Thank you Australia. See you soon Xtractor
Mission done. The incredible journey of 8500 km across Australia has been accomplished. A special greeting to this land and its wonderful people. An honorable mention to our unstoppable McCormick and to the whole team Xtractor. Continue to follow us on Facebook waiting for the next chapter of Xtractor Around the World.
Day 40: Ayers Rock/Uluru – Alice Springs
Officially the Xtractor’ journey ended at the foot of the sacred monolith Uluru, but actually we need to take our tractors (and ourselves) to Alice Springs. We decide to choose a dirt track apparently shorter than the comfortable – but boring – motorway. In the process, we find we made a bit risky choice risky […]
Day 39: Erldunda – Ayers Rock/Uluru
Today we wake up at 6 and as always, and until sunrise the air is fresh and cold. The temperature on board of our tractors is red-hot instead. This is the last day of our adventure, at least according to the roadmap. Our goal is the red monolith, Ayers Rock or Uluru, how local Aborigines […]
Day 38: Alice Springs – Erldunda
Today is the second last leg for the crew of Xtractor. Desert, here we go again. But here the landscape is different, much less desolate as compared with last days’ burned moors. The blackened trees were replaced with low bushes, deep green against the bright red of the sand dunes. Day after day, the temperatures […]
Day 36: Tobermorey – Alice Springs
The plan was to stop at another farm – again in the middle of nowhere – in Tobermoray, the only option in hundreds of kilometers. We are on Road 12, obviously dirt, also known as Plenty Highway although in fact the only thing there is plenty of is… the nothing. Or perhaps the name refers […]
Day 35: Mount Isa – Tobermorey
The journey into the nothing continues, this time down a narrow road, paved, which after a few dozen kilometers turns dirt. Apart from that, the scenario does not change: the desert. Then suddenly road works materialize – lots of signs and graders at work. The track becomes even for a while, then everything falls back […]
Day 34: Julia Creek – Mount Isa
One day’s journey through the usual bleak monotony of the dry flat, and we cover the distance between the small rural town of Julia Creek (two roads, a pub, nobody around at seven o’clock in the evening) and Mount Isa, one of country’s main industrial centres. In over 250 km. we cross only one town, […]
Day 33: Hughenden – Julia Creek
We take the Flinders Highway, the road that we will follow for hundreds of kilometers, an asphalt ribbon that from the coast points to west, straight to the red heart of the continent. The landscape can be even more desolate than yesterday: no more trees in the scene, leaving behind an ocean of yellow grass. […]
Day 32: Lyndhurst – Hughenden
If yesterday it seemed we were travelling in the middle of nowhere, now it is even worse (or better, depending on your point of view). The road started well, but a few kilometers from the roadhouse where we spent the night the asphalt ends and begins a long dirt track, perfectly straight, flanked by the […]
Day 31: Mount Garnet – Lyndhurst
The first surprise of today is the cold: at 6am, at the alarm ringing, the air is definitely cool, but within a few hours everything is back to normal and at midday there are the usual 28 degrees, perhaps slightly more. We drive along a secondary road with very little traffic. Mount Garnet, the tiny […]
Day 30: Cairns – Mount Garnet
Today, the last chapter of Xtractor Australia begins. We head back to south, but this time we get away from the coast and lead inland. The endless outback, literally “the behind”, covers most of the Australian territory behind the 3,500-km. long mountain chain that borders the east coast and forms a watershed between the green […]
Day 29: Great barrier reef
Today, finally, a very much needed day off! The drivers can take a rest, do the laundry, walk around the city, take a nap next to the pool. Just relax. Someone goes a bit further: our filming crew, lucky them, leave for a cruise to that wonder of nature that is the Great Barrier Reef. […]
Day 28: Cape Tribulation – Cairns
Not a very interesting day today. We have breakfast outside, surrounded by rainforest, then take the beautiful road to Cairns. Sun is back after yesterday’s clouds, and it starts to get hot. There is people on the postcard-picture beaches, and somebody even swims, despite the warning signs of deadly jellyfish and sea crocodiles. […]
Day 27: Cairns – Cape Tribulation
Cairns could even be the tourist center of north Queensland, but it is little more than a collection of not particularly attractive hotels. Cairns is our starting point to push north until the asphalt ends and there is only jungle ahead. We cross the Daintree on a barge, a beautiful forest road leads to the […]
Day 26: Cardwell – Cairns
Green, green, green. Today we travel in the green, the bright green of new grass that stands out on the dark tones of the forest. We managed to escape from A1 to take a small country road through plantations of sugar cane and banana. We spot countless large flowers which turn out to be plastic […]
Day 25: Townsville – Cardwell
Today we have gathered sufficient satisfaction for two days and it is fortunate because today there is nothing special to report except that we passed the Tropic of Capricorn. We arrive in Rockhampton, Australia’s capital of livestock and cowboy that today, Sunday, are on a trip elsewhere: the city is deserted and even the famous […]
