Am planning a caravaning trip starting newcastle NSW in may this year. Was hoping to visit Adels Grove/Lawn Hill travelling via Gregory Downs then on to Camooweal via Riversleigh. I'm towing a 20 ft slightly raised blacktop [not offroad] van.
Is this the best route? Should I lower my tyre pressures?
Normal pressures are vehicle Patrol 265/75x16 Cooper ST 4O psi
van tandem axle 195x14 L/T 44 PSI
Any advise would be appreciated. redsox
clazandaza said
04:37 PM Feb 4, 2010
Redsox
I have run that road a few times. You will not need to lower tyre pressure as it is not sand that will worry you, it is rocks. I have spiked many a four wheel tyre, new and old on the Riversleigh to Camoweal Track. The run from Gregory to Adels was very good as far as the Century Mine turn off due to them grading all the time for their own vehicles. I had heard that the mine shut down or at least cut production by a lot so that may have affected the road somewhat.
Take a few spare tyres with you and give the Gregory Downs pub and Adels Grove park a call to guage the real road conditions.
tiger5 said
05:22 PM Feb 4, 2010
Hi Redsox, We were there last July and the road in was ok.The first 40k from Gregory downs is good as it is looked after by the mine company but the next 40 is a bit rough.If you take your time you will be ok.Watch out for cattle trucks on the road between Burke & Wills RH &Gregory downs . There is 2 areas at Adels one for gennies the other near water is without power.
One photo of Lawn Hill the other is the swimming area at Adels.
It's 10 years since I've been in that area so I can't comment on the road conditions but as Pauline and Ian suggest check the conditions as I think that area has had a lot of rain as a result of cyclone "Olga". That may or may not be relevant by the time you go.
As they suggest there may not be any need to deflate tyres depending on the road conditions. The tyre wallah at Birdsville recommends reducing tyre pressures to 28 psi for the hard rocky roads in that area (not the Simpson Desert which would require even lower pressures). Too much "wind" in the tyres causes "star" fractures internally when driven over sharp rocky roads. (My reference being a conversation with a tyre dealer from SA.). The condition of the tyres is also important, ie they have plenty of tread depth left.
-- Edited by jimricho on Thursday 4th of February 2010 08:08:32 PM
Peter_n_Margaret said
07:50 PM Feb 4, 2010
redsox wrote: Should I lower my tyre pressures?
YES. Significantly. And your speed too.
Cheers, Peter
Peter_n_Margaret said
07:53 PM Feb 4, 2010
clazandaza wrote: You will not need to lower tyre pressure ...........snip....... it is rocks. I have spiked many a four wheel tyre, new and old on the Riversleigh to Camoweal Track.
That is why you "spike" them.
Cheers, Peter
-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Thursday 4th of February 2010 06:54:09 PM
wendyv said
09:00 PM Feb 4, 2010
Adels Grove area seems to have been a bit south of the main Olga rain. By the time you are up there, should be dry, anyway. We have been there a couple of times in March/early April, with no problems.
As you do not have an offroad van, I suggest you make careful enquiries about the Riversleigh route, south of Adels, before committing to going that way. The road in from Gregory Downs is the "main" one and should give you little trouble, provided you drive carefully, to the conditions. Depending when graded, there may be some corrugations. There will be shallow dips, where there have been little creeks when it rained - these are not necessarily signposted, so you need to go slowly enough not to "bottom" in them. Travellers do turn up at Adels with damaged tyres - 99% of the time they are in overloaded vehicles and have been driving too fast.
The Riversleigh road may not be in as good condition as the route from Gregory Downs, from the turnoff near the national Park, to where it meets the Thorntonia bitumen section that comes up from the highway. You will definitely have to cross the Gregory River - spring fed and permanently flowing; there are two ford sections just south of Riversleigh. They are concrete, single lane, can be slippery apart from right in the middle. The O'Shaughnessy crossing should be dry by the time you are there. The best thing to do is to phone Adels staff, close to the time you are travelling, and ask for their opinion of the state of the Riversleigh road for your van.
We have taken our off roader up and down that road several times, but I have also seen it so bad that we wouldn't even do that.
ibbo said
07:36 AM Feb 6, 2010
RE tyre pressure.There are two very different answers to to the question.I don't think we should leave it like that.Who is right and who is wrong.If we were to follow the answers so far given we would be very confused little travellers.Anymore tips and hints please.Cheers.Dukunter..........Not knocking Pete and Ian,just that you both have a different spin on things.
ibbo said
08:27 AM Feb 6, 2010
redsox wrote:
Am planning a caravaning trip starting newcastle NSW in may this year. Was hoping to visit Adels Grove/Lawn Hill travelling via Gregory Downs then on to Camooweal via Riversleigh. I'm towing a 20 ft slightly raised blacktop [not offroad] van.
