Overland "Mecca's"

Not sure if this should be in another section but it cam always be moved

Every county has it's "Mecca's". Those "must do" trips, before you can truly say you have "done it".

In australia they would have to be:

Cape York
The Simpson Desert
The Hay River Track
The Madigan Line
The Canning Stock Route
The Kimberleys
The "Bomb" Roads, those roads pushed through for Nuclear testing, by Len Beadell
and to a lesser extent Fraser Island

What are the other "Mecca's"?

Vixen wrote:

Not sure if this should be in another section but it cam always be moved

Every county has it's "Mecca's". Those "must do" trips, before you can truly say you have "done it".

In australia they would have to be:

Cape York TICK
The Simpson Desert TICK
The Canning Stock Route TO DO
The Kimberleys TICK
The "Bomb" Roads, those roads pushed through for Nuclear testing, by Len Beadell ???
and to a lesser extent Fraser Island TICK

What are the other "Mecca's"?

Drive the length of the Andes


Brendan

That's fine, sounds like 'general chat' to me. If anything I should start a new section entitled "Dreaming".

The Andes - absolutely. I can't even get my head around the Andes range - it's vast!

For me it's the Himalayas, not so minor either. I so very nearly did just that. I had organised an event back in 1991 that would see me taking 30 London black cabs on a charity drive to the Himalayas - I kid you not! Inspired by the Himalayan Rally of the 80's in which there were a couple of Brit entries + the black cab charity run down to the coast over here , the intention was to 'shepherd' them through the Himalayas in two/three Range Rovers making it all-British vehicle event in aid of an all-British charity ... Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. I had been involved big time in their Wishing Well Appeal since 1987, so here was my tangible contribution whilst again having some fun myself.

Sadly, in the end it never took place (incidentally the only event I have ever organised in 25 years that never actually took place) as a direct result of the Gulf War. It transpired that at the time, most of the oil in India came from Iraq, so with sanctions an' all that, we couldn't be seen as having a jolly up in the Himalayas when the poor everyday Indian worker didn't have enough fuel to fill his Ambassador (another British car - Morris Oxford Series III) as queues formed at the pumps. Bit of a bugger to say the least, but really had no choice but to pull the plug. GUTTED!!!

Went on a trip to Everest 2000 but from the Tibetan side did a lot of driving over there lots of 18000 ft passes and driving up river beds for miles was there for 5 weeks then went to South America to a mountain called Aconcagua lots of driving up in the Andes as well but better in Tibet

I don't know what people consdier as Meccas to be honest...I don't know too many overlanders in person at all!

My Mecca is the Gobi Desert - have been there before (got totally lost for 3 days, big fun!!) and I am drawn to it again - I do not doubt I will go back there

RLD wrote:

Went on a trip to Everest 2000 but from the Tibetan side did a lot of driving over there lots of 18000 ft passes and driving up river beds for miles was there for 5 weeks then went to South America to a mountain called Aconcagua lots of driving up in the Andes as well but better in Tibet

Went on a trip to Everest in the 80's but from the Nepal side did a lot of walking over there lots of 18000 ft passes and walking up river beds for miles was there for 9 weeks on longest trip. Later went to South America to a waterfall called Angel Fall a lots of being driven up in the Andes and walking.



Brendan

nice one Brendan did lots of walking as well and climbing could go on but dont want to bore you all

Well who would bore who first?


One day I will get around to convert some of my 35mm slides to digital

You probably find that quite a few of us have similar sort of experiences.

One thing I have learnt is that my walking/caving experiences/knowledge can be transfer to 4x4 experience. i.e. knowledge of ropes polyester or nylon is easily transfered to tow straps against recovery straps.

Am used to walking by myself up to 20,000 feet in the Himalaya and now tend to travel as a solo vehicle. Some people think it is mad/stupid to do things solo. Yes in some ways the danger levels are increased IF things go wrong, however there is no peer pressure to go out of your comfort zone.

We are wandering off topic again

Brendan

most like me boring every one els'e

Debateable!



Brendan

did i tell you about the time we were held hostage in Tibet an internationa insident but thats another story

RLD wrote:

did i tell you about the time we were held hostage in Tibet an internationa insident but thats another story

No, please tell.

Did I tell you about the time I had to convince the Pakistan deputy ambassador why people wentwalking in remote places? That was due to Maggie Thatcher and me not being able to get back to UK until deputy ambassador said so.




We all have our stories!


Brendan

For Brendan re bomb roads

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Beadell

In Aus we just call them the "bomb roads", but the Gunbarrell Hwy, Anne Beadell Hwy, Gary Junction Rd, Gary Hwy......the roads Len Beadell built across central Aus in the 50's for the Dept Defence, all tied up with nuclear testing at Woomera

I edited my list above too

Cape York TICK
The Simpson Desert TICK
The Hay River Track TICK
The Madigan Line TICK
The Canning Stock Route
The Kimberleys
The "Bomb" Roads, those roads pushed through for Nuclear testing, by Len Beadell
and to a lesser extent Fraser Island TICK

On the Swedish and Norway side ... absolutely an awesome roadtrip, and some really great side roads to keep you occupied:

http://www.wildernessroad.eu/

Wilderness road is absolutely brill!!, 3000 miles round trip via Denmark, Sweden and Norway, really very good!

Scandinavia is one of my recommendations for both novice and seasoned travellers A GREAT PLACE TO GO.


Brendan

Is it anything to do with young blondes running naked from saunas and jumping into freezing lakes, then getting out and you thinking i have somewhere to hang my hat tonight.

Assassin wrote:

Is it anything to do with young blondes running naked from saunas and jumping into freezing lakes, then getting out and you thinking i have somewhere to hang my hat tonight.

Chapel hat pegs?? Mmmmmmm



Brendan

Quite fancy Canada and the Alaskan hyway,,,,pretty much still wild up there,,,

tuggy wrote:

Quite fancy Canada and the Alaskan hyway,,,,pretty much still wild up there,,,

Canada is Awesome - well BC and Alberta have been so far

There's a slim chance we might have saved enough to go to Alaska this summer but more likely next (or save up even more and go for ages!).

If you haven't already, I'd heartily recommend reading "the call of the wild" by Guy Grieve and "the Good Life" by Dorian Amos - you'll want to be out there even sooner!

O yes been up to Alaska twice now last time 2002 hired a big 4x4 camper with luck no lettering on it so we could go nearly any where went up on the Dalton highway which is the ICE road truckers road but blew a tire out on it so had to come of no repair shops up there any way went to an indian village which was an 50miles away no luck there so stayed the night just nip into town they said 140miles away so that's what we did got a new tire.

from Fairbanks down to Valdez and over to Portage went trough the tunnel to portage glacier then of to Homer then back to Anchorage onlt photos i have are normal one so canot put any on

i'd like to do the First Overland thing but then wouldnt we all?

The Tea road is on my list

The tea road?

Tom Mc wrote:

The tea road?

Is that next to coffee street?