Googs Track

Have had 2 lots of friends do it in last few months.
One came from sth to nth and said it was difficult due to being scolloped out. They were in 4wd vehicle only.

The others were towing a tvan and I talked them into going from nth to sth, and they said it was no problem, but didnt think they would have made it the other way with the camper on.
We have done it several times and always from nth to sth and it is always an easy run, but is usually badly chopped up on the southern sides of the dunes, because peanuts who
"know better" wont let there tyres down.

Monitor channel 18 on UHF radio and stop from time to time on top of the dunes and see if you can see if anything is coming the other way. May just avoid a headon on the top of a dune.

The entrance on the Tarcoola rd is now sign posted, and good camping areas at Mt Finke and Googs Lake area.
Have a great time, its a good drive.

Cheers Pesty

Its not a hard track at all Steve - more pleasant than anything.

Taking up Peskys advice , with a bit of common sense you should have no issues and agree its a little easier Nth to Sth

Robin Miller

Hi Steve,

I did it in Nov 05 (yes a while ago) but I can only reinforce what Pesty has said the. The southern side was severly rutted and the only way I could comfortably go over them was in 2nd low range at nearly idle and then give it a bit as I got near the top. Was very soft and steep when we did it and would have been a BIG challenge with a camper.

I haven't got a map in front of me but if you do the opposite of what we did you could still take the camper. We came down from the north on a road running virtually parallel but to the east of the Goog track. If you went north on this way (good scenic drive - dirt) and then did the Goog from N to S.

What ever you decide - enjoy.

Steve
I went from North to South and found it easy , of course I wasn't towing but I did notice some fools heading North had not de-aired the tyres and the southern side of the dunes were cut up bad, Just checked my GPS Tracks and shows I was there on 9/7/2006, That same track file is available for download here on EO if you have a Garmin GPS, Also you can visit the Goog's Track listing here in EO Places.
Goog's Track

Doug
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Goog's is an easy enough drive without a camper most of the time. Assuming you have done some sand driving I would think it a straight forward trip. The southern faces tend to get cut up as most people (encouraged by National Parks) travel south to north. This forces a slow approach to the top of the dunes. Some of the dunes get steeper near the top. I suspect that this combination may cause you some problems with a trailer. I don't have one so I'm not an expert about getting trailers over sand hills but with the extra drag I would have thought a little extra speed would be required.. I must admit I have never seen anyone out there with a trailer but that doesn't mean that it isn't done. People take them down the CSR so I expect it is possible. The only other thing would be if trailers are permitted or not. You may want to ring Department of Environment and Heritage at Ceduna to find out. If you are coming from the north you will need to ring them to get a permit anyway. There is now a fine if you don't have a permit.

Steve

Steve Googs track is grossly over rated in difficulty & your petrol Cruiser (with tyres let down) would have little if any problem in either direction. Not sure of your previous experience but the track is far easier than the Vic Border & Simpson desert of which many hundreds of trailers get towed. If it hasn't rained for a while the sand chops up rough but the dunes in comparison to other outback tracks are relitivly small.
Cheers Craig

I did it last year in a Nissan Navara (3L T/D) towing a tambo camper trailer. Whilst some of the hills were quite a considerable height, with the tyre pressures right down you'd have no worries at all. Biggest hills were well north of Googs Lake and Mount Finke. Enjoy it.

Mick

Hi Bidgee 1
We did the trip a couple of months back. As others have stated, if you know what you are doing and drop your tyre pressure, it is a very easy trip.
I would personally next time come from the North Down. This would be much easier, as the southern approaches are very badly cut up in the northern end by people not having correct tyre pressure and knowing who to drive a 4X4.

Enjoy your trip.

Cheers

Stephen

Just to add, that most of it is pretty corrugated, so lower pressures will help everything hold together as well.

And its pretty much a single lane, often with little opportunity to get off the track. In the past, the National Parks people have tried to encourage everyone to come from the south to avoid the issues with head-ons, and passing. Worth giving them a call at their Ceduna Office to see what they say these days.

Straight forward for seasoned bush travellers - there are 3 moderate sandhills at the top end of the track, as I recall - the others are all small. If silly people have not been spinning holes in the sandhill faces, you'll only need reduced tyre pressures and the usual modest run up to be happy.