Ularu To Chambers Pillar

Hi,

it's a pleasant drive to Chambers Pillar as Stephen has described it. Just be aware of the fact that there is a steep jump-up at the rear of a ridge, at about two thirds of the drive in from Maryvale Station. Go slowly and take the detour which is located to the right. You really don't want to crash into this jump-up (I nearly managed to do so when going there for the first time). The last few kilometres in are a little bit sandy, one lane track only. UHF channel is sign posted at entry into this area.

Chambers Pillar is expecially magic at sunset and sunrise, it's really worth staying there over night (bush camping; if I remember it right it was less than 5,- AUD per vehicle).

I have not myself gone via the Old Ghan Heritage Trail to Finke, as I was warned that there are still lots of nails on the old railway dam. A guy from Germany who has gone there complained about flat tyres. However, other guys from Oz told me that the nails are quite round at the end and seldom pose a problem.

Maybe some of the guys here in the forum can answer the question about the nails and the danger for the tyres.

If you're not in a hurry, why not do a big loop? You could drive the Ernest Giles Road if you prefer to go through the dirt rather than going over the bitumen (have a look at Henbury meteorite crater reserve), then enter via Hugh River Stock Route (prepare to open and close lots of gates), go down to Maryvale and on to Chambers Pillar, then to Alice Springs via Old South Road. It's always nice to stay in Alice during a trip for fresh supplies and a mighty big steak at the Overlander steakhose. From Alice you could go down the beautiful Old Andado Track via Old Andado Homestead. Very picturesque drive, which would bring you to Mt. Dare.

I did the Simpson in late May last year, all over the French line. Was quite hard for us Gerries, but we met a nice Aussie couple who showed us how to play in the sand properly. In my opinion, a pair of MaxTrax will be a good idea for the Simpson. The sand was really soft on top of the dunes.

Enjoy!

Cheers from bloody boring Dortmund/Germany,

Juergen

German by Birth, but Aussie by Heart!

Hi ozwasp

Uluru - Kata Tjuta is the name of the NP, which is under is under joint management. These are the names the rocks are now known by. The Chambers Pillar historical reserve is managed by NT parks. Although they make reference to the Aboriginal Dreaming, they do not even have the original name for it on the Parks brochure - it seems it officially is named Chambers Pillar. Can you enlighten us?

Motherhen

Hi Ozwasp
The official name for Chambers Pillar is "Chambers Pillars"
As of June last year when we were last there here is the official sign as you enter the reserve, put in place by the NT Government.

Cheers

StephenImage Could Not Be Found

Hi ozwasp

You still haven't told us the Aboriginal name for Chambers Pillar.

Motherhen

Waiting

The aboriginals had no written language - as such i find it amusing the written names of these places have been changed back to there original names ---- which obviosly was never the case

Hi get outmore

But it has all been passed down by word of mouth. The "Aboriginal University" (forgot what it is called), at Alice Springs has developed it as a written language using our alphabet, but they are not pronounced as they are spelt, which to me seems silly. Eg the local people are Arrernte which they pronounce Arunda. Why didn't they just spell in Arunda?

At least in southern WA most towns have been called a shortened version of the original name, rather than using something like the name of a town in the UK. Aboriginal names are often very long, so the spelling has been simplified. I rather like seeing the Aboriginal names used.

Mh

One more thing -- Can you get a light weight camper trailer in there OK ?

Cheers

Mandrake

So long as it can stand up to the corrugated roads Mandrake. It is not only the road from Maryvale to Chambers Pillar, but the Finke Road all the way from Alice if you go that way. As said before, we met people who had broken a spring on their camper trailer on the Mereenie Loop - not an easy task to get them to Kings Canyon, where they had to wait for some time for a new spring to be sent to them. These roads certainly take their toll.

The day we were at Chambers Pillar, we shared the camping area with two Kimberley Karavans, two camper trailers, and we towed our Bushtracker caravan in.

Mh