2017 Desert Trip

[rhinosm]

Starting to plan and prepare D4 for this years trip.
I've added ARB Bull Bar and Fyrlyts this year.
Trip plan shows estimated km's and days.
Obviously fuel will be the area of concern in some sections without a LRT.

Desert 2017 - 24 days based on:
Melbourne to Adelaide = 729 (1)
Adelaide to Parachilna = 565 (1)
Parachilna to Maree then
Maree to William Creek = 385 (1)
William Creek to Oodnadatta then
Oodnadatta to Victory Well = 544 (2)
Victory Well to Pipalyatjara = 319 (3)
Pipalyatjara to Giles Meterological Station then Giles to Newman = 1,465 (6)
Newman to Marble Bar = 299 (1)
Marble Bar to Telfer Mine = 327 (1)
Telfer Mine to Ininti = 846 (3)
Ininti to Glen Helen = 412 (2)
Glen Helen to Alice Springs = 132 (1)
Alice Springs to Port Augusta = 1,223 (1)
Port Augusta to Adelaide = 306 (1)
Adelaide to Melbourne = 729 (1)

Getting excited.[bigsmile1]

[Lee Jackson]

Wow... What a trip. Some day I will get to go on a trip..

[Bytemrk]

Sounds like a fantastic trip,

I'll be watching this thread with interest...

[RobA]

Are you in a jet? Some of those dirt legs are an average planned speed of 80kph if the tracks are good and Alice to Pt Augusta in a day is a lot of time in the dark dodging roos on that road

All the best with it

Rob

[vnx205]

I would never cover those sort of distances in those times.
That isn't because I drive a Defender rather than a D4.
It is because ther are so many interesting things to see on the way.
Aren't you planning to stop and look at anything on the way?

[cjc_td5]

Great trip, though I agree some big kms in there!

I'll be doing the following in early June.
- Bunbury to Laverton, then the western end of the Anne Beadell Hwy to meet a group at Neale Jn coming west across the Anne Beadell.
- North up the Connie Sue Hwy
- Across and up the Gary Hwy
- East across the Gary Jn Rd to Sand Blight Jn.
- Down the Sandy Blight Jn Road, then back home down the Great Central Road.

Traveling solo in my D4 (with other cars). Only 8 weeks until blastoff, can't wait!
C

[weeds]

I would never cover those sort of distances in those times.
That isn't because I drive a Defender rather than a D4.
It is because ther are so many interesting things to see on the way.
Aren't you planning to stop and look at anything on the way?

I too thought there were lots of big days....until I realize led the number in (brackets) was the days to cover the distance.

Unfortunately lots of us are stuck with doing long days at the start and finished when you live a long way from the actual destination.

From day three on the longest day is 300-400km not counting the mad dash home over the last three days.

[Chops]

Sounds like a great trip,, making me even more excited for our little trip to start later this week [biggrin]

[Redback]

Looks like a great trip, well apart from the Alice to Port leg, that's a long day, we are going on our big trip soon also, from home, Ceduna, up Googs, the rock, CSR, Kimberley, Darwin and home, 21.000ks solo in the D4, CAN'T WAIT:banana:

[cjc_td5]

Starting to plan and prepare D4 for this years trip.
I've added ARB Bull Bar and Fyrlyts this year.
Trip plan shows estimated km's and days.
Obviously fuel will be the area of concern in some sections without a LRT.

