Archive
Women’s Canning and Gun Barrel Highway 2026
We are almost ready to depart for Alice Springs to begin our exciting women’s journey for 2026. This year the ladies identified the CSR and GBH as their trip of choice. Follow along as we travel one of the worlds most remote tracks.
2 Places available RIIVEH305A Brisbane Friday 19th July
2 places available on RIIVEH305A Brisbane Friday 19th July.https://olsenstoursandtraining.rezdy.com/2830/riiveh305a-brisbane-operate-and-maintain-4wd-vehicle
Hay River Tag Along Tour Day 3.
3 days of travel completed for Misty and the Hay River 4WD Tag Along Tour. Shown here. Presently camped about 115 k NNW of Peoppel corner. Still about 20k to go before they start to see signs of the Hay River flood out. About 70k until they see the gullies and channels. The Hay river is one of five rivers that empty in to the Simpson Desert. This tour is unique in the world because you get to drive a 4WD upstream from what would normally be an ocean in to a river mouth!
To book on the 2014 Hay River Tour, go to http://www.djolsen.com
2013 Hay River Tag Along Day 1 and 2
Misty got in early enough to do her washing and get settled before having a celebration meal at the Birdsville Hotel but then she had to turn around and start the Hay trip the next day. This arose because I was originally going to run one of the trips but couldn’t. So well done Misty on getting everyone together and organised the next morning for an 11 am departure. The group set off for Big Red and on arrival found that one of the vehicles had a serious oil leak and had to pull out- so regretful, but it sometimes happens- they will be along again next year. I know they had their car inspected pre-trip but that is just the way it goes sometimes. Misty led the group through the big dune country past large clusters of Crotalaria Cunninghamii with it’s yellow green bird shaped flowers over Eyre creek and into the stands of Gidgea along the QAA where they camped for the night. In the morning the first dune they had to tackle is the one I call the son of Big Red, a triple crested dune that in a dry year can have people deflating a few extra psi especially in the heavier vehicles. They made their way to the K1 where they headed south and then west across to the shore of Lake Peoppel and Peoppel’s corner. From there they headed north to Kilpatha well, a mikiri damaged by oil exploration crews looking for water. They then made their way northwards towards Beachcomber oil well and camped adjacent the track a little east of one of the explorer Charles Winecke’s camps. [url=http:www.djolsen.com]http:www.djolsen.com[/url]
Follow Misty and the Hay River Tag=Along tour here www.djolsen.com/tracking.html
Tow-Ed Brisbane Places Available
We have had some participants postpone due to issues with delivery of new caravans, so we have some places available on our Tow-Ed Training 13 July 2013 in Brisbane (Chandler). Just two places left.http://www.djolsen.com ph 0747893289.
The towing course has been developed to enable you to understand the relationship between your car and your trailer. This is a very practical course and we will progressively build your knowledge so you will be able to confidently venture out with your trailer.
This comprehensive course includes practical instruction and trainee manual covering the following:
• Safety and Towing Regulations;
• Trailer Dimensions;
• Types of Hitches;
• Loads and loading;
• Driving techniques; handling characteristics towing a trailer;
• Braking techniques with trailers;
• Turning and parking trailers;
• Reversing and parking trailers using guides, mirrors and use of low range (if applicable);
• Carry out vehicle and trailer pre & post trip inspections.
Hay River 4WD Tag Along Tour – 1 place now available
Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you all know that due to illness one of our clients has postponed his Hay River Tour, so we now have a place on our 2013 Hay River Tag Along through the northern Simpson Desert. Be quick to book as this place will no doubt go quickly.
More details of the Hay River Tag Along Tours are here
http://www.djolsen.com/hay.html
Book here https://olsenstoursandtraining.rezdy.com/2827/10-day-hay-river-4wd-tag-along-tours
Driver Training in Brisbane
We now have driver training courses running in Brisbane much more frequently. Our courses include 4wd training for mining and exploration, 4wd training for recreation, government departments and corporations. Our Low Risk Driver (once known as defensive driver) courses address driver behaviour, attitudes, awareness, motivations and skills. Cognifit fleet driver allows corporations to assess driver risk for existing and new drivers, and allows corporations to train cognitive brain skills to make better drivers.
Further weight of evidence re showing transfer of skills developed from computer based cognotive training into improvements in driving-related cognitive domains. The conclusion of the study “ Visual speed of processing training delivered on-site or at-home to middle-aged or older adults using standard home computers resulted in stabilization or improvement in several cognitive function tests. Widespread implementation of this intervention is feasible.”
