Fuel access between marree and Birdsville

keiron · Senior Member

Fuel access between marree and Birdsville

Whenarewethere · Guru

We use petrol & have bought petrol from Hawker, Wilpena (good price), Marree.

According to my HEMA Road Atlas, Mungeranie Roadhouse has unleaded. Phone them.

Use 98 where you can, then 95, the extra price in general is no worse than the extra km you get.

We also carry an extra 50L if needed (gave someone 10L last year to get them going, ran out of petrol!).

Whenarewethere · Guru

HEMA Desert Track map 7th edition is not showing any more fuel.

Marree to Mungeranni 200km. Mungerannie to Birdsville 310km.

Whenarewethere · Guru

Lyndhurst to Marree is sealed, came down there last year. Maps still show it as unsealed.

TheHeaths · Guru

Kieron,

Unfortunately, without additional fuel, the Birdsville Track will be beyond you. I find that I use additional fuel compared to running the bitumen when on dirt, especially where there are creek beds, and soft sections, all of which you will find along the track. We used 120 litres of diesel in our 100 series with our 21ft, 2750kg van, last year, at average 65kmh due to corrugations the week after the races, from Birdsville to Leigh Creek with a following wind!

To be sure, based on your figures of 30 to 35 litres per 100kms, I would bump that to 40 for budget purposes and allow to use approx 80 litres from Marree to Mungerannie, and somewhere around 120 litres to Birdsville from there. That way you are covered if usage exceeds normal. That said, you will gain some because of lower speeds due to road conditions.

Unfortunately there are no other refuel spots after Mungerannie, so no option other than taking at least 2 and possibly 3 jerry cans to get to Birdsville, and why I recommend being conservatively high on consumption to ensure you have plenty of fuel.

Have a good trip.

-- Edited by TheHeaths on Wednesday 2nd of December 2020 05:47:36 PM

Whenarewethere · Guru

We don't tow.

Sealed we average about 9L/100km, a good tailwind 8, a solid headwind 12.

Average for a holiday with all sorts of surfaces about 11L/100km.

A good dirt road about 11L/100km.

A corrugated dirt road 12.5L/100km.

A corrugated road with stones 14L/100km.

A wet dirt road like a bar of soap engaging a 4wd program 25L/100km.

You will use 25% more fuel on a corrugated stone covered road.

& You want an acceptable safety margin. This Patrol was at Bell Gorge.

normal_IMG_6281-bell-gorge (1).jpg

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

Remember to not overload your roof rack though! My steel ARB roof rack says it supports the full load capacity of my Patrol Y62 which is 100kg. Once I put a spare wheel (approx. 40kg) and two jerry cans (approx. 40kg) on the roof I have only 20kg spare for recovery gear. The Patrol shown in the photo above is clearly overloaded as it has 5 jerry cans (approx. 100kg) plus maxtrax, a large carry box and camping gear.

Whenarewethere · Guru

I had a roof platform but got rid of it with a net weight saving of 16kg. Now use 4 cross bars with custom made aluminium brackets.

Roof weights are gross so include the roof rack.

At least petrol has a low specific gravity of 0.74 My 10L containers with 10L weight 9kg. Spare wheel 30kg, awning 12kg, 4 tracks 12kg, solar panels 13.5kg which sit on the roof when we are sleeping in the car.

We empty the fuel into the car asap, the advantage of 10L containers as they are not too heavy getting on & off the roof routinely.

Avoid this option!

Bicyclecamper · Guru

I would n't even try it, with the van. Leave it somewhere do the trip, and tent it/swags? and then come back. I have done the trip that way by pushbike, and my biggest issue was water, with the last day having none at all. It was stupid of me to try it. Also did the trip with a petrol car back in the 80's, had a trailer, and 2 x 20 gallon petrol drums, as petrol was few and far between. Leave your van behind, and find a good place to store your jerry's on the vehicle.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Thursday 3rd of December 2020 11:59:08 AM

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Don't let them put you off.
The Birdsville "Track" is just another graded outback road. Take it quietly and slowly and your fuel consumption won't be much different from normal.
Drive at 80kph+ and you will risk tyre damage, van damage and significantly higher fuel consumption.
Cheers,
Peter

Mobi Condo · Guru

Do you have Jerry cans racks on the Van A frame. We have three and on remote roads trips only fill them before we start off on doubtful fuel accessible stretches. Other wise the jerries' reman empty for the rest of the trip. Three jerries' should give (from your figures) 60 litres fuel therefore another 200k, plus have you got your spec for the tug to see what is the most efficient engine RPM speed and sit on that speed.
I do suggest that as the van is non off road I would be lessening tyre pressures (both tug and van) and keeping the speed down and the trip would be smoother as well. As already mentioned the track in question is really now a well maintained unsealed main road and I reckon a call to Mungeranie Hotel would also provide fuel info.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi Kieron,
The specs show your car having a 95L tank! The diesels have an extra 29L reserve tank that sits on the LHS along the tailshaft. Could you investigate installing a reserve tank if you are worried about fuel.

