Review: Plenty Highway

The Bunyip

I did it with another couple in 2 easy days with both of us towing off road trailers.

You must have been driving fast to do it in that time. As it is about 700 kms. We were having lunch on the second day when a young fellow on a big BMW bike stopped for lunch with us. He was aiming to do it in a bit over 6 hours and had been over it before.

No wonder you did not see anything. There was quite a lot to see actually- old buildings, local identities, other relics, etc.

Just another traveler throwing stones at oncoming traffic at high speed, rushing and missing the real outback just to be able to say "I did it"!

DW

We plan to go via the Plenty in May this year,towing a dirt road van, & will have three
stops between Boulia & Alice, including the east mac area. Your 15 year old trip in
one day is not our idea of outback touring. We can always find things of interest to
see, & will use the EO Trek Notes as a guide. Perhaps we are looking for the other
"half of the fun"....cheers.....oldbaz.

We are doing the Plenty after our CSR trip in July (so early August), Alice to Boulia, plan on 2 days. A group of 4 with 4 couples and all old farts who prefer time to "smell the roses". Later start, morning tea, lunch stop and camp spot by 4.00pm, with drinkies at 5.00pm and camp fire and dinner at 7.00pm which sounds SO much better than racing over 700 KM of dirt road in a day!!

But each to their own...however can I just anyone planning on doing this in a day when we are going across to "slow down when approaching others"...thanks, greatly appreciated.

The Bunyip
I hope this is a wind up !!!!!!!
Otherwise -
I have to agree with the other replies.
Especially about the Speed on dirt roads with considering
others with your flying stones. My windscreen has numerous cracks and
chips from these types of drivers. ( Lucky not in drivers view )
I can't help wonder about your screen tag " Half the fun is getting there !!! "
Does that mean the Fun is Driving at great speed ???
Hope your family were not in the car.
Please have consideration for others on OUTBACK roads.

Barry - Southern Cross Dreaming

I drive this road three or four, sometimes more times per year, and I think for the average traveller 2 days is a minimum requirement to complete the journey safely and to deal with the fatigue issues appropriately. If you want to meet some people and make a journey of it then 3 days with a stop at Tobermorrey, Jervois and Gem Tree or Harts range is ideal- after all while "half the fun" for some people "may be getting there," all the fun for me even after 35 years is enjoying the journey and meeting new people along the way, such as the new managers at Tobermorrey, the owners at Jervois, the people of Bonya, plucking and cooking an emu in Arthur River, the other campers at Gemtree.etc etc.

Hi Bunyip, I'm not surprised by these responses because many EO people see the opportunity to take a drive as an opportunity to explore and that's why this site has this name "ExplorOz".
Like you, David and I drove the Plenty Highway in 1998 - as part of our 2 year non-stop trip around and within Australia. The deserts were our favourite part of the trip and the Plenty Hwy was actually a highlight. We encountered rain and boggy roads and had a ball being stranded by the side of the road for a few days in the spinifex scrub. We discovered fascinating nocturnal marsupials that live inside the spinifex and picked up a hitchhiker (a desert hopping mouse) that hid in our cupboards until we reached Uluru. The colours of the landscape were amazing, and the desert storms are breathtaking. We hiked to the top of a hill and found remnants of an old micre mine. The area is actually rich in history and there are some great things there if you know where to go looking for them. But as with all drives - sometimes you're not there to explore. Sometimes you're simply going somewhere else, but for many folks on EO, the journey is the destination.

hi bunyip you should have stopped home and watched it on a cd regards morry

The laugh is on you Bunyip..all that driving to see nothing.

geezus! Take a cold shower you lot. Someone writes an opinion that isnt right or wrong but merely their experience and suddenly the silver haired conformists come out.

There would be two main reasons that people travel that road, either to see the sights or to save substantial time and distance to get the the Alice. Pretty sure the Road Train operators arent stopping to check out the scenery. Everyones priorities are different and just because someone can do it in a day doesnt mean they are tearing past people and throwing stones at them.

There's certainly been plenty of throwing stones in this thread though.

What people seen to forget is not every one wants to stop and smell the roses, we have done plenty (sorry) of trips where our ambition is to push as hard as we can express style to get to a given point to start a longer trip.... when we do desert trips the start usually includes a few days of up to 15 hours per day driving.

It doesn't mean they are stupid or being dangerous.... they are on a mission.

Some people take 2 weeks to do the Plenty.... does this mean they are slow.... No!

The biggest issue I have with web based site giving distance vs travel time is it might say it 3 days of driving..... you arrange to get to a spot at a certain time due to this advise only to find out it's only a days drive.... and again we have done some tracks that they say should take 2 days only to find it has taken us 5 days.

I'd have to agree with the responses. We camped at Boulia and continued west along the Plenty about 15 yrs ago with a small camper trailer. We had one camp off the road in the bush and another at Gem Trees where we managed to find some zircons. Really enjoyed the trip. Although I enjoy the driving, there's nothing better than camping along the way and experiencing the bush. Also climbing the odd hill and getting some spectacular photos of the track disapperaing into the distance.