Great Central Road

Hi Austag,
have driven the GCR many times and in general is a pretty good run. The sand corrugations between Docker River and Yulara can be a bit annoying but the rest of of it is ok , a bit rocky in places but should be able to run at about 80kph. If you allow 4 to 5 days from Perth you'll do it easily. I usually run tyre pressures of around 35psi and haven't ever had a flat.

Hi Austag,
We travelled the GCR in August, i.e. not very recently. Compared to our previous trip the Docker River Road was a dream - mildly corrugated. There was one place where people were chatting on the side of the road and giving me the 'slow down' sign. I slowed right down, as you do when passing people on the road but he was still signalling 'slow down' as I crawled passed him. Thank goodness because I came to the lip of a dry riverbed very gently and was able to negotiate it easily. The rest of the road was excellent, wide and no corrugations or potholes anywhere. We had to be careful to keep our speed down to a sensible level.

We were not impressed with the management at Warrakurna, near Giles weather station. It was poorly run by backpackers when we were there. Beware that they close quite early and there is a time difference from Uluru. If closed you can't get fuel or key to amenities.

I understand that Warburton is a safe, well run campground with good facilities. Also the art gallery is said to be excellent (closed Sunday but will happily open for you). We only stopped briefly as were headed to Tjukayirla for a couple of days.

Tjuka has excellent facilities and motel style accommodation. The managers have been there on and off for years and work hard to keep the place top-notch.

We stayed at Laverton and restocked at the large (by outback standards) supermarket and could get everything we needed. Many prefer to stay at Leonora but we don't. If you stay at Laverton don't miss the hologram exhibition about local explorers at the Visitor Centre.

We had an amazing trip 7 week trip (12,500km from nr Canberra). Hope you do too.

Min