Great Victoria/Gibson Deserts

[Baldeagle]

For those of you who live in WA or who might be coming over from elsewhere in Oz, I can recommend the following trip which I've just completed:
Perth - Laverton via Kalgoorlie

Laverton - Neale Junction via Burtville and Lake Rason, which are south of the Anne Beadell

Neale Junction north to the Great Central Rd via the Connie Sue and Waterfall Gorge

Great Central Rd - Tjukayirla Roadhouse

Tjukayirla north to the Gunbarrel Hwy via the David Carnegie Rd and Empress Spring

East to the Geraldton Bore and then south to the Great Central Rd via the Hunt Oil Rd and Alexander Spring

East to Giles via the Great Central Rd

Giles - Wiluna via the abandoned section of the Gunbarrel Hwy

Wiluna - Perth via Sandstone, Paynes Find etc.

Total distance - a bit over 5000 kms
Road conditions - ranged from excellent ( eg Great Central Rd) to wash-outs (OK, just take it slowly) to very long stretches with the worst corrugations I've ever experienced - big buggers - again, just take it slowly.
Fuel availability - Laverton, Tjukayirla, Warburton, Giles, Carnegie Station, Wiluna. I'm talking diesel here - not sure about ULP at Tjukayirla or Warburton.
Best time to travel - April/May to September/October - pretty hot during the October - March period.
Vehicles - I was in my 100 Cruiser with ARB springs and Koni Shocks - no problems, although you'd swear something had to give way on the corrugations, at times. The other vehicle was a bog standard GQ Nissan wagon - also no problems, but his shocks had virtually given up the ghost by the time we got back on to decent roads - rear springs seemed to have sagged a bit as well, but we did have big loads on board.
I also pulled a really heavy duty camper trailer - no problems.
For anyone thinking about this trip, your vehicle needs to be in absolutely top condition in every respect and I firmly believe a REPUTABLE after-market suspension is a must, and you must also respect your vehicle and drive according to the conditions.
If anyone wants more info, let me know.

[Nomad]

I don't know about more info Baldeagle, I just want to go. ;D

That's the trouble with these forums :(. You read all about these great trips and places to go but you gotta wait till next hols >:(

Anyway mate, sound like a great trip and I'm bloody jealous ::)

[Baldeagle]

Yes, Nomad, it was another of our terrific trips through the desert country, which was in pretty good nick after rain this year - green spinifex and wildflowers (especially in the burnt areas), plenty of wildlife (feral camels (ie pests) by the hundreds, roos by the thousands, dingoes, birds, and some of the biggest bungarras I've ever seen. The country was quite varied, often surprising, and always interesting eg Lake Rason in the south, extensive breakaway country (including Waterfall Gorge etc) at the northern end of the Connie Sue and in various spots along the abandoned section of the Gunbarrel, Empress Spring to the north of Tjukayirla (if you go there, climb down the ladder into the cavern and then crawl down a tunnel to another much smaller cavern which contains water - you'll need a torch), the Giles Weather Station (well worth a visit), Len Beadell's plaques and camps, Mt Beadell etc etc. I also enjoyed the driving (despite long stretches of pretty serious corrugations) and, above all, the solitude - ignoring the Great Central Rd, we saw only 4 other vehicles during our travels, one of whom was a German bloke tonking along by himself in a hired Toyota camper(with only one spare tyre and no repair kit!!!!) and another bloke,wife and 3 young kids in a near-new Landrover Defender and pop-top camper trailer - we heard later via the radio grapevine that he'd blown a gearbox out on the Gunbarrel, had to be rescued into Warburton and then his vehicle had to be trucked to the Alice for warranty repairs. Poor bugger.
I'm already looking forward to my next trip which will be up the CSR (my 5th) - want to take a month or so (NOT during school holidays) and have a good look at some of the spots off the actual CSR eg Calvert Range.
Happy travelling!

[Nomad]

Aw geez Baldy, ya got me going now. :(

Ya gotta stop writing about these things ::)

Honestly, I luv the desert. You can shove your seaside, give me the outback and the desert any day. ;D

Amazing how unprepared some people are when they go out there. Especially people from overseas. I don't think they have any idea how huge this country is, and how tough it can be. Guess you would feel fairly safe in a near new Defender, but there you go, you can never tell.

Remember one of our first trips outback, back in 1989, we did 12,000k in four weeks. Did the usual touristy things but ended up down in the Western Simpson. In those days you might not see another soul for days. We had a V8 Cherokee in those days and on the way out to Kings Canyon we snapped a brake line along the rear axle housing. Luckily the truck had dual braking systems so we were able to continue on front brakes only and get repairs done at Yularu.

Apart from that we didn't even have a flat tyre. But we had all the spare parts you could think of. Didn't need them but it gave you a good feeling knowing you could probably get yourself out of trouble.

Planning on a double crossing of the Simpson next year all things being equal. Go west on the French and back on the Rig. Here's hoping. ;D

[Baldeagle]

G'day again Nomad. Yes, the Simpson crossing is a great little trip which we did a few years ago and combined it with the Flinders - great country. We crossed the Simpson after very heavy rains in the region and, following advice pinned up in the Birdsville pub by the local policeman, had to detour north along the eastern bank of Eyre Creek for about 30 km before being able to cross. Even there the water was at bonnet height in our Cruisers/Patrols. Met a bloke a couple of days later heading east in an old Subaru and when I told him about the water and the fact that not much of his Suba would actually be above the high water mark, I don't think he actually believed me - often wonder what happened to the silly bugger! The Simpson was in absolutely top nick after all the rain and it's on my short list of 'do-agains'. I could tell you a few stories about silly buggers who get into trouble through inadequate preparation, like a bloke in a 60 Cruiser, loaded to the bloody hilt, who broke a couple of U bolts north of Durba Springs and didn't have any spares. He arranged through the RFDS base at Meekatharra to have some flown out and dropped to him - in the end a couple of U bolts that you'd pick up at a wreckers for a few bucks as spares ended up costing him $1800 !!!! As they say in the Scouts 'be prepared'.