Our Madigan trip July 14th 2015

[Young Nomads]

Well...we did it in style.
Dick and Prue ..aka choppadick and John and I left Mt Dare on Thursday July 13th for Birdsville via the Madigan line..camps 1 to Camp 25
Towing our Tvans..

Left from Coober Pedy Monday 13 July...Camped south of Oodnadatta Before eventually getting to Mt Dare on Thursday 16th. Coober Pedy to Mt Dare. ..Fuel consumption 14.6l/100kms with fully stocked cars and Tvans
Friday 17 th camped between camp 1 and 1A...Found our own way through the maze of tracks from Mac Clark Reserve
Saturday 18 th did camps 2 to 5..Missing camps 3 &4 then up the Colson
Sunday 19 th.Camps 6,camping between 6&7 ..(308 kms from Mt Dare to camp 6)
Monday 20th..tyres down to 12 on the front, ..20 on the back and 12 on the Tvan now
Did camps 7 and 8.
Tuesday 21st...only 44 ks today ..camps 8 to 11..Big day over badly chopped up dunes.
Wednesday 22nd. Camps 12 nd 13..398kms from Mt Dare now . ..
Thursday 23rd.Left camp 13  and travelled to Camp 14, 15 and 16...505 kms from Mt Dare
at Camp 16 at the intersection of the Hay River track, we located our dropper and plaque at the blaze tree, along with plenty of previous travelers
Friday 24th...Huge day...STILL REPAIRING PREVIOUS DAYS TRAVELLERS SAND DUNES...
Took us 4 and 1/2 hours to travel 30 kms.
Only managed 51 ks this day
We were..and still are disgusted with the large group that travelled before us. As I found out at Birdsville. .one of the group said they had 2 goes at nearly every dune and the "Truck" that went with them tried 7 times to get over one..before going off the track to establish an easier route!!!!...After that they actually  let their tyres down..which apparently  made the rest of the trip so much better. ... daaahhh
It took  us 10 to 15 minutes to repair the track gouges made by this group... on quite a few dunes, then we just slowly crawled up. No loss of traction, no bogging and no damage to the dunes at all left by us
Saturday Did camps 18 to Camp 25..missing camps 23 and 24 on Adria downs (as requested by the station owners)
We made the big push that day, as clouds were coming over and the ground would have become very sticky if it did rain.
It was a great trip, with no bogging or breakdowns.


758 kms From Mt Dare to Birdsville
22.5 litres/100kms for our Toyota 100 series (diesel auto)
Prue and Dick in their manual 4.2, diesel Nissan ute and canopy were around the same
I will upload our route on hema explorer/ explore Oz later

The Madigan  line is now a well defined track....very bumpy over spinifex moguls and the dunes are soft and mostly steep in gradient.Switch backs on the tops and steep dune descents are common
Highly recommend you take the chance to do this track. It is a definite once only trip...a place not for the unprepared or inexperienced travellers. Take your time..lower your tyre pressures and you will have an enjoyable time
as most say...we forgot we had the Tvan on, as it did not interfere with our momentum or vehicle performance
Lots of pics and uploads to come when we eventually get home
As an average over the Madigan ..our 235/65/R16 Light truck Bridgestones tyre pressures were
Tojo front...12lb
         Rear...20lb
TVan ...      12lb
Every tyre type and the load you are carrying will determine how low you need to go
cheers
Robyn

[Mal.W]

Great trip report,
Our bucket list is getting longer,

Mal

[Bengalla76]

Great trip guys, we did the Simpson with the Tvan got home about the time you where departing. Would have loved to have done the trip with the crew, I meet Dick and Prue last year great couple. Look forward to seeing your photos.


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[FnD+2GS]

Sounds like an awesome trip.  We did the Hay River this year S-N and ever since then have been thinking about the Madigan Line.  I'll be on the lookout for more info and pics!

Pity about the group in front of you.  I've taken people on trips and told / recommended them to air down and tell them what pressures I am going down to and explained why only to have a select few people tell me that their tyres don't need to run that low or to tell me they have aired down when they have gone from 45 to 40 psi.  Just can't get through to some folk...

[lego]

Great trip report thanks John & Robyn

[Young Nomads]

I hope this link works for everyone...Hema Explorer Cloud
Joining is easy.
Here's the link to our trip.

https://cloud.hemaexplorer.com.au/public/ixombE8LxOtiI5GwAP6bdGXh/#?layer=hemaaerial,hema1m&alpha=hemaaerial:1,hema1m:0.5

If you cant get to the link directly. Log onto hema cloud and look for it in the gallery. 2nd August 2015

[Young Nomads]

Sounds like an awesome trip.  We did the Hay River this year S-N and ever since then have been thinking about the Madigan Line.  I'll be on the lookout for more info and pics!

Pity about the group in front of you.  I've taken people on trips and told / recommended them to air down and tell them what pressures I am going down to and explained why only to have a select few people tell me that their tyres don't need to run that low or to tell me they have aired down when they have gone from 45 to 40 psi.  Just can't get through to some folk...

Good to hear you had a good time up the hay..we did it the same way last year..loved it. It did wet our appetite for the Madigan.
The Hay was my Dad's last trip he did before he died, so it was also a sentimental one. Dad did the Madigan alone, quite a few years earlier. He said...never again. The track was not defined then and lots of "free wheeling" over spinifex moguls.
So glad we did it. maybe Geosurveyors Hill/ geo centre of the Simpson at some stage?

Yes you are right...tyre pressures..tyre pressures...tyre pressures.

[Young Nomads]

And what do you say to the ill-informed when they say."it must be easy if you can tow a trailer over it"...baaahhhh I am almost speechless LOL

[peterjantvan]

I said to one chap when he said it must be easy - right driver,right vehicle, tvan,right loading,right tyres and pressure and you are right but not easy
Left him speechless as his tyres were at 35lbs and said to let them down would destroy the tyres but he was going way too fast.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Peter

[Young Nomads]

I said to one chap when he said it must be easy - right driver,right vehicle, tvan,right loading,right tyres and pressure and you are right but not easy
Left him speechless as his tyres were at 35lbs and said to let them down would destroy the tyres but he was going way too fast.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Peter

Well told Peter
LOL

[Young Nomads]

I thought I'd share a few photos we took on our trip...with a little background information

Well..I watched the Pt 2 Madigan line DVD from one of the latest 4WD magazines today

We now know who drove onto a claypan near Camp 19.. and got extremely bogged!

They did the "crossing" at night too!

They were travelling about a week ahead of us...
There was a plainly obvious 400m track around the claypan...which we took as most of us know.. there is always more under the crust of a claypan, than you think.
The claypan looked ok from the surface when we drove around it. But there was still water in the bottom of their wheel ruts
Their footage of their bogging was very edited. this is why.

[Young Nomads]

A couple more!

[Young Nomads]

last one!