20/7 Birdsville to Windorah on the way home

We said our goodbyes to Annika and Tim as they were heading into Innamincka via the Cordillo Downs Road.  As we had our camper trailer, we didn't trust it on more corrugated roads than absolutely necessary.

We started by topping up our fuel and through that we worked that we had used 118 liters of Diesel between Mount Dare and Birdsville for the Simpson Crossing.  We drove 634km so this equates to about 18.6l/100km which is pretty good for the Landcruiser.  It normally does around 16l/100km during long distance driving so it's only adding 2.6l/100km while driving in 4 wheel drive through sand.  I didn't use the low range all the time, mostly on the sand dunes.  This is pretty good!

I also increased the tyre pressure in all the tyres, plus checked one of the tyres on the camper trailer that had complained before we left Birdsville.  The tyre seemed fine so I didn't change it.

We then left Birdsville along the Birdsville Developmental road heading for Windorah.  Along the way we stopped to see the Dreamtime Serpent near Betoota.  It's been formed by gravel into a hill and looks pretty impressive.

The Birdsville Developmental road joins up with the Diamantina Developmental road that then took us to Windorah.  We had just made the turn at the intersection and another left turn into a rest stop when the tyre pressure monitor alarm went off, telling us the front right tyre on the Landcruiser was rapidly loosing air.  We went out to check and it was quite obvious that the air was leaking out of the tyre fast!  Further inspection revealed a screw lodged into the tyre.  I grabbed the tyre repair kit and proceeded to take the screw out and put in a patch in accordance with the instructions (Never done this before!).  After finishing the patching the tyre pressure had dropped down to about 9 psi, so I can say it never went flat!   The I took out the air compressor and pumped up to 40 psi to align with the other front tyre.  This repair is still in place and hasn't given us any issues to date.  After this short stop we moved on!

Along the way to Windorah we stopped in two places, one at the Mt. Henderson lookout and the other at the Native Wells, just past Mt. Henderson.  The Mt. Henderson has a hole through it at the top and at the lookout is an arrow pointing at the hole!  You have to look along the arrow to notice it.  However due to the distance you can barely see it.  I took a photo with the zoom lens, so you can see it close up!

The Native Wells is a natural phenomena where Aborigines could get water.  These are natural and/or man made water wells that fill up with water during rains and then store it.

We got into Windorah mid afternoon and found the caravan park quickly.  It's operated by the Barccoo shire council and it only cost $10 for a powered site!   After setting up the camper trailer I had a look at my alternator.   The alternator belts were making squeeling noises on occasions, which doesn't bode well.  It turned out that the belts were very loose due to the fact that the rear of the alternator bracket which fixes it to the engine was broken and it was therefore tilting slightly.  I decided to leave for the time being hoping it would get worse.
We had a nice evening with a pleasant sunset.

At the Birdsville Caravan Park

The dreamtime serpent near Betoota

The rest stop on the Diamanta Developmental Hwy where we had almost a flat

The culprit nail which was lodged in the tyre

The fix from the tyre repair kit

After adding air, all looked good!

At the Mt Henderson lookout

The sign with the arrow pointing to the hole!

The hole in Mt Henderson via zoom lens!

At the Native Wells

The wells are on flat ground

This one was empty!

At the Windorah caravan park