Road trip - Mount Isa to Adelaide 26 hours

[BAGT514]

With the opertunity to get my FG GTP 335 fitted with a KPM Streetfighter cat back exhaust, being able to catch up with my family & friends and needing to put some more k's under the GTP's lease requirement the decision was made to drive the car down from Mount Isa to Adelaide in my time off. I work 8 days on - 6 days off but I lose half a day travelling from Mount Isa in Queensland to Newman in WA.
Day 1. Friday..
I left Mount Isa at midnight with a full tank of Vortex 95 (the best I can get on my Caltex Star Card in Mount Isa). The road from Mount Isa to Cammoweal is smooth and comfortable to drive on. As you head out of town the speed limit is 100kms/hr but past George Fisher minesite it reverts back to the state limit of 110kms/hr. However the road has a few herds of cattle along the way - the worst lot is the narrower section about 50kms out of town. I am lucky today as they are all laying down on the verge of the road - not in the middle of it like normal..
Cammoweal is just 180kms from Mount Isa and about 5 kms from the NT border. As I roll through at 1.45am the town is dead and deserted.... I get the cruise control back up to speed and head to the border. Normally I take photo's of my cars at the border crossings but it is pitch black and isn't worth the effort. As soon as I cross the border the road turns to absolute ****. With the floods that came through a few years ago and washed out the road - temporary patches and pot hole fills are all over the road. There are sections of road that I just had to keep turning the stereo up until i couldn't hear the banging of the wheels down on the different surfaces. However, as soon as you cross the border the speed limit changes to 130.. With all the wild life around I err on the side of caution and keep to 120. At 2am the road is dead. It is hundreds of km's before I see another vehicle. The GTP is very comfortable and soaks up the road with ease. Nearly 300 k's later I reach Barkly Homestead (NT) which is closed...
I pull up in the carpark of the servicestation for a few hours and catch up on some sleep. Being a novated lease - my car comes with a Caltex Star fuel card which is absolutely useless here. When the servo opens at 6.30 I pull up to the bowser to see both unleaded & premium unleaded are equally priced at $1.99/litre. I put 20 litres in to get me to the next decently priced fuel stop - Tennant Creek (NT). There are a few old steam engines and steam driven tractors in the carpark. Worth a look if you are coming through.
The sun is up so I crank the GTP up to 130kms/hr on the cruise. It had used an average of 11.2 l/100kms to get to Barkly Homestead. At 130 the instantanious l/100kms jumps up to 12.5 on the flats and jumps to 13-13.5 up the hills. 3-ways crossing comes up soon (I would not recommend anyone filling up at 3-ways as the fuel prices are terrible). I turn south and head towards Tennant Creek to top the tank up again. My Navman is telling me there is a Caltex servicestation there. I roll through and find a motel where the service station once resided... I head to the BP complex and fill my car with 98 octane go-juice at $1.96/l.

[BAGT514]

I had been warned that there were scrub fires from Tennant creek down to the SA border and not 50kms down the road the sky was full of thick white smoke from pillars rising on the western side of the road. At 130kms/hr the GTP is eating up the K's comfortably but I slowed down when I saw this in front of me

Amazingly - there were cars pulled over on the side of the road filming the wildfires coming at them and consuming all the trees in its wake. Stupid....
For the next 300km/s the scene on the eastern side of the Stuart highway was the same. The spinfex grass was all gone - the hills and landscape behind scorched black. To think some of these fires were deliberately lit is very dissappointing

I continue past the Devil's Marbles and into the hills leading into Alice Springs. The side of the road has various POS cars that didn't make the journey and are either raped & pillaged of all their good bits or just torched. Not any of them would be worth of finding their way into a garage to be repaired anyway - but I was dissapointed to find a 5yo Pajero with all its windows smashed in and every panel caved in on the side of the road..

[vhcbm]

Keep up the photos, very interesting.

Did a similar sort of drive in April 2010, Didn't see a car for 150km's as well when I was on the Kakadu Hwy from Jabiru to Pine Creek...Very interesting experience at 130 where the FG Falcon's brakes got a full work out because some sort of bull came out of no where.

Good luck with the trip!