Day 24: Bowen – Townsville
Twenty-fourth day of the expedition, hit the 4,000 km. mark, we are more than halfway through. In Melbourne, when we left a bit more than three weeks ago, it was cold winter. Here, beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, we begin to smell summertime and exotic seas. Yesterday a flock of colourful parrots wandered in the […]
Day 23: Mackay – Bowen
Today we hit the A1 again, in the absence of alternative routes. Which is yet another evidence that we are gradually moving away from the most populated areas. We cross a large plain planted with cane sugar, mangoes and vegetables. It seems that most of the early fruits consumed in Australia come from here. The traffic is again rather […]
Day 22: Clairview – Mackay
The backwater we crossed yesterday has taught us an important lesson: when you find a petrol station you would better refill because the next one could be VERY far ahead. Today we managed to get to a petrol station by a hair, but it’s a risk that we cannot afford once in the outback. We know that as […]
Day 21: Rockhampton – Clairview
Suddenly today the landscape turns to dry, a wasteland dotted with stunted trees sheltering dusty grazing cattle thin, apathetic, that barely bother to turn their head to watch us pass. The changing face of Australia. There is nothing in the range of tens of kilometers, even Route A1 – usually so busy – is almost […]
Day 20: Agnes Water – Rockhampton
Yesterday we got enough emotions for two days and this is very lucky because today there is nothing special to report except that we passed the Tropic of Capricorn. We arrive in Rockhampton, Australia’s capital of livestock. However today, Sunday, cowboys are on a business elsewhere: the city is deserted and even the famous rodeo […]
Day 19: Bundaberg – Agnes Water
Today we enjoed an almost-holiday atmosphere, it was a short but very intense leg. We leave the busy highway and turn into one of those countryside tracks we so much love to we find ourselves immersed in a fantastic world of water, palms and eucalyptus trees that instantly remind you of the tropics. We happened […]
Day 19: Bundaberg – Agnes Water
The 19 day sees the trip from Bundaberg to Agnes Water. In the video the story of the journey and step into the wonderful Reedy Creek Reserve, a 452–hectare nature reserve on the coast of south-eastern Queensland.
Day 17 – Fraser Island
Our expedition today takes us on legendary Fraser Island, in the Great Sandy National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. The Fraser Island, in Aboriginal language K’gari (paradise), is the largest sand island in the world, with an area of 1,840 km². Only 4×4 vehicles are allowed as there are no roads, just beach […]
Day 16: Overcome 3.000 Km
3,000 kms milestone overcome!
In today’s tour, from Brisbane to Tin Can Bay, the team on board our 4 tractors McCORMICK enters the 16th day of expedition reaching and exceeding one third of the total journey. Arriving in Tin Can Bay, a seaside resort that is located in a sheltered and deep bay of the Wide Bay […]
Day 13: Port Macquaire – Arrawarra
The video story of the journey completed by the Xtractor Team from Port Macquarie until Arrawarra, the two main cities of the New South Wales, for a total of 240km. From the State of Victoria, the state where the expedition has began, the Team moves along the coast to reach the Queensland state.
Day 12: Bush
The exciting images of the expedition’s twelfth day: our team along the way from Heatherbrae to Port Macquarie, a 212-km leg, is crossing the bush, typical Australian landscape nested in the woods, a demanding path for our 4 McCormick tractors that enthusiastically fight their way through.
Xtractor Day 9: Blue Mountains – Sydney
The beginning of the second week of the expedition bring the Xtractor Team from the Blue Mountains, fascinating and unpredictable, to Sydney.
Xtractor – Firts week video sequences
Here we present some excerpts from the journeys of the first week of the expedition: in order Camper Down, Bendingo, Finley, Wagga Wagga, Cowra, until Katoomba, very famous in Australia for its spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, the Blue Mountains.
Day 2: Apollo Bay – Camperdown
190 kms along the Great Ocean Road, from Apollo Bay to Camperdown. In the most inaccessible ride, the natural spectacle of the 12 Apostles rewards the Team splendidly: limestone towers and pinnacles that since an immeasurably long period of time arbitrates the match between land and sea. Watch the spectacular aerial shots.
Xtractor teaser
The raid aboard the 4 McCormick tractors for over 8.500 Km of Australia has just started but already gives us beautiful images of Australia. Discover how technological excellence translates into respect for the environment and for natural resources, thanks to McCormick. This video tells us about these aspects and the preparation stages of the expedition […]
McCormick presents the world of agriculture to the Tv-viewing public
McCormick introduces Xtractor Around the World. Experience the thrill of a unique expedition. 10 team members on board 4 tractors drive to World’s End. An exciting trip across Australia that will stir your heart and prove how technological excellence becomes respect for the environment and for natural resources thanks to McCormick’s experience with the LIFE+ programme […]