King Edward River to Ellenbrae
Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 at 20:55
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Lloyd W1
Hi All,
We're heading up to The
Kimberley in a week and a half and have a rough 18 day itinerary for the GRR, most of the time we'll only be going 120-150kms a day but if possible once we've spent a few nights at
King Edward River I'd like to get to
Ellenbrae in a single day. We'll be stopping at Drysdale/Miners Pool on the way up so don't want to stop there again on the way back.
By my calculations this is approx. 320km and hearing different stories about the
Kalumburu Road I was wondering if this is achievable in a single day or not?
Thanks in advance.
Lloyd
Reply By: gclan - Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 at 23:37
Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 at 23:37
Hi Lloyd
We spent an incredible 3 nights up at
King Edward River two years ago, and after a late-ish start, made it as far along as
Home Valley easily in a day, including a very lengthy stop to change a camper tyre that we punctured in the Durack
River crossing, and a stop to wait for and watch the sun set over the
Cockburn Range.
The
Gibb River Road had just been graded and was in fantastic condition, but regardless of condition, I think you'd make it easily.
A tip: don't rely on fuel being available everywhere. We had filled up at Drysdale on our way up to the
Mitchell Plateau, but had done quite a lot of exploring up there over that time and had planned to fill the tank at Drysdale on our way back out, but the fuel truck had broken down on the Gibb so Drysdale were rationing fuel at 30L/vehicle. We limped in to
Home Valley on fumes...literally.
Enjoy the famous
Ellenbrae scones :-)
Karen
AnswerID:
513024
Reply By: Member - Scooby (WA) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 09:16
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 09:16
Hi Lloyd,
Was there on Sunday, it's certainly possible to do sitting on 70 to 80 k's. The road is very corrugated in
places and smooth in others. The crossing at
King Edward River was only 300mm deep.
Regards
Scooby
AnswerID:
513034
Reply By: Member - Darren & Janella (WA) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:39
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:39
Hi Lloyd,
We did exactly what you are planning to do back in July 2010 and it is easily achieved even taking your time. The worst of the corrugations were just north of Drysdale on the
Kalumburu Road. We departing
King Edward River campgrounds about 7:45am, fuelled up at Drysdale (long wait to get fuel, probably about 1/2 hour) and then continued on to
Ellenbrae arriving at about 12:30pm. This was travelling at about 60-80 KM/H with a busted rear shock (didn't knoiw this until we got to
Ellenbrae :-() and camper in tow. It's about 235 KM all up.
Have fun!!
Cheers,
Darren
AnswerID:
513040
Reply By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:52
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:52
Same as Darren. Shouldn't be a hassle. We didn't fill up on the way back but we had 215 litres from Drysdale Station on board when we went up to
Mitchell Falls so we had heaps enough left even to get to
El Questro on the way back. 100 series 4.2TD FYI and not towing.
Phil
AnswerID:
513042
Follow Up By: Member - Darren & Janella (WA) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 15:06
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 15:06
Haha Phil! When you have a petrol Patrol with a 4.8 auto, you take every fuel up you can get ;-)
Cheers,
Darren
FollowupID:
791686
Follow Up By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 15:42
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 15:42
Ah
well. It was cheaper buying the Patrol. Maybe you are now paying for it.
Nah. It doesn't work out that way.
I would be thinking further down the road/future. If they are rationing here what's it like at the next place. Maybe it is being rationed there also. I think that's a good idea Darren. Who knows. You cannot be sure until you get there can you?
Catchya
Phil
FollowupID:
791690
Reply By: Weavey72 - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 12:14
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 12:14
Thanks guys,
Sounds like we should be OK, only small issue might be the fuel. We have a Pajero with an 88 litre tank and will be towing an off road camper, will also be carrying 3 x jerry cans so just might need to make sure 1 or 2 of the jerry's are full.
Getting closer now so starting to get excited :)
Will be our first big outback adventure so there is some apprehension but should be all good.
Cheers, Lloyd
AnswerID:
513043
Follow Up By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 13:04
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 13:04
Before we got the big tank we filled up on a regular basis. Trying to never let the tank go under half full. We still do the something similar never letting the remainder or "balance" of the two tanks to go under 50 litres.
Why not just fill up at Drysdale Station and take any worry out of it.
Besides, when we last visited them they had a ripper of an apple pie on the counter. You will have heaps of time to stop for a cuppa. And maybe a piece of pie and cream if you are lucky. No need to rush.
Phil
FollowupID:
791675
Follow Up By: Weavey72 - Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 14:02
Thursday, Jun 13, 2013 at 14:02
Hi Phil,
Based on the above post that they were rationing to 30L per vehicle makes me think we should be safe rather than sorry, we'll wait and see and we are definitely planning on taking it nice and slow and not rushing. If this is our longest day then I think we'll be OK.
Lloyd
FollowupID:
791678