Adelaide, Alice, Uluru and Great Central Hwy - any advice please?

Salzie · Member

Adelaide, Alice, Uluru and Great Central Hwy - any advice please?

The Phantom · Guru

Sally, unless it is completely necessary, I would eliminate Alice Springs. It is about 200 kms from the turnoff to Ulara. That means 200 up and 200 down. An extra 400 kms for no gain plus the days spent in the Alice..

Turn left at Erldunda and head to Uluru and then on to WA via the GCR. This should save you some time and allow a more relaxed holiday with the few extra days on your side.

From Adelaide, you can always visit the Alice on a later trip.

The Phantom

elliemike · Guru

Salzie wrote:
Hi All, I'm a very new member who'd like to tap into the wealth of experience that exists here. My husband and I are planning a trip for 8-12 weeks beginning in Sept this year and we are thinking of the following: Adelaide, Alice, Uluru, Great Central Hwy to Geraldton and then south around WA coastline and finally back to Adelaide via the Nullaboor. What I'm wondering is "Are we completely mad?" "Is this achievable in this time frame?" and "What do we need to know (particularly concerned about the Great Central Hwy) that we probably don't know?". We have a Navara and will be towing a 14ft Windsor Rapid on road model. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks everyone :)

Yep a good trip it could be done in that time.

Have you towed this rig on any shorter Dirt Roads. Say for a whole day or two better still for days . If not. You need to prove it will travel OK on the dirt. That includes Corrugated Sections.

Ensuring you home on wheels is "Dust Proof" is of great importance The dust will break your heart if it gets into you camper big time. Even a well sealed vehicle gets some minor amounts of dust.

Gear must be stored correctly for possibly, hundreds of Kilometres of Corrugations on the road. It varies from good well graded gravel to larger gravel and bigger rocks, Compacted sand soft at the edges, to corrugations of varying degrees to severe, dependant on all sorts of variables.

Your built in furniture might have fallen apart if it is not strong enough to withstand this sort of constant vibration. Crockery smashed and wine, olive oil, jam,honey, pickles, milk all over the floor from smashed containers if not stowed correctly. And the fridge out of its hole with the door open. (I have seen this)

Make sure you are really confident in your van and tug to do this sort of dirt road travel.

The rest of the roads are Good Highways sealed and smooth, the GCR varies in condition with the time of year and weather. You need to get the latest info on conditions before you travel. They close it if it gets too wet.

Carry an extra spare for each vehicle.

You could do it in eight weeks the longer you can take the more you will be able to Stop and Smell the roses. Lovely country out in the Centre.

Possum3 · Guru

1. Great Central Road from Alice to Geraldton - tough trip unless road has been graded just prior to travel - not really suited to your van. - The Navara if set up correctly should be OK.
2. The timing of your proposed trip Sept, Oct, Nov - is possibly three month's too late -wind direction, heat and wet seasons not best time to travel.
3. Time allowed quite do-able - depends on your trip from Alice to Geraldton.
4. In summary - It would require too muck luck to do it (particularly without back up vehicle/s) to guarantee safe incident free trip - Just my views

Mutley · Senior Member

Hi Sally,

Not sure if you've taken yours along long dirt roads before, but we have travelled quite a few long dirt outback roads in a completely stock Navara towing a camper trailer & we've never had any problems with it.

Just be aware that things are going to rub together in your van on dirt roads no matter how well you pack them (cups, dishes, glasses etc) We only use plastic & everything that has been stacked has a "ring" around it from rubbing. No biggie, but for-warned is for-armed ;)

Our beer & cider is in cans, coz glass breaks :) The cans get taped together, so they don't rub & wear holes in each other. Beware that milk cartons sometimes collapse on heavily corrugated roads - the result can be milk everywhere.

If you have any cabling or water hoses under the van, the rocks coming off your back wheels can hit them & cause breakages. We carry plenty of cable ties & check everything frequently (the corrugations on the Nathan River Rd & the Epsilon Rd both shook the D shackles off the chains on the camper trailer. Had the Anderson Plug shaken out on the Strezlecki & the Warri Gate Rd)

Tire pressures are very important on dirt roads, the higher you have them, the more your Ute & van (and you) will get shaken around. We run them a lot lower than most people do & we have never had any issues with tires on dirt roads.

Something else to be aware off is that rocks get thrown back from the rear wheels & bounce off whatever you're towing, back onto the Ute. I've never had the reach them back window (yet), but we have a nice dent in the tailgate from a rock that bounced off the camper on the Birdsville Track.

Everyone recommends to check wheel bearings before you go, but another thing that wears on dirt roads is your spring hangars & shackle pins on whatever you're towing. I'd check those as well.

If you haven't already, I would do a shake down trip on a dirt road before you go, as suggested by elliemike above. That will give you an idea of what to expect.

We're taking our new (to us) little on road van along the Gary Junction Rd in June, I'm really looking forward to it!

