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Old 12-19-2017, 11:24 PM   #41
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Time to stop for the night. Free camping is fun, most times. This place is Bonney Creek, where we were watched by a family of wild dingoes ('wild'? they are all wild, even the so-called tame ones).
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Old 12-19-2017, 11:35 PM   #42
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After our run-in with the mad woman at a Mt. Isa caravan park, who punched an ice pick-like instrument into the side wall of our tyre, necessitating a stop at Cloncurry to find a replacement (you don't travel in outback Australia withou a spare tyre, that is madness), we camped by the river outside town. What a great spot it was with a terrif sunset, yet again.
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Old 12-19-2017, 11:38 PM   #43
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McInlay is a small town between Cloncurry and Winton. Apparently, if the roadhouse sign is to be believed, it was one of the locations for the Crocodile Dundee films.
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Old 12-27-2017, 08:29 AM   #44
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What an awesome adventure! Great pics
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:01 AM   #45
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Thank You!
Very interesting and super great pictures.
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:54 AM   #46
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very nice pictures. Thank you for posting them.
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Old 12-27-2017, 12:46 PM   #47
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I remember hearing somewhere that left hand drive cars are not permitted in Oz. Did you buy your truck in country or did you import it (and convert it)?
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Old 12-27-2017, 01:00 PM   #48
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OK, here it is....
I will take your word for it. I thought there was a grey object there to the left if the area you indicate but it is probably a rock. Thanks for the pictures!
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Old 12-27-2017, 05:54 PM   #49
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I will take your word for it. I thought there was a grey object there to the left if the area you indicate but it is probably a rock. Thanks for the pictures!
Zoom in and you will see the roo.
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Old 12-27-2017, 06:26 PM   #50
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I remember hearing somewhere that left hand drive cars are not permitted in Oz. Did you buy your truck in country or did you import it (and convert it)?
Left hand drives are permitted, providing the vehicle is older than 30 years, has a GVM of under 4.5 tonnes and was originally LH drive (not converted from an originally RH). All later models must be converted to RH drive. There are heaps of LH models in Oz, mainly (of course) the 'big yank tank' as we call them, (like the big Chev's and Caddy's with the helipad sized trunk lids) of the 50's, 60's & 70's and get hired a lot as props for movies made here.

My truck was originally imported new, converted by a company in Queensland, bought by some dude who used it as real work truck and put something like 150,000km on it. It was then sold to a chap in South Australia who used it as a toy, dragging a 30 foot boat across unmade roads at up to 140km/hr to a boat ramp about 50kms from his home. When I bought it, it had 280,000 km's on the clock. Still looking good and going strong. As we drove it home, a few things started to show up that were not obvious during the 'test drive'.

The truck is the long tub, crew cab LS model and we paid $40,000 for it, which was $35,000 cheaper than the nearest competitor (which was a very pretty short tub version with a bunch of modern 'upgrades' made by some young dude who used it as a show pony and dragster). To get it roadworthy and legal for registering in Victoria (SA has different rules and regs) plus a few fixes, cost me another $20,000, which was both a bit of a shock and an enormous amount of money to spend on a used vehicle. But the way we looked at it was we needed something this big and powerful to pull our brand new FR Wildwood, a new vehicle would cost us in excess of $140,000 and that after all, the thing was designed to do 1 million km's and had only reached a quarter of its life span. We were and still are happy with it. Pulling 5 tonne of van is a breeze, even on our roads.
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Old 12-28-2017, 02:45 AM   #51
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Zoom in and you will see the roo.
Did zoom, didn’t see.

Put my glasses on, still hidden from me. Grey?
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Old 12-28-2017, 06:57 AM   #52
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Did zoom, didn’t see.

Put my glasses on, still hidden from me. Grey?
I'll give you one more try.....
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Old 12-28-2017, 07:41 AM   #53
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Left hand drives are permitted, providing the vehicle is older than 30 years, has a GVM of under 4.5 tonnes and was originally LH drive (not converted from an originally RH). All later models must be converted to RH drive. There are heaps of LH models in Oz, mainly (of course) the 'big yank tank' as we call them, (like the big Chev's and Caddy's with the helipad sized trunk lids) of the 50's, 60's & 70's and get hired a lot as props for movies made here.

