Description
Four wheel drivers will enjoy this great trek along the river bed of the Finke River. It's an enjoyable drive along the Finke Gorge with plenty of opportunities to stop, take photos, and enjoy the solitude.
The track is NOT MARKED (other than crude signs pointing to
Kings Canyon) nor well defined and conditions vary from rocky sections of the creek bed to soft and sandy stretches but the main feature is the permanent waterhole called
Boggy Hole. Many people experience navigational problems trying to stay on the main track, so check our preparation warnings.
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Boggy Hole 
From: Hermannsburg
To: Ernest Giles Rd & Tempe Downs Access
Distance: 114.47 km
Direction: 180 °
Average Speed: 34.23 km/hr
Travel Time: 3 hours 20 mins
Using the Map
Our treks have a moving map facility, to take a virtual tour click on the Play button in the Moving map control (see Moving Map help)
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Speed (5 secs)
Live Tracking
Auto Refresh (1 min, next 60 secs)
Permits
Things to See & Do
Preparation
Camping is free and possible anywhere along the track, however the main campsite is at the
Boggy Hole billabong itself. If choosing to camp at
Boggy Hole, the best
camping is on the high side, before making the notorious crossing of the creek, although there are maybe 2 other average spots along the water's edge on the low side too.
Conditions are always changing in this area and the track can be closed for very long periods of time, particularly at the beginning of the season after a heavy wet. However, this is all typical and this trek note is advising you to prepared! Keep your eye on our
Road Conditions report Trailers: National Parks and Wildlife frown upon the use of trailers on this track but we have never heard of anyone being fined. People certainly do continue to tow trailers to this site, but most agree that it is a challenging task to do so. We make no advise either way - please make your own decisions about taking a trailer based on your own research.
Travellers should be prepared for soft driving conditions on the sandy river bed and tracks and carry an air compressor. Due to the maze of tracks that are unmarked, except for some very crude and difficult to see markers, it is advisable to download the
GPS plot file for this trek and load it into your
GPS.
Fuel Supplies & Usage
 | Hermannsburg |
Diesel | 4cyl 16 litres |
ULP | 4cyl 19 litres |
LPG | 4cyl 23 litres |
| 6cyl 18 litres | 6cyl 21 litres | 6cyl 20 litres |
| 8cyl 18 litres | 8cyl 19 litres | |
Usage is averaged from
TrekFuel (* specific to trek) submissions and calculated based on trek distance.
None on route
Best Time To Visit
Late dry season (June - Nov)
Closest Climatic Station
Alice Springs Airport
Distance from Trek Mid Point 123.36km NE
| | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Mean Max. °C |
36.3 | 35.1 | 32.7 | 28.2 |
23.0 | 19.9 | 19.6 | 22.6 |
27.1 | 30.9 | 33.7 | 35.4 |
| Mean Min. °C |
21.4 | 20.8 | 17.5 | 12.6 |
8.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 | 6.0 |
10.2 | 14.8 | 17.9 | 20.2 |
| Mean Rain mm |
38.0 | 42.3 | 31.9 | 16.8 |
19.4 | 14.4 | 14.7 | 9.5 |
8.3 | 21.9 | 26.7 | 37.5 |
Best time to travel Ok time to travel Travel NOT recommended
Services & Supplies
The following locations have various services and supplies:
Hermannsburg
Camp Sites & Accommodation
Environment
The Finke River only rarely runs, although it forms in the
MacDonnell Ranges near
Palm Valley and runs for hundreds of kilometres until it disappears into Lake
Eyre.
Starting near Hermansberg, a track leads south towards the Finke River bed, which when dry can be traversed right along its length to the
Boggy Hole billabong by 4WD. Towering red cliffs line the banks of the river bed and the dry river bed is sandy and filled with river stones. The track criss-crosses the river a number of times in
places so the track is impassable when river levels rise.
The
Boggy Hole billabong can be up to 2.5km long after a flood but can dry to just 300m during very dry spells. If the water is plentiful its a great place for swimming and bird watching. Good shady
camping is limited at the
Boggy Hole site due to a massive flood in 1998 that took down many of the larger trees.
History
The Finke River, on which lies the
Boggy Hole billabong, was named by John McDouall Stuart after the
Adelaide financier William Finke.
In 1877, the
Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission was established as the first of its kind in
Central Australia. The early years were hard, with much sickness and trouble ensuring between aboriginies, local station owners and police. Within the vicinity of the Misson, 2 police camps were setup to control the 'hostile' activities of local Aborigines. On the eastern bank of
Boggy Hole, you'll notice the stone remains of the first camp that was established by M. C. Willshire in 1889 and a small signboard with further information. The camp was actually abandoned when he was arrested for the murder of two Aborigines in 1891. In 1894 a replacement police camp was set up at Illamurta Springs, west of the Finke River. This camp was also abandoned when the police were sent to Arltunga in 1912. The Mission continued until 1982.
In 1902, Albert Namatjira was born at Ntaria (
Hermannsburg) on the Finke River Mission Station and became one of
Australia's great artist and perhaps the best known Aboriginal painter.
Distance is GPS recorded driving distance (not straight line), Direction is straight line from start to end, Time is calculated from actual GPS driving data.