Moonraker · Senior Member

We did a similar trip in reverse starting in Perth Sept 2012.
Assuming your rig is suitable for gravel roads and you take it slowly on those roads particularly the GCR which was well graded at the time but the large gravel stones can cause a lot of stone damage if travelling too fast. I bought a Stone stomper after that trip. Too late for that trip but from the experiense its the only thing that works, and made in Adelaide!
Anyway if I were to do that trip again specially considering the amount of kms through the middle of the country And from Adelaide I would try to take in as many of the places of interest as possible. You have enough time.
So my route would be basically. To Quorn, Hawker, Wilpina, Farina and up to Marree, Williams Creek, Lake Eyre, Cooper Pedy, Alice, Glen Helen and the West MacDonnell gorges, this area is not to be missed if up this way. Kings Canyon, Curtin Spings, Ayers Rock. Then a slow drive along the GCR to Laverton. And I mean slow!
I would go to Grealdton via Kalgoorlie as there is more to see, from Southern Cross take the north wheatbelt road (good sealed) across to Wubin to Perenjori then Geraldton. In a good year this is the wildflower area and the right time of year. Then south from there.
Would be a great trip and I think a good time of year to do it.
Just take it easy on the gravel roads particularly the GCR its very straight and obviously a long way there is a trendance to drive it too fast so slow with plenty of stops.

Hope you have a great time
Cheers

Oma · Guru

To give you an idea of the GCRoads (2013) have a look at m blog. Heed all the above warnings. Forget Alice & take your time across the GCR. Plenty of spots to stop early for the evening- we always stopped by 1-2pm. Water at all the roadhouses. Fill up at all in case next one empty. Have enough cash in case their machine not working. Because he has been under our van with a torch shining - shows up any holes which can be sealed. Cover your fridge, door vents while driving. Tyres low. There was much more traffic across here than the Gary Junction Road. If you travelling along maybe an eperb or hire a sat phone. Have RFDS 1800 number . When we got to the Malcolm dam just east of Laverton we all did a huge and it took us 7 nights. The permits say only 3 nights to be taken but that is silly & no one checks anyway. The only time our permits were checked was at the Ayres Rock gateway west of Curtain Springs- good for a night or 2.
Enjoy & take your time

https://bkmcl.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/from-curtain-springs-ayres-rock/

Just check on the right hand side for the list on from Curtain Springs.

https://bkmcl.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/from-ayres-rock-to/

-- Edited by Oma on Thursday 17th of March 2016 05:01:31 PM

-- Edited by Oma on Thursday 17th of March 2016 05:03:53 PM

Hylife · Guru

The Phantom wrote:
Sally, unless it is completely necessary, I would eliminate Alice Springs. It is about 200 kms from the turnoff to Ulara. That means 200 up and 200 down. An extra 400 kms for no gain plus the days spent in the Alice..
Turn left at Erldunda and head to Uluru and then on to WA via the GCR. This should save you some time and allow a more relaxed holiday with the few extra days on your side.
From Adelaide, you can always visit the Alice on a later trip.

The Phantom

I disagree.
The Alice is a perfect place for exploring the multitude of beautiful gorges and chasms that make up the West and East MacDonnell Ranges.
One could easily spend a week using The Alice as a base or take in the many free camps sites, and no visit to Central Australia is complete without visiting Palm Valley to see the ancient Red Cabbage Palms within the Finke Gorge National Park.

And, if you have a little time on your hands, take it slow and even a 2WD sedan towing a basic road caravan can make the journey through the Mareenie Loop road fromThe Alice to the 'Not To Be Missed' Kings Canyon. A much shorter distance (320km Vs 485km) but takes the same time as the blacktop route via Erldunda. It is only unsealed from Hermansberg to Petermann (195km), and the corrogations are usually only on one side of the exceptionally (20m+) wide road. It seems this road just gets graded wider and wider, so you can just flip flop from side to side going up inclines which is where the severe corrogations are.

Do be aware that the fuel outlets at Uluru (Yulara) and Kings Canyon will rip you off something fierce, just because they can.
Kings Canyon fuel is to be avoided at all costs. Pricing is the absolute worst and their attitude to their pricing is despicable. They'll simply laugh in your face and tell you to "go elsewhere then", which of course you can't.
It is actually far cheaper to buy some Gerry Cans and fill them in the Alice and then throw the gerry cans away after emptying them, than to pay the outrageous $2.40+ per litre (cash!) for fuel at Kings Canyon. I was physically ejected from the premises last when I challeged them about price gouging. The weak excuse about freight costs is plain bullsh!t and doesn't carry with me when I know full well that all NT & SA fuel is brought in pre-refined from Indonesia & Malaysia and trucked everywhere. That same fuel in Kings Canyon is trucked another 2,000km further south to Adelaide and sold for $1.10 a litre.

Enough of my ranting. Don't miss out on the Alice region in my opinion.

There are five lovely free camp sites I can recommend. Camps Australia Wide 8, NT numbers 43, 46, 63, 64 (native dingos at 64), and the Gosses Bluff Crater (4.5km wide meteor impact crater) 18km north of the Mereenie Loop Rd, 60km west of Hermannsberg.

-- Edited by Hylife on Thursday 17th of March 2016 06:02:41 PM

Oma · Guru

They probably would not enough time this trip to do all of the above thoroughly. It is a nice days trip down to Chamber Pillar ot even overnight. Rainbow Valley also should not be missed. Do it all another trip.

Salzie · Member

Thanks so much everyone. We have noted all your comments and will now start to work our way through them and make decisions about where to go, what to do and what to buy etc. The tips regarding vehicle prep/maintenance and considerations for Great Central Road are really helpful. Hopefully, we will have some experiences that we can share with others later in the year. :)