 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Australian Car Forums / 4x4 Cars (Australian group) / November 2006Gunbarrell Highway
Has anyone ever travelled across this Highway? Is there a similar track from Alice Springs across to SW Qld? Garry > Has anyone ever travelled across this Highway? > > Is there a similar track from Alice Springs across to SW Qld? > > Garry Garry, the real Gun goes from Wiluna through to Warberton. The old section is unavailiable for most people as the locals impose strict conditions. The Gun is long and corregated, but no worse than other tracks similar in nature. Its also enjoyable if you take your time. Yes, the Plenty Highway runs from the Alice through to Boulia. A nice 2 day drive (can be done in one if you're keen) unless it's wet. Stopping overnight at Tobermary (green grass !) or Jarvois (bit more basic) and a visit to Gemtree are recommended) Hi Jim. Thanks for the information. I was hoping more of an Alice to Birdsville road but I don't think one exists. I just looked up the Plenty Highway, from Alice to Boulia, on my T4A map and had a good look. Is the road reasonable. By that I mean is it 4wd only or 4WD recommended?? We have a 100 series Landcruiser so its not a big issue, but I prefer not to go too "extreme"!!! Is there accommodation at Tobermorey or is it camping only? Is there anything at Jervois or the Marshal River? What about the Harts Range Police? I have been to Boulia before. A very nice town. Best regards Garry >> Has anyone ever travelled across this Highway? >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > overnight at Tobermary (green grass !) or Jarvois (bit more basic) and a > visit to Gemtree are recommended) > Hi Jim. > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > Garry Hi Gary, you can always hop down to Mt Dare and across the Simpson if you are that keen :)) Boulia to Birdsville is only a 1 day trip. (If you must go through Birdsville...out through Winton is touristy and tar :) Is the Plenty reasonable ? Like any track it depends. After rain, no. Otherwise expect corregations, stones, some deepish bulldust patches on the Qld side etc. It's not extreme in the slightest, but certainly a road to take two spare tyres on. It has a reputation for doing tyres, as many run high pressures with big loads and high speeds. Personally I've only lost one tyre in about 8 trips across. Tobermary has some cabins but I'd book beforehand. Not sure about Jarvois, but the "shop" and campground is pretty basic. Tobermary is much nicer, in my opinion. Harts Range Police ? Yep, there's a constable and a sidekick and about six or eight cells there :)) Gemtree is another spot to stay, quite civilized if you're into rocks etc. Cheers Jim >> Hi Jim. >> [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > Cheers > Jim Thanks for the extra information Jim. I don't need to go through Birdsville, but I thought it would have been a nice circuit trip from Bundaberg across to Longreach, Boulia and Alice Springs, Ayers Rock then back through Birdsville, Charleville and home. I don't mind desert tracks at all and extremes like that do not phase me at all, I just don't want to be crawling along over bumps and holes, in 4WD, for a thousand K's at a time. Years ago, as a 16 year old, I was lucky enough to travel down the Tanami Track from Halls Creek to Alice Springs and loved it. The road was very sandy, but not all that rough from memory (1974). It is those sorts of trips I would like to do again without shaking the crap out of the car!! Incidentally, how often can you see the Min Min Lights near Boulia, or is it just a myth?? Garry > Incidentally, how often can you see the Min Min Lights near Boulia, or is > it just a myth?? > > Garry When I worked in Mt Isa, I went down to Boulia for the Camel Races. Mass alcohol abuse with camels in there somewhere. We drove back at night time, watching out for these min min things, but none sighted. I recall seeing a documentary on the ABC about them. There is an obscure meteorological explanation for them .........which I can't recall. So no, it's not a myth. But they're not alien space craft either >>> Hi Jim. >>> [quoted text clipped - 62 lines] > > Garry Gary, I've never seen them, but I've spoken to people who swear that they have. A guy from Qld Uni has done research that suggests that they are car and truck lights being refracted from hundreds of K away . Best time is winter, still morning /cold night and a nice warm day beforehand I believe. Take a peek here for my near encounter of the min min kind : http://home.iprimus.com.au/jimshire/Yarns/minmin.html If you want to see a nice trip go here. http://home.iprimus.com.au/jimshire/pix.html Cheers Jim >>>> Hi Jim. >>>> [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] > Cheers > Jim Also the main pix on this page are from the same trip...no not advertising , just good pix :)) http://home.iprimus.com.au/jimshire/ Cheers Jim Great photo's Jim. And the hire prices for your radios seem quite good too!!!! I think if I do the trip I will have to call on you before hand!! Garry > Great photo's Jim. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Garry Thanks Gary. I didn't bring attention to that page to advertise anything, just thought the pix gave a bit of a feeling of what it's really like "out there". Thankfully, you can't buy stickers saying you've been because no one has the slightest idea of where it is :))))))) Cheers Jim >>>> Hi Jim. >>>> [quoted text clipped - 73 lines] > Cheers > Jim I doubt his findings . I saw them years ago and can tell you the travel bears no relationship to the direction of the road .( there were 4 of us at 3 am so it wasn't drugs or drink)on bikes >>>>> Hi Jim. >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 77 lines] > bears no relationship to the direction of the road .