6 / Rob and Tom, retired doctor
7 / Don, Mayor from a rural Canadian village, and Wayne, farmer and truckie
8 / Max & Kathy and Ray, former teacher and now Maple Leaf Syrup producer (Love Sweetness)

people and trucks at Cameron Corner, where SA, NSW & Victoria meet.

Great pics and trip chris but its Queensland, not Vic at camerons corner.
Regards
Colin!

... oops, I should have looked closer on the pic

education canadians
 

Well, the first thing they had to learn is how to make your bed or how to roll your Swag. 3 of them were sleeping in the back of the trucks. Mostly the heavy snorers.

For most of them, making their own bed wasn't too easy, think the have well trained wifes back home. :D Setting up the 3-man tent was another challenge, but with me sleeping in the tent and therefore beeing the CinT (Commander in Tent), we sorted that out quite good in the first few days.

Near Merty Merty we had some fun playing with a sand dune. The Blitz got stuck so she had to be rescued by the little Jeep :thup:

Some other fun in the sand, this time in the Sunset NP near Swan Hill.

1 / A Swiss driver and the old girl
2 / A sandy track
3 / Max, where are we going to?
4 / Coming down a steep hill in 2wd
5 / Pushing the old girl over the top of a sand hill

And I nearly broke my thump when I drove the Blitz in 4wd on this sandy track. The steering wheel go spinning around and I wasn't fast enough to let it go. Wanted to do a smooth gear change. Shit happens :giveup

Pictures
 

Excellent pics, Chris! Thanks for sharing them, it looks like a wonderful trip. I bet you've seen more of the real Australia than most of your countrymen, even if it did almost cost you your thumb!

Keith, I agree throughly but I think you meant OUR countrymen. What a great trip Chris,. Jill and I did most of it in the Chev Staffcar with the SA mob in
2007. The border track is one of the best sand dune trips in OZ and not known to many.
Regards Rick.

trip report
 

Everyone had a really good time, enjoying the adventure apart from the flu contracted by a few people and Robbie Jacobs having to return home early ( we think it was a Canadian version of the MAN FLU).

The first few days of the trip we had rain which was good to see but spoilt our plans. Swiss Chris liked the driving through the mud on these days. We called in to see Reola shearing shed, which was massive in every proportion, they used to shear up to 30,000 sheep before the drought hit. The road from Reola to White Cliffs was some of the roughest road we travelled with washed out creek crossings. Whilst at White Cliffs the crew went for a tour of a opal mine. When we arrived at Tibooburra there was a message from the service station at White Cliffs saying someone with the military vehicles didn't pay for their fuel, it turned out the people at White Cliffs made the mistake and didn't put the transaction through the register.

We all made it to Camerons Corner (where the dingo fence is) for a photo session, the ladies complained about their sloping toilets scared they could fall thorugh the floor. After leaving a new driver of the blitz bumped the handbrake on with his knee eventually causing a fire on the transmission brake (this was Kathys most exciting event), the Canadians hit the panic button worrying about their luggage, as these things have happened before Robbie Jacobs got his extinguisher and put it out in a flash, along came Max and stated OH it's only the handbrake.

Then we went down the Strzelecki Track and had a very isolated camp near the hot bore. We could hear the dingos howling in the distance during the night.

We stayed at Marree for three nights to allow time to have flights over Lake Eyre and to go up the Birdsvile Track to Coopers Creek and the ferry. The first time the ferry has been used for 20 years. There sure is a lot of water around.


After driving on flat country the Canadians got the experience of driving into the Flinders Ranges on a winding steep road. More gear polishing and this certainly woke them up.

We finally travelled through farming country and down to the mighty Murray River where we stopped to visit a winery, then moved on to the Sunset National Park.

Not long after entering the park we came across a large sand dune which proved to be a challenge for the old blitz, the old ute, the old Canadians and the young Swiss. After a good photo session they finally made it over the sand dune when the old Aussie got in and showed them how to do it. This is where Swiss Chris learnt you must put your thumb on the outside of the steering wheel on the blitz.

From here we moved onto Kerang, which has now been renamed Kerbang, as this is where the valve went in the blitz. Thanks to Tim and his crew for all their help. Tim did the same thing to his tank giving everyone a ride.

Moved onto to Echuca where Emma joined us for her birthday and we wined and dined on the paddle ship the Emmylou on the mighty Murray.

Coming home we went through Hay and visited the Shearers Hall of Fame.
Visited a wheat farm near the black stump at Merriwagga. From here we travelled home.

We travelled a total of 5,500 kms and depending on the driver the blitz got up to 190 kms on 50 litres of fuel.

We had some good fortune on this trip in finding some great camping sites in out of way places, even the good old country hospitality (at one camp a local turned up with half a bag of freshly dug potatoes for us to use) :thup2:( at Blinman one of the Canadians went ahead of the group and found a great camp site on a farm), we enjoyed some terrific meals, had wonderful scenery most days and we all enjoyed the fantastic company of everyone who came along.

Max and Kathy

The trip
 

Sounds like you all had a wonderful time despite the illness and occasional setback.

As an added side benefit you must also have the most polished blitz gearbox around! :thup2:

trip
 

Keith
Not only is the blitz gearbox polished , the ute also has a polished gearbox. The next trip in the ute could be interesting as John and Fiona are heading off on that trip in August which is a long trip and a few things have already fallen off the ute. Max says with a good service it should make it.