Toowoomba -birdsville track alice and home

[Chris T]

Hi Gang
Have just had this suggestion of a trip put to us Toowoomba ,Roma,Charleville, Quilpie,Birdsville taken over a few days then stay Birdsville few day's maybe take a flight over Laye Ayre from here (or William Ck). Have look at Big red
Birdsville to Mungerannie then Maree.From Maree can head up to Lake Ayre (Lake Ayre can be visted from either Maree end or William Ck end). Would like to go to William Ck to Coober Pedy for look around. Then back to William Ck and up to Oodnadatta. Would like to make the 45km trip out from Oodnadatta to the Painted Desert for a quick look.
From here we were going to do the desert tracks up to Dalhousie Springs and possibly Mt Dare. Then on up to Finke and down to Chambers Pillar. Then North again to Alice. Look at Arltunga and Ruby Gap...AND THEN home along The Plenty....to Qld
Let me know your ideas and especially what equipment would need We would be towing a camper trailer and other vehicle be a Patrol so reliability is not a problem planning to take 3-4 weeks

Chris

 

[joshman]

I did that exact trip in 3 weeks earlier this year. Make a few phone calls to the Birdsville information centre and find out some track conditions.

Take the flight from William creek, it's closer to the lake, so you spend more time over the lake.

 

[Chris T]

birdsville

thanks Josh did you need anyspecial recovery gear or are roads fairly good and can you sugested any good stops etc would be good to here some ideas

Chris

 

[joshman]

thanks Josh did you need anyspecial recovery gear or are roads fairly good and can you sugested any good stops etc would be good to here some ideas

Chris

As a minimum recovery kit, I would be taking 2 snatch straps, air compressor, tyre gauge, a swag of bowshackles, make sure you have the appropriate recovery points on your vehicle, and know how to use all your gear. As a minimum a good set of A/T tyres, and a puncture repair kit (and know how to use it).

Make sure you have a well stocked tool kit. The navs should be metric all round, so make sure that's what you've got. Give the truck a service a day or two before you leave, the trip as you propose is around 8500km, so plan to do a service on the car a some point and make sure you have everything you need and the know how to do this. Mine worked out almost perfectly to need servicing in Alice springs.

Is extremely dusty out there, so take plenty (3) of air filters. Every few nights I was pulling mine out and giving it a good shake out.

Don't ignore niggling issues with you vehicle between now and then, and especially not on the trip! If you hear a strange noise in the vehicle, investigate it! Check the oil regularly. I was using oil fairly heavily on my trip, so make sure you take enough to do your oil change and some extra for top-ups. Become familiar with what the underside of your vehicle looks like - it'll make it easier to spot stuff that's missing or out of place.

When we went the roads were in excellent condition, we could sit on 100km along the major tracks (Birdsville->oodnadatta and William creek to coober pedy) the road north of oodnadatta upto dalhousie was slower going, and between dalhousie and mt dare was terrible.

If you've got the time, get out and see Uluru, and drive the finke gorge. Definitely camp at least one night in finke gorge. If you PM me your email address, I'll try and shoot along our itinerary.