trip planning

Boots in Action

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Mar 13, 2017
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Ferny Grove, Queensland
lets find a place to go this rv season.
1. can i get fuel.?
2 is it covered with water. ?
3 does the road still exist to get there and back ?
4 do the stores have any supplies.?
5 will there be toilet paper
Answers to all of the above.....unknown?????!!!!! For how long ..... also unknown!! If you hit the road, you take your chances!
 

poor but proud

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Aug 25, 2018
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redlands
Answers to all of the above.....unknown?????!!!!! For how long ..... also unknown!! If you hit the road, you take your chances!
so sad but very true, do i plan to use my toys ? or is it just another garden shed to have my poppy naps in ? IF, we go away this season it will be a shorter trip with a longer stay, maybe transfer my $$ from the fuel account and use it on a paid site, closer to home . a possible location would be nrma Somerset Dam ,half a tank from home and still has that out of way feeling. actually close enough to do a second trip to go home and get my boat and do some serious fishing and redclaw trapping, it has an unpowered section there on the water so no need to keep taking the boat out, this section is designated a quite zone so no generators or parties. maybe 2 or 3 weeks in one spot, which would answer most of the questions above ,just have to convince the minister of finance and war as these plans will interfere with her babysitting duties
 

Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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My birthday run to daughters next month and we usually end up at Bingara afterwards, I have plans to cover it but I think the price will keep me closer to home, Technically I can do a round trip to Cabarlah for about 115lts, so if I get son in law to have a stash save me carting some jerries if they go dry down there .... BIngara I think will have to wait ..
 

poor but proud

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Aug 25, 2018
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redlands
My birthday run to daughters next month and we usually end up at Bingara afterwards, I have plans to cover it but I think the price will keep me closer to home, Technically I can do a round trip to Cabarlah for about 115lts, so if I get son in law to have a stash save me carting some jerries if they go dry down there .... BIngara I think will have to wait ..
could be interesting how this plays out this winter ,high priced or no fuel will keep the mexicans south of the border ,a lot of regional van parks only survive on the winter nomads, there could be some good deals this season but only if you can get there
 

Drover

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Been thinking the same thing, thats why Im still keen on getting away, really don't care about price its availability thats the worry, don't travel as far, stay longer in places to spread the wallet pain .............During COVID it was great camping, hardly anyone around except some Victorians who didn't want to go home, so should be lots of room but its late May when the Mexicans start up here and if this is still going on by then we will be in deep Do Do for sure ... Ive been doing trip costings and trip to Winton or Canberra is getting a bit exxy, not so much the price as thats about the same as here its when its added up but the chances of the one garage town running out of fuel is probably going to keep me close to home well at least 400km as thats how much reserve I can carry ...
 
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Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Had planned this time last year to do a trip out West taking in Thargomindah, Windorah, Quilpie up to Longreach in April. Cancelled it last year due to flooding and closed roads...feels like Groundhog Day all over again...flooding again out West and roads closed. Can alter the route if need be...plus potentially some of the free camping areas being a quagmire even if accessible!

Now we have fuel shortages...seriously? ...still plan to do it IF there is some surety of fuel supply...which unfortunately there isn't right now. Lets see in 4 weeks as that is when we planned to leave...
 

poor but proud

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Aug 25, 2018
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redlands
Had planned this time last year to do a trip out West taking in Thargomindah, Windorah, Quilpie up to Longreach in April. Cancelled it last year due to flooding and closed roads...feels like Groundhog Day all over again...flooding again out West and roads closed. Can alter the route if need be...plus potentially some of the free camping areas being a quagmire even if accessible!

Now we have fuel shortages...seriously? ...still plan to do it IF there is some surety of fuel supply...which unfortunately there isn't right now. Lets see in 4 weeks as that is when we planned to leave...
sounds like my tassie third time lucky,all far west you will still need a submarine ,big waters just went through longreach so that is also heading west Jundah,windorah through to lake eyre oops cant remember the new name of the lake
 

Drover

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sounds like my tassie third time lucky,all far west you will still need a submarine ,big waters just went through longreach so that is also heading west Jundah,windorah through to lake eyre oops cant remember the new name of the lake

Try South but yep your right, actually roads closed all over the place with anything west of Barky/Charleville/Cunnamulla being a take your shovel run, even the sealed roads are out so be awhile and its not fast moving stuff ............. but the country is really magic once it goes and it does dry off quickly though best to stay on sealed stuff as a dry dirt road often isn't to the unwary .... I want to go back to Quilpie and Thargo like those towns actually most west of Charleville win me.

Cooper2.jpg Cooper at Innaminka crossing....Cooper3.jpg.Green grass nearby..
 

Hitting the road

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Jan 14, 2022
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Brisbane
I already found out a couple of years ago that Jeeps don't like playing submarines...I did see the Longreach residents might get wet feet...though apparently the water is around a metre less than in the 2000 big wet. Have to see what it looks like in a months time...
We already booked a spot at Charleville to spend Anzac Day there this year, I'd hate to cancel it as the locals will need some cash injection.
 
