Video: Homeward bound, the leaving of Hanging Rock.

[loose cannon]

I'll understand if this video seems boring as watching mud dry but thought some might enjoy a view of an extremely remote and desolate region of outback Oz.

For me this video represents the beginning of the end of my desert journey as Hanging Rock in Rudall NP was not only the most remote spot I visited but the last remote spot before I started the long trek home.

Alone, and hundreds of kilometres from anywhere that even vaguely resembles civilization on a track that occasionaly disappeared from view was an intimidating and exhilarating experience that I'll treasure for a long time.

The video runs for 20 minutes with most interest certainly in the first 10 minutes as I bang crash my way along an overgrown track before dropping down into the dry and sandy Rudall river bed for a run of a few kms before locating the track again. The scenery is pretty average but I can promise you the adrenaline levels were pretty damn high!


So, if you have the available bandwidth and a low enough boredom threshold then come for a ride in the cab of the Hilux.

(I can't work out how to link to just the video so the link goes to the page, video is last frame on right. It's a page on my site where I dump stuff that doesn't belong anywhere in particular)

ishootbirds.smugmug.com/Other/My-Smug-Mug/

[millicat]

I stuck with you for 10 mins Mick and then skipped and moved a bit further up .. and then more .. lol .. it was like ground hog day. .. swear we had passed the same bushes over and over.
Was good to see though but really wanted some Leyland Brothers commentary. ps: I would have got terribly lost because the track didn't look like a track at all and then there was the area that had no bushes and tyre tracks going in three different directions pretty much and that would have thrown me lol.

[loose cannon]

Thanks for viewing and commenting Anna.

Agree with the ground hog day comment, plenty of same same in that country. I did consider commentary but wasn't sure what to say..."oh look, there's some ugly scrub and a dead tree, and there's some more ugly scrub and some more dead trees, hey look a live tree, no wait, it's really dead, oh look some more ugly scrub, are we having fun yet..."

Have some video from the heavily corrugated sections that make riveting viewing. You get 20 minutes of seeing the vehicle shaking violently as I crawl along at 15 kph across a featureless wasteland. I'll be charging a fee to watch those.

Some of the video from the Simpson desert is pretty cool though because for a few of the dunes it takes a couple of attempts to get over, so you really do get to pass the same bushes over and over.

And you really don't want to hear the commentary from those I can promise you...especially if there are young children in the room. Stoopid car kept makin' stoopid mistakes.

[millicat]

Would be cool to see the dune video lol.. Would be good to see some wildlife eh .. that would make it more enticing to stick with watching. ... mind you the drive up to Cooktown on the highway was like 'road kill, more road kill .. oh look .. live cows, oh they look scrawny, oh look at the burnt trees .. **(#$# nearly hit the Kite in the road after some road kill. .. 'honey, you just ran over a snake' .. 'no I didn't, yes you did, there was a snake in the road' ... 'ooops'.

[Alan]

Well done in staying on the track - how did you know where to leave the river bed?

I'd find that sort of driving very stressful and exhausting.

And do you have any paint left on the sides of the poor old Lux?

[loose cannon]

Would be cool to see the dune video lol.. Would be good to see some wildlife eh .. that would make it more enticing to stick with watching. ... mind you the drive up to Cooktown on the highway was like 'road kill, more road kill .. oh look .. live cows, oh they look scrawny, oh look at the burnt trees .. **(#$# nearly hit the Kite in the road after some road kill. .. 'honey, you just ran over a snake' .. 'no I didn't, yes you did, there was a snake in the road' ... 'ooops'.

I'll post a dune video later Anna, I have quite a few from the Simpson but only a couple that are interesting so will take a while to find them. Had a few dramas with the gopro battery and cards and gave up on the thing in the end so the files are a bit of a shambles.

The disappointing thing is that you gain no appreciation of the steepness of the dunes, need to shoot side on to get that.

Well done in staying on the track - how did you know where to leave the river bed?

I'd find that sort of driving very stressful and exhausting.

And do you have any paint left on the sides of the poor old Lux?

All fingers and toes were crossed while looking for the exit Alan, so that obviously helped! And yeah, stressful and exhausting but wonderful sense of achievement at journeys end.

On the way in I drove straight across the river and followed a different track in but that was a nightmare with the vegetation being quite difficult to push through at times, could hardly see through the windscreen, potential tyre stakes by the gazillion and the grass was bonnet high for many kilometres so on the way out I took a punt and chose to follow the river.

Piece of cake in comparision and obviously the preferred route but you don't know these things until you are there. Very few people go to Hanging Rock so the track is quite a challenge and accurate info is hard to come by so had to wing it basically. Just made sure I had plenty of fuel and water on board in case things turned ugly.

Must admit I was becoming quite nervous as I had no idea how far I had to travel to the exit and was almost at the point of stopping and going for a walk to work out where the hell I was when I noticed the exit. Even then I had to assume that there was only one track and that I wasn't heading out to whoop whoop.

Not much paint left on the Lux but there wasn't much to start with.

Stopped and took this snap on the way in, I was very excited and relieved to catch my first glimpse of the rock I can tell you! Was confident I was on the right track but gee it was a good feeling to have it confirmed.