What to Expect:

If travelling through the outback in air-conditioned comfort, stopping daily at tourist resorts with all the facilities, and enjoying al fresco meals on the veranda is your sort of holiday, then make sure you take a holiday like this before you come on the Raid Australia 2008 adventure.

This Raid will feature bush camps with communal campfires, toilets will be a rarity, so befriend your shovel. This Raid will also provide an opportunity to explore some Australian flora and fauna in an ever-changing landscape.

Wild camel, Prenti Downs station

This Raid has been surveyed for 2CV vehicles, it will not be easy, but will not be an impossible adventure. If you take your time in a well-prepared car, travel to conditions and enjoy the country, you will have minimal problems. However if you are overloaded, travel too fast, or are inattentive, you can be assured of vehicle damage as the track is not very forgiving.

On the survey, constant driving attention was needed to avoid chassis battering groundings and consequent inevitable vehicle damage.

This Raid terrain will be significantly more challenging than Raid 2004, more in line with those on the Cape York section of Raid 2000. However the daily distances have been adjusted accordingly. Some of the tracks we will take do not appear on maps, many were overgrown when surveyed and some had not had a vehicle on them for a couple of years.

Drivers;

Expect driving in challenging conditions,
being bogged in sandy conditions,
pushing 2CVs for extended periods in sandy conditions,

A bigger shovel would help

Expect temperatures
above 40 degrees Celsius in the day
below freezing at night

Expect remote travelling
without access to shops for up to seven days,
without access to fuel and in 1st and 2nd gear for up to 600km,
without access to water for up to four days,
without access to a bathroom for up to four days.

Changes of weather conditions meaning you may be landlocked for days.

Vehicles

Expect rocky river crossings with water above the level of the sills.
The side panels of your vehicle to come in regular contact with branches.
The undercarriage of your vehicle to come in contact with rocky passes.

One of many wet crossings, off Gibb River Rd, The Kimberley

Expect to have work to do after the Raid
Expect to replace your set of new tyres with the tyres you took off before you started preparing for Raid Australia. Those tyres that remain inflated generally suffer side wall scarring at the least and frequently the steel belts fail soon thereafter.

Expect to replace the first exhaust muffler, every vehicle to travel the route has needed a new one.

Expect to have to re-grease all the wheel bearings and wheel arm bearings, as they will have been submerged.

Replace all oils as soon as possible as they will have been contaminated with water.
Empty and re-oil the spring pots, as the lubricant will have been washed out by water.