Betoota Birdsville Windorah

fiddlestix · Member

Betoota Birdsville Windorah

Retiree 2 · Newbie

Hi fiddlestix, 20 ft high clearance seems exceptionally high. Is that correct?

fiddlestix · Member

Ive edited

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Those roads can be stony, and they can damage fittings and tyres.
Protect stuff under the van and the tug rear window, lower tyre pressures and lower speeds and you will be fine.
Cheers,
Peter

PeterD · Guru

The stone damage on those roads is no worse than the flying stones you get on a lot of roadworks. High clearance is not required, you are not going off road, you are travelling on reasonable gravel roads. There are plenty of European vans that go out there and they do it without grounding the chassis I see no reason to lower tyre pressures on that road either, You should not exceed 70 km/h or so with reduced tyre pressures, there is a lot of that road where you can travel at up around 90 km/h.

I think some members get a bit precious about travelling those formed gravel roads. I have lived a lot of my life where the roads we travelled were similar to that. The people out there just treat them like suburban roads. You have to look ahead for changes of road conditions on both and slow down if you are not assured of continuing perfect road.

Just go out and enjoy your trip. There is perhaps one little section of road to be especially careful on. Leon's Lookout is a good rest stop with a dunny. It has a good outlook over the plains from a high elevation. If you want to use it then slow to about 20 km/h and you should survive the side trip without damage.

-- Edited by PeterD on Wednesday 31st of October 2018 11:32:56 AM

dave48 · Senior Member

We took our motorhome there last year and went VERY SLOWLY and had no problems at all. The road was horrible in some places but I repeat we went VERY SLOWLY and that is the secret. Let them roar past you at 100 k's an hour. Who cares. Enjoy the trip. We did

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I agree with Peter D about not needing high clearance.
These pics were taken between Hadden Corner and Betoota in 2012. Nothing would have changed much since.

Cheers,

Peter

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi fiddlestix,
Just have good rubber all round & take the advice of PeterD & Peter_n_Margaret.

The stones out there are hard & often sharp (jasper). In 1976, I blew a tyre near Betoota & had the unfortunate situation where the car slipped off the jack. I must have "found" a less rocky area as it took a lot of effort to find some rocks to use to lift the car again!

Just be wary that the roads out there can change from year to year, depending on rain & the amount of traffic. Contact the Police at Birdsville if you have any worries.

PnM, I've been enjoying your pictures of recent days - your truck is one in a million!

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
PnM, I've been enjoying your pictures of recent days - your truck is one in a million!

Thanks. The one above is a friend's.

Cheers,

Peter

Ozzie_Traveller · Senior Member

G'day mate

We did the Windorah to Birdsville & back again in August this year - timed between the Big Red Bash & the Races so the town was quiet - only regulars + 100 or so visitors, rather than the 10,000 to 12,000 who arrived for the other 2 events

Regular road maintenance was underway towards the Birdsville end, but overall, the 275km of gravel road was "pretty typical of many other outback roads we've covered". Our road speed varied from 60km/h to 80km/h with 90km/h in places, and before we started I dropped tyre pressures by 1/4 from the vehicle's highway 60 psi pressures

Both Windorah & Birdsville are "2 streets wide x 2 streets high" with limited / typical outback services, food is plentiful, tho selection limited & Birdsville has a beaut hardware store for all sorts of 'spares'

Here's some pics of that part of the country

1) The road ... pick anywhere to minimise the bumps & move back to your side when someone's coming
Birdsville Highway.jpg

2) One of many roadside stops
R2D2 at Rest Area.JPG

3) The best place to overnight - Deon's Lookout
Deon's Lookout Q.jpg

4) An amazing artwork made from thousands of coloured stones & goes around the whole hill
Snake, Dreaming.jpg

Hope this helps
Phil

-- Edited by Ozzie_Traveller on Thursday 1st of November 2018 10:19:08 AM

darjak · Senior Member

Last time I travelled that road, they'd put a lot of that horrible black stuff on it.
Seeing you have a Jayco just make sure you warp your drain pipes,the hardware
at Birdsville makes a good living selling it.