HAY RIVER

Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 19:48

ThreadID: 100675 Views:4489 Replies:3 FollowUps:6

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Hay River

Suitable only to 4WDers with a strong sense of adventure and experience in remote desert travel. This track is largely unmarked and good map-reading skills are essential.

Hay River

Section: Treks

Suitable only to 4WDers with a strong sense of adventure and experience in remote desert travel. This track is largely unmarked and good map-reading skills are essential.

DIGGER 12

We are doing a tour of hay river in July , we have done some off road driving mainly around the coast/ beach back tracks near Bundaberg so we are new to the outback so any advice or tip would be of great help. We have PX Ranger AT/LT Tyres, canopy draws, we are getting LR Tank 160 Ltr 70 Ltr water tank and dual battery, do i need 2 spare tyres ? or will 1 be enough i do have repair kit. and what of tyre pressure sand and gravel roads ? thanks for any feed back.. Digger 12

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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 20:08

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 20:08

Hi Digger

Firstly the Hay River trip would be one of the best Simpson trips to do, so you will have a ball. The most important thing will be the weather, but July should be perfect. If by some bad fate in the weather it is wet, do not even attempt the trip, the track will turn into your worst nightmare.

Depending on which way you wish to get to the Hay River, will depend on how easy it will be. Once you are on the actual Hay River track, two wheel drive on a well defined track. The same can not be said if you try to drive up the actual bed of the Hay River, which is soft, power sucking sand that will make your fuel usage go through the roof. The only time that we used 4x4 was heading out to Lake Caroline, on crossing the bed of the Hay River.

Fuel details sound OK, but for me your water capacity seems very light. If you have tyre changing gear and know how to change a tyre, remove it from the rim, refit it and then a good pump to re seat the tyre on the rim, then I would take a spare tyre carcass only to keep the weight down.

Tyre pressure will depend on which way you get there, but I ran 18psi while on the Hay River track.

Enjoy your trip

Cheers

Stephen

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AnswerID: 505207

Follow Up By: DIGGER 12 - Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 20:48

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 20:48

Thanks Stephen, I like the carcass idea , we are going from birdsville , i have been running on 15 psi on the beach and 25 on the harder tracks water just in tank still taking smaller water containers and packs of bottle water, again thank you

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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 21:24

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 21:24

Hi Digger

That is my preferred travel in the Simpson, east to west, the dunes are steeper, but more fun. 15 psi will be great for that section, and while you are in the area (only about a 40 kilometre return detour) you should check out Poeppel Corner if you have never been there before.

This what happens when someone drives on it when it has been wet

When dry, a good 2 wheel drive track

Easy to follow tracks

Very soft sand in the bed of the Hay River to Lake Caroline

Cheers

Stephen

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Reply By: Member - John and Val - Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 22:13

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 22:13

Hi Digger,

Have a look here for a blog I wrote when we did the trip with a big group back in 06.
You dont say if you are going in a group or alone. If you are going solo make sure you have good navigation skills. When we went the track had completely disappeared in places and required a bit of scouting around to find it.

As Stephen says, once you get across the dunes its pretty easy going up to Batten Hill, running beside the dry river. My understanding is that Lindsay isn't keen on people driving up the river bed ( apart from what is necessary to make the crossing to go out to Lake Caroline.

Cheers,

Val

J and V
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AnswerID: 505220

Follow Up By: DIGGER 12 - Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 23:14

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 23:14

Thanks Val, liked your blog yep going in a group doing a tag along tour . this is our first time out so we want to do it right go with the pro's see and learn and get a better understanding of what it is like and think about other places to go next year and how we do it, group or alone ? me thinks group is best , all our friends are around our age but have school aged kids and like the beach not interested in the outback {sick puppy's } our boys finished school so we can take off from work for about 4/5 weeks a year at this stage so maybe more tag alongs to come . PS my darling co pilot liked your photos.. Digger ...

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Reply By: Olsen's 4WD Tours and Training - Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 07:59

Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 07:59

You will love the Hay River trip, and if you have someone knowledgeable about the history of the area and its occupation, even more so. I've traveling through there every year since May 2006, and not one year is it the same.

If you get some rain 6 weeks prior, it can be amazing, as these photos on an old blog entry show.

Hay River Blog Entry 2011

AnswerID: 505278

Follow Up By: DIGGER 12 - Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 15:57

Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 15:57

We have done some research into tag along tours and have heard good thing on this particular operator and the person how is leading the tour and are looking Forward to having a really fun filled trip .. PS No pressure Wendy Digger 12 From bundy

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Follow Up By: Olsen's 4WD Tours and Training - Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 17:39

Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 17:39

Thought I knew which tour you were referring to. Have fun.

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Follow Up By: Olsen's 4WD Tours and Training - Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 20:11

Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 20:11

Message me digger, as all of that should have been in the pre-booking info pack.

The pack should have told you that 2 spares are required, one just a carcass as Wendy is quite capable of changing them. :-)

165 litres fuel for a 6 cylinder diesel. 30 litres of water per person as Wendy carries the rest and some available along the way.

Anyway if for some reason your info pack has gone astray, let me know :-)

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