VEC RATex 2015 - Birdsville or Bust

[morts]

The Volks Enthusiasts Club of SA held its 5th annual RATeX event (the name is a play on the old REDeX relaibilty trials) and this year we travelled just over 3,800kms to Birdsville and then through the back blocks of NSW before heading home.

In a nice twist this was also the 60th anniversary of Volkswagen winning the REDeX event in 1955.

There were 20 cars entered of which 2 did not make the starting grid, 1 planned to return at Maree and 2 had to return early due to work commitments which left 15 vehicles to complete the full journey.
Also, 2 were interstaters, a Syncro from Newcastle and a bay window kombi from melburg.

In our group there were 8 bay window kombis, 3 beetles, 2 T25's, 1 Syncro, 1 Karmann Ghia , 1 Country Buggy, my split window kombi 'Cat in the Hat' and 1 Amarok 'Tow Truck,' if required.

This year's event was mapped out by the Poole Brothers, Keith & Daryl in 'Grey Streak' and they did a mighty job, especially getting us going in the mornings...!

Day 1 - Adelaide to Hawker

We kicked off from Cavan just nord of Adelaide just after 8.00am on Saturday and the only issue was a small group of five cars got 'lost' after taking a wrong turn and then one of them, a 1968 automatic beetle - 'Victor,' could not engage any gears! After being towed to Booleroo Centre the issue was diagnosed as a broken wire to the solenooid that was swiftly repaired.

[morts]

Day 2 - Hawker to Maree

We were underway by 7.30am and there were lots of dead 'roos on the side of the road and we had a very near miss with a live one!

It was onto Blinman and then Parachilna before hitting the remnants of Farina, a once mighty Ghan railway town that is now desolate but being slowly re-built by a committed group of volunteers. The only operational building in the 'town' is an underground bakery and we scored as they had just finished baking fresh loaves of bread.

From here it was a long drive into the sun to Maree where we set up camp for free in the pub car park. I got talking to the publican and it turns out he and his mate had spent two years driving around Oz in the mid '70s in a '67 split window kombi and he even dug up a photo (last pic) for me. When they were in Darwin they met up with two chicks who had been travelling up the east coast in a beetle so they travelled together with them for the next few months and he even ended up marrying one of them!!

The only car issue was that the Ghia, 'Rat 59,' needed to create some more space under its front guards. So far so good...

[Cam Biscuit]

Great stuff Morts, I hope to do this event at some stage in the future when the splitty is done.

[morts]

Well, start planning Cam - we have just put together the draft itinerary for next year. Maralinga

[morts]

Day 3 - Maree to Mungerannie

After a team photo at the start of the Birdsville Track we were underway on this iconic outback trail. I didn't know what to expect but it wasn't really all that bad apart from a few sections of bulldust that were well flagged and the lead car kept us informed of anything untoward over the cb radio anyway.

The only building at Mungerannie is a pub/fuel bowser/camp ground and there is also a thermal spring so the kids hit that while the 'adults' stayed indoors to keep their fluids up. The publican, Phil, was a real character and kept us entertained with yarns (and cheap drinks) into the wee hours.

The only problem with this place is the f*cking flys - they were shocking and the only respite came after dusk.

The fleet travelled well and the only issue was a lost cb aerial to one of the T25's and that was recovered by another car.

[morts]

Day 4 - Mungerannie to Birdsville

We had breakfast with the flys, packed up camp and headed off to Birdsville.

The Poole brothers in 'Grey Streak' won the award for first puncture of the trip and while changing their tyre noticed the rear passenger shocker mount was missing They kept going and this was later replaced in Birdsville.

My bus is still running its original fuel tank and we get around 300kms from a tank so we stopped about 30kms out of Birdsville to top up and as we came in to Birdsville we stopped to help Team Sierp in their country buggy 'Lucky' which had run out of fuel on the bitumen, only 3 kms out of town! And the first person who came up to us was the local copper who had a quick chat, shook his head and moved on.

When we all re-fuelled at the service station the owner's son, Sam, was mightily impressed and reckoned '..if a convoy of 15 four wheel drives had left Adelaide for Birdsville they wouldn't have all got here.'

