Chamber's Pillar
Submitted: Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 17:22
ThreadID:
17090
Views:
3328
Replies:
5
FollowUps:
8
This Thread has been Archived
Johnny Nav
Hi Guys,
I have just returned from a drive to
Chambers Pillar. I left
ALice Springs at about 5:30 this morning, had a few stops along the way and arrived at the reserve at about 10am. The stops along the way were: Ewaninga Rock Carvings and
Rodinga Railway Siding ruins.
The rock carvings were very interesting and when looking at the siding
ruins I adventured along the old railway line in the navara for a while. Not much to see but lots of old railway nails (if that's what they are called).
Chambers Pillar was very majestic! Just looking at the names carved into the pillar by famous explorers/ pioneers gave me goose bumps. Imagine the history hardship in actually getting there back in the 1890's on foot and horseback... now we do it in a couple of hours from
Alice Springs!
The Navara handled very
well on the gravel and sand. The road into
Chambers Pillar from Maryvale was a good drive and a chance to try low gear climbing and decending one of the ranges. The
sand dunes were a bit of a let down as far as challenging driving goes. I did however find a good sand climb on the way back on a side track. I just made it over the peak in L2 (after one or two goes) with my tires deflated for gravel driving (5psi below recommended). I then let them down to 16 psi and blitzed the climb. Then I had oportunity to try out my new bushrange max air compressor to reinflate the tires. Very quick - very impressed!
Well I hope some of you got something from my ramblings.
ps. I used just shy of half a
tank (say 30 -35 litres) of diesel in the navara.
Reply By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 18:54
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 18:54
Sounds like a great days drive.We're heading up to Alice next year and are planning on going into
Chambers Pillar then onto Finke.Had hoped to make it in there last year but ran out of time.
Whats the
camp ground like in there,is the area gravelled or sandy.Alot of so called
camp sites we came across last year were gravelled,not good for tents.
Cheers Nick
AnswerID:
80445
Follow Up By: Johnny Nav - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:04
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:04
I didn't have a good look at the campsites, however most of the terain that I came across while walking the
trails was sandy.
Hope I haven't given you false hope! I plan on
camping out that way in the not too distant future, so I'll let you know afterwards.
FollowupID:
339783
Follow Up By: Member - AndrewPatrol - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:08
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:08
Nick,
While up that way you might like to check out
Lambert Centre. Bit south of Chambers but nice
camping area, no facilities. Its out of Finke a bit but keep it in mind if you dont wanna stop at Finke.
FollowupID:
339784
Follow Up By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:19
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:19
Thanks,will keep it in mind.
FollowupID:
339786
Follow Up By: duncs - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 11:46
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 11:46
The other thing with campsites is that there are not many of them. Get there early or you might have trouble getting one that suits.
They are not camper trailer friendly but you can make it work with a bit of thought.
Duncs
FollowupID:
339828
Reply By: Member - John R. W (NSW) - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:35
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 19:35
Enjoyed reading your commentary, it was both interesting and informative.
Well done.
JRW
AnswerID:
80451
Reply By: Member - Russell S - Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 20:45
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 20:45
The campsites at CP are sandy, and there are about half a dozen if I can remember correctly. You
park your vehicle and/or trailer in the bay provided and then you can go behind the barrier for your fires etc. Only a 5-10 min walk to the pillar. We were there a couple of weeks ago, and the road in is in good nick at present.
AnswerID:
80464
Follow Up By: Ian from Thermoguard Instruments - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 09:59
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 09:59
As I recall, some of the CP campsites a nicely shaded by some
big Desert Oaks, if you can pick the best ones. There's also a pit
toilet nearby. They must have run a grader over the road recently, as the time we were there, about 15 months ago now, the 'road' from Maryvale to
the ridge had the worst corrugations this site of
Cape York - certainly the worst we encountered in many thousands of kms around Central Oz/northern SA.
The ridge you cross before getting to the small sand
hill area gives some spectacular
views in all directions.
FollowupID:
339810
Follow Up By: Johnny Nav - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 10:05
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 10:05
I concur, the corrugations were bad, however the scenery was magnificent. I found that travelling at a decent speed helped with the rattles. The slower I went the worse they were!
FollowupID:
339812
Reply By: Willem - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 08:13
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 08:13
A mate of
mine had the rubbish removal contract for
Chambers Pillar some years ago. He used to access it twice a week in a 2wd Nissan twincab ute. By the end of the contract the Nissan was pretty stuffed, tho............
Hmmm ..........offroad driving in the
park or private property is not recommended. Try your sand driving ona beach somewhere instead.
Chambers Pillar is a unique land form and worthy of a visit. Early
explorers carved their names on the
sandstone and are revered. 21st Century
explorers carve their name and they are frowned upon and prosecuted...go figure...:-)
AnswerID:
80502
Follow Up By: Johnny Nav - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 09:23
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 09:23
Willem,
I definately wasn't sand driving in the reserve, however it may have been private property (not fenced or signposted and lots of evidence of previous use). I'll keep your advice in mind in future. Unfortunately living in
Alice Springs I don't get much of a chance to drive in beach sand :) being in central Australia and everything!
FollowupID:
339808
Follow Up By: Willem - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 21:40
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 21:40
OK I'll rephrase that....Try driving up the Todd or isn't that allowed anymore? :o)
Good ole Alice. Spent a happy three years there exploring every nook and cranny of the area.
FollowupID:
339874
Reply By: David O - Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 10:41
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004 at 10:41
That drive is fantastic, we loved it and the stop over at Maryvale station is worth it, a quaint little
shop with a lovely
young lady serving, and interesting things for sale like a Toyota LandCruiser engine, kids toys, bikes,
aboriginal paintings.
The rock carvings were very interesting as
well and definitely worth a look.
The
camp site is adjacent small claypans and the area was only slightly sandy and shaded by great Desert Oaks. There are many sand ridges to cross on the way into CP, and you should call ahead on the UHF on the designated channel whcih I think is channel 10.
There is a very large feral cat in the area whcih I would love to see trapped!
See some pics here-
http://www.djolsen.com/gallery5.htm
AnswerID:
80518