What do i need for a trip up north

most of the Savannah way is on good roads with lots of traffic - so you may not need a Sat phone. An external magnetic aerial with a lead through the back window to the phone will be a reasonably cheap option to extend your Telstra coverage have fun

G'day Rich, I would pass on the Sat phone unless you feel you need 24 Hr contact.
The price of a winch will buy a big heap of fuel, & unless you plan to park up the van & go roughin it..not likely to be used.Snorkel ?? Maybe. I dont use one..can ford
a metre without one & wont be going deeper. Some will say you need the extra dust
protection..I say the cost will buy you more air filters than you can carry.
Extra tyres ? Who knows ? If your current ones are good you could be fine. I see
little advantage in carrying a tyre off the rim, no fun changing it & a good compressor
needed to seat the bead (unless you use the Mick O method). Nearly every tyre
disaster I have seen in the bush resulted from too little air..too much weight & too
much speed. With those things right, it's mostly luck. cheers.....oldbaz.

Hi Rich, All the creeks should have stopped running by then and the deepest should be 700mm. A set of max tracks will get you out of a small bog if you encounter one, just one rule up here stay on the track, go on the shoulder and you will be down to the door handles. As for Sat phone only if you are going to the more remote places as telstra phones normally drop out after 3 klm outside towns. Tyres if your 5 tyres are in fair condition, not half worn out you should be fine, but saying that they are some rocky area's with sharp edges so a flat is on the cards. Winch have not used mine yet but a hand winch might be useful if towing a trailer. Hope you enjoy your trip.
Andy

Hi Rich,
The Savannah Way goes from Cairns to Broome and has many "alternative" roads on it for you to pick from, if travelling in August you could do it on a pushbike ...... and it has probally 2 - 4 go past us here each year ......
Do you have a plan of the roads you want to travel on as that will determine what gear you will need, if it is for instance coming from South and you start at Cairns you will have Telstra coverage off and on to Normanton and sealed roads and a zillion other travellers, Normanton to Lawn Hill via 4 ways RH to Gregory Down, also sealed roads, short trip out to Lawn Hil is dirt but good, patchey Telstra coverage at Lawn Hill, and half a zillion travellers, back to Gregory Downs to Burktown, some dirt again but good condition, Telstra Coverage at Burky..... Burky to Doomadgee with the Gregory river and Nicholson to cross, most probally in Aug will be 200mm deep at the MOST if not dry, both concrete crossings and only 20ks of dirt in the 100 odd klms, about 29k dirt to Kingfisher Camp turnoff from Doomadgee, road into Kingfisher is a "track" but always repaired after the wet and goos enough for vans to be towed in at a "safe" speed......... Kingfisher to Hells Gate mostly dirt some patches of sealed, after Hells gate all the way to Boorlooloola is dirt and condition varies greatly, on average it is a good enough road to drive a car down ..... Burktown and Doomagee are the last Telstra services up until Booloolooloolololololaaaa

Gear needed for that trip taking into account you will be towing a van so restricted where you can go and dont dream that because it is an "off road" van you can go bush ....... being "off road" means it """should"""" still be in one peice when you have done 300klms of corrigations....

Good basic 40ch UHF and the best antennea you can buy for off road stuff, corrigations will bust then off and get one of the cheap ss wire ones to store in ya spares box just incase........

Spot is perfect, Sat phone is the best but ya need money for them .... wait an hour at the most and someone will be along ........

Tarp over front is fine, most rivers up here run fast so you dont want to go in if it is deep enough to need a snorkle ....

Dont need a winch, remember you will have a van on, look ahead and plan carefully as you also cant reverse in a sticky situation with a van, carry plenty of ropes/straps as there are heaps of other travellers then and they will help you ........

Need near new tyres all round and 2 spares same condition, as long as they have a good LOAD rating, August is dry so you will be fine with a light truck hwy patten but make certain whatever they are, they MUST be in excellent condition, you will pass 6 wrecks of vans, probally more, that have rolled or in general destroyed due to TYRES BLOWING and operator losing control, $70,000 one sitting at Burktown right now ....

Fuel, you can get fuel at Doomadgee and Hells Gate, Hells Gate to Booloola is 400 odd klms from memory, dont carry jerrys if you can help it, waste of space and weight, far better to carry a second spare for that weight and alway keep the tanks full ...........

Basic tool range making CERTAIN you have a good hydrulic jack, dont bother with a Kangaroo Jack, few wooden blocks are handy additions, you can use them for bait boards, always carry silicon, cables ties, 500gm tin of bog (plastic putty) ..... and whatever else you are capable of using and might need ........

Just remember to start checking road conditions at least 4 weeks befor leaving and if not sure check every day up to leaving date so you know EXACLY what you are up against, if you plan ahead and know the road conditions you could drive a 2wd car from Cairns to Broome in August ...
Cheers and enjoy, call in and have a coffee with us at Doomadgee

Well Rich...Joe n Mel summed it up perfectly. They live there....best way to get the truth is to talk to a local.
Enjoy the trip..it is not too adventuress at all and you will really enjoy IF you take your time.
I never go any where on dirt without 2 spares and good tyres on the car.

cheers

Wow!!

What a good lot of replies and quick as well.

MANY THANKs!

Your advice has probably saved me some money. Mind you inwS trying to use it as an excuse with the wife. But after writing i had to run off and helpmher as her car is having problems and will require some expensive fixes, sonallnfor the best.

As far As where i am planning as above but would like to go to Lorella Spings as well.

If possible I would like to follow that road, Nathan River and Roper road north to Roper as well. I suspect that would be the most offroad i will do. I may do a couple of trips while camped at Lorella Springs eg Rosie Creek .

I have read there is no fuel at Hellsgate any more, is that true. What about Lorella Springs, mind i will start looking in to thisnside a bit later.

Many thanks again

Richard

Forgot to add,

We are working on about two months so no time to do the lot of the Savannah way. If time permits we will try to go as far as Kakadu or Darwin and probably start from Normanton which we will make to from the ACT via Brisbane.

Our plan is to take our time. If we do not make it all the way then next time. It would be great to be able to go to WA but I think we would be 3 to 4 months short of that, but ya never know.

Car servicing is another issue as i suspect i will need a service or at least oil change , another thread another time.

Many thanks again,
Richard

Here is a map of where we hope to go with a few alternative routes or may be return routes. Just keeping options open.

Sorry I think I have lead you off the original purpose of my post on equipment but as said the planning is exciting as well.


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Richard