Brisbane to Darwin via Mt Isa
Submitted: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 12:29
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Member - SKI er (NSW)
Hi Folks,
Another novice question,
Brisbane, Mt Isa,
Tennant Creek Darwin appears to be tar all the way. We intend to do a 3 month trip beginning at the end of this month pulling the caravan. We will be travelling with our 2 fox terriers which we will kennel or vet day care locally if we want to see somewhere special.
Is it tourist quality tar all the way or are there poor bits ?
We have a maximum range of 350km to 400km in our guzzily aged petrol Pathfinder, About 22l per 100 with the caravan behind. Are there any hops between that will stretch us beyond our range or do we have to carry extra fuel.
Any thoughts would help or suggestions of good
places to stop with dogs would be a bonus.
Regards
SKI'er
Reply By: Member - Peter R (QLD) - Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 13:03
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 13:03
SKI'er,
Most of the trip there will be
places to refill that will suit your range.
One part is the
Barkly Highway from Camoolweal to the Three Ways (north of
Tennant Creek) which though probably within your range can be thrown out by the heavy winds.
The
Barkly Homestead which is along this route has fuel but be warned it is very expensive.
Incidentally if you don't particularly want to go to
Tennant Creek turn right at The Three Ways and you are off to
Darwin, turn left and
Tennant Creek is down the road a bit.
Some pit stops i made on trip
Gold Coast to
Broome in 2005 were
dalbv 257
roma 286
augathella 264
tambo 117
barcaldine 206
longreach 117
winton 192
mckinlay 241
mtisa 236
c amoolweal 190
elliott 311
mataranka 298
katherine 106
I was running on LPG and needed to fill up at every spot that had it.
Pedro
AnswerID:
237386
Follow Up By: Member - Peter R (QLD) - Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 14:06
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 14:06
On the way back after a problem with lpg I ran on petrol and the fills were
katherine
matranka 128
dunmarra 224
renner spring 191
threewzys 135
barkly homestead 186
camoolweal 258
mt isa 232
cloncurry 144
burkenwills 182
karumba 277
karumba 111
normanton 105
croydon 165
georgetown 158
mtsurprise 102
oasis 154
charterstowers 295
belandocrossing 216
cle mont 170
emerssld 171
injune 309
roma 117
stgeorge 198
stgeorge 203
goondiwindi 219
warwick 197
goldcoast 209
You will note
Barkly Highway is included in this journey and fill was at Renner Springs in lieu of
Elliott and we filled at Three Ways too.
The return trip was quite a good drive and other routes from Charters Towers could be selected.
Check this out for distance between towns
Pedro
FollowupID:
498431
Reply By: DIO - Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 14:22
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 14:22
Travelling up north (
dingo country) with dogs, be very mindful of the existence of baits. They can be found in many unexpected
places. Domestic dogs are very good at finding them, with catastrophic results. Death is swift and not very nice to have to witness as ther's basically nothing you can do for your animal. Best advice, either leave your dogs at
home or keep them on a lead at all times and preferably with a muuzzle on to prevent them from picking anything foreign up.
AnswerID:
237407
Reply By: Member - vivien C (VIC) - Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 19:37
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 19:37
SKI'er,
If you didn't want to double up some of the trip you can take the
Tablelands Highway near
Barkly Homestead which takes you up to
Cape Crawford and then into the Stuart highway near
Daly Waters.
The road is bitumen all the way and a bit narrow from Barkly up to
Cape Crawford but once there the
Carpentaria Highway from Cape C to the Stuart Highway is better.
You can
camp and get fuel at
Cape Crawford and do a tour by helicopter of
the Lost City if you wanted to. The Tablelands Hwy takes you past some of the biggest cattle stations...like Brunette Downs and is quite an interesting drive.
Viv
AnswerID:
237481
Follow Up By: scruffyDog - Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 23:24
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 23:24
Viv
Just wanted to say I love your signature:
"The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people half way"
FollowupID:
498607
Follow Up By: Member - SKI er (NSW) - Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 10:29
Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 10:29
Thanks All,
Thanks to all who offered insight and advice into our next adventure.
We now know that our map that looks like tar is tar, that we have the range between sips but on mentioning our intentions to a neighbour he came out with an unused 20l Jerry so that will build in a bit of leeway.
Not so certain about how we will handle wild dog baits and road trains. In our part of NSW "long" is a B Double not what seems to be a football pitch on wheels.
Time will tell.
Thanks again
SKI'er
FollowupID:
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