Anne beadell hwy

Hi Lyncol

The Anne Beadell Highway is only as bad as the driver wants to make it. Drive to the conditions, keep your tyre pressures down and it is a fantastic drive. We have done it a number of times and in fact will be out there again very, very soon.

If you work on a minimum of 7 days, longer is even better to get from Coober Pedy through to Laverton. Yes, I have heard horror stories for damaged vehicles, but it would all come down to how your vehicle is set up, the condition of components on your vehicle and be prepared for some good corrugations. The key is to make regular stops, as there is far more to see out there than most people are aware of.

Give Ilkurlka a call to let them know that you are coming through, just to make sure they are around.

Enjoy one of the Outbacks great drives and you will be glad that you made the effort.


Cheers


Stephen


here are some images of what there is out there.

Evening Lyncol,

Do not put it off do the ABH you should love it. Do what Stephen said drive to the conditions drop your tyre pressure down ( had my tyres down till it had a footprint of 250mm that is 250mm of tyre on the ground.)
Take your time enjoy the drive stop and let the shockies cool down, that is the time to boil the billy and take photos.
Spend a day at Ilkurika and enjoy the hot shower and relax.
Stephen's photos show it as it is--- A Great Drive

Harvey (DBN05 Tas )

Hi Lyncol, Stephens pix give a good overview of the scenery which is fantastic. I will be a little negative in the eyes of some by saying the next bit. Last Sept we found that from Coober Pedy to the start of the Tallaringa Conservation Park the track was good but that Park has probably NEVER been graded since Len Beadell put it in 60 years ago. I went in with tyres too high at 28 psi all round on Pathfinder and camper. The corrugations are relentless. After 100km of it we turned back. We had other options so went to the Gawler Ranges instead. See my blog.
I lowered pressure to 24ish and got that flub, flub, flub sound. The ride improved but I had to try and do 50 - 60kmh to ride over the corros. The trees are very close to the track so it was an energy draining ride having to concentrate. This year we did wells 5 to 22 on the Canning and there was nothing there anywhere near as bad as the ABH. We met a bloke at well 6 in a 1 year old Ford ranger who was a bit grumpy. He had just done the last 600km of the ABH at 20kmh as he had damaged his rear suspension.
Others have said that if we had done another 100km the ABH would improve. I'm in no hurry to do it again but who knows..... W

Yep, plenty of horror stories. The corrugations are some of the worst you'll get in Australia. But some people like myself go out there as often as we can. The GVD is our favourite desert - it's a pristine botanic garden - has nice clean sand, has the best camping with quality firewood, and if it rains, you don't get flooded out or stuck in bad mud. All this and you hardly find a tourist!

We've been out there with groups of many vehicles most years. Nobody likes corrugations but to make them bearable, and to keep our vehicles in one piece, we are never in a hurry - if you drive slowish with say 18/24 psi in your tyres, you do a lot better than those who have this crazy theory that driving fast smooths out the corrugations. If you drive fast, you'll shake your car to pieces and break stuff.

Its very remote country - and on many occasions, tourists have been unable to get anyone to come out and fetch them. So you have to be totally self-sufficient and good emergency comms - HF radio and satphone. For this reason, I like to do it in the company of other vehicles, that takes a lot of the stress out of it - you share any concerns or problems - and you'll enjoy the trip even more.

G'day All. I travelled across the ABH in the middle of June. My vehicle is a stretched 200 series trayback with a piggyback camper.There are some extremely corrugated parts through the Unnamed (Mumungari) CP and around EMU. Some people were waiting with a busted Quantum Camper while the owner did the round trip to Kalgoorlie to make a new suspension arm!! I do not believe that there is any speed above 10kmh that can smooth out those corrugations. On the worst of them I just went for low 1st and just idled along, window down and enjoyed the scenery!! Tyres around 20psi. It really is a case of the tortoise beating the hare out there, especially when travelling solo as I was.The track improves between WA Border and Ikurlka, and is a superhighway between Ilkurka and Neales Junction. Some rough bits between NJ and Laverton. Was muddy on Mabel Creek back then on the Coober Pedy end, but solid enough under the water.
Interestingly I met a couple in a rather overloaded Nissan Xtrail on the Laverton end who were going to Coober Pedy!! Whilst I'm sure a lightly loaded, well driven Xtrail could do it, I was a bit concerned. I hope they made it OK. Regards Timnivo.