( there were 4 of us > at 3 am so it wasn't drugs or drink)on bikes So exactly where where you when you saw them ? > Has anyone ever travelled across this Highway? > > Is there a similar track from Alice Springs across to SW Qld? > > Garry The Gun was theoretically a road which connected Woomera in South Australia to a point about 170kms South of Broome on the WA coast. The main road had so many side tracks cut into the bush that its doubtful that all of these were ever part of the original survey by Len Beadell. Do a weblookup on Len Beadell and the Gun Barrel Highway and you'll get a lot of hits about recent trips. Beadell's daughter runs tours into SA/WA border areas. ABC Shops are selling a CD of one of Len Beadell's talks "Too long in the Bush" - its an eye opener about outback "travel" in the 1950s. > The Gun was theoretically a road which connected Woomera in > South Australia to a point about 170kms South of Broome on the > WA coast. The main road had so many side tracks cut into the > bush that its doubtful that all of these were ever part of the original > survey by Len Beadell. That's interesting, given that Len named some of these "minor side tracks" after his wife and kids. The only current minor one I can think of is the Callawa Track but only because the Kidson was put in by oil people. A case could be made for the Gary Junction Highway, as much of the old track has been bypassed by the telecom track (but its still referred to as the GJT...or by the locals as the Desert Road on the WA side). AFAIK the original survey for the rocket range included such tracks. > The Gun was theoretically a road which connected Woomera in > South Australia to a point about 170kms South of Broome on the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > ABC Shops are selling a CD of one of Len Beadell's talks "Too long > in the Bush" - its an eye opener about outback "travel" in the 1950s. I actually thought the Gunbarrell Highway was put in to run from a town near Kalgoorlie up to the air force tracking station at Giles (now a BOM weather station) and onto a couple of rocket launching pads belonging to the Air Force, as well as the Maralinga Nuclear test site. I could be wrong about that as I am not very familia with it at all. It has since been replaced by the Great Central Road?????? It certainly sounds like a great way to cross Australia. Garry >> The Gun was theoretically a road which connected Woomera in >> South Australia to a point about 170kms South of Broome on the [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >Garry Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you maps etc. There are also quite a few sections showing fuel used etc etc. > Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you > maps etc. There are also quite a few sections showing fuel used etc > etc. Will do, thanks. >> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you >> maps etc. There are also quite a few sections showing fuel used etc >> etc. Hmmmm. Make sure when you type in exploreoz.com.au that you actually type in www.exploreoz.com.au otherwise you keep getting redirected to an aluminium Extrusion advertisement!! Garry There's no "e" in it, apparetly nobody did a spell check when they registered the name:)) The URL is http://www.exploroz.com/Splash.asp Cheers Jim >>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you >>> maps etc. There are also quite a few sections showing fuel used etc [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Garry >>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thats why I left the e out of Exploroz.com.au >>> maps etc. There are also quite a few sections showing fuel used etc >>> etc. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Garry >>>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Thats why I left the e out of Exploroz.com.au I just copied and pasted so the advertisement must work without the e as well. If you type in the extra www at the front this stops it and sends you to the correct page. Garry > >>>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > Thats why I left the e out of Exploroz.com.au > > I just copied and pasted so the advertisement must work without the e as > well. It ONLY works without the "e" Gerrit >>>>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Garry Ohhhh ! now I see what you mean... Sorry, but I did'nt write the www. as I had thought that would be obvious... >>>>>> Go to Exploroz.com.au and look up the trek notes which will show you >>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Sorry, but I did'nt write the www. as I had thought that would be > obvious... No drama. I wasn't complaining. These days, with the internet, 90% of the time you don't have to put the www in anymore. You can just type in the actual address and it works as most web browsers will automatically configure it with the http:// and www. Try it sometime. Garry > > The Gun was theoretically a road which connected Woomera in > > South Australia to a point about 170kms South of Broome on the [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Garry The original road network was put in for the Woomera rocket range to collect visual data and the bits that fell off the rockets. The major side tracks had high speed cameras tracking the rockets, the minor tracks were just cut when needed to recover bits of rocket. Giles was put in after it was decided to use Maralinga - they wanted to make sure the radioactive fallout fell somewhere other than on them. Rumour has it that the parents of our present politicians were used to test the outcomes of radioactivity on human and non human life. The tests seemed to have failed totally on the humans and been very successful on the non humans. > Rumour has it that the parents of our present politicians were used to > test the outcomes of radioactivity on human and non human life. The > tests seemed to have failed totally on the humans and been very > successful on the non humans. Roger, why so cynical ? Our present pollies are hell bent on making this country one radioactive dump site anyway ! Some of the proposed sites are even on tourist routes around the Alice. Glow in the dark tourism, should be a big money spinner for the lobbyists. And think of all those wonderful new buildings we'll be getting so we can run our air con and lights. Nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong... Ever seen a new clear power plant ? I've seen a few and frankly they even LOOK scary. Imagine if the one in your backyard is a Friday special, staffed by the kind of people who often make the front page for their anti social behaviour. Not one mention of geo thermal power production or other less glowbie technologies. Nobody was interested when I suggested that the site of the old Parliament House was ideal for a new plant or waste dump. I wonder why ? > Nobody was interested when I suggested that the site of the old Parliament > House was ideal for a new plant or waste dump. > I wonder why ? That's because there is enough crap there already, they did not want to make it worse!!! Garry |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.