great central road travel

I suggest if you are well set up (with Sat phone) , then you could travel the Gunbarrel Hwy ... is a far more interesting drive and camp spots . We did it in 1992 - including the abandoned section .

We went across the Great Central from Laverton in August last year. The road was good, we were pulling a camper trailer behind the Patrol. Tjukayirla Roadhouse was good with friendly staff. Don't bother with Warburton....Warakurna was also good. The road was terrible after Warakurna - very corrugated, but the scenery was worth travelling slow for anyway. Don't bother with Docker River either......
We had no trouble with the distances (fuel wise) nor did we have any tyre dramas.
Oh, counting dead cars along the way is a bit of a pass time - we got to 203 between Laverton & the NT border, the good ol' Falcon winning the highest head count...

Judy & Laurie
You certainly can travel he GCR as a solo traveller, we did in 2005 towing a Coromal Pioneer pop top caravan and we would have seen at least 1 other vehicle during every hour, and most were Commodore or Falcons.

Enjoy your travels
Regards
Athol

Hi Judi and Laurie

If travelling in that region try and spare some time to head up along the Sandy Blight Junction Track (near Warakurna).

A great outback drive...

The Sandy Blight Junction Track - A Living Poscard

Enjoy, Baz - The Landy

Judy and Laurie,

See here for GCR permits and other information.

Hi Judy and Laurie

We travelled the GCR east to west and My Blogs (2008) have a summary of the journey. The road had good and bad patches, and you will almost always find this variation. The road has plenty of traffic on it so you are never alone, but more traffic means the corrugations build up quickly after grading. We have not done the old Gunbarrel. We did have a breakage, but did not need to use our satellite phone as we were able to get going ourselves.

Hi Judy & Laurie - I did Alice - Uluru - Laverton in October last year and put up a road report on this site. Here's the link.

Tjukaruru Road - GCR Road report

The Gt Central Rd will vary in condition in numerous sections, according to how recently its been graded.

To access Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), you need to get a Park Permit from the Tourist Information centre in the centre of Yulara.
Drive up Yulara Drive from the Lasseter Hwy, through the first roundabout and past "Sails in the Desert", and you will see a patch of lawn and big trees on the left, then a road on the left, just before the Ayers Rock Resort.

Take this road and it leads into a carpark behind a number of admin buildings and the IGA supermarket. The Tourist Information centre is in the middle of these buildings. The TIC can issue both Uluru Park Permits, and Transit Permits for the Tjukaruru Rd.

A 3-day permit for Uluru and Kata Tjuta Park costs you $25. There is a checkpoint on the road between Yulara and Uluru where you must stop and present all permits.

To travel the Tjukaruru Rd (from Yulara to the W.A. border), you need a Transit Permit from the NT Central Lands Council. Here is the link to the online application.

Transit Permit Application - Tjukaruru Rd

To drive from the W.A. border to Laverton on the GCR, or on any other of the W.A. Aboriginal Land "highways", you need a Permit from the W.A. Dept of Aboriginal Affairs. Here is the link to the online application.

Entry Permits form to Aboriginal Land - Dept of Aboriginal Affairs, W.A.

Be aware of the tight travel allowance times on these W.A. permits.
Also be aware that you are not allowed entry to Aboriginal communities on these permits, they are transit permits only. If you desire to enter Aboriginal Communities, you need a separate permit.
Warburton townsite is not an Aboriginal Community, entry to Warburton townsite is allowed on the Transit Permit.

Cheers, Ron.

Greg & Dianne - The Landy has nailed it, no need to get the permits until you know your exact dates for travel.
With the Central Land Council Permit online application, it is emailed to you within a short time.
With the online GCR Permit from the WA Dept of Aboriginal Affairs, you will get transit approval on the spot - you just print out your permit from the website.
You can do that, up until the day before you travel.

Cheers, Ron.