ATV News Kymco MXU 400 Rick Huckstepp and the Kymco MXU 400 continue their adventure to Broken Hill
Kymco Australia
Anne and I were back from the Goondiwindi jaunt just long enough to
satisfy a few editorial deadlines and give the Kymco MXU 400 its first
birthday. Oil change all round and the MXU was back on the Huckfish Bush
Trailer awaiting its next adventure.
For some time we had been planning to head to the Innamincka Races
held at that little town about 200km south-south east of the more
popular Birdsville Races.
It was the month of August and traditionally the last of the winter rains would be gone and the tracks dry enough to travel on.
A La Ninia weather system played a big part is some torrential down
pours in Outback SA right up through Queensland and the Cooper Creek
system was running about 6m deep. A shower event close to the Innamincka
Race weekend saturated the soil once again and the races were called
off.
Due to meet friends travelling from Waikerie in South Australia, we
rescheduled the meeting spot for Tibooburra near Corner Country where
Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales borders meet.
Arriving a week early, late rains closed that road too. I set the
Huckfish bush Trailer up at Mt Browne Station near Milparinka, an old
gold mining town roughly half way between Broken Hill and Tibooburra.
With the Kymco off the trailer and onto the quartz moonscape it was
off in search of the elusive yellow metal. This search took me through
creek beds, up cliffs, down dales and through dustbowls; the sort of
country you wouldn’t have the energy to trudge through (unless you were
training in the SAS)
From a high point near Mt Brown we received a communication from our
friends from Waikerie that they were just leaving Broken Hill and due
that afternoon. Looking to the north the sky was black with another rain
cell moving down to meet them.
The country in this area becomes extremely dangerous with just 5mm of
rain. Being clay based, the roads are like greased lighting to travel
on and a small shower will render the road from Broken Hill to
Tibooburra closed to traffic.
Two hours after their due arrival time night was falling and so was
the rain. Add 30- knots of wind to the discomfort level along with
ambient temperature of about 7 degrees and you will be getting the
picture.
My Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD is very proficient in the sand and bog but
no match for this terrain after it has had a drenching so I took the
Kymco down the hill to a large camp about 2km away at which a dozen or
so fossickers were based to see if our friends had turned up. No luck so
I returned to my windy hill camp site and revisited the base an hour
later. Still there was no arrival.
I had to make the decision to head into Milparinka, 20km away on the
other side of a nightmare of flooding creeks, slippery clay pans, washed
out two wheel tracks and various other obstacles such as fallen trees
over the road.
Rugged up as best I could I set off through the mud, slush and water.
Pity I didn’t have a water proof camera as you would have had a laugh
at my condition when I got to the old Milparinka pub. As did my friends
who were safely ensconced in front of a roaring fireplace drinking red
wine! They got stuck in a bog just on the edge of Milparinka Township
and opted to hold up there for the night. Apparently somewhere amongst
the kilos of mud, cow and roo poo was my nose peering out from under a
hood! Declining the offer of a red wine and a spot in front of their
fire (I was that filthy and bitterly frozen I couldn’t be bothered
taking off the clobber and then putting it back on for the return trip) I
fired up the Kymco and headed into the darkness.
Now I have stood, knee deep in mud, slush, leaches and snakes in the
Gunn Point Swamp in the Northern Territory filming the Kamfari and know
full well what these types of conditions do to mono and quad bikes. I
must say while it was initially on my mind it soon faded as the Kymco
handled all these conditions without so much as a hiccup. The electrics
are usually the first to go in these situations but they did not miss a
beat. The dangerous clay pans and flooding creeks were no match for the
400’s 4WD function and the strong head lights were a blessing on a black
and thankless night though I parked in a creek at one stage as the
water flowed around us to wash the clay off so I could keep going at
speed without surprising on a big roo or tree trunk over the now
obliterated track.
By the time I was half way through the return trip I was relying on
the GPS fitted to the handle bar to get me home. The tracks were gone;
washed away or under water.
Impressed with the MXU 400? You bet!
published 17/09/2010 |