Sam has serious VW form though as he specifically built a 1962 beetle 'Onslo' to cross the Simpson Desert unaided from Dalhousie Springs to Birdsville, which he did in September, 2012.

Upon checking the engine bay I noticed our battery was barely holding in place as the spot welds on the tray had sheared off. Sam said he would fabricate a bracket for us and bought it back within half an hour and he wouldn't accept anything for it. What a legend!

We ate at the iconic Birdsville Hotel that night and planned our attack on Little Red and Big Red sandhills the following day.

[damo99]

this looks like everybody haveing a great time .
i would love to do it

[morts]

Day 5 - Birdsville to Birdsville

Got up fairly early as today was the day we set out to conquer Little Red and Big Red. Little Red signifies the start of the Simpson Desert and is at the end about 30 K's of corrugated, shitty track and when it ends there is this thumping big sand hill.

Amazingly it began to rain, (sprinkle) the last thing any of us expected in the middle of Australia at this time of the year. It was quite surreal standing on top of Little Red with light rain and red sand underfoot - it kind of felt like being at the beach except there was nowhere for a swim!

Only seven vehicles got over Little Red and only two got back under their own steam as the return leg was more difficult. A couple of lads who we had been chatting to in the pub the night before came out in their fwd to have few laughs and rescue those who couldn't scramble back.
For the record the cars that made it both ways were the Syncro and the '59 beetle.

On the way back to Birdsville we had to pull over and strip down the carbies in the dual cab as they had got dirt in them while trying to hammer up the sandhill.

A camel pie from the bakery and then onto the pub again for tea - another great day in the Oz outback...

[morts]

Day 6 - Birdsville to Cordillo Downs

We are woken early by a group of motor bikes leaving the caravan park. I am not a bike guy but was really surprised by the number of bikes we have seen on our travels and some going solo as well.

It is a big desolate country and the plan is to make camp somewhere on the side of the road between Birdsville and Innaminka tonight. Just as we get inside the border of SA 'Grey Streak' had a minor engine problem but Keith sorts out a points problem in a jiffy and just as we pull over my daughter, on one of her first drives ever, gets a flat tyre in 'Cat in the Hat'!

We have lunch at the old Cordillo Downs shearing shed and it is hard to believe that this land could support sheep. At this point two of our crew have to leave and return home for work. There is a bit of a lump in the throat though as one of the vehicles is our Amarok support vehicle [I'm a] 'Tow Truck' and we do feel a little vunerable.

Once a campsite is chosen the country buggy is despatched to collect firewood. The only problem being in uloading the wood one of the amber indiactor lenses gets broken - oops!

After dinner a roaring fire is stoked up and while the kids toast marshmellows the adults enjoy banter under the milky way as a bottle of 60 year old bottle of port is drained - ah, bliss.

[froger]

Great adventure .. Good onyas !!

[morts]

Day 7 - Cordillo Downs to Innaminka via The Dig Tree

Got off just before 8.30am and drove through some really pretty red, sandy countryside with big blue skies and a slight chill in the air. One of our elder citizens blew a tyre and bent the rim on a set of tyres borrowed from a fellow Veedubber! Problem quickly fixed and back on the road.

Very deserted landscape apart from the occaisonal road train and we rocked into the famous Bourke and Wills Dig Tree on Coopers Creek for lunch. As we were getting ready to leave the Dig Tree a few of the kids played a very convincing practical joke saying they were the Innaminka Police and requesting everyone to vacate Channel 20 and to use Channel 21 on our UHF radios!

On arriving at Innaminka, also on Coopers Creek we were told to look out for dingos and to make sure we didn't leave any leather shoes outside our swags/tents as they take them apparently?? I got to see my first ever dingo in the wild. It just sauntered through our scattered campsite - warily but certainly not fearful of our bunch anyway.

[morts]

Day 8 - Innaminka to Cameron Corner

The day started off well enough with a $2.00 per 3 minute shower in a big busted arse concrete tank but at least the wasser was warm! I had my sunglasses on my head and managed to break one of the lenses on the shower curtain rail as I left - this was to be a portent of what was to come...

