Finke to Alice Springs.. advice on best way please

Hi Coyote,

The South Road from Finke to Alice is rough and undulating (thems those bigger whoopsies than corrugations). Travel is slow but folks still are able to do Alice to Mt Dare in a day but does not include the excursion out to Chambers Pillar. The recent rain has improved the track slightly.

If you include a visit to the Lambert Centre and Chambers Pillar it is a 2 day trip. We recommend that people use the Hugh River Stock Route from north of Maryvale to Stuarts Well, duck into Rainbow Valley, then go through Qwen Springs to Laparinta Drive to Alice as a variation, if they have time. A visit to Titjikala behind Maryvale would be worthwhile depending on the tyranny of time.

Regards
Ian@Mt Dare

Coyote,

My preference is to go from Mt Dare, up to Andado station (great country thru there) , then across to Old andado Station, visit the Acacia Peuce Reserve and into Alice Springs via the Andado track.

It's an easy day's drive from Old Andado station to Alice.

I agree with Phil. A fabulous drive, but ask at Mt Dare re track condition, if there has been any rain recently. If camping around Old Andado, make sure you have mozzie protection. The mozzies there last October were the worst I have come across outsise of Yellow-water up in Kakadu.

Thanks for the great tips. Much appreciated. Will see you some time in early Sept.. especially thanks for the tip on Mozzies. I assumed they wouldn't be a prob out that way due to tlack of water but obvviously I was worng. will defenitly take precautions.

If Old Andado is out, then the Old Ghan Rail Trail is very good.

Hi,

I'm not sure what the definition of "very good" is in reference to the old ghan trail. I drove it 3 weeks ago from Finke to Maryvale to get to Chambers Pillar and it was so corrugated that I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head! We couldn't find a good speed, we tried slow (60kmh). We settled for 60kmh but it was still a bone jarring ride that left me crossed eyed when we finally got to the Maryvale turn off :-)

We tried the trail below the old ghan but that was like a bmx race track, the fastest we could manage on that was about 16kmh.

If you take the ghan trail, be sure you have tied down all your gear and pack your fridge so that nothing can move around otherwise you will find it broken.

I reckon every 4WD manufacturer should test their vehicles on this track by driving up and down the lenght of it a few times, if nothing falls off then they are on a winner.

Having said all of the above, it was still fun in a masochistic sort of way.