The Great Central Road - Laverton to Alice

chookman · Member

The Great Central Road - Laverton to Alice

sparra · Veteran Member

G,day Davo, The section from W.A. Border to east of Docker River is usually very corrugated,I would take it very easy through there with a van,unless the grader has just been through. Lower the tyre pressures down a bit on car and van will help,the rest of the road is not too bad ( unless there has been a fair bit of rain). The old story,slow up and drive to conditions.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

" easier to drive than you may think"
That depends on 'what you think' :)
The Great Central Road is similar, or better than most of the other long gravel roads in this country.
It has had a lot of work done to it over the last few years and is typically wide and relatively smooth, but of course it varies depending on the weather, the traffic and when the last grader went through. Inevitably, some sections will be fine and others less so.
You will see all sorts of vehicles on it and from reports it appears to get better every year.

What YOU think of it, no one but YOU can decide.

Travel too fast and you can wreck anything. Travel at an appropriate speed and most vehicles in good condition won't have an issue.

By the way, the Great Central Road does NOT go from Laverton to Alice Springs. It actually goes from Laverton to the WA/NT border. East of the NT border it becomes the Tjukururu Road to Uluru, then the Lasseter Highway (bitumen) to Erldunda and then the Stuart Highway (bitumen) to Alice Springs.
The Tjukururu Road is usually the worst bit as it tends to be more stony. Nothing that any 2WD can't handle, but speed may need to be quite a bit lower and tyres better to reduce the chances of damage.

From 2007.

Cheers,

Peter

EDIT. You need 2 (free) permits to drive between Laverton and Uluru to transit the Aboriginal lands, 1 for the WA side and 1 for the NT side. They are available on line. With those permits you can drive through the Uluru NP without paying the fee, but you are only permitted to transit, not sight see along the way. The same applies if travelling in the opposite direction.

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Thursday 3rd of December 2015 07:42:01 PM

Dhutime · Senior Member

Peter 's last photo brings back some memories beautiful country . We saw this some years ago but silly me did not stop long enough , its on my list great road that and I can endorse what he wrote about traveling to fast .
Take your time and you will enjoy the ride , the section between Docker River and the Olga's is or can be very corrugated just drive to the conditions and reduce tyre pressures to suit
Dhutime

Bushpie · Guru

Just spent an afternoon researching this road...... Its quite at work and I have to go somewhere when I retire right? I spent nine years on the Gibb and in that time many so called improvements have been made........... Sorta spoiled it, so I imagine this road will continually be upgraded in the future.

But now it would be just fine ....... Slow down...... Enjoy the scenery and have a great time