My truck was originally imported new, converted by a company in Queensland, bought by some dude who used it as real work truck and put something like 150,000km on it. It was then sold to a chap in South Australia who used it as a toy, dragging a 30 foot boat across unmade roads at up to 140km/hr to a boat ramp about 50kms from his home. When I bought it, it had 280,000 km's on the clock. Still looking good and going strong. As we drove it home, a few things started to show up that were not obvious during the 'test drive'.

The truck is the long tub, crew cab LS model and we paid $40,000 for it, which was $35,000 cheaper than the nearest competitor (which was a very pretty short tub version with a bunch of modern 'upgrades' made by some young dude who used it as a show pony and dragster). To get it roadworthy and legal for registering in Victoria (SA has different rules and regs) plus a few fixes, cost me another $20,000, which was both a bit of a shock and an enormous amount of money to spend on a used vehicle. But the way we looked at it was we needed something this big and powerful to pull our brand new FR Wildwood, a new vehicle would cost us in excess of $140,000 and that after all, the thing was designed to do 1 million km's and had only reached a quarter of its life span. We were and still are happy with it. Pulling 5 tonne of van is a breeze, even on our roads.
Thanks for the heads up. I recall hearing that trucks of this size are shockingly expensive in Australia and yours is a prime example.
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Old 12-28-2017, 07:44 AM   #54
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I'll give you one more try.....
Tiny little fellow!
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Old 12-28-2017, 11:59 AM   #55
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I'll give you one more try.....
Well, now I _can_ see it! You are vert patient. I noticed the black shadow, easy on a field of grey, orange and tan, but could not determine that the grey object was not part of the shadow.
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Old 12-28-2017, 03:48 PM   #56
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Thanks for the heads up. I recall hearing that trucks of this size are shockingly expensive in Australia and yours is a prime example.
I think 'shocking' is a maybe not the right word. HORRENDOUS is better.
A Chevy Silverado in the States (from what I hear) is around $60k. In Oz it is around $140k to $170k. But remember there are considerations in that difference.... RHD conversion and local law compliance costs, transport, freight and insurance costs and import duties. The speculative nature of the investment by the importer (after all, unless the vehicle has been pre-sold, it is a (small) gamble as to how long before it will be sold - the car salesman's lament) needs to covered, as well as a consideration for profit, which depends on how greedy the buggers are.
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Old 12-28-2017, 03:49 PM   #57
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Tiny little fellow!
Typically the tallest of these particular rock wallabies is about waist high.
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Old 12-28-2017, 03:50 PM   #58
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Well, now I _can_ see it! You are vert patient. I noticed the black shadow, easy on a field of grey, orange and tan, but could not determine that the grey object was not part of the shadow.
The very same problems we have in spotting them. They are smarter than the average bear Boo Boo.
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Old 03-02-2018, 09:59 PM   #59
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Time to add a few more shots from our half-loop trip.
The side trip from the Sturt Highway at Threeways was to take us as far as Longreach. This is the birthplace Qantas Airways. Not a lot to see here except maybe the Stockman's Hall of Fame, the Qantas Founders Outback Museum and the famous Thomson River.

We did the Thomson Belle paddle wheel cruise and bush tucker dinner thing. Turned out way better than expected. The banter and jokes in raw outback Aussie accents is always a treat. The Kinnon family started the tourism thing in 2006 to help supplement the unpredictable returns from their grazing business. Great food and really funny stories and jokes.

The white cage in the middle pic is a croc catcher. There are plenty around and the salties don't care what or who they chomp on. Even though a lot of rivers and water holes are managed by the Fisheries and Wildlife folk, moving crocs to less dangerous (to tourists) places, they never get them all.
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Old 03-02-2018, 10:11 PM   #60
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Between Mt. Isa and Threeways, we stopped for an overnighter at Camooweal Billabong (14km from the WA border, population varies between 100 and 300). Saw these two brolgas and managed to use them to frame the rising moon. Second shot is sunrise.
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