Is this the best route? Should I lower my tyre pressures?
Normal pressures are vehicle Patrol 265/75x16 Cooper ST 4O psi
van tandem axle 195x14 L/T 44 PSI
Any advise would be appreciated. redsox
Hi Redsox.Welcome to the Forum mate.Dig in and have your say,enjoy the friendship .Cheers.Ibbo.
-- Edited by ibbo on Saturday 6th of February 2010 08:52:32 AM
Ron and Shirley said
10:11 AM Feb 6, 2010
ibbo wrote:
RE tyre pressure.There are two very different answers to to the question.I don't think we should leave it like that.Who is right and who is wrong.If we were to follow the answers so far given we would be very confused little travellers.Anymore tips and hints please.Cheers.Dukunter..........Not knocking Pete and Ian,just that you both have a different spin on things.
Whenever we leave the blacktop for outback dirt road travel we always drop the tyre pressures down to 28psi (roughly 20% off blacktop pressures) to start with. We have found that in the main this suits us though on a few occasions we have gone lower due to particularly bad surfaces.
Naturally speed is also reduced and often slip into high range 4WD as this "feels" more comfortable.
dave06 said
02:50 PM Feb 6, 2010
Hi Redsox and welcome to the forum, if in any doubt about the condition of the road as in sharp stones or sand then
(1) reduce your speed and dodge any dubious looking stones, sometimes you simply cant, depends on numbers
(2) if you see any sharp looking stones and there are a few of them then reduce your pressures to at least 28
do this at the first possible instance and the chances are you will get through, however this is not a guarantee as a sharp stone can also get at you through the wall, sometimes it is better to leave your tyres inflated to their correct pressure and reduce your speed to a crawl
we run a tyre retail shop here with 5 mechanics currently employed so we see both sides, some have traveled over rocky roads with little to no mishaps then the feller coming behind cops it after doing the "correct thing"
if it was me, I would gather info about the road first, then ask what the locals do and go by that
Is this the best route?
Should I lower my tyre pressures?
Normal pressures are vehicle Patrol 265/75x16 Cooper ST 4O psi
van tandem axle 195x14 L/T 44 PSI
Any advise would be appreciated. redsox
I have run that road a few times. You will not need to lower tyre pressure as it is not sand that will worry you, it is rocks. I have spiked many a four wheel tyre, new and old on the Riversleigh to Camoweal Track. The run from Gregory to Adels was very good as far as the Century Mine turn off due to them grading all the time for their own vehicles. I had heard that the mine shut down or at least cut production by a lot so that may have affected the road somewhat.
Take a few spare tyres with you and give the Gregory Downs pub and Adels Grove park a call to guage the real road conditions.
We were there last July and the road in was ok.The first 40k from Gregory downs is good as it is looked after by the mine company but the next 40 is a bit rough.If you take your time you will be ok.Watch out for cattle trucks on the road between Burke & Wills RH &Gregory downs .
There is 2 areas at Adels one for gennies the other near water is without power.
One photo of Lawn Hill the other is the swimming area at Adels.
It's 10 years since I've been in that area so I can't comment on the road conditions but as Pauline and Ian suggest check the conditions as I think that area has had a lot of rain as a result of cyclone "Olga". That may or may not be relevant by the time you go.
As they suggest there may not be any need to deflate tyres depending on the road conditions. The tyre wallah at Birdsville recommends reducing tyre pressures to 28 psi for the hard rocky roads in that area (not the Simpson Desert which would require even lower pressures). Too much "wind" in the tyres causes "star" fractures internally when driven over sharp rocky roads. (My reference being a conversation with a tyre dealer from SA.). The condition of the tyres is also important, ie they have plenty of tread depth left.
Check also the Adels Grove website http://www.adelsgrove.com.au/ They do tours to Riversleigh.
Jim
-- Edited by jimricho on Thursday 4th of February 2010 08:08:32 PM
Significantly.
And your speed too.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers,
Peter
-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Thursday 4th of February 2010 06:54:09 PM
-- Edited by ibbo on Saturday 6th of February 2010 08:52:32 AM
Whenever we leave the blacktop for outback dirt road travel we always drop the tyre pressures down to 28psi (roughly 20% off blacktop pressures) to start with. We have found that in the main this suits us though on a few occasions we have gone lower due to particularly bad surfaces.
Naturally speed is also reduced and often slip into high range 4WD as this "feels" more comfortable.