Thanks to those who gave details of the dirt road to Port Smith WA.  I'm thinking I might give it a miss.

One more... how about Eighty Mile Beach, a little further south?  Will I be able to go from the highway to the van park with all cups, saucers and false teeth still in one piece?

Of course, any information will be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance...

Al - If you think the road to Port Smith is going to demolish the contents of your van than give it, 80 Mile Beach, Barn Hill and Pardoo Station Stay a miss. The roads to each of these are similar.

You should have read between the lines in the Drongo's reply. There is no need for you to drive like the Drongo or for your wife to pack like Wendy. Also he only mentioned that glass items were smashed.

I would suggest you change the packing habits and replace breakable item with unbreakable items where possible. Most of our tableware is Corel and never gets special packing. Our cups are mostly earthenware and the cook has a nice china mug, again no special packing. However we do have that up top cupboard fairly full so that things do not move much. For the glassware we have a smaller cupboard above the extractor hood. We keep the stubby coolers in it and pack a glass in each of most of them. Last year we travelled from Windorah to Mt Isa via Birdsville, mostly on gravel . Nothing broke or chipped. If the Port Smith road is going to damage the contents of the van due to poor selection and bad packing then I reckon you are going to have a lot of breakages on broken bitumen if you travel far enough.

I am not saying don't go to 80 Mile Beach per see. Your friends are going to Port smith. Go with them. This will give you a training trip that will give you confidence to visit many other places like this and national parks in the future. If you like that experience then go to 80 mile beach as well (or if you are travelling the block clockwise, try Barn Hill.)

Where Drongo may have erred is he may have used a fast speed that his tug was comfortable and rode well. This is a tried and true way when travelling solo, vary your speed so you are dancing over the tops. However this is always disastrous for the van. The suspension on the van and the tug will have their comfortable state at different speeds when travelling at a reasonable clip.. If you put some vibration sensors in your van and and use these to pick a good speed for the van you will have the navigator complaining loudly because of the shake up you will be giving her. What you have to do is to slow to a speed like you use for speed humps and walk your van through the real rough stuff, not dance over the tops of the corrugations. You may spend 2 - 3 times the time that you would when running solo but it will be worth the experience when you get there,

-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 2nd of August 2010 03:43:38 PM

G'day ..

Been a while since I went into 80mile Beach.

We were fortunate as the CP operator had just been over the road with a massive gate like contraption that knocked the tops off the corregations.  Pretty good result.

A mate went back sometime later,  just after heavy rain.  Bad decision!  Couldn't use the road in parts had to go bush, but got thru OK.

We caught lots of fish & gathered one or two fantastic shells, but you need to be quick & drive a fair way along the beach away from the park.  Great fun to walk in/out with the tide & watch the sea life.

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 2nd of August 2010 04:25:58 PM

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 2nd of August 2010 04:26:24 PM

80 Mile beach is a caravan park! We have stayed there several times with our van. You see every type of rig in there and, provided you drive at a speed suitable to the road condition at the time, you should have no problems. I haven't been into Port Smith, but again we have had no problems with the road into Barn Hill. Like 80 Mile Beach, you see all sorts of rigs in there.