[BAGT514]

I come into Alice Springs crazing Hungry Jacks (withdrawl symptoms from living in Mount Isa for too long where we don't have one). The car is telling me it has 60kms left before empty so I drop into HJ's for lunch/tea. It is not cooked properly and tastes like crap and totally ruins my memories of HJ's in Adelaide
I devise a plan to beat the lack of Caltex's from the NT down. I drop into the local Alice Springs Supercheap and buy 4 20lt plastic fuel cans. I go back to the Caltex (which is across the road from HJ's) and put 62 lts of Vortex 98 in the car and 80 lts of fuel into the jerry cans. This means the kms match up with the fuel usage on the Star card ...
As I walk into the service station to pay for the fuel - there is a family of Aboriginals in there. The smell is that bad that I nearly thor up and have to step outside for air until they leave. The clerk laughs at me and tells me "It's like that here - that's why the airconditioner blows from behind the desk first..."
I top up with Mother energy drinks, some water and snacks and continue down the highway. The hills south of Alice Springs are fantastic and at 130kms/hr they are fun to drive through in the GTP. The service station south both north & south of Alice Springs along the Stuart highway once had other uses - as telegraph stations. This one is about 80kms south of Alice


The hills start smoothing out and the landscape becomes flatter. The best bit about NT and their 130km/hr limit is the space they clear either side of the road. Should there be wildlife on the side of the road they will not creep out on you from behind a shrub or bush. At 130km/hr I come quickly up behind a carload of Aboriginals in a Maroon VS Commodore with the windows down cruising at 70kms/hr. To say it scared the **** out of me would be an understatement - closing speed of 60kms/hr...

At 130kms/hr the GTP is getting a range of just under 560kms per tank

[DJM83]

Nice pics, looks like a decent trip.

[Aussie.Battler]

I thought we called them "bush fires" in Australia?

[Professor Farnsworth]

love a good road trip pictorial

[BAGT514]

As you cross the SA/NT border there is a nice parking bay on the left with information on the Stuart highway. If you haven't been here before it is worth pulling in and having a look. I have done this road quite a few times and don't even stop to get my border sign photos. As you drop into SA the speedlimit changes back to 110kms/hr. The clearance to the road is far closer and the animals tend to be a little closer to the road. It is getting darker and the normal road traffic is petering out - it is just me and the road trains now. My hand held CB's come into play as I get road condition / animal / police updates from all the north bound truckies and warn the south bound truckies that I am coming around them. All the tripple road train drivers appologise about the sway from their last trailers nearly driving me off the road. to be honest I was more concerned about the stone chips from when the rear axle drops onto the verge. The supercharged FG is just so much fun to overtake road trains with - 100kms/hr behind them and then 180kms/hr as you pass the prime mover. All truckies appreciate you getting around them fast (so they don't worry about a rouge trailer sideswiping you) and they appreciate the call that they can use their spotlights again...

The road loses its vegitation and becomes just spinifex & smaller shrubs as you head further south from Marla Well to Cooper Pedy. As I drive down the highway I look at the signs for all the small service stations - Mobil, Shell, Independant... My Caltex fuel card is next to useless up here so I continue along the highway past Cooper Pedy knowing I have 80lts of fuel in the boot. I found out later there was a 24hr Caltex there...
I get about 80km/s out of Cooper Pedy and pull over to the side of the road and add 2 Jerry cans into the tank. I continue down the highway until the roadside vegitation starts becoming more prolific as you get closer to Glendambo. When I drove the LandRover Discovery from Adelaide to Mount Is aa few months ago I had a kangaroo commit suicide on the bull bar so I decide to slow right down to 110kms/hr through the inland salt lake areas. I pull into Glendambo (which is closed) and find a Shell and BP. I pour the last 2 cannisters of Vortex 98 into the car

[flappist]

Barkly at night.....brave man.

During the day......oh the memories of (//), that was the first place I exceeded 250km/h in my GT-P way back in 2003.

Lets hope the forces of evil are defeated shortly and nanniness banished forever.

[BAGT514]

I spend half an hour in Glendambo. just streching my legs (and being mindful of the point to point camera's we now have on our main highways. My calf muscles are hurting from being in the same sitting position (from both plane flights from Newman to Mount Isa and the roadtrip). The car is not making significantly better fuel consumption at 120 compared to 130 in the NT. I thought the colder dense air would have helped.

