Kalumburu Road
Submitted: Monday, May 28, 2007 at 08:28
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Andrew from Vivid Adventures
I did a trip up to
Kalumburu before the rain set in on the 15th and 16th May.
I believe that technically the road was closed past
Mitchell Falls turnoff (I didn't know this and the lovely Joanna at Drysdale said people were getting through taking it slow though). The road has some pretty good washaways (a couple of six footers) and some longish diversion tracks have been made. For some reason I have this habit of getting to the other end of a road and finding a
road closed sign (like on the Karunjie Road which had made for a lot of nail-biting high risk driving across a wettish mud flat).
Once in
Kalumburu, a storm moved in and the rain continued as we were on our way back to Drysdale - it did keep the cattle off the road, but made for some serious mud, which was then exacerbated on the GRR which became the
Gibb River Road River.
Anyways, the point of this post was to comment that if you can avoid (diesel) refuelling in
Kalumburu at $2.28 and just refuel at Drysdale at $1.95 your enjoyable trip to K might be significantly less expensive.
Is $2.28 the highest diesel price in Australia?
Cheers
Andrew.
Reply By: DIO - Monday, May 28, 2007 at 10:25
Monday, May 28, 2007 at 10:25
If you're travelling in areas likely to receive sufficient rain to make travel difficult or impossible, be prepared to spend time at a roadside
camp or suitable location for a day or two. I've always contended that the best policy for travelling dirt roads (in the bush) is if it rains enough, road is very muddy, STOP. Even if there's no
Road Closed direction, a couple of days wait, the road dries out enough for traffic to proceed WITHOUT causing costly damage to the road surface and the possibility of bogging your vehicle and then relying on someone else to get you out. Who wants to spend hours or days toiling like a dog, digging wet, stinking slippery mud. Always the risk of burnt out clutch, damage to auto trans, broken axle etc. Not me. Been there - done that. An all wheel drive vehicle is not a licence to continue on - regardless. Exceptions - life threatening for yourself or others.
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Follow Up By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Monday, May 28, 2007 at 11:17
Monday, May 28, 2007 at 11:17
Come on DIO, settle down. Was that a LECTURE or what?
We "DID" roadside
camp at Dog Chain Creek on the GRR for some of the reasons you mentioned - unfortunately someone doesn't know how to bury their doo doo had been there before us, but that is another story I guess.
We also investigated a few potential roadside camping spots on the
Kalumburu Road without finding anything suitable.
The mud situation on the Karunjie Track left me with no alternative but to find a way out of it without getting bogged ... you can't see the problem ahead of time because the surface was dried out but squidgy underneath. Camping on a mud flat isn't an option.
The
Kalumburu Road was already damaged far more significantly than any minor mud-ruts I might have left.
Who ever said anything about toiling for hours or days?
Chill out just a little please. We are pretty conservative drivers - slow by most standards, and have a conservative head on our shoulders.
Cheers
Andrew.
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Follow Up By: Oldsquizzy (Kununurra) - Monday, May 28, 2007 at 15:32
Monday, May 28, 2007 at 15:32
I wasnt having a go at you. Was pointing out that at times people can make very costly ( for other people ) mistakes. Because the lady was pregnant at the time they made the choice to use the truck to try to rescue them. That voided the insurance on the truck, and as an aside after a boat was used to rescue them which took a while to organize. The lady miscarried.
What I was pointing out was that people have to take responsibility for there actions and be as prepared for the conditions as possible :- this includes medications, food, water, permits and local or council knowledge of conditions.
Perfect example is todays little one, Broken diff at Mt Barnett and no asthma medication.
Things like that make it a whole new ball game.
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Follow Up By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Monday, May 28, 2007 at 15:44
Monday, May 28, 2007 at 15:44
No probs Squizzy.
No asthma medication sounds like poor preparation, but no matter how hard you plan, some things can't be predicted and others just need taking as they come.
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