mereenie loop road N.T.

Silverback
you will find a lot of useful information in the archive. Just type 'Mereenie' into the search window.

Silverback
provided your camper is legitimate 4wd you should have no problems. Mereenie Loop is a well used dirt road which can, and often does, have stretches of pretty bad corrugations. It also has a couple of creek crossings which are usually dry.

Tessa

G'day Silverback,
Did the trip in Sept 2002 with '98 Prado towing Jayco Outback Eagle.
Found it very,very corrugated in parts and very slow going even down to 7kms an hour in some parts and hugging the side of the road quite a deal. Followed a mate in a Disco and Kimberly Kamper who had his wife and two young kids. We were both somewhat inexperienced but as long as you knew not to speed and had a few breaks along the way (the women did not enjoy the ride) it can be done quite ok. From memory it was about 6 hours from King's Canyon Resort to the Palm Valley turnoff (a great visit with good basic camping ground) with visit to Grosse Bluff ?along the way.
Both trailers coped ok but you MUST make sure all items are adequately secured as the bumps can be regular and severe. I did break my interior tap along the way from sheer vibration. Obviuosly a road condition up date would be advisable.
A great challenge so enjoy......but with care.

Peter W
"Life is not a Rehearsal"

Did the road two years ago and it was an easy three hour trip from Hermannsburg to Kings Creek Station but going from above post we must have been there at a good time,hardly any corrigations.Saw plenty of camels,great country out there but there is talk about them sealing the road,so do it before every one and there dogs out there.You also need a permit,about $2.20 and can be obtained each end easily(Kings Creek and Hermannsburg) amoung others.

thanks very much nick, but i think $2.20 is cheap compared to the $25 a head it's gunna cost me to get into ayres Rock.

It's a road.
We towed our trailer on it.
Don't worry about it.

Geoff

We went through in a Land Rover Defender in 2001. We weren't very experienced at that time and we didn't have a camper trailer, but we really didn't have any problems. I would think it would be OK providing it was a proper off-road camper. The only fright we had was a wash away that snuck up on us, but apart from that it was OK if you adjust your driving to the conditions.

We got some good information at Kings Canyon where we bought the permit. They can tell you when it was last graded.

Silverback,

I have done the road several times in the last couple of months in my Corolla sedan.

No probs- just drive to the conditions and you'll be OK.

Cheers

Equinox

Did the trip Sept 2003, GU Patrol, Mum, Dad and three kids youngest 8yrs, towing a Trak Shak. Notes fromt the diary say we had a walk through Palm Valley in the morning, lunch at Hermansberg where we paid $2.20 for the permit. After leaving Hermansberg we went to Grosse Bluff and did a short walk. We camped that night in Kings Canyon campground which we thouhgt was pretty good.

My memory of the road is that it was mostly, pretty wide but badly corrugated. The most commonly seen vehicle was the 24 seat 4wd tour bus. One of which had dropped it's lunch. They picked the norrowest part of the road and there were 24 sunburnt Germans wandering like lost cattle all over the place.

The other interesting vehicle we saw on that road was a clapped out XD Falcon with 2 flat tyres rattling it's way towards Hermansberg. They declined our offer of assistance.

Duncs

may o3 easy road but horrifically corrigated no 4wd sections wide and good

We travelled the Loop last winter towing a camper trailer and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. A few corragations & a wide road, grader was working on sections at the time. We had been advised by many that it was too rough to travel but we spoke to a tour bus operator at Kings Canyon who had just completed the trip and told us not to believe most people as they a not used to driving dirt roads and the road was in good condition. We were glad we took his advice and I can tell you that compared to many roads we travel in our local area on a regular basis (sth west Vic) the meereenie loop was like driving on a sealed road. Go on have a great time1

2hoots