Anne Beadell in April/May

Andy

Late April is a good time of the year to travel.

Go to www.bom.gov.au for all your weather info.

I am afraid that the corrugations are a permanent feature of the AB. The highway/road/track never gets graded. You can drive along it at 20km/h or try to stay on top of the corrugations at 60km/h with tyre pressures down to 20 psi depending on your preference.

We took 6 days to get to the GCR from Coober Pedy taking in all of the sights along the way and camping early each day.

Go to my website below, click on 4x4 and then click on Western Deserts 2006 for a report on the AB.

Cheers

Shouldn't be any great probs. weather wise at that time. Just keep your eye on forecast- and if a VKS737 user, can be updated while on the way. Days will be pleasant- with cool clear nights- and the STARS..ah the stars out there are magnificent.
How much time does it take?? from where to where ?? Guess you'd be coming from the West.
The roads are a little rough in places, but just air down and drive to the conditions. I think some people treat the word 'highway' as a 4 lane bitumen road :-)
Do a lot of planning and preparation- there's heaps of interesting POIs.

It should be a good time to do it, but don't rule out the chance of a "late summer", with temps still really high........ I've been to Innamincka in late April with 6 days at 38C and it was 40C over at the dig tree....... and that's not in the Victoria Desert..... as usual, all such trips have some gambling built in.... but they are always worth doing !

We were there last year at that time it was quite warm 35 during the day and cooled down at night. From sun rise there were flies and sun down lots of moths and such (heaps of bats ). The road was very rough from Coober Pedy until the West Australian boarder. We had one night of drizzle the tent got damp. If I did it again I would spend 8-10 days on and around the track (Highway) I hope you have a great trip there is a lovely hot shower at the roadhouse about half way through.
Cheers
Peter B

Slightly OT has anybody done the track lately in a V6 and can tell me how much fuel you used? Could do a Treks search I know but this is more interactive.

Andy,

I did it at that time last year and there was a bit of rain about. Have you checked the Trek notes as there are now 8 feedback files on the AB. Apart from the occasionally deep bog hole, the track is a very enjoyable run at a leisurely pace. While the majority of the track is sandy, there are a few claypans and lakes that would cause a real problem if rain set in. I left feedback on the trek site. Cheers. Mick

Hi all

thanks for all the information. I think we will have a go and
hope that temperatures will stay below 35 C.

We have travelled the AB from Laverton to Vokes Hill Cnr a few years back during July. We therefore consider to take this time the track running south of Rawson Lake, to travel through the Plumridge Lakes area to Neal Jnct. before heading towards Coober Pedy.
Maybe some of you has also information on this track. I have seen it on recent 250k NAT-maps.

Cheers Andy