not realize that this App would be affected.
Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  2005 TDV6 HSE Silver, LLAMS Height Controller, Tinted Glass, Onroad - 19" GG AT's, Offroad - 18" 275/65 MT, Traxside Dual Battery kit, Rasta Protection Plate, Alpine Roof, BAS Remap, ARB Air Compressor, eDiff  Custom Drawer and storage unit -http://www.box.com/s/jem0ilac3cner2mexq64 UHF CB, 4x4 Intellegence RWC, 120ltr Long range tank, Rock Sliders and Compressor protection plate Beanie grill, De Tango.
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 30th Jul 2012 12:46 pm |
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caverD3
Member Since: 03 Jul 2006
Location: Oberon, NSW
Posts: 6922
 
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Welcome back Rich. 
Sounds like a good trip. Knew the D3 would do well.  “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely gamesâ€
Ernest Hemmingway
D4 3.0 Active Diff, Adaptive Lights, High Beam Assist, Surround Cameras, Privacy Glass.
D3 2.7:Adaptive Headlights,Electronic Rear Diff,ARB Bar,Blaupunkt Speakers,JVC Powered Subwoofer,Removable Snorkel,Mitch Hitch,Pioneer After Market Head Unit,Steering Wheel Control Adaptor,Remote Adjustable Supension Rod System, Taxside Dual Battery System.
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| 30th Jul 2012 12:54 pm |
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DG
Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50971
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Great story and pics there  I worked at Ross River (about 100k's east of Alice) for 6 weeks in '89. Fantastic part of the world... ingrained in my memory for the rest of my days 8) 21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
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| 30th Jul 2012 1:27 pm |
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Hairy Dan
Member Since: 19 Jan 2011
Location: Co. Durham
Posts: 12319
 
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Great set of photos and it sounds like a fantastic trip Cheers Ian
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Club N.E.R.D.S
Kielder 4x4 Safari
Discoless
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| 30th Jul 2012 5:43 pm |
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Bushwanderer
Member Since: 27 Nov 2007
Location: Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia
Posts: 2050
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Hi Rich,
Good write-up and photos.
I'm glad that you were able to deal with the Patrol probs so well.
Best Wishes,
Peter The Bearded Dragon
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| 31st Jul 2012 12:36 am |
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Hess
Member Since: 07 Mar 2011
Location: Highlands
Posts: 1533
 
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Great photo's, enjoyed looking at them, especially due to commentary with each one
so you know what you're looking at
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| 31st Jul 2012 8:04 am |
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biskit
Member Since: 23 Dec 2009
Location: in my Mancave.
Posts: 1375
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A great looking trip you had, i'm a bit on the side, loved the Humber S.S. and glad you did'nt have too much trouble. Mantec sump guard.
Prospeed tree slider/steps.
Flack duel battery system.
18"Compomotive/AT3 tyres
Brembo 4pot front brakes
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| 1st Aug 2012 9:30 pm |
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DoctorJ
Member Since: 31 Jul 2012
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 4
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Great photos what camera did you use?
Cheers
Julian
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| 2nd Aug 2012 5:34 am |
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~Rich~
Member Since: 16 Mar 2009
Location: Sydney
Posts: 627
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Unnecessary quote removed
All these photo's where taken with an iPhone 4!
I used "Tripcolour" app for thr diary, ensure you do not switch the phone to flight mode otherwise the gps location is not saved.
Another word of warning: also make sure you have your phone tethered to a power source when it is able to upload picture. I had approx 14days of photos to upload at the same time and it really sucks your battery life!
I used Autostich app to create the panoramas.
Thanks everyone for the comments, yes it was an awesome adventure  2005 TDV6 HSE Silver, LLAMS Height Controller, Tinted Glass, Onroad - 19" GG AT's, Offroad - 18" 275/65 MT, Traxside Dual Battery kit, Rasta Protection Plate, Alpine Roof, BAS Remap, ARB Air Compressor, eDiff Custom Drawer and storage unit -http://www.box.com/s/jem0ilac3cner2mexq64 UHF CB, 4x4 Intellegence RWC, 120ltr Long range tank, Rock Sliders and Compressor protection plate Beanie grill, De Tango.
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| 2nd Aug 2012 11:00 am |
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garrycol
Member Since: 06 Dec 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1119
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Hi Rich - what TR mode were you running for most of the trip in the desert - Onroad or sand. When you got into harder spots like climbing the higher loose dunes what did you switch to. Did you find DSC switching itself on all the time an issue or did you just leave it on all the time except for the loose stuff.
Cheers
Garry
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| 2nd Aug 2012 12:04 pm |
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DiscoDunc
Member Since: 08 May 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 16390
 
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great photos - looks like an awsome trip....
reminds me of the terrain here in Bristol  I wish  Duncan
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If I'd known I was going to be so thirsty this morning I'd have drunk more beer last night.
FFRR Autobiography 4.4 SDV8 MY17
D4 HSE MY13 SOLD
FFRR 3.6 Vogue TDV8 SOLD
D4 HSE MY10 SOLD
D4 SE TECH MY15 SOLD
D4 XS MY12 SOLD
D4 HSE MY10 SOLD
D3 HSE MY06 - Re-Cycled Worldwide
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| 2nd Aug 2012 12:26 pm |
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biskit
Member Since: 23 Dec 2009
Location: in my Mancave.
Posts: 1375
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My sentiment Dunc I WISH Mantec sump guard.
Prospeed tree slider/steps.
Flack duel battery system.
18"Compomotive/AT3 tyres
Brembo 4pot front brakes
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| 2nd Aug 2012 6:44 pm |
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~Rich~
Member Since: 16 Mar 2009
Location: Sydney
Posts: 627
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garrycol wrote:Hi Rich - what TR mode were you running for most of the trip in the desert - Onroad or sand. When you got into harder spots like climbing the higher loose dunes what did you switch to. Did you find DSC switching itself on all the time an issue or did you just leave it on all the time except for the loose stuff.
Cheers
Garry
Hi Garry,
I used Standard TR for the most dunes while traveling the QAA, Rig, WAA and French line and only used Sand mode when I felt I needed more punch. All High range with DSC off. With more practice I used Command shift 2nd and dropped it back to 1st before the auto box lost the momentum and would get over easily cruise over where left in auto it would sometimes struggle over.
I don't think I had any real issues with the DSC turning itself back on as I didn't really plant my foot on the accelerator.
In the hard slow cross country I found Rock Crawl / Low range 2nd & 3rd DSC off to be the best.
Tyre pressure seemed best for my LTZ's at 23 rear and 21 front.
Big Red was 16.5 rear & 14 front.
We had to be extremely careful when going cross country not to stake the sidewalls of the tyres from sharp tree roots. We zero puncture for all 3 vehicles. I was very pleased about that!
Rich 2005 TDV6 HSE Silver, LLAMS Height Controller, Tinted Glass, Onroad - 19" GG AT's, Offroad - 18" 275/65 MT, Traxside Dual Battery kit, Rasta Protection Plate, Alpine Roof, BAS Remap, ARB Air Compressor, eDiff Custom Drawer and storage unit -http://www.box.com/s/jem0ilac3cner2mexq64 UHF CB, 4x4 Intellegence RWC, 120ltr Long range tank, Rock Sliders and Compressor protection plate Beanie grill, De Tango.
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| 2nd Aug 2012 8:32 pm |
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Fabio
Member Since: 03 Sep 2011
Location: south west
Posts: 259
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Very nice!!
Thanks for sharing!!
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| 3rd Aug 2012 5:40 pm |
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