Desert 2017 - 24 days based on:
Melbourne to Adelaide = 729 (1)
Adelaide to Parachilna = 565 (1)
Parachilna to Maree then
Maree to William Creek = 385 (1)
William Creek to Oodnadatta then
Oodnadatta to Victory Well = 544 (2)
Victory Well to Pipalyatjara = 319 (3)
Pipalyatjara to Giles Meterological Station then Giles to Newman = 1,465 (6)
Newman to Marble Bar = 299 (1)
Marble Bar to Telfer Mine = 327 (1)
Telfer Mine to Ininti = 846 (3)
Ininti to Glen Helen = 412 (2)
Glen Helen to Alice Springs = 132 (1)
Alice Springs to Port Augusta = 1,223 (1)
Port Augusta to Adelaide = 306 (1)
Adelaide to Melbourne = 729 (1)

Getting excited.[bigsmile1]

When are you off mate?
I think my longest run between fuel stops is about 750kms. Will be OK I think with a spare jerry can or 2.
I seem to spend my spare time surfing youtube videos of Beadell tracks to get an idea of the likely terrain. Can't wait!
C

[Ferret]

I'll be doing the following in early June.
- Bunbury to Laverton, then the western end of the Anne Beadell Hwy to meet a group at Neale Jn coming west across the Anne Beadell.


What time early June? Defence will be closing the Amber Zone Centre Line Corridor 11/06/17 - 14/07/17 so travel along the entire AB highway will not be possible after 11 June.

[cjc_td5]

What time early June? Defence will be closing the Amber Zone Centre Line Corridor 11/06/17 - 14/07/17 so travel along the entire AB highway will not be possible after 11 June.

The group will be coming across the Anne Beadell before then. They were intending to start the trip from Alice Springs on the 5th and do the anti-clockwise circuit, but have had to reverse it and start from Coober Pedy due to the range closure.
C

[IvanR]

Great trip But I think you are pushing it a bit. Only 6 days for Pipalyatjara to Newman is a concern, 9 days is more realistic. The Heather Hwy where it turns north is not much more than walking pace. There are sections of this route where the gap in the mulga is 1.5m and the D4 is 2m wide. In 2014 when we travelled from Giles to Newman there where sections when we had to cut our way through. The worst was 1km in 1 hour. Its a great trip but trying to keep to the time table becomes stressful and takes away from the enjoyment.

Ivan

[rhinosm]

We are off around start of July, still trying to get all the ducks aligned.
Getting everyone's leave arranged etc is a challenge.
Thanks for comments, it's helps to hear from people with previous experience in region.

[shanegtr]

I'm another one who plans to be travelling through the Centre this year. We plan to head from tom price to wiluna and across to alice, then up the tanami to halls creek and back home. All within 2 weeks during the school holidays. I would love more time but that's all we have unfortantly. My sister in law is coming along, they've got a bit more distance to cover as they are coming from gove and meeting us in newman

[Ferret]

... but have had to reverse it

Yeah, same here - we have had to reverse the direction of travel to avoid the closure.

[BobD]

There are a couple of places they could make up time if necessary. I think Newman to Telfer is only one day if you need to speed up and probably no need to stop at William Creek. We have done Coober Pedy to just south of Birdsville via Maree in a day, although it was pretty dark when we camped. We had to speed up to miss the 100mm of rain that hit Central Australia in May last year and ended up just getting to the bitumen near Windorah as it started to really rain.

We were one day ahead of the rain from Warburton to Windorah so we had to pass straight through Ulara and camp on the road to get to Coober Pedy in time and then had a quick play on Big Red with drops of rain just starting to fall and headed towards Windorah to get on the bitumen as quickly as possible.

The strange thing was that there were lots of people heading for Birdsville as we fled, even one convoy of two D4's towing Kimberley Karavans. Goodness knows how long they were stuck there after over 100mm of rain that night in the entire area from Warburton to Windorah.

We did a similar high speed trip in the D4 a couple of years ago. 3 weeks from Perth to Cape York via GCR and Uluru, Plenty Highway and one of the development roads past the Lava Tubes and then 1 week to return to Perth via the bitumen and the Kimberley, with 1000km days the norm for that last week. The D4 is brilliant for these types of distances and I would rather get out there when I can than wait until I am dead for time to see everything in one go. I've seen more of Australia since I bought my D4 in 2013 than I have in my entire life, mostly in 2 to 4 week trips when I have leave.