Interesting points from the article:
- A study published in 2011 as part of a multi-year, government-funded trial, known as ACTIVE, showed that participants followed for six years had a 50% lower rate of motor-vehicle accidents following cognitive training.
Tour Availability 2013
I thought I’d give you all an update on the status of our tours for 2013
Our 21 Day Kimberley tour starting June 1 in Alice Springs has plenty of available spaces but bookings closes this Saturday.
Photographs from this amazing tour are available here http://www.djolsen.com/gallery/kimberleygallery/
Information is here http://www.djolsen.com/kimberley.htm
Anyone booking between now and Saturday will get a significant discount of 20%. Use promo code kimberleyoffer when booking here https://olsenstoursandtraining.rezdy.com/2828/21-day-kimberley-explorer-4wd-tag-along-tour
8 Day Simpson Desert Adventure- some places left http://www.djolsen.com/simpson.htm and don’t get the all female trip next year.
10 Day Hay River – Sorry fully booked. Contact us about next years tour.
20 day Cape York – Sorry fully booked. We will be running at least two of these Cape tours next year.
23 Day Canning Stock Route – just one more place left. https://olsenstoursandtraining.rezdy.com/2829/23-day-gun-barrel-highway-and-canning-stock-route
Hope to see some of you in 2013 or 2014
Staying Safe on the Roads This Coming Easter
One of the privileges of this role is being able to discuss and gain insights from some of the world’s leading road safety experts. The feedback received is information that can help keep you and your family safe this during the Easter holiday period.
One of the most important things to do is engage in responsible defensive driving – using compensatory strategies (e.g. maintaining a safe braking distance behind the car in front of you). You may also consider enrolling in a high-quality practical defensive driving course – it’s a good investment.
Sadly there have been what I personally consider to be some flawed conclusions and publicity associated with advanced driving courses. I have heard some road safety proponents argue that research indicates that advanced driving courses lead to over-confidence and hence increase the likelihood of the driver being involved in a motor vehicle collision. I am quite happy to accept the premise that a high-performance driving course could well lead to driver over-confidence and hence increase collision risk. Indeed I have witnessed exactly such an example of dangerous over-confidence myself and politely avoided accepting a lift from a driver who’d recently undergone such a course.
I believe that the problem lies in categorising all the different types of advanced driving courses available as being the same, specifically taking the findings from advanced high-performance driving courses and mistakenly extrapolating the findings and deeming them to being relevant to advanced defensive driving courses.
A proper defensive driving course is designed to dispel over-confidence by allowing the driver to experience just how quickly and badly things can go wrong and developing defensive driving strategies to help avoid getting into a bad situation in the first place. Building the driver’s repertoire of compensatory strategies to help them deal with the likely scenarios of what can reasonably be expected to go wrong out on the open road.
That is why we refer to our courses as Low Risk Driving courses. We also very strongly advise people to seek cognitive assessment and training.
So where does enhanced cognition fit in? Dealing with the unexpected. Both experience and defensive driving courses teach us what we can expect to go wrong and how to deal with it. That being said, out on the road most emergencies are unexpected – somebody somehow has done something really stupid. It is then up to your cognitive processes to perceive, interpret and respond to the situation quickly and accurately enough to avoid the collision. This is not conscious thought, this is pure processing speed, and this is why cognitive training is a beautiful complement to practical defensive driving training and strategies.
Call us today about driver training that can assess and improve cognitive abilities.
We wish you all a happy and safe Easter.
New study finds that boredom provokes 31% of drivers to take unnecessary risks
Researchers at Newcastle University (UK) found that drivers who didn’t find the highways taxing enough were more prone to speeding or overtaking as they sought excitement. As a result the researchers suggest that making roads more complicated by building in more obstacles could actually make them safer.
The researchers draw some other interesting conclusions:
- They described 35% of the driving population as enthusiastic drivers – persons who find driving more challenging and intrinsically interesting. Because they enjoy driving they are calmer and therefore are less likely to have an accident.
- 31% were described as “easily bored, nervous and dangerous” and these people were more likely to have an accident (seeking excitement through risk-taking driving activity).
Comments made by the lead researcher – Dr Joan Harvey – and Edmund King (president of the AA and Visiting Professor of Transport) also throw up interesting perspectives on how efforts to make roads safer and vehicles easier to drive may (in some instances) increase the risks that drivers take because they’re not sufficiently mentally engaged in the task at hand.
For more information on this study please follow this link to the Newcastle University (UK) Press Release
This is just one reason why our bush tracks are safer than improved roads, a point I’ve been trying to make to the Cook Shire Council for some time with respect to the Starke to Kalpower Road.
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