Trek Comment: Great Central Road

Hi. We did it from Uluru to Laverton in May in a Pajero and not towing. Uluru to Docker River was good. D R to WA border was woeful but only about 10 km. We were down to walking speed for most of that. WA border to Laverton was superb. We were able to sit on a comfortable 90 kph and resisted the temptation to put the foot down.
We had a night at Warakurna and another at Tjukayirla. In hindsight the good conditions would easily have allowed us to do it in two days and to have just one night at Warburton. Be aware that there are major roadworks occurring on the WA section with some lengthy sidetracks in place. Cannot comment on bush camping possibilities. Hope this helps.

Hi 761

We have driven it a number of times over the years. Even now is still too far out, as you only need one massage lot of rain through the area to change conditions.

It is usually a great drive, with lots of interesting stops along the way . As far as I am aware, your transit permit can not be extended beyond the 3 days they give you to do it, but things may have changed.

One 60 kilometre detour that I feel is an absolute " must do " Is to Empress Springs, up the David Carnegie Road. Most times that road is in better condition than the GCR.

Either way, it is a great drive and lots of great scenery.



Cheers




Stephen

Having done it many times, it never changes much as long as it's not too wet, but the WA sections are generally good, and the sections closer to the border on the WA side are really good. The bit immediately through the border into NT is uniformly awful, unless it's just been graded, in which case you have won the lottery. From a bit east of Docker River to the Olgas is bad but better than the bit around Docker River.
By far the most scenic stretch is that via Surveyor General's Corner. Get a permit to visit SG Corner and that gets you to Warburton alongside the Wingellina & Blackstone Ranges, past the communities of Wingellina, Blackstone & Jameson.

Hi Member,

We just came back via the GCR in early July 2017 travelling East to West. As others have pointed out the NT side is more corrugated then the WA side. We were in a convoy of three all towing. I myself had a Jayco 17.6 Expanda outback. We had no problems, Our average travel speed would have been 70km/h and we let our tyres down accordingly. Both vans and 2wd box trailer had no troubles, but we were prepared if needed.

There is plenty of bush camps and wood to have a camp fire and the information from this site is what I used to plan our stops. We would have loved to spend more time camping along the road as the kids loved it.

Enjoy the drive and take the time to stop and look around.