From up north, the group tracked south
to experience Uluru, the Olgas and Kings
Canyon. At Uluru, Hank says, school holidays
and the impending ban on climbing made for
unexpectedly large crowds. “It was like Queen
Street, watching people walk up and down the
rock,” he says.
Kings Canyon itself was epic; as was the
Mereenie Loop, until one of the vehicles lost
its power steering to the corrugations. Hank
had to draw on his experience to get them out
of that fix:
“We managed to get a little bit of power
steering fluid and every 20 or 30 kilometres
we’d put a little bit in and feed it through, so
it didn't burn out the power steering pump.
Finally, we got through to Alice Springs with
the vehicle on a hoist.”
“I wouldn’t call Mereenie Loop a 4WD track
as such,” Hank reflects. “It’s just a very badly
corrugated road. One of the worst in Australia.
Lots of people lose their suspension; there
were broken down campers and damaged
vehiclesonthesideoftheroad.”
Gorgeous Glen Helen GorgeUbirr iNear McArthur River Crossing, as the sun goes down