Lake Gairdner run, 2008??

[nigel]

Hi All,

Just a quick poll really to see if there might be a group of us kiters wanting to spend a week out on the dry salt, at Lake Gairdner????

It's such a long drive there, that to really get some good kiting weather for some high speeds, you may have to wait a day or two (or 4).

Don't know when the best time of year to go is, but I will find out soon.

To give you all plenty of time to arrange it, will be looking at 2008 some time.

Any nut cases want join me, to hit over 100kph in their buggy???

[Jon]

Hey Nigel

I'm right up for this one. When in the year do the good winds come. As i work in the shop the summer is a no go. I reckon there would be a few of us coming down from here so the KP van would defo be full. I think it would be good to put together a good expo like this.

[The Duke]

I'd be up for this one I reckon Nigel.

The last couple of trips I did to the lake were planned after the Adelaide kite festival, which puts them both at the end of March / start of April.

I spoke to Anne Maree from Adelaide while at Kingston this year, and she also liked the idea of a trip sometime soon. I believe the people who used to run the farm where we stay have sold it now (Mt. Ive Station) so we will have to find out who is there now and if they still run accommodation of some sort on the property.

Mt. Ive Station is about 120 km of dusty road North from Iron Knob so there isn't a lot of alternatives here. There is a 20 km drive to the lakes edge each day from the station, but I believe all the land in that area is part of the station's land anyway.

They used to have a bunkhouse type of arrangement, like shearers quarters, that they rent out, and some meals were supplied both at the station and at the lake.

Hope this helps Nigel.

[.Joel]

I've just added a poll onto this thread nigel to give a clearer indication when it gets multiple pages long.

Personally I would be very interested in this.

Regards,

Joel

[sinbad]

Here is a link to accommodation up there http://www.mtive.com.au/

[Mark D]

Hi

Found the best winds out there have been late March to April just have to watch as have been caught in wind storms over 100k will be interested in another session out there and will remember the mx gear this time and spare tyres.

Mark D

[Gav]

Yeah I reckon I would be up for it. Maybe I'll have a nice new bugg by then

[Mick14]

It would be great to see a big camping and bugging trip to the Lake again. I've never been, but apparently it can be a fantastic venue.

I'm not trying to poo-poo the plan, but I'll just give a few reasons why we have chosen coastal destinations like Kingston rather than Lake Gairdner for our club trips for the last 5 years or so....

Bloody long drive to Lake Gairdner

No shops or services

Wind can be a bit unreliable and gusty

Less family-freindly at the Lake

Lake surface hard on tyres and skin

Long way from medical help

You can't kitesurf and buggy at the lake (in the same month)

Some people might see these as reason to go to Lake Gairdner. Unfortunately for me, the final point below is the limiting factor...

Wife and daughter won't let me go.

[.Joel]

They won't let you go a year in advance ?

:telephone:Hello Rent a Dad ? Do you have a dad about 5ft,6, slightly balding, middle aged ?

Rent a Dad: Yes we do!

Mick: Good can I book him for 2008 ?

Problem solved...

[The Duke]

I already have a set of secondhand motorcycle racing leathers for the trip, I got them after my last effort of trying to paint the salt red.

I hope they still fit me

I got some u beut tyres rated at 100km/h too cos the wheelbarrow tyres aren't nice over about 70, they tend to throw out o ballance.

[max]

just out of curiosity, where did you get the moto leathers duke ?

Cheers

Max Yarra

[The Duke]

wouldyou believe an OP Shop ?

just my size and all.....

took the name off the back though, I reckon they should do the trick at Gairdner.

[andycass]

The kite festival is over easter next year Mar 21-25 I think, so the week after sound good for a trip.

[The Duke]

Well so far we have seven votes for yes, any more takers ?

I will be contacting the appropriate authorities, and Mt. Ive Station over the next few days and getting things organised, so speak up and let me know numbers to work with please.

I know from past visits to Mt. Ive Station that there are limited numbers of rooms/beds available so if we have too many in the group we may have to take tents or some other form of accomodation.

They had both powered and unpowered sites bach then, but I will find out the latest when I contact them.

[sinbad]

http://www.coast2coastcampertrailerhire.com.au/campers.htm I'm looking at maybe hiring one of these if accommodation is not available it works out at about $450 for a week 7 nights.

Thanks for getting intouch with the appropriate authorities dukey. As i have not got a clue who

but i'm in any way and looking at kingston too.

[The Duke]

Have sent a couple of Emails tonight......

Will advise when I get replies.

[The Duke]

Well Annie has kindly posted the dates for the Adelaide International Kite Festival, so we now have a starting timeframe.

At this stage we are looking at maybe a week following the festival dates, but will know more after speaking with the folks at Mt. Ive Station........

[The Duke]

Word from Mt. Ive is yes, there is accommodation. Quite reasonable prices too.

I will be ringing them soon to discuss further arrangements, the prices they gave me are even cheaper for group bookings, so I'm still trying to guage numbers...........