I think our most rushed trip was Perth to Brisbane in 4.5 days then 10 days to get back to Perth via Birdsville, Coober Pedy, Uluru and the GCR with a Kimberley Karavan that we had purchased in Caboolture. My son took his D1 TDI300 as well and we all loved it, despite being limited to 100kph on the bitumen for the D1 to keep up and when we were towing with the trailer.

I reckon the best thing is to get out there when you can and don't worry if you don't see everything because it is easy to go again soon and see some different stuff. That is what we have been doing since 2013.

[jonesy63]

Having driven that return leg a few years ago, can I suggest that you try Alice Springs to Woomera (or even Coober Pedy) in one day. Then make the 2nd day to Port Augusta (or a bit further). I drove Alice to Woomera in a day - and it was a long one. That was with tent/stuff on roof racks - if you're towing you might be a bit slower.

FWIW, the longest day I have driven was 1200km... but that was an early start and late finish!
Cheers,
Rob

[GregMilner]

Our trip this year is definitely going to be a bit more leisurely than Rhino's:-)

June 24 - take a week to get to Broome. Rent nice house for 4 nights at Cable Beach.

July 5 to 14 - spend at Pender Bay and Middle Lagoon, fishing and generally goofing off, with camper trailer.

July 16 - two weeks exploring the GRR, Mitchell Falls etc in convoy with BobD & family.

August 1 to approx August 13 - Darwin, Litchfield NP, down through Alice and Uluru, then home via the GCR.

I get tired just reading Rhino's itinerary -:

[BobD]

Yeah, it will be nice to do a more leisurely trip with you, Greg, than our normal hurried trip. We will also be spending August and September travelling to Townsville, down the coast probably as far as Melbourne and back across the Nullarbor while my son and his D1 goes with Greg on his trip down the center and back via GCR. We will probably separate from Greg at Threeways to head east as we did the Savannah Way as far as Lawn Hill last year.

We are really looking forward to the trip with Greg and his family and also to 3 months off work, by far the longest break I have ever had in over 40 Years with the same company.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Great trip But I think you are pushing it a bit. Only 6 days for Pipalyatjara to Newman is a concern, 9 days is more realistic. The Heather Hwy where it turns north is not much more than walking pace. There are sections of this route where the gap in the mulga is 1.5m and the D4 is 2m wide. In 2014 when we travelled from Giles to Newman there where sections when we had to cut our way through. The worst was 1km in 1 hour. Its a great trip but trying to keep to the time table becomes stressful and takes away from the enjoyment.

Ivan
Also to consider un expected break downs ( Hopefully not) also add to times.

[LandyAndy]

Our trip this year is definitely going to be a bit more leisurely than Rhino's:-)

June 24 - take a week to get to Broome. Rent nice house for 4 nights at Cable Beach.

July 5 to 14 - spend at Pender Bay and Middle Lagoon, fishing and generally goofing off, with camper trailer.

July 16 - two weeks exploring the GRR, Mitchell Falls etc in convoy with BobD & family.

August 1 to approx August 13 - Darwin, Litchfield NP, down through Alice and Uluru, then home via the GCR.

I get tired just reading Rhino's itinerary -:

Love the sound of that!!!!
Andrew

[Russrobe]

For contrast, looks like we will be crossong through water which is currently 6ft deep in areas!

Cant wait.

Have a great trip.https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/765.jpg

[LandyAndy]

I would love to steer a grader up there,seen so much grading that is so wrong!!!!!
Once I have a van I would seek jobs like that to finance a trip around Awestralia!!!!!!!
Andrew

[Redback]

Our trip this year is definitely going to be a bit more leisurely than Rhino's:-)

June 24 - take a week to get to Broome. Rent nice house for 4 nights at Cable Beach.

July 5 to 14 - spend at Pender Bay and Middle Lagoon, fishing and generally goofing off, with camper trailer.

July 16 - two weeks exploring the GRR, Mitchell Falls etc in convoy with BobD & family.

