Elsewhere on this site I raised the above topic as much to start a debate as to state a view and to some extent supported the proposition. To invite wider participation I have moved the topic to this forum.

Go for it folks, put your views (both sides) and lets have a friendly debate!

I've done a lot of both and sometimes the black top is just the road to the good places. It's all amazing no matter what the road surface is. Certainly getting off the beaten track adds more adventure to the journey, but it's all wonderful at the end of the day. There's nothing greater than to camp in a great spot, warming hands over the fire grasping a mug of Bundy or tea, chatting about everything that comes up. Waking to birds, enjoying the bark on the trees, the moss on the rocks, the ferns in the crevices, the path through the scrub, the trickle or roar of the flowing stream, the view from the hill or from the valley. It doesn't matter how you get there, it's the getting there and enjoying wherever you are. A valley by a creek in the Kimberleys, a creek bed between Innamincka and Birdsville, Davenport Creek west of Ceduna, Clare Bay east of Fowlers Bay, the sand dunes along the west coast of the Dampier Peninsula, a lake between Mt. Magnet and Meekatharra, Cape Carauderon, the De Grey River - you choose. It doesn't matter. Just enjoy and be grateful you can. Cheers Chris

At the moment...We restricting our camping trips to 3 hours max from Adelaide....so its blacktop for us..have a few trips planned...before end of October....the big trips are way off in the future for us...we would love to see north WA and NT....oneday. Dave

To over-use a modern cliche - - - Absolutely! Just in the last 7 months, I've driven - the Great Central Road (Laverton WA to The Olga's NT) Plenty Highway (Alice Springs NT to Boulia Qld) Parachilna Gorge Road (Blinman to Parachilna SA) Oodnadatta Track (Marree to Marla SA) Savannah Way (Burketown Qld to Borroloola NT) - and the places visited and sights seen are magnificent and I've loved every minute of it. I will admit there are some great destinations along the bitumen, but why would you want to miss out on some wonderful places just to avoid getting a bit of dust on the vehicle. On second thought, you guys and girls stick to the blacktop and leave the seldom-visited wonders to me.

I'm with Granny, I love it all.

Last year we travelled from the Hunter up to the Savanah Way to King Ash Bay, across to Darwin, back through to the Kimberlies, over to Broome and Barn Hill, along the Tanami Track to Alice and then back home again.

I marvel in all the sights, the wildlife and I do so love people watching.

Mike47 wrote:

---

- and the places visited and sights seen are magnificent and I've loved every minute of it.

I will admit there are some great destinations along the bitumen, but why would you want to miss out on some wonderful places just to avoid getting a bit of dust on the vehicle.

On second thought, you guys and girls stick to the blacktop and leave the seldom-visited wonders to me.

---

Right on Mike.........
It would be terrible if they all started wandering about out there.....

Cheers,
Peter

 

Yep, I vote - it does not matter much which you prefer.

I believe the difference is the isolation. With dirt and "outback", you are where most people do not go, so there is a sense of adventure, going to a place that few will see. The tree's, waterholes. etc, are the same, just fewer people and less infrastructure. More like "how it used to be in the old days", a sense of being self reliant.

It would be wiser for those that have not travelled much, to stick to the black, but do not miss an opportunity to go a little out of your way, to some isolated spot, just off the black.

Hell, this subject brings back memories of some really isolated spots, some where i thought no person had stepped foot on before. Eh, maybe Burke or Wills perhaps, possible Lassiter, nice memories so thanks.

Did not finish, as I sat here recalling some : Coranation Hill (Kakadu), Palm Valley (Herminsberg - Alice Springs), and some more, but yes, really fantastic, but only as not many have been there.

we got that out of our system a long time ago, having worked, played and lived in "the outback", complete isolation, seven day weeks, twelve hour days, 8 week rotation with a month off then we built "the mongrel" and toured the rest of the deserts and inland, all in all we spent probably 15 years in "remote" country during our early years, to me there is no difference from getting to an area by bitumen or by a little bit of dirt track, most of these original tracks were put through by mining exploration companies, chances are some that you are on may be some that I put through sure there may be a different bit of scenery on rough tracks but it can easily be matched by another more accessible track when I see a remote mountain range i see what lies beneath it, Iron ore, magnesite, uranium or leady ore, my years of mining in remote areas has taken a lot of "the adventure" away, it is just like going back to our mining camps, we used to live "out there" and it was no walk in the park then either we still go off the beaten track regular but not the forays into the never never land that some romanticise about