Hi Possum3

Not too much corrugation?

Thank you.

In 2016 we got out of Mutawintji NP before the roads were closed & got to Wilcannia. We wanted to go that road but it was closed due to rain.

At Wilcannia end the local Council were very helpful with road information, even though everything was closed.

Drop into Bourke Council if you are there during office hours.

Rob Driver wrote:

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Last time I was on that road there were signs clearly asking to report to Police prior to travelling that route. Probably about 5 years ago.
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I have been travelling the bush for 60 years.

I have NEVER seen such a sign.

Cheers,

Peter

In my experience, in SA, the "authority" for road conditions is the Department of Infrastructure and Transport. They decide (after consultation with locals) which roads are open to all traffic and which are restricted or closed.
https://www.dpti.sa.gov.au/OutbackRoads

This is what the full report looks like in hard copy (this particular one was displayed at Oodnadatta, so the "locals" simply quote that report if you ask for road conditions there.

They may give you a guess as to when the restrictions may lift, or they may not, but what the DPTI says in their report is "the law".

Most other States have similar publications.

Cheers,

Peter

One more observation.
Coming from Birdsville to cross the Simpson is complicated from a road control authority perspective.
The first section is Queensland public road, then somewhere that changes to private pastoral track to Big Red and then for another about 36km west. Then you enter the Queensland National Park on the QAA Line for 70km, followed by about 24km in the NT (but not in a NP). Only then do you enter NP in South Australia at Poeppel Corner.
SA National Parks control the access to the NP and the roads in the Park, not the DPTI.

A camping permit is required for the Queensland Park section, but maybe you don't stop and a Desert Parks Pass is required to use the SA sections.
HEMA map.

Cheers,
Peter

In case some members on here are confused, the areas that Peter and Wawt arent in NSW they are in SA.

From memory the road that Kim is asking about comes under the Shire of Cobar.. I could be wrong but that info is easily found.

Peter said this above:

I have been travelling the bush for 60 years.

I have NEVER seen such a sign.

Cheers,

Peter

Thank you Possum3 for clarifying the existence of Police signs on some outback NSW roads and tracks.

I was using the Wilcannia to Bourke road back in the mid 1990s and those signs requesting contact with local police were most definitely erected on the Wilcannia end.

I am sure I have seen them out around the area of Broken Hill, and Tibooburra as well. Probably seen them on other roads in western NSW.

I didnt think there was a pissing contest in this topic as Peter suggested.
He openly stated that he had not seen such a sign and that is fair enough.

I would imagine that any truck driver working in outback areas for part of his working life would cover 10s of thousands of more kilometres in a few years than a happy tourist in a 4 WD getting out and about during holidays, long service leave and the odd long weekend in his lifetime.

To the OP, Kim, travel the road with care, obey road closure signs, watch the weather particularly if you arent doing the road in the one day and be cautious of trucks with dust and stones and I should include weekend warriors in their 4WDs.

There are 2 roads that go between Wilcannia and Burke that follow the river. One each side of the river.
They are "similar" from a driving perspective. The video clip I posted earlier was from the northern side.

We were  camped on the southern side 25km north of Wilcannia in the early '90s when it started raining at 1am. We left immediately and just made it back to the bitumen. The roads are black soil and turn to grease with a shower.

Another map from HEMA, with their permission.

Cheers,

Peter