Dust, Deserts and Diesel.

Twenty seven years ago when I first arrived in Australia, I bought an old Ford Falcon station wagon off a backpacker in a pub in Brisbane for $500.00. In our trusty wagon we got three quarters of the way round Oz before it died somewhere near Broome in WA. We then bought a Ford Falcon sedan off another backpacker in Kununurra where we worked for three months, which then completed our figure of eight (up the east coast, up the west coast and down the middle twice). On that trip we saw a lot of the country but we mostly stuck to the bitumen and there is a lot of Australia that you can only get to by heading off the bitumen.

So, for this trip then, getting off the beaten track was most definitely on the agenda, and in fact I wanted to tackle some of those iconic dirt roads not just because of where they go to but just because they are there.

So far on this trip along with hundreds of k’s on non specific gravel roads we have ticked three major ones off the bucket list and lived to tell the tale, and still have at least one on the agenda to do in the next few weeks.

I have already written about the Birdsville track but since then we have ‘conquered’ the Plenty Highway and the Tanami Track and next week we will be heading out onto the Gibb River Road through the heart of the Kimberly.

The Plenty Highway actually starts off as the Donahue Highway at Boulia in Queensland but changes its name when it crosses the Border into the Northern Territory. It skirts around the edge of the Simpson Desert and comes out 800ks later on the Stuart Highway just a few k’s north of Alice Springs.

The thing about these long stretches of dirt road is that the conditions can vary so much and change so quickly that the only way to really get an idea of what you are in for is talk to someone who has just driven it. You can research online or hear about what it was like a week ago, but if there has been rain, lots of traffic using the road or if the graders have been through in the past few days then things can change dramatically.

So, all the information that we gathered about the Plenty Highway beforehand was bad. We were told about terrible corrugations, pot holes, washouts, bull dust. In short it was apparently in appalling condition and best avoided. When I asked at the information centre in Boulia I was told that there had been three caravan rollovers that week but if you ‘drive to the conditions’ you should make it across OK.

Still in two minds but really wanting to avoid going the long way round to Alice (about double the distance on the bitumen), we got chatting to another couple in the Boulia caravan park who had the same dilemma as us and we decided to go in convoy so we could help each other out if we had any dramas.

For the first couple of hundred kms I was wondering what all the fuss was about. There were actually long stretches of bitumen and the gravel sections were well formed and mostly corrugation free. But then we hit the NT border. There was actually a fuel stop at a cattle station on the border and as we filled up I asked the lady there about road conditions. She smiled knowingly and said ‘you won’t be driving at the same speed as you were in Queensland’.

The corrugations were so bad it feels like your fillings are going to come loose along with all the nuts and bolts holding the car together. And poor Lucy (our little campervan) being bounced along behind us. Then we got to the bull dust and soft sand bits. So much dust in the air you can’t see a thing when there are any other vehicles around and the main problem with the bull dust is the big suspension wrecking and tyre shredding potholes that it hides.

Ali was trying to keep a count of shredded tyres by the roadside but gave up after a while. There were also three very recently abandoned camper trailers and quite a few cars that didn’t make it and have been abandoned over the years. There was in fact one pretty recent looking Juicy rental left on the side of the road that looked like it had rolled. I bet that was an expensive experience for the hirer.

When we camped up at the end of day one Lucy was full of dust but other than that, nothing was out of place. Got to hand it to Jayco (not sponsored), they do know how to make a tough off road camper, poor little Lucy has taken a beating and is still in one piece. Our fellow travelling companions didn’t fair quite so well and suffered a broken microwave and broken tv mount (serves them right for having a microwave and a mounted tv I say).

Day two was more of the same until we hit the bitumen again and shook out some of the dust. I assume that the Plenty Highway is so called as it loosely follows the Plenty River (river!, that’s a laugh, not much water in that part of the world), but we decided it is so called because there are plenty of corrugations, shredded tyres, abandoned vehicles etc.

After a bit of a respite in Alice and surrounding area, we then set off across the Tanami track which is a shortcut from Alice to the Kimberly in Western Australia (if you can call 1,050ks a short cut). The Tanami crosses the desert of the same name and is extremely remote with the longest distance between fuel stops being over 700ks.

This time all the research suggested that the road was in reasonably good condition with just a few heavily corrugated sections. In fact the first 200ks or so was bitumen. We had a leisurely first day and camped at Tilmouth Well before we hit the dirt.

Next morning we set off again and within a few ks spotted a feral camel just strolling along by the side of the road. This made Ali’s day as she has been hanging out to see some wild camels. A few kms later we spotted three more, but they were distinctly dead and a little bit smelly (come to think of it, the live one was a bit smelly too.

Our next stop was to top up the the tank in a small Aboriginal community called Yuendumu. We were already carrying three full 20lt jerry cans of diesel but we needed to be able to cover just over 800ks before the next fuel stop to allow for a side trip to Wolfe Creek.

Driving into Yuendumu was a bit of an experience in itself. I can’t quite get my head around why an Aboriginal community in a modern and wealthy first world country looks more like a village in a third world country. It really was like entering a foreign country within Australia. Run down buildings, stray dogs and litter strewn streets. You need a permit to do anything more than drive in and refuel and drive back out again, and these communities are all ‘dry’ as in no alcohol permitted and there are fines for bringing any in.

Back on the road again and the corrugations were real bone shakers, until we saw three graders coming our way. That made my day as for the next 100 ks or so the road was smooth and beautiful to drive on.

Obviously the Tanami is a desert, so it is pretty remote, not much traffic, dry and flat. Despite that we did manage to find a hill to camp behind for our second night. Bizarrely enough it turned out that we were actually camped near a mining operation and so although it felt like we were alone in the middle of nowhere we actually had phone service and an internet connection. A bit weird being in the desert and being able to check your Facebook.

Our little campsite also had a resident dingo who was actually pretty cute and friendly. In fact when we left in the morning he followed us all the way down to the road to see us off on our way.

Our third night was spent at Wolfe Creek Meteorite crater. This is an amazing place, the site of a meteor impact a few million years ago, but most famous probably (sadly) for the movie of the same name.

The road into Wolfe Creek was probably the most heavily corrugated we had encountered up to that point, but as it was only 25ks on the main track we persevered and it was well worth the effort.

The very last 100ks or so before getting back on the bitumen at Halls Creek was by far the worst though. This was rocky, corrugated and just plain horrible. We got our first puncture just about 30ks short of getting back on the bitumen. I had actually invested in a puncture repair kit and a decent compressor for this trip so instead of jacking up the car and using the spare I actually had a go at plugging the hole in the tire. It just so happened that this was inspired by a guy who was there just at the right time to help. This fella had just come up the Canning stock route (more remote than anything we have done so far) and had a few punctures so he was experienced at dealing with them. So, with his guidance I fixed my first puncture and we were back on our way in less than half an hour.