Oft times hours and days of travel are required to reach our favoured bush zones. This can involve distances of thousands of kilometers on black top, sharing the road with large road transports before heading onto the rough dirt or 4 wheel drive tracks. One must never forget that the vehicle is of paramount importance and its maintenance and integrity is the difference between a great or shocking trip in remote areas.

Townships or fuel stations are to be found strategically positioned on the more well utilised roads being accessed by tourists and transports. These can be useful for reprovisioning, vehicle repairs and general tidying of the bush kit. As you would imagine we are happy to have showers, fuel and civilisation for a short period of time before heading out again. Kings canyon is one such tourist area being 1600kms from our home in Adelaide, quite close to Uluru and a few hours from Alice Springs. Uluru provides access to the vast Great Central track that links the Northerm territory to Western Australia.

Many amusing incidents occur at our campsites. For example, we recently travelled to one of our favourite places in the Eastern MacDonnells, Ruby Gorge. This 4X4 track takes one down beautifully wide creek beds bordered by red rocky cliffs and ends at a mighty gorge. We generally camp well back and walk down the next day.

As soon as we arrived we realised that gale force winds were being funnelled down the creek because of the gorge and cliffs. They were so strong that we chose to sit near the vehicle for a few hours as protection from the sand storm. In the end the winds did not diminish (as they normally do at dusk)and we could not erect tents; sleeping on the ground in our swags.

Thats ok…but during the night a Dingo decided to do a taste test and licked my face…decided against a nibble and headed into the scrub. Dingos are such a delight when they visit our camp sites at night and I do so love to hear them howling to each other in the moonlight. But I think this one was taking liberties!

So next morning it was a quick cheese damper for breakfast and out back to the Alice as conditions were still poor. Onto Hugh Creek (below) where we were still pounded by strong winds and finally Redback Gorge at the base of Mt Sonder where we found protection.

As a general rule we cook fresh food over the fire. Cryopacking meat if we will be out for some time as occurred on the Canning Stockroute. This route is 1850 kms long from the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Wiluna. It is the longest stock route in the world and at the time I drove it with my sister and friends there was only one point for fuel (drums). So everything needed to be carried over the 700 sand dunes enroute. Funnily enough not one tyre needed to be changed till we reached the black top again and then it was “carnage”.

Mind you this was a second attempt to drive the stock route. On the Gunbarrel highway enroute the first time friends managed to crack open the differential housing of their vehicle. So we were stuck on the side of the road for awhile until another vehicle eventually turned up and one of our team was sent off to make retrieval arrangements. Of course satellite phones have now made a big difference in these situations.

Camping on the side of the road is just normal practice in these remote areas. The peace and quiet combined with wonderful landscapes is just a delight.

Ferrying a group of walkers across the Simpson desert on their mission to walk the whole distance gave us many great nights of desert camping and comaraderie. On this occasion the ADF provided two Unimogs and military personnel.

Having driven across this desert on several occasions I did not expect to see water between Big red and Birdsville. It was truly a sight to behold.

Of course things can and do go wrong en route. Tyres, tyres and tyres….just a given. When we were crossing the Great Central track my sister damaged three tyres and we needed to drive my vehicle to Uluru…thankfully not that far away to get another. It was just as well this did not occur over on the Western Australian side or we would have been camped out in the donga for a while.

Camping in the donga is actually not a problem as we always carry lots of water and extra provisions. Fortunately we have always been able to jerry rig some repairs when things go wrong and can at least get to the next point of civilisation. Good tool kits and retrieval gear are just part of one’s routine equipment out “there”.

The Simpson desert and the Great Central tracks are certainly remotish. But there are many great camping spots in more civilised zones, particularly in the National Parks. If you want some 4X4 practice then a trip to Larapinta (Running Waters), on the Finke River would be a good start. The drive in is slow but the scenery awesome as most driving is down the Finke river which is normally dry.

There are lots of good spots for the nights camp and typically it will look like this…a table or two, chairs, water, and plenty of wood… oh and of course fresh food to cook over the fire. Whether you bring a tent or swag you can be guaranteed a good nights sleep… until the dawn chorus begins.

Amongst the many good camp spots in the MacDonnell ranges near Alice Springs are Trephina Gorge (right), Ross River (centre) and Ruby Gap. Jessie Gap (left) is just a beautiful gorge in this region also. This East side of the range is less well frequented but is rugged and provides great vistas and tramping possibilities.

So its time for tea and I have commisioned my pie maker to do her thing…go to it!