I head south from Glendambo through some great country side and rolling hills and corners towards Pimba (the turn off to Woomera & Roxby Downs) where Spud's roadhouse is open 24 hours a day. The fuel prices are exhorberent there but you can get a few drinks from the bar... I drive on past knowing that Port Augusta is only 180km/s down the road and the fuel prices will be much better.
As I roll into the hills just north of Port Augusta to see the lights of the old ship building city I realise I have not seen 1 live kangaroo the whole trip. Plenty of dead ones though. There was more cattle between Glendambo and Pimba but skip stayed away (thankfully). I have managed to be behind my schedule by 3 1/2 hours....

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by flappist

Barkly at night.....brave man.

During the day......oh the memories of (//), that was the first place I exceeded 250km/h in my GT-P way back in 2003.

Lets hope the forces of evil are defeated shortly and nanniness banished forever.

Whilst living up there, I wound this \/ off the clock regular like......

Even gave this \/ a good hammering at times:

[Auslandau]

Great trip report .... last time I did the Alice Springs to the SA boarder was a few months before they dropped the limit. Did it in an AU .... would have been better in a 335 OH! I did stop at the boarder being the tourists we are!

[mik]

road trips rock, nice write up.

[BAGT514]

I pull into Port Augusta at 11pm ready to fill the GTP up and head those last 360 kms to Adelaide. I drive past the Shell roadhouse (open) The Mobil (closed) McDonalds (open) BP (open) and Caltex (closed)..... This Starcard is next to useless on the Stuart highway. I dip my hand into my pocket again and fill up the GTP at $1.76 lt at the Shell. At this stage my shoulders and forearms are painfull. My RH calf is just painfull (why Ford did you delete the footrest after the XF series?????) I top up the car with energy drinks and chocolate - ring the oldies to warn them I will be in a 3am instead of midnight and point the GTP towards my home town of Adelaide.
The road beween Port Augusta and Port Pirie is a great drive. Passing lanes every 30 km/s, some nice rolling hills and every now & then the occassional kangaroo or rock wallabie. Not tonight though as I drive past the Mobil before the Port Pirie turnoff which has a man fabricated from 44 gallon drums... All the service station here are closed (not that there is a Caltex on the highway anyway)
As I head toward Crystal Brook the road becomes engulfed with fog. I haven't driven in for for over 10 years and I am mildly amused by it until I cant see 10 meters in front of the car with just the fog lights on. I drop the speed back to 100kms/hr and cruise through that fantastic stretch that is between Port Pirie and the outer suburbs of Adelaide. There are point to point cameras here as well but at my reduced speed I don't really have to worry about them.
The road turns to 4 lanes just over 100kms from Adelaide and the GTP is quite happy plodding along at 100 with the stereo on flat out playing high energy music to keep me awake. I head down the South road bypass to head to the Southern suburbs of Adelaide to find the road ripped up and ****** house with more potholes than I have seen on the whole trip down. At 40kms/hr my suspension is banging loudly and makes my muscles hurt worse. I pray for my old bed....
I cross Adelaide to Morphett Vale where my parents live. It's now 5am and people are heading to work. My carbon fibre look car bra is now just a sea of dead bugs in there brown and yellow colouring. As I turn into my Parents drive I have a reality hit that i have done 2800kms + in less that 26 hours.

And I have to get up in 2 hours to get to KPM by 9am.......

[BAGT514]

The return trip

I had my 1 day stop over in Adelaide getting the Streetfighter exhaust fitted by KPM and then caught up with a few of my close friends. Not as many as I would have like however but this is what happens when you live in FNQ....
Knowing now that the Caltex at Port Augusta opens at 6.30am I shoot off at 2am SA time.I avoid South road and all its repairs and fill up at the last Caltex service station as you leave Adelaide on Port Wakefeild road. I probably spent half an hour here as I had a small crowd gathering around my car _ "is that the new supercharged one?" is the first question I get asked. I wild up pulling off the freshly cleaned car bra so that I can open the bonnet and show the people the underbonnet of the FG 335. I hit fog around Wild Horse Plains (just north of Adelaide) which continues on until Port Pirie again. The point to point camera's still worry me so I keep the speed bellow 120....
I pulled into Port Augusta and got myself a healthy feed of McDonalds before idling across the road to fill up the car at Caltex.

Once fed and fueled I headed up the Stuart highway towards Cooper Pedy with 4 full Jerry cans in the boot. About 10 kms from Pimba (The Woomera/Roxby downs turn off) you get to see some of the majestic salt lakes that are predominent out here.
Salt lake racing anyone?