August 1 to approx August 13 - Darwin, Litchfield NP, down through Alice and Uluru, then home via the GCR.

I get tired just reading Rhino's itinerary -:

Well be about 3 weeks behind you, well 3 weeks behind everyone by the looks of it, we aren't leaving till July 17, but doing Googs to Uluru via Alice then Palm Valley, then heading for Marble Bar and Karratha, spending 2 or 3 days in each area.

[67hardtop]

I would love to steer a grader up there,seen so much grading that is so wrong!!!!!
Once I have a van I would seek jobs like that to finance a trip around Awestralia!!!!!!!
Andrew
Geeze a trip round the block in a grader would be slow Andy [emoji15] [emoji15]

Cheers Rod

[Chops]

There seems to be a few doing Googs this year,,, [biggrin]

[Bytemrk]

There seems to be a few doing Googs this year,,, [biggrin]


Geez Marcus..... you'd think you were excited or something.....[bigsmile]

[Chops]

Geez Marcus..... you'd think you were excited or something.....[bigsmile]

Who,, me? excited?,,,, naaa, you must have me confused with someone else,,,,

Only 21 hours (approx) until we start the first section of our journey [wink11]

[shanegtr]

Now that the kids are back to school that means the next school holidays is our big trip. 1st July to the 16th July for us. Seems like theres a few LR's getting around the centre this year. Give me a shout on the UHF if you see a blue D3 and a Grey 200 series towing camprite's - it wont be hard to miss the camprite thats behind the 200 - there wont be another like it out there:
122764
Its fair to say Im getting excited about the trip

[rhinosm]

Well best laid plans!

Due to personal issue a number of people have pulled so we have rescheduled the Pilbara to 2018.
Everyone is on board.

So this we we have joined up with some friends to Simpson.
Last year we crossed from Birdsville to Poppels and then north along Hay River Track.
This year is up the Oodnadatta to Dalhousie Springs and across Simpson to Birdsville.
Long fuel run from Oodnadatta to Birdsville.
One D4, a Landcruiser and a Prado.
I hope they can keep up.
Heading off this Saturday.[bigsmile]

[RobA]

Oodnadatta to Birdsville using the French Line is around 670km. We hate that run so always have followed this set of tracks; Dalhousie to the junction of the French and Rig, South to the Rig Rd, follow that to the WAA and that to the Lone Gum, across to the Knolls Track to the French Line, to Poeppel Cnr then the QAA to Birdsville. Adds a day or two and some more fuel. Following that we would get our Prado to the Shell in Birdsville using around 135l of fuel

Will get around to doing it again with the D4 but after >20 crossings we have other places in Oz to explore now

Rob

[rhinosm]

Locked and loaded.
Just throw on swags in the morning and we are off to the Simpson.
Duratracs all round.

[rhinosm]

Returned home last night.
We did 5000kms.
Melbourne, along Oodnadatta Track to Dalhousie, to the junction of the French and Rig, South to the Rig Rd, follow that to the WAA and that to the Lone Gum, across to the Knolls Track to the French Line, to Poeppel Cnr then the QAA to Birdsville.
As suggested by RobA,
Oodnadatta to Birdsville over 850kms, used 145L, towing trailer.
4 fathers with 4 adult sons, fantastic group and experience.
Roads were reasonably busy, and very dug up especially going west.
I never got stuck, unlike my Toyota friends, once each.

[Hoss]

Sounds like a great trip :-)
How did the Patriot go? Looks like you've matched your trailer wheels. Any chance you could let me know how you did that? Cheers

[Hoss]

Scratch that. Just saw your other post

[rhinosm]

Hi Hoss
Patriot was great.
We removed tent off the top and replaced with Rhino Rack, slept in swags.
We basically used the patriot to carry food, cooking gear, fuel and swags etc, and as a mobile kitchen.
Its a tough unit.
I carried 5 jerry cans in front storage area, swags & spare wheel on top.
No flats or wheel problems at all.
I run 255/55/19 Duratracs all round.