New Perth member

[V8CRUISER]

Hi all

New to the forums. My name is Matt and I live 20mins north of Perth. I just arrived back from a 3 week trip through the Gibb River Road and up to Kulumburu.

My toy is a 2006 Landcruiser V8. Took delivery in January this year and got straight into the mods which are:


ARB Winch bull bar
Mannum 9K winch
Lightforce Spotties
ARB Protection steps
ARB rear bar with wheel carrier and camp light (camp MIA in Kimberley somewhere?)
Cooper 265/70 STs 10 ply
ARB front and rear diff locks
Koni Shocks, King Springs, Snake racing diff drop kit
Outback roller draw setup with bed extension
60L & 40L Engels
180L long ranger sub tank
Rhino roof bars
ARB awning
ARB roof top tent
TJM Dual batterys
Alpine DVD Touch screen
Alpine headrest monitors
JL AUDIO ZR Speakers and W6 woofer
JL AUDIO 300/4 and 500/1 amps
plus a buch of other stuff I cant be bothered thinking of on a sunday morningLooking forward to meeting some new people and learning a few new things.

[Urshtnme]

G'day Matt, good to see another sandgroper on here!

Brett

[Coupland]

Welcome aboard Matt. Always good to see another from the West. How did you find the GRR? Any tips? There are a few of us who will be doing the Canning and then onto the GRR next year.

[utedriver]

Welcome mate!! Be sure to post up more pics of your trip. I bet the long range tank comes in handy with the V8. I just had a mate sell his V8 100 last week. It was nearly brand new, it just didn't serve the purpose for him, he has gone back to a new hilux.

[V8CRUISER]

Welcome aboard Matt. Always good to see another from the West. How did you find the GRR? Any tips? There are a few of us who will be doing the Canning and then onto the GRR next year.

I take it you are starting out in Kununurra? If so your first stop would have to be El Questro. El Questro was defianately one of the high point on the trip. We spent 3 nights there and could of made that another 3 nights easily. ELQ has a lot of self drive 4WD maps available, most of which are accessible in a soft roader. There was a couple of treks that need a bit of clearance for water crossing and rock climbs. We booked out one of the private campsites on the river. $15pp per night. Definately worth it!!! Most of the campsites are setup so that no one will be driving by and there is a fair bit of privacy if you want to just chill out and sit in the river. Fuel was about $160p/l. Fill up your tanks there before leaving because it does not get any cheaper. Budget for a chopper ride. $550 gets you a half hour journey for 3 people. This may seem like a lot to some but it is really worth saving the pennys for. You have to see the land from the air to truly absorb the abundance around.

We travelled the GRR at the end of July. In retrospect, we should of gone in May when the rivers are flowing a bit harder and everything is greener. I dare say that we will be heading back next year at about this time. That is how much we have fallen in love with the Kimberley.

The GRR was a ease to drive on. Average speed was about 80Km/h and yes we were part of the minority who slow down for oncoming traffic!!! It suprises you just how ilprepared a lot of people are out there.

The biggest victims of the GRR are:

Tyres, stub axles & suspension failure. I would say that most of these failures are due to people not dropping their pressures and driving too fast! I tell you what; Britz rent a car have a lot to answer for! I ran a new set of Cooper STs, 265/70 10 plys. We did not suffer any punctures for the whole trip. The only tyre degredation is the chunks lost of the tread on the edges of the blocks <---This happens to everyone I know who has Coopers even if they are only city driven. All that aside, they have a hell of a strong carcus. I ran 24psi int he front and 26psi in the rear cold, with around 6psi of swell at opertaing temp. I fitted KONI shocks to the car before I left and they never faded the whole trip, except for Mitchell Falls Road, but I will get to that later.

We then moved onto Drysdale river station on the road up to Kulumburu. Miner's pool was looking a bit average, hence the lack of campers. We chose to stay at the homestead. Anne and her kids run the homestead. Top food and top hospitality!!! Camping fees where the same as ELQ.

The road to Kulumburu is your first real introduction to bulldust and corrugations. I might be sucker for punishment but I really enjoyed it. The road to Kulumburu does not nearly see the grader as often as the GRR. Saying that you will still average up around 60km/h. LOOK OUT FOR ROCKS IN THE BULLDUST <----We saw a lot of people changing tyres because of they didnt see.

Mitchell Falls was the next destination. When you turn onto this road and read "Rough unmantained road"; then they mean it!!! This road out to Mitchell Falls sucks. The Kind Edward river is a decent depth crossing and do not assume that it will be the same depth on you return trip! Proceed with caution. We crossed with water lapping at the top of the spotties and that was in the beginning of August. You will have a headache by the end of this trip and try to be patient. Too many people loss their cool and were travelling too fast. One clown in a new Patrol hit the Ranger head on! We past a Troopy with a broken stub axle and another Patrol with a broken rear spring.

Tips for this section would have to be:

Lower pressure, keep speed down, break the road up into 20-30min segments and give your suspension time to cool down. The KONIS died on this trip. I do not blame them one bit. My mates Old Man Emus suffered the same fate. This is the one time on the trip that we outright accpeted that equipment was going to break. 4x Panadeine Fortes later this was the victim list:
Front shocks, rear camplite (MIA), Roof rack bolts undone, ARB Tents bolt undone, winch controller loose. It is a testimate to Toyota and the ARB equipment considering the carnage that we saw, however I think it all goes back to tyre pressures and speed.

Mitchell Falls is another site that warrants a chopper ride. $1185 gets you 45mins for 3 people. They took us all the way up to the Archipelago then worked back inland to Mitchell Falls. We spent time chasing crocs (at 1000 feet). It was an unbeliveable sight. About 15 mins into this trip the Kimberley natural beauty begins to hit home hard. We really are the lucky country.

What I might do it post up some pics later this week and I can expand on anything else you might be interested in? I could write pages and pages about this. I will also post this in the trips and touring sections to keep the moderators happy. Reply there if you would like.