In some ways I agree with Peter about the road - it was a track when we first went on it in 1976, today it (unless there has been rain) it is a firm but very stoney road. For this reason, ensure you have good rubber (pref LT rated tyres) on every wheel & a good stone guard on the van. A lot of the stones are jasper, a hard, often sharp material that can puncture normal tyres easily as well as the front of the van. Covering your rear car windows with corrugated cardboard can help to protect them. Reducing your tyre pressures about 5psi can help too.

Take it easy - 80kph is a comfortable speed. And do not travel later than the end of Oct as it tends to get a bit warm out there.

All the best, safe travels.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Keep an eye on this web site.
dpti.sa.gov.au/OutbackRoads
Cheers,
Peter

Whenarewethere · Guru

Mobi Condo wrote:
...lessening tyre pressures (both tug and van) and keeping the speed down and the trip would be smoother as well.

We came down Oodnadatta Track last year. The top 120km was rough with a lot of stones, some sections we slowed right down. Tyres were at 24psi.

Nevertheless a roof rack bolt snapped, I had tools & spare parts to repair. Learnt lesson from a previous trip.

The remainder of the track south was basically a normal dirt road surface with a section that had just been graded, like a billiard table!

Let tyres down! Apart from it is being a miserable & tiring ride for you with road pressure. The car & caravan doesn't like it either, almost forgot.... your wallet will turn anorexic!

& if one complains that it takes too long to pump up 8 tyres. Get more compressors, 30 seconds a corner on my car.

travelyounger · Guru

keiron wrote:
Hello again. I am planning a run from Sydney thru Broken Hill, then out to Hawker, Marree etc upto Birdsville.
My Patrol is petrol, standard 75 litre tank towing a Jayco 20' full size van (Not off-road). I use 30-35 litres per 100 klms.
My question goes to being able to buy fuel (petrol) in some of those remote station areas. I have not added a long range tank (35 extra litres for little extra distance). I am reluctant to carry Jerry Cans of petrol, but suspect this may be my only option.
Is petrol available, say every 200klm or so along this track?? What other options might there be??
Cheers, and thanks. Keiron

If I was you I would carry four plastic jerry cans its better to have fuel than not out there

travelyounger · Guru

travelyounger wrote:
keiron wrote:
Hello again. I am planning a run from Sydney thru Broken Hill, then out to Hawker, Marree etc upto Birdsville.
My Patrol is petrol, standard 75 litre tank towing a Jayco 20' full size van (Not off-road). I use 30-35 litres per 100 klms.
My question goes to being able to buy fuel (petrol) in some of those remote station areas. I have not added a long range tank (35 extra litres for little extra distance). I am reluctant to carry Jerry Cans of petrol, but suspect this may be my only option.
Is petrol available, say every 200klm or so along this track?? What other options might there be??
Cheers, and thanks. Keiron
If I was you I would carry four plastic jerry cans its better to have fuel than not out there

I did the Oodnadatta track a couple of years ago in a road van trying to keep up with a mate in a off-roader and smashed water pipes and Anderson plugs and stone damaged front of van .I was not prepared for this track its very rocky but easy as long as the weather is good and a good tip is to stay under 80km an hour and have tyre plugs as the repairers wont miss you

vheers

markf · Senior Member

keiron wrote:
Hello again. I am planning a run from Sydney thru Broken Hill, then out to Hawker, Marree etc upto Birdsville.
My Patrol is petrol, standard 75 litre tank towing a Jayco 20' full size van (Not off-road). I use 30-35 litres per 100 klms.
My question goes to being able to buy fuel (petrol) in some of those remote station areas. I have not added a long range tank (35 extra litres for little extra distance). I am reluctant to carry Jerry Cans of petrol, but suspect this may be my only option.
Is petrol available, say every 200klm or so along this track?? What other options might there be??
Cheers, and thanks. Keiron

You can get fuel at Mungeranni but that's it.

The road can vary between billiard table smooth and horrible, corrugated, rocky goat track depending on when it was last graded.

As others have said keep tyre pressures and speed low.

When we last went along the Birdsville track in 2017 we were able to move along nicely between 70 and 80kph without problems. In 2014 or 15 the road was horrible and we could only manage between 40 and 50kph if that.

Bear in mind that depending on road conditions your fuel consumption may go through the roof. We normally average around 14 l/100km when towing but when the road was bad it went up to about 35 l/100km which was a bit of a shock.

Try and keep stuff off the roof as it raises your centre of gravity and putting a wheel in one unseen bull dust hole and you'll find yourself with the door handles in the dirt.

The Birdsville, Oodnadatta and the Old Strzelecki Tracks are fantastic trips to be enjoyed - just take a modicum of common sense with you and you'll be right.

Whenarewethere · Guru

markf wrote:
.....one unseen bull dust hole and you'll find yourself with the door handles in the dirt.

We had one on the Oodnadatta Track, we were going slowly & likely it was shallow.