Who's up for a blast on a dry salt lake ?

[sinbad]

Hi Dukey, when i spoke to people here in Adelaide they did say they were intreasted, as long as it was just after the int kite festival as they would be to busy before hand setting up.

Can you post some pricing and stuff and we can then gauge and get some numbers from there.

I'm still in

[The Duke]

No worries Sinbad,

The email went as follows........

Yes there are rooms avaliable the week after easter starting Tuesday 25th

Our shearers quarters are avaliable at $35.00 a room twin share per night, bring your own linen.

Our powered sites are avaliable at $20.00 per night and our unpowered sites are avaliable at $16.50 per night.

Remember this is accommodation only, no food. I will update details as we go.

Not sure weather to do a group food and board thing or just go as individuals yet, depends on numbers attending.

[Bullseye]

Hi Guys,

A little bird has just flown by an drop a hint the Mt Ives Station ( We miss Joan of the never-never ) owners have installed a new vehicle access ramp onto the lake from the canteen area. It makes it easier for the speed demons in cars to get on to the lake to cause more damage? they have a permement black speed line out on the lake - 8 miles long

Me - I would love to go but work has got me tied down whilst everyone else is off sunning thier Bits on some far flung shore!

Oh! I hear the dust is very fine and very dry this year as the rains haven't got there yet but keep an eye out on the weather around Port Augusta & Woomera if it gets wet!

Bullseye

[.Joel]

Hi Bullseye,

The Duke (Neil) is already in the process of talking accommodation, food, transport etc and organising the trip. You may wish to get in contact with him and collaborate your efforts.

Regards,

.Joel

[sinbad]

So any more news on the lake yet, you still going Nigel ?

When you getting over to Adelaide for Easter? are we going to head out to lower light before the festival again or go down to the beach at Goolwa.

[nigel]

Yes I still intend to go, even on my own, if I have to.

Lake condition unknown at the time!!

The DLRA folks meet on the Labour day weekend (8,9,10th March) and the odd day either side, and will give you updates closer to their meet if the lake is good or not.

They don't want their cars sinking.

The whole reason for going to Gairdner was the fact that you SA boys are busy in the lead up to the fester, so getting you out to lower light for a buggy the day before the fester for a race/run was a pain.

Now the buggy event is on afterwards, so more can come?

Noted the Fester is running over 4 days and not 3 like last year.

My original idea was to have the Monday as a packup day/recovery day for the fester people, and head to Gairdner on the Tuesday.

Then have Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, at the lake, and return Sunday to Adelaide.

That way less days used on your annual holidays, for those that work.

With the fester running another day it's pushed it all back, so only having Thurs, Fri, and Sat, on the lake is not looking good.

I expect the weather pattern to take 5 days to do a full cycle, so we should get one awesome day in there, but over 3 days?????

So it looks like we might have to stay longer than Sunday to get the best conditions.

All this does depend on the lake, if it's wet, don't bother even going!!

And once there, what winds the wind gods decide to grant us with?

I think we need to get permits from the DNRE???? If we want to buggy.

The most important thing we need is numbers!!!

Who's comming??

We can then plan accom, food etc.

[The Duke]

Well here's the latest.......

The Dry Lake Racing scheduled for the beginning of March has been cancelled by the National Park guys due to the lake being a little soft for vehicles to drive on for the first 150 Metres.

Apparently they found this out by driving onto the lake themselves and embarassingly getting themselves bogged. But the news is not all bad for us as this only means no vehicle access is allowed.

I have spoken to Joy at Mt. Ive Station, who assures me that the lake itself is currently quite dry, and you can walk on the surface, and she believes it should be a good surface for our needs. She explained that Lake Gairdner doesn't have any creeks or rivers running into it like Lake Ayre, so if it doesn't rain directly on the lake between now and Easter, it may even be rock hard by then.

The bad news is that they had a price rise over Christmas with the accomodation........

Rooms with linnen supplied are $60 Twin Share with $25 extra per person in the family rooms.

Rooms BYO linnen $40 Twin Share with $15 extra per person in the family rooms.

Singles therefore will be $20 per person.

They no longer do any catering themselves, so we will have to arrange all our own food, which means if we have a definate number of attendees we can arrange our own catering, otherwise you're on your own.

The other issue we have is that the shearers are scheduled to arrive around the same time we are, so we will need to know numbers as early as possible so that rooms can be reserved for us in advance. Mt Ive has 22 rooms, around 10 of which will be taken by the shearers, so we need to get in quick if we want a good room choice.

Joy gave me the contact details for the National Park people so I will ring them and get the update as to whether we can use the lake or not, and post the info as I find out more........

Now's the time to put your hand up people......... We needs numbers to make this happen, otherwise Nigel and I will be having a whole lotta lake to ourselves. Just think about it...... a 15km x 30km area of perfectly flat ground. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Lets see some names for the list.

Nigel

Dukey

Sinbad ?

any others yet ?