The road from Pimba to Cooper Pedy is more fun during the day than watching for roo's at night. It is just drizzling which makes it more enjoyable.
I have even turned off the stereo to listen to my new exhaust note. I see a VZ Commodore burnt out on the side of the road (right on the white line) and wonder if this is the same arsonists that have been burning the older shells?
Cooper Pedy by day is far more interesting than at night. You know you are coming in there as piles of while copile (clay) start littering the country side. I have been passing grey nomads in their 4wd's and caravans and when I pull into Cooper Pedy most of them come over to say how nice my car is...



As I head closer to the NT border i keep my eyes peeled for the old car shells I remember seeing on my various trips. These ones are just before the border....There are plenty more out there




this is a much older 50's to early 60's?


And the old Val didn't look that bad at all

[TheInterceptor]

Awesome...gotta love a road trip.

Youve done well doing that many kms in that time.

[BAGT514]

As I come into the hills south of Alice Springs I realise how lucky out NT friends really are. The Stuart highway is a great piece of road with plenty of cleared area either side of the road. the surface is relativelt smooth and it is well marked (paint/refectors/signage). I pass the Cannonball memorial where the Japanese driver wiper out the checkpoint officials in his F40 Ferrari and the run into Alice Springs is just a joy from there. The fires have come around Alice Springs and some of the old metal is now visable from road now the scrub has been burnt back. I could have pulled over half a dozen more times but the plan was always to get some sleep before I had to fly back to work. The drizzle was starting to turn into rain as well. I pass a police car doing 135kms/hr. He waves in appreciation. I laugh that I can pass a cop car at this speed and not get locked up...
I come over the hill to find a grey nomad in an new bus (Greyhound style) with a 28ft boat on the back. He is doing 76kms/hr and the ABS gets a genuine workout. At least the windscreen is starting to clear up - I have run out of water in my washer bottle...

It is getting darker as I head out of Alice after topping up my tank and 1 Jerry can. The trip meter is starting to tell me I can get 650kms from a tank. I am not sure if that is the computer evolving as the motor loosens up (it has just clicked over 10,000kms) or the exhaust is making a difference or the Vortex 98 is helping. I am not sure about my range or the animals so I keep the GT on cruise at 110kms/hr.

[BAGT514]

The run to Tennant Creek & 3-Ways crossing is black. The scrub on both sides of the road is without any spinifex. I pass Devil's Marbles and wished it was lighter. This is the 6th time I have driven past and not got photo's. This is nature at it's strangest with the rounded rocks stacked on top of each other.
The batteries on my hand held CB's have gone flat. Communication with the truckies was a welcome releif during the long streches on the way down. Now the 16days worth of music on my IPOD is all getting a bit mundane so I turn it off and listen to the exhaust for a while. I pass a burnt out section of bush around Aileron and see what looks to be an old Worsley 100m off the road. Another wreck looked like a Mk 10 Jag. I really was getting too tired to stop.
On the way down I made it from tennat Creek to Alice Springs with 60km's to spare. I now have 120km's of range left when I hit Tennant Creek.
I follow a tripple road train through Tennant Creek and when I get to the other side I look for an opertunity to pass. He is driving in the middle of the road and his rear trailer is swaying from side to side spraying my car with gravel. I wouldn't have minded so much but it was a tripple fuel tanker....
I lined him up about 2 kms from the 3-ways turn off. I hope I woke him up as I thundered past doint the double ton
I got 80kms from the Barkly roadhouse and decided I had to get out and strech my legs again. My right calf has been hurting since before Adelaide. My shoulders since I started the return trip. I pour 2 jerry cans of Vortex 98 into the tank and continue on.
Half way between Barkly Road house and Cammoweal and I start getting tired. The GTP is very comfortable and smooth to drive in but I am tired and my body aches all over. I find a parking bay and nap for an hour before hitting the road again. At night there is nothing like the outback for gazing into the sky. The milky way is very visable with no ambient light around you to distract.
I hit the NT/QLD border at 11pm and pull up at the closed Cammoweal service station to pour another 20lts of Vortex 98 into the tank to see me through. The trip meter was telling me nearly 700 kms at the last top up - the fuel economy is great. I ring my girl and tell her I am 2 hours away. She is relieved to hear her mad man is nearly home.
The run to Mount Isa is nearly uneventfull. No kangaroo's the whole trip (live ones anyway). I see a fleet of 4 fire engines travelling towards Cammoweal about 50kms from Mount Isa and when I come over the hill I see why. The storm that I had been chasing across the border had a little bit of lightning in it. The side of the hill was ablaze and the fire trucks had possibly run out of water fighting it. I blast towards the lights of the George Fisher mine just out of Mount Isa and see the herd of cattle grazing right at the road verge on the inside of a blind corner. Luckily they were unpreterbed by the GTP rushing past.
The last straight into Mount Isa suddenly filled with traffic - mine vehicles heading to George Fisher. I wound the windows down again and slowed down as I entered the outskirts of The Isa. 80kms seems like walking pace after 6000kms of open road cruising. I pull the car into the drive and I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.....

