Perth to Sydney

[PLN]

Originally Posted by PLN

Meerkatharra
Lake Carnegie
Gun barrel hwy
Uluru
Alice springs
Mount Dare hotel
French line
QAA line
Big red
Birdsville
Innamincka
Cameron Corner
Broken Hill
Orange
Bathurst
Sydney


Pete

So a bit of an update,

We have adjusted the plan a bit more,

Basically from Perth up to Exmouth, across to Tom price for karijini NP the down to leonora for the great central rd to uluru,
On to kings canyon, macdonnel range and Alice springs.
Down to Mt Dare, Simmons, birdsville, inammincka then into town.

Approx 25 days.

I got a CRD auto on 33's with front n rear bars, with a mix of off rd and hwy driving half loaded I'm on 12.5 what should I expect in the dessert?

[NTRubicon]

Little update on Mt Dare times too. Took a drive down there with the local 4wd club and covered Alice to Finke to Mt Dare in about 6 hours. That's with a few brief rest stops and a tyre change.

Came back via Finke and Kulgera which is a lot longer but a LOT smoother. Time is about the same

[WHHEMI]

How much extra fuel are you taking, a long range tank would be the go to get you through the simpson.

[humdingerslammer]

Exmouth is interesting and Karajini too, with a few canyons and walking tracks. 2 - 3 days is worth the stop. All of these r accessible as day trips from Mt Tom Price... you can stay in the caravan park there but it might be wise to pre book as it is not a big park and taken up by a lot of mine workers... nice park though. Few things to see around Tom Price also. There should be a few wildflowers out by the time you travel.

I did the Great Central Road a couple of years ago... it was a doddle: I took about 3 days. You can get fuel at the Aborigine communities (Tjukalirla, Warburton, Docker River) but carry a couple of extra jerry cans (that r locked) in case of head winds, load, sand etc. Fill up at each fuel pump along the way so as to minimise the amt of fuel you have to carry. Yes the fuel isn't cheap but u have to compromise somewhere. Each of the road houses have camp sites and they r surprisingly good and quite cheap. Make sure you stay at the Docker River campsite just inside the WA/NT border... it's really nice with drop toilets and showers (cold but).

Kings Canyon is great. U can travel to A/Springs via the Mereenie Loop (dirt) but I don't know how rough this is... it was really bloody rough when I did it.U can get a travel permit for this rd from Kings Canyon C/Park thingy... nice park too.

While in A/Springs, the West MacDonalds have all the canyons etc. Try to go to Palm Valley... a day trip with some interesting approach and departure angles (don't take a trailer). See the Desert Park thingy and also make time to investigate the East Macdonalds...Arltunga etc.

To get to Mt Dare u could take the Finke Track/road which isn't all that interesting and probably still a bit cut up since the Finke Desert Race in June. A more interesting bet would be to go south via the Old Andado Track which is really a road.

I think your biggest stretch without a fuel stop would be across the Simpson Desert and u probably only need to take an extra 2 jerries... maybe 3 to be ultra safe.

Have fun and stay safe.

[Blugeepunlimited]

FWIW, my JKU crd manual used 88.28lt from Mt Dare to Birdsville (17.7 lt/100km) in 2013. Carried two jerries but only used one. Fairly full load plus bar/winch on 33ATs across the French Line. Averages 10.7 eco around town.

[PLN]

Thanks for the tips guys, yes only taking 2-3jerrys, I have an atlas rear bar that holds 2, will chuck a bike chain around the too.

I am going to go to a fair few of those places humdingerslammer thanks you for the tips.
I am a bit nervous as I'm going on std suspension! Wazza D has kindly offered me some std parts as a just incase measure. I've got most of the tools I will need and I'm fairly competent on the car so I should be right.

Getting keen as mustard to get going tho hahaha.