June 27, 2004
My wife, Tien-Ling, the Chinese Aborigine
Is that a fair-skinned aborigine warming herself by the fire before conducting a ceremony in the raw natural beauty of the Outback? No, no, no, that's my Hokkien Chinese wife from Singapore wearing her cosmetic mud facial mask inside the beautiful Finke River Gorge in central Australia.
One of the side-trips we took during our vacation at the 2004 Finke Desert Race was a drive to Boggy Hole, in the West MacDonnell mountains. Before we left, we checked the Northern Territory road conditions, and of course Boggy hole was listed as impassable.
Our topo maps showed Boggy Hole being two-thirds of a way along the track, so we went anyway, planning to drive as far as we could before turning back. I'd read before that in Australia when the road is closed as 'impassable,' even if you can get through, if the authorities catch you, it's a ridiculously heavy fine.
It turned out to be a terrific trip. The Red Centre had received lots of rain since we came last year and the lushness of the country we drove along was outstanding. The track follows the Finke Gorge along a wide, sandy riverbed it has chopped out of nearly vertical red rock walls. The terrifying thing was that the river gum trees growing everywhere had flood debris lodged in them fifteen feet off the ground. A serious rain would be no joke here.
We made several river crossings in our rented Nissan Patrol Sti (an overly-plush automatic land-cruiser sized vehicle with less cargo space). We didn't have any idea what was a reasonable depth to drive through, so we were careful to walk each crossing and make sure it wasn't too deep or too muddy. The only extraction equipment we'd brought were some snatch straps and bow shackles. Unless the red gums actually were Ents, there wasn't going to be anything to help us out if we got stuck.
We flinched at a crossing that appeared to reach our door level and made camp for the night. We suspected it would be ok to cross, but weren't confident enough. The risk:reward was poor.
Later we asked our friend, 4wd expert Jol Fleming, about it. It seems we would have easily made it as long as we kept moving and created a bow wave, pushing water out of the way of our engine compartment. He warned not stop no matter what and if we start bogging down, gun the engine and maintain momentum. Next time, in our own vehicle we'll take bigger risks on this.
Anyway, we broke for camp early, around 4pm. Matt went off on a hike, I started laying out the camp (fire and some tent pads), and my wife, Tien-Ling started her meticulous spa preparations.
This was one of the nicest camps we've had in Australia, comparable to Ruby Gap. Next time we wind up in the Red Centre I'd like to try to do the complete loop.
June 25, 2004
Wilbur, Orville, and Stas
"Special" correspondent files his first-person account of the historic SpaceShipOne launch into space.
June 23, 2004
Car #228 Chris Coulthard
'Holeshot' buggy #228 driven by Alice Spring's Chris Coulthard (above) and co-pilot Matt Wharton ran the fastest Class Two buggy ( 1300-1650cc) during the 2004 Finke Desert Race. Theirs was the seventh fastest car overal with a total time 4:49:39 (2:25:54 day 1 / 2:23:45 day 2).
June 19, 2004
Back from Finke 2004
Johnson/Walker (Car #122) from Ingle Farm SA blast through the race's final turn in their Buggy. How did that front wheel stay on?
Just returned from Alice Springs and 2004 Finke Desert Race... More articles and photos to follow. (and as always, you can look at the Finke Desert Race Category )