World's longest shortcut ...

Well so much has happened … we got drenched in Coober Pedy … hit the road and ended up in a free camp about 100kms from Uluru having driven about 645kms for the day.  Great roadside stop away from the road; quite private with only one other van in the area.  A magic sunset with the day temp being 32 degrees and no wind!

Early start and off to see Uluru (which never ceases to impress!) and Kata Tjuta (ditto!) before heading west on the Great Central Road to WA … ahead of us 1126 km of unknown unsealed road ... called the world’s longest shortcut!

The Great Central Road so far is mainly unsealed and rippled with corrugations that can be as high as 6-8 inches.  The landscape is so lush from recent rain with a patina of rich green grasses and a carpet of colourful wildflowers of white; yellows; purples; pinks and maroons.  But with rain comes other issues largely due to the volumes that get dumped.  Roads are closed instantly.  Roads become impassable and boggy.

There had been rain several days before at the Docker River end (nearest Uluru) where we struck patches of water across the road and large swathes of water along the sides of the road.  The road itself ranges from being the equivalent of about 4 lanes wide to slightly less.  We saw 4 cars for the day!

Would you bring a caravan on the GCR – people do – I’d suggest it’d want to be robust or it would rattle loose.  Could you do it in a standard car – yep – and people do.  We ran lower tyre pressures (30F/32R/30Tvan) which made the road more bearable.  But the tyre pressure do inflate with heat (they ended up 34F/38R/34TVan) but ran up to 108 degrees!  At times we travelled comfortably at 90-95kmph – other times much less – the average was probably around 85kmph.  Fuel was $3.22 p/l for diesel at Warakurna –the dearest to date.  Would we cross it again? Absolutely!  With a bit of preparation it is indeed the world’s longest short cut from Qld to WA.

Cosmo Newberry bushcamp

Found another free camp (well it’s not listed anywhere and there was nobody else there to ask – so we stayed) – another early start and more of the Great Central Road – we finished the days travel at a place called Cosmo Newberry in a free camp some distance from the road – quite a few acres of bush and tracks – again – no one else here … except the flies!  Millions of the buggers!  We travelled about 700kms today. No wind; blue sky and 34 degrees.  Tomorrow is an expected 37 degrees. Gotta luv an air conditioned car!

The last section from Warburton (460kms) was rough … we filled up at Tjukayirla Roadhouse at $3.10 per litre for diesel.  The road has been closed from Warburton to Laverton (550kms) (for the past 4 days due the results of rain – with several trucks held up at Warburton unable to cross - which explains why we have seen so little traffic (again, today we saw 5 vehicles, 3 road workers and the police – who just waved to us as we passed.).  We checked the road conditions the previous night to see if the road was open – it was.  But apparently, there is one little section that isn’t … so the truckies – due to insurance issues are not allowed to transit until it officially opens and all government vehicles are in the same boat.  WA schools resume tomorrow but the teachers can’t get there in their government vehicles until the road is officially opened!

We have been lucky thus far with wildlife – today we saw several pods of camels – having to stop and wait for them to mosey off into the bush; wild horses and lots of evidence of many more of their mates; wedge tailed eagles; emus and their chicks as well as the obligatory kangaroos.

So … having rejigged our entire forward part of the trip and rebooked/rescheduled everything we are now heading to Karajini National Park (for 4 nights) then to Exmouth Cape Range National Park for 2 nights) before making our way back down the coast for Dirk Hartog Island.

Tomorrow, we head to Gwalia Ghost Town (about 200kms) and Cue (Big Bell ruins) with an early stop before heading north the following day toward Karajini.