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poor but proud

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2018
484
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redlands
Had planned this time last year to do a trip out West taking in Thargomindah, Windorah, Quilpie up to Longreach in April. Cancelled it last year due to flooding and closed roads...feels like Groundhog Day all over again...flooding again out West and roads closed. Can alter the route if need be...plus potentially some of the free camping areas being a quagmire even if accessible!

Now we have fuel shortages...seriously? ...still plan to do it IF there is some surety of fuel supply...which unfortunately there isn't right now. Lets see in 4 weeks as that is when we planned to leave...
if you get to thargo. music in the mulga is planned 14 to 17 may great little country music festival ,another great little stay out there is the yaraka pub (between Retreat national park and blackall also the dino fossil set up at Eromanga (near Quilpie )is a really good look and as a bonus this town has its own oil refinery cracking jackson oil into diesel and kero
 
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Drover

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There's heaps t see and do out that way, love it , ANZAC Day in Charleville is a big day, would have to be over 25 years ago I marched there while I was overnighting on a Macaffs run .....................
Got offered by the Barcoo Mayor the job of running the Roadhouse at Jundah last trip a few years back, sounded great, new facillities but not for this fella ......... I take this retirement job seriously..................

The other year I was watching the flood gauges and we dived out to Rose isle Station in between river floods, there was a 3 week gap, had a great time and got out of the district before it went under again, think the most western crossing into NSW from QLD then was Texas for many weeks...............
IOR used to be well priced but last few years its auto pumps are more $$ than other servos ..
 
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Hitting the road

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According to reports the flood water is heading down the Thompson toward Stonehenge, Jundah and Windorah...again... It would seem at this stage that these towns are going to be off my trip again this year. I'll be keeping an eye on it, really want to go out there...if worse comes to worse it'll be Charleville back up through Augathella to Barcy then Longreach / Winton.
 
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Drover

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Hitting the road

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I like to go via Quilpie /Jundah on my way to Longreach, a far more pleasing drive than with all the rabble running up the Landsborough Hwy and come back that way but down thru Kyabra/Erromanga/Thargo ....

Newspaper or TV reports are usually out of date I just follow the local Council web sites ie: https://disaster.barcoo.qld.gov.au/
and the river heights with this link https://water-monitoring.information.qld.gov.au/mobile/#COOPER_CREEK far more reliable ...
Thanks Drover...
 

Drover

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I just did a Fuel Burn to $$$$ for a Charleville run from my place I would need $760 for a return run and a run to Bingara and back would be $660 of fuel ............ of course stopping at every servo to top up it wouldn't seem so expensive ...... Gone are the days of tours with a $1 a day costing........ have to stop for about 3 weeks after each refuel.....................

Sky Weather actually had a good rundown on recent rainfall out in the Channel Country and beyond, there has been so much water it will be running across the country for months, if I chucked in my big Yak with plenty of tucker I could paddle from Jundah to Lake Eyre easily ... plus tow the smaller Yak with a small case or 6 of Bourbon, and a drum of Aerogard, be laughing.
 

Hitting the road

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Similar money for me towing the van...but that's the elephant in the room, how long is the tizz going to go on for in the Middle East...where are our fuel prices going to end up? Trump reckons he is going to wait until Iran is on it's knees, so the Strait of Hormuz is open to shipping without any fear of being attacked...that could take weeks.
In the mean time due to the bumbling Politicians here, rationing of fuel is now being considered...if the conflict in Iran goes for even another 2 weeks we'll be buggered..be back on a bike.
 
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Boots in Action

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Ferny Grove, Queensland
Similar money for me towing the van...but that's the elephant in the room, how long is the tizz going to go on for in the Middle East...where are our fuel prices going to end up? Trump reckons he is going to wait until Iran is on it's knees, so the Strait of Hormuz is open to shipping without any fear of being attacked...that could take weeks.
In the mean time due to the bumbling Politicians here, rationing of fuel is now being considered...if the conflict in Iran goes for even another 2 weeks we'll be buggered..be back on a bike.
Diesel prices down here have risen again. Now $2.69.9c /litre. And look like getting dearer again before any improvement in supply through the Straits of Hormuz, notwithstanding the release of supposed fuel reserves in Australia. Tough times ahead I think!
 

Drover

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I doubt the price will drop with the release of the reserve fuel, demand is outstripping supply at present ... see we use 92 million litres of diesel a day ....
Our fuel comes from mostly Korea and Japan, some from Singapore which is also the major storage facility and not all rely wholly on crude from Arabia .....
Interesting to see the fuel price doesn't vary very much from city to out at Bulla Makanka .

I watch a local fuel depot price here and its a good canary sign of where the price is going, often used it to fill up ahead of rises, even more so this time around ...