1644bulldust
DEAN MELLORTHE HIGHS AND LOWS OF FOUR-WHEELIN’.
http://www.4X4australia.com.auP
EOPLE are naturally competitive, so
it’s little wonder that, like explorers
of old, four-wheel drivers tend to lay
claim to finding things first, crossing
things first, climbing things first and
descending into things first.
The only thing I ever did first when four-
wheel driving was to be part of a team
that busted through the scrub in the Gulf
of Carpentaria and rediscovered one of
Carruthers and Wells’ 1886 mile markers,
but all credit for that experience must go
to Ron Moon, who did all the planning for
the trip and led the expedition.
Of course, if a ‘doing it first’
achievement is out of the question, then
you can always lay claim to something
else, such as travelling the farthest,
climbing the highest or descending the
deepest depths.
Now, I’ve done some pretty big trips in
my time, but I’m certain a three-day drive
from Mount Isa to Sydney or a another
three-day run from Sydney to Perth is
not nearly as far as many of you lot have
travelled (although, the drive south was
in a Defender and the drive west was in
a Frontera, so both seemed much farther
than they were). The longest I’ve gone
without seeing another vehicle off-roadwonder it has such a modest population.
I kept a close eye on the altimeter as we
left town, counting down the metres as we
returned to a more palatable sub-4000m.
I’m sure that some of you can lay claim
to having driven higher than 4500m.
According to that wonderful source of all
things true, Wikipedia, there are several
drivable roads that run through passes
higher than 5500m, most of which are
between India and Tibet. But if you’ve not
four-wheeled outside of Australia, you’re
at least 2500m shy of experiencing a
seriously high-altitude track.
As for driving at low altitudes, I’ve gone
just about as deep as you can go on land.
In 2007, I joined a few mates on a drive
through Death Valley in California. At
its lowest point, Death Valley drops to an
impressive 86m below sea level.
“Wait!” I here you say. “I’ve driven lower
than that.”
Well hang on. So have I.
Back in 2000, I drove down near the
shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan at an
altitude of 430m below sea level. As the
Dead Sea Depression is the lowest place
on earth, I’m pretty certain no one has
driven a four-wheel drive lower than I
have ... at least on land.is a week or so along the Madigan Line in
the Simpson Desert. But when it comes
to four-wheel driving at altitude, I’ll
definitely have a few of you licked.
How does a short-of-breath 4500m
sound? Yep, at this altitude, breathing
can be a bit of a task, especially if you’ve
driven to these lofty heights in a relatively
short period of time, not allowing your
body to acclimatise. And so it was back
in 2006, when I started feeling quite
dizzy after visiting San Vicente, Bolivia,
a town of 104 hardy souls who live at an
altitude of 4502m. So dizzy, in fact, that I
had to hand over the keys of the Rangie
I was driving to current 4X4 Editor Matt
Raudonikis and slip into the relative
safety of the passenger’s seat.
The interesting thing about San Vicente
is that it’s supposedly where Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid were killed in
1908; although, on hearing this, William
A Pinkerton dismissed it as ‘fake news’
and the Pinkerton Detective Agency never
called off its search for the two outlaws.
San Vicente truly is an inhospitable
place, with the high altitude, strong
winds, barren landscape and sub-zero
temperatures combining to make it
somewhat less than comfortable; it’s littleThe Rangie in Bolivia.