[Pub247]

Nice road trip.
2 mates and i did 3300klm in 36 hours Sunshine coast in QLD to Uluru. Was a good trip hit 3 kangaroos did some nice damage to the old mazda 929 but good fun all the same

[Matty4]

Excellent write-up and road trip...
Last month a mate and I travelled from Melbourne to Yaamba (just north of Rockhampton) in 22 hours straight before stopping at the pub for the night and then onto Bowen the next morning. 2 weeks in Bowen and then did it again coming home.

Gotta love a road trip.....

[FPV8U]

Ahhh i love long road trips, drove from WA to Vic with my old man when moving back home and really enjoyed it, drove straight from Norseman to Gippsland.

Only think i would enjoy it in a fun car like the GT or in my case the XR8 though, bugger it in something boring like a camry.

[Streets]

Good write-up, it was great to read. Love road trips. Awesome car too!

[cheap]

Next time you get a chance, on a cloudy night somewhere betwen Cammoweal and Barky roadhouse.

There will be no other traffic, stop by the side of the road, get out of the car, turn your engine off and kill all your lights, but do not let go of the car door!

You can wait minutes hoping your eyes adjust to the darkness but they wont, it is the nearest thing to total darkness I've every experienced.

[FPVGT500]

You sure you stuck to 130 I wouldnt lol

[andrich]

Awesome write up mate!!! Not to many better cars to do it in then a 335 GTP.

Cheers

[Pub247]

Originally Posted by FPVGT500

You sure you stuck to 130 I wouldnt lol

Haha good thing about when we did it they still had the open limits topped the 929 out at 185klm after that it was taking too long and getting too floaty. We drove past a cop doing 150kph and he flashed his lights we pulled over and he never came back

[warmwindsor]

great read.....love a road trip

[jobeli]

Great reading, love those long road trips. Week before last, I went...

Monday 11:30AM Melb>Hume>Pacific Hwy>Surfers Paradise Tues 12:30PM, with 5 hour sleep at Coolongolook (near port Maquarie).
Thursday 11:30AM Surfers>Pacific>Hume>Melb @ Friday 1:00PM, with a 6 hour sleep at Holbrook (near Albury).

No V8 GTP though. Did it solo in my Merc VITO 111 (2.1 manual 6 spd LWB diesel) van. Cruise abt 110, and about 115-120 on freeways (110 limit). Around 1730 kms each way, in around 18 hrs driving time. Fuel use was 7.4 l/100k for the trip, and got my 45 year old body there and back relaxed and in great shape, although a little bit stiff when first getting out.

I used to do the uber early 3AM starts, but found that was extremely tiring and dangerous. Found myself hallucinating/dozing by 9AM. Now I leave around midday and drive till around midnight, perfect, far more relaxing, and don't get heavy eyes this way.

Done the trip plenty of times, about 3 or 4 times a year, and in different cars. The best vehicle for a long marathon trip, bar none, is one that u can stetch out and lie down in. Foam matteress, sheets, doona and pillow from home too. Reach your sleep point at a time when you naturally sleep. Beautiful. You can't sleep PROPERLY in a front seat. Long fuel range of 1000+ kms helps too.

Long trips are great, but don't push the boundaries. Fatigue is a killer.

[Cúl-Báire]

Fantastic write up; like Jobeli I love long road trips; actually just got home from a drive from the Gold Coast, to Port Douglas and back via the Bruce Hwy / Captian Cook Hwy.

The XR6 used 10.7l/100km loaded with gear and a fair bit of use of the loud peddle during overtaking (and a lot of stop start due to road works).

[sprint347dave]

Sounds a little slow for my liking,,,i did sydney to alice springs when there was no speed limit in the NT,, driving the Sprint,,cruise set on 200kmph,,Heaps of fun.