CSR Timing

Aahhh, to be able to predict the weather..........

No stats, but to give you some idea, last year (04) we travelled across the Gary Junction Rd heading for Marble Bar... We were at Kunawarritji (well 33) mid May..
At that time the northern end of the CSR was under water & no-go.. Also, all roads west of well 33 were closed with no immediate prospect of re-opening anytime soon (we were lucky to get fuel there as they were running very low)...
Talawana track was also closed at this time but expected to be re-opened in a few days, so we headed down the CSR (with no problems) to Georgia bore, & it rained again!! .. so we sat it out there for a few days 'till the Talawana track re-opened.. We were told that the area around Lake Disappointment was impassable at that time also...

Fast-forward to June this year... We were on the Warburton track heading for Poeppel Cnr. and guess what?? it rained!!! (much fun when you're camped on a claypan!!)... 1/2 a day of sunshine & things were drying out pretty well, & with more rain on the way, we decided to press on rather than risk being stranded where we were.. Proceeded to the Corner without incident, & the first night up the Hay R. track, the rain caught up with us again.. no problem in that sandy area, but we had to find a way around a few boggy areas south of Lake Caroline... Enjoyed a couple of fine days at Batton Hill before heading up to Jervois & on to Alice Springs... Yep, you guessed it... While we were on the Plenty H/way it started to p$ss down!!!... Couple of extra days in Alice while the Tanami Rd. dried out, & we were at Billiluna on the 25th (after spending a night at Wolfe Ck. crater)...

The weather was fine by this time, & ppl had been coming thru from the Sth., so off we went... Still quite a bit of water on the track just south of Billiluna but we were able to get around most of it... South of about well 50 was quite dry...
Well 24 (Curara Soak) was foul, whereas last year it was bubbling over with fresh water... By the time we got to Rudall R. Nat. Park (early July), it was bone dry & they hadn't seen decent rain for ages.. waterholes were quite foul (camels!!), though we didn't get to see Desert Queen Baths (that's another story) which we were told was much nicer.....
NEway, a few days later we're headed south again, Savory Ck. was dry & we camped just nth. of well 19.. woke to an overcast sky, & by mid-morning it was starting to "spit".. this became increasingly persistent as the day went on, & by the time we made Durba Spring (late arvo,July 10), it was steady light rain, increasing all the while... after setting up camp (in the rain, of course!!), I put out a suitable (parallel-sided) container to catch the rain,& the following morning measured 70mm... Nobody was going anywhere for a few days at least!! ... (a couple that tried to get out were back a day later after spending the night bogged)...
But what a glorious place it was with all that water running down the gorge!!!
(I'll be back!!!)...
Wiluna to well 5 was closed, & also Granite Peak station track, so we exited at well 9 thru Glen-Ayle stn... this was mid-July....
FWIW, 3 of the 4 vehicles in the group were towing, mine & one of the other trailers are tandem axle.. 5 dunes in total gave any one of us any bother, & I needed a second attempt on 2 of them, so overall I think I can safely say that the trailers were no bother.. With all the rain we encountered, I'm certainly glad I took mine!!...

So, there ya have it, if we had gone in May this year we (possibly??) would have missed most of the rain, but last year it was wet at that time, so there's absolutely no guarantee what will happen from one year to the next...
SWMBO & I (& those we were travelling with) are lucky in that we have no time constraints, but I think that once you are "out there", you really need to be prepared to change your plans at short notice... Always have a "contingency plan" (plan B)... (and/or be prepared to sit around for a while :-))...

Anyway, good luck with it & Happy Travellin'....

Regards, Ed. C.

Hi Miker

Another thing to consider is next year around April-May is the start of the great CSR cattle drive, running Nth to Sth & taking 16 weeks to complete. We are running Sth - Nth in August so its going to make things interesting & even more caution required in the dunes with possibly more vehicles & cattle to contend with.
As for the weather a deck of cards, a board game plenty of food up your sleeve.
And sit back & take it all in, & play by mother natures rules. Breaking the rules means you end up bogged & possibly costing you or a station owner more time or & money.

Cheers Steve

PS You might find a web site on the cattle drive somewhere giving you the exact dates????

Try http://www.canningstockroutere-enactment.org.au/route/routeintro.html
for info on the cattle run