Great Central Road

Drive to the conditions and you should have no problems Tony

Although we had no tyre troubles on the Great Central or other similar inland roads, one couple we met lost three tyres in rapid succession and had to pay the price at Warburton for a badly matching extra tyre. Let the tyres down to a comfortable level if the road is badly corrugated - it varies. We did have a bolt holding a caravan spring break which caused a bit of worry, but with the right spares we were soon on our way again.

Although we did not see all we could have as we were heading home after a few months away, we found it an enjoyable trip. If have a blog on it in MyBlog section for 2008.

Motherhen

Hi Tony

The most important factor out there is to keep an eye on the weather, as if it comes in wet, stay put. Your vehicle will be no problems at all. You can fuel all along the way. I do not know if you are aware, but the 60 kilometre one way detour up to Empress Springs is well worth the drive and you will find that this road is usually in far better condition than the GCR.

The 2 places that are better to stay are Tjukayirla and Warakurna. The caves visit is also worth it at Tjukayirla, just ask Andrew for a mud map, or check out my Trek notes here on EO. Another must is to see the weather balloon launch at the Giles Weather Station.


Cheers

Stephen

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Tony, for most of the GCR through to about Warakurna the road is in pretty good shape (fast gravel/sand) from Warakurna to the blacktop at the Olgas is always Stoney and corrugated, the corrugations can be pretty horrendous. LT ( light truck ) tyre construction is better for that sort of road, get yourself a tyre plug repair kit (ARB $65) and when the road gets bad (corrugations) stop every half hour or so and have a walk around the vehicle, in case you have a slow puncture, you will catch the tyre before it overheats and detonates, you will see plenty of tyres on the side of the road as a testiment to this, and a few badly smashed rims. Don't push too hard, particularly on the bad bits. Cheers, Kanga.

Tony,

As already stated the road should be OK.

The only thing that I would do is to take another spare tyre. A 245/55R19 is not a tyre size that would be sitting on the shelf at any of the roadhouses along the GCR.

Even if you just had the tyre that was not mounted on a rim. That would be better than trying to track down a tyre of that size.

Wayne