Our 2012 Adventures commence

Wednesday 13th June, 2012
Near Lake Cullulleraine VIC


There is a very real problem with living in the eastern states. That is that it takes you bloody days of travelling to reach the significant places you wish to explore. Those tiring three or four days of slugging it up the long bitumen stretches of the Stuart Highway just to feel the song of the corrugations beneath your wheels.



The trip this year would consist of three vehicles. Naturally no trip is complete without Mannum’s finest John and Suzette. Their trusty 80 would have the roof topper on this trip, the ultimate camper-trailer being replaced by the quad trailer and their Arctic Cat diesel quad, affectionately known as “Leaky”. Travelling with us for the first time this year was Larry in his Mog. Co-driver and general dog’s body was his brother Peter. This is a tempering trip for the Mercedes Unimog truck Larry had spent some time preparing. In the back and behind the Mog were not one but two brand new Arctic Cat quads, also to be shaken down this trip. Accompanying me was Greg from Sydney, an acquaintance of John ad Suze and a fellow Ultimate owner. Larry and Peter had headed north towards Mildura a few days earlier while John and Suze had to come to Melbourne to sort out travel arrangements for our impending Canada trip. Greg drove down to Melbourne from Sydney arriving the night before our departure.



With more than a few distractions and The Whithorn’s sorting out some last minute Visa issues for the Canada and the US trip, we finally got under way right on Midday. We had a quick detour via Moonee Ponds to pick up a few alternator belts for the quads and then back onto the freeway and northwest up the Calder as per a hundred other trips. It was a rather uneventful trip with a stop for dinner at Redcliffs and then west on the Sturt highway for 60 km to Lake Cullulleraine to meet Larry and Peter and the Mustard Machine, as Larry's big Mog is known. He and Peter had secured a little campsite on the road to the river and had a fire going so it was a cuppa and a chat around the fire before crawling into the tent for the first night of the 2012 expedition.