We had just begun to head sud west on the Strezlecki Track and were only about 2 clicks out of Innaminka when two road trains came roaring past us and the camber of the road was such that they were flicking up golf ball size rocks and yep, one came spearing through Cat in the Hat's driver's windscreen and front headlight glass. Craig was driving at the time and saw it coming, but even putting his hand up to the windscreen didn't help as the glass just shattered. We were sitting about third in the convoy and pulled over and put out a message on the radio and just as we signed off Kombi Joe put out the same call! Two road trains, two casulaties - c*nts! With a few bush repairs Cat in the Hat became a split splitscreen and Kombi Joe a very elegant splitscreen using their kid's cricket bat as a centre bar!

A quick stop at the Moomba viewing platform, complete with mobile phone coverage, a cuppa and we were underway again heading towards Merty Merty Station.

After a bush stop for lunch it was onto Cameron Corner where the borders of QLD, NSW & SA meet. We had some great sandy, smooth and hilly roads to test our vehicles on and it resembled a roller coaster at times, much to the excitement of the younger members of our crew. I was driving the double cab on this leg and Emma and I accidently got airborne over a few rises - don't know what happened to the splitty?? We had also driven the country buggy and beetle 'Deeken' the previous two days and both cars were well sorted.

The last 40 kms were exteremely rutted and when we arrived our hands felt like they had been holding a jackhammer all day and our ears were ringing but there were no flies!! We were all tired but the hospitality was warm and the beers and bundy were cold as our group re-lived another epic day of our VW adventure in the outback.

[Kombi Trip]

Outstanding Morts!

[Steve Keeley]

Vicarious it may have been ,but it is hard not to feel the urge for one more adventure!!!! Michael and crew, you have shown us all that where there is a will, the vw will show the way!

[morts]

Thanks fellas - it was an epic trip!

Day 9 - Cameron Corner to White Cliffs

The day began with another spectacular sunrise about 6.00am and after packing our meagre belongings we drove a lazy 250 metres or so to the ‘real’ Cameron Corner where there is an official geographical marker identifying the meeting point of the South Australian, New South Wales and Queensland borders for a photo shoot.

From here it was into New South Wales and rough roads. ‘Cat in the Hat’ again became the bus of a thousand rattles as we bumped and grinded our way towards Tibooburra over the red, hilly and severely corrugated terrain. The local kangaroo population were prolific early on and quite a few of them were happily playing dodge the Volkswagen. For such a gracious and captivating animal when in motion it is a pity they were designed with such a small prefrontal cortex...

The town of Tibooburra is simply and aptly named meaning ‘Place of many rocks.’ One old Tibooburra local asked about the Karmann Ghia as he had never seen such a car in his lifetime! The upside to our visit was that our RATeX event received good coverage and photos in the May 2015 edition of ‘The Corner Talk,’ the local Tibooburra newspaper.

Once we had refuelled and emptied out the local bakery we set out to explore the immediate vicinity before setting off for White Cliffs.

At this point my and Emma’s world changed. Tom, Woody and Annie from 'Gus Bus' took over the reins of ‘Cat in the Hat’, Craig joined Mike in ‘Horizon Hunter’ while we taxied out in ‘Gus Bus.’ Surely these two vehicles couldn’t have come from the same manufacturer? Gus was quiet, rode the bumps beautifully, had comfortable seats, music and ample legroom. Emma was even quoted as saying, ‘Dad, I didn’t know kombis could be this quiet!’:lol:

On this leg of the journey between Tibooburra and White Cliffs there was lots of road kill and there were wedge tailed eagles either dining, circling or just observing us as we cruised past. We seemed to hold no fear for these magnificent birds and at one point we had a bird in full flight right in front of us for about 50 metres and it’s wingspan was wider than the Kombi.

During the final run into White Cliffs the roads were quite reasonable, however the creek crossings ranged from benign to quite treacherous and they were numerous in number so great care was required.

About 20 kilometres from White Cliffs the five tail cars had become detached from the main group so we pulled over for a few beers before the final assault. We entered White Cliffs in the late afternoon and it appeared as a quaint, slightly dilapidated frontier town as evidenced by the tumbleweeds blowing through the old abandoned Shell roadhouse.