Strezleki Track

Not a problem. Did it with a group of off-road caravans a year or so ago without any hassles at all. Went to the Gulf via Longreach then back via the Birdsville track without so much as a screw rattling loose in the van! Mind you, it would be very different if there is rain about.

Cheers
Gerry

Mr Faulty

Yes can't see why not, watch out for the garders, we almost collected a few. From memory even the old Strezleki to camerons corner. Just a few spots might challenge, but all maintained.

Love the up and down bits

Ads

I did the track 5 years ago in a Commodore Station Wagon and towed a camper trailer. Just about any of those "Tracks" can be done in a car so long as you drive to the conditions and DON"T EVER drive on them if they are wet.
The only problem I struck on them was the very occassional clown driving a 4WD at 120KPH and thought they owned the world. I got great pleasure in seeing them arrive at the William Creek Hotel to get tyres repaired while I had ordinary radials on the Commodore and was enjoyng a cold beer (Coopers of course) while these clowns had to get repairs. Thank god they are few and far between but they are out there. I got off the subject a bit but if anyone tells you you can't drive a car out there under the right conditions then they have no idea what they are talking about.
The Bigfella

Not a problem.
Just drive to the conditions.

I remember a mag article years ago about a couple of Commodores that had crossed Australia via the Simpson.
Had just finished telling a passenger on a Cape trip that he couldnt get a normal car up here when an old EH came barrelling out of a bulldust hole.....buggar !

As others have said, yes it's possible. But whether it's wise or not depends on how you go I guess.

The new track maybe, not so sure about the old track.

Friend drove it last year in a 63 rambler with a standard van on the back.

Not so sure about a modern falcon or commodore, bit low, but with caution in the gibber country, maybe.

Jackaroo a conventional vehicle ?????

The indigenous off road vehicle differs only from the conventional (2WD) on-road vehicle in some very small particulars.

1. it is overloaded with mother, aunties, and numerous kids - plus the few remaining toys they picked up in Alice after pay day which have survived for a few hours or a day

2. the bumpers are held on to the body with cable ties, or perhaps fencing wire

3. the suspension is buggered

4. the tyres are almost flat, and have precious little tread

5. the driver could care less about whether or not he arrives at his extreme off road destination with or with the car

6. The windscreen is so scratched you can hardly see out, and features a big spider right in front of the driver

sometimes, it has a leak in the radiator
These design features lead to a remarkable ability to go anywhere - the Strezleki is a Sunday School Picnic by comparison - what - two lanes wide; graded; formed; built up - phht.

We have these unrealistic expectations of our 4WDs ;-)

Ciao for now
Andrew.

Have you read the ExplorOz Strzelecki Trek Note? - See Site Link

Mr Fawlty,
Providing the Strezleki Track is dry, you will have no problems with any vehicle, providing that you have fuel for about 550 kms. You must remember that the track must be in first class condition, as all the large road transport vehicles use this major link with Moomba. Like all dirt roads, drive to the conditions at the time.

When it is wet, it all changes very quickly. A few years back, we were caught out in the wet on the Strezleki. Down to low range just to keep on the track. Stopped for 26 hours at Montocallia Bore. We we hit the tracks again next day, we went for mud and low range to 2wd and dust, all in that short time.

Stephen

In 1978, 3 of us in a 1969 Corolla wagon drove from Tibooburra to Camerons Corner, Merti Merti, Old Strezlecki to Innamincka, then north via Cordillo Downs to Birdsville, down the Inside track to Marree, Up the Oodnadatta track across from William Creek to Coober Pedy, then Ayers Rock and Alice Springs. Then across the top to Cairns and down the coast to Sydney. 6 weeks away cost us $450 each for everything.

The roads were a bit rougher then and the 12 inch tyres on the Corolla were easily busted. We had plenty of spares; used the scissor jack as a beadbreaker; cleaned out the carby out in the bush, damaged a strut on corrugations, cracked the radiator supports, but really came through pretty unscathed. The same vehicle did a similar trip the following year before I scraped up teh dollars for a LandRover!!

But the point is that you can go pretty much anywhere in a 2wd. The latest vehicles just lack ground clearance.

The tracks out there are highways........................until it rains.

Cheers
Phil

Hoards of roads in the outback are mis-named these days - the Gunbarrel is no highway - the Strzelecki is no track. Take the Odnadatta (not a track either) - drove it 2 weeks back - the only way it could be improved is to seal it - absolutely beautiful surface, for an outback road. But nothng can be relied upon necessarily - as the others have said, rain changes everything, plus traffic volumes and the timing of weather changes and gradings - its all a bit of a lottery. As long as clearance is not an obstacle for certain vehicles, slowing down and picking your way through the stony/bulldust sections that may crop up would get most people anywhere on many of these roads, these days. Keep safety in mind but - spares, comms and water - often many hundreds of k's between drinks up there.