My trip out to Lake Eyre

[eksjay]

Folks, I have written a kind of trip report here:

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...24#post1652224

Overall, I am gobsmacked my 24 yo car managed to do this trip without incident given the treacherous trail conditions north of William Creek. It performed flawlessly, and although the tyres were New, I had to baby them to avoid any early tyre failures or even suspension damage.

My drum brakes had some dust in them when I eventually returned to the blacktop. It felt like I was driving with my handbrake up, and made occasional UFO sounds.

As I mentioned in the piece, I would have expected few things would force me into 4LO, but the Oodnadatta Track southbound at Mount Dutton was it. Rocky and heavily corrugated, even though the surrounding landscape was breathtakingly beautiful.

At Halligan Bay, there were plenty of cowboys travelling the track at dangerously high speeds and doing reckless overtaking with bulldust everywhere. One of them arrived at the campsite and got stuck in the sand after revving his engine to show off (Ford Ranger). Embarrassing. Had to be pulled out. Must have been running tyre pressures at 50psi.

I am back in semi civilisation, had all the fluids drained and a major service, including tyre inspection, rotation and alignment. Car drives like it just rolled off the dealership. Back to shopping and family duties without repair or modification. Same tyres....

[wes]

Whaaaaat?
Only one photo!
Sounds like a great trip - where did you start from?

[eksjay]

Thanks Wes. I haven't had a chance to post photos up yet. The single photo was from my mobile which became next to useless out that way and I never bothered to charge.

Spent much time in Broken Hill and surrounds, time at Port Augusta, drove up the Stuart highway to Woomera, stayed on the blacktop to Lake Hart and on to Coober Pedy.

From there we looped up to Oodnadatta on the Kempe Road, took the track down to the Neales, and continued down to William Creek. This stretch was a tyre and suspension destroyer and I saw a couple of abandoned overturned trailers here, plus an Amarok with what appeared to be OEM road tyre damage.

Those hauling vans and trailers realised that the road north was probably the roughest it has ever been. I have never seen it this bad. Even around WC, the van haulers rode the shoulders of the track. Had there been some rain or moisture, the track would have been soft.

Road conditions improved south of William Creek and especially towards Marree.

Some troll who was handing out LE camping and park permits (at an unamed location) was adamant that there was no accessible water at Halligan Bay. The only way to see the water was from the air. This contradicted the satellite images on the Lake Eyre Yacht Club site. At the time of our camping at the lake (late July), the water was a 500m walk from the campground. Proved them wrong, ... thankfully. However, no water is visible in ABC Bay.

If you are thinking of doing the trip at some stage and Lake Eyre is your destination, definitely approach the Lake from the south. I.e. outback highway to Marree on blacktop then Oodnadatta Track to William Creek.