Hells Gate Roadhouse

Submitted: Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 02:20
ThreadID: 67465 Views:5108 Replies:16 FollowUps:12
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Can anybody sent me the contact details of the Hells Gate Roadhouse? Unfortunately the mailadress on their website is not working. Who can help me get in contact with them?

Kindest regards,
Amy van der Werff
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Reply By: Willem - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 04:33

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 04:33
Hells Gate Roadhouse is no longer operational or trading in fuel or food. It closed down about 2 years ago.
AnswerID: 357773

Follow Up By: CabrioChallenge - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 07:54

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 07:54
Ow wow, thank you!
That would be a big disappointment arriving there and not having any food or refueling opportunity.
Are there any other options on that road for staying the night and refueling?
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Reply By: Isuzumu - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:14

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:14
Wollogorang just across the border maybe still open, I am sure there will be some one on here to verify this.
Just of interest I have just brought Camps Australia 5 and it still has Hells Gate as still open and as Willem said its been closed for a least two years.
AnswerID: 357787

Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:28

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:28
Hi Bruce

Yes the Hells Gate Roadhouse closed down because of the new grog laws in Queensland. The place is operating just as a Cattle Station now

I Googled Hells Gate and Wollogorang but the info on both these places is 10 years old.

We refuelled at Wollogorang once...also about 10 years ago...lol

So heading northwest, the last fuel supply is Doomagee Community before you refuel again at Borroloola.

Not sure if there have been new developments along the way.

There are camps on the rivers crossings or one can drive into Kingfisher Camp off that Savannah Way road.


Cheers
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Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:26

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:26
Came through there last August.

Hells Gate is closed to fuel and food, but still offer camping.

And it is on the only bit of bitumen for a few hundred K each way, so enjoy the bitumen.
AnswerID: 357792

Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:30

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:30
Thanks for that John.

I will update my memory banks (if that is still possible...lol)


Cheers
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Reply By: CabrioChallenge - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:41

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:41
Hi Everybody,
Thank you sooo much for all the information.
But what is or are bitumen?? I am Dutch and have never heard of the word.

Thanks Amy
AnswerID: 357794

Follow Up By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:46

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:46
Sorry, bitumen - tar, asphalt, AC, the black stuff they use to surface the road.
Bitumen is a by-product of oil refining and is the heavy black sticky substance left after all the other stuff like petrol and oil has been distilled off.
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Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:41

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 08:41
Just as a follow up, which way are you going?
What is your concern?
With the distance between Booroloola and Burketown, and the larger fuel tanks in 4wds these days, reckon Hell's Gate has been loosing business, to the point it is not worth keeping going.

Booroloola, Doomadgee/Burketown and Adels Grove would be your nearest fuel, depending if you are coming from the west, east or south.

Imagine fuel more of an issue than food :o)

Road is not too bad, depending on river heights and time of last grade over the corrugations, so fuel consumption may be about the same as usual outback dirt road travel.

Bit slower going coming up through Kingfisher Camp from Adels Grove/Lawn Hill, since they are station tracks.

Plenty of camping at most rivers.
AnswerID: 357796

Follow Up By: CabrioChallenge - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:06

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:06
Hi John,

We are going to drive a CabrioChallenge from Sydney to Sydney. For more information check www.cabriochallenge.nl/cabriochallengeaussie.

We would like to drive from Normanton to Burketown and Lorella Spring from there to Katherine and going in Kakadu NP.
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:37

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:37
Cabrio

Enjoy the dust and the sunburn.......yer got no idea!.....LOL
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FollowupID: 625910

Follow Up By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:54

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:54
Just read your web page.

So what sort of cars are you running?

Obviously cabrios, but what ....?

I would take my old 74 VW beetle down that road (with my sump guard fitted), and around your trip, but not too sure about my VW golf. :o)

Had a few friends take VW kombies over the cape roads, and in the areas you talk about, but modern front engined front wheel drive might be a different story. Crossing the rivers the water was only 300mm deep at the end of the dry season, but the bottom was pretty rocky in places.

Wish you lick.
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FollowupID: 625922

Follow Up By: Member - John T (Tamworth NSW) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:00

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:00
Willem

Did you suss out the web page and note the time of year these folk are planning the "challange" - November 2009 - must be from overseas as no self respecting Ozzie would travel up north during the hot time of year.

And the b/s about the trip - I've yet to see many koala's and wombats in the outback.

And a Cabrio is a soft top motor vehicle - must all be stark raving mad.

Cheers
John T (Lifetime Member)
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Follow Up By: CabrioChallenge - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:15

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:15
A bit mad that is true! We did the LatAm last year, which means the Trans Amazonica in Brasil and the Bolivian Highlands. Temperatures between -2 and 42 degrees.

We did decide to move the date forward so we are going to be traveling from half October to half of November. Also with the wet season coming, we thought it would be smart to move the challenge up a bit. We will be traveling with different cars from a Porsche Boxter to a Mercedes G Class. During the trip up north we will have some back up cars with trailers to help us through the rivers.

Any advice is always welcome!
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Follow Up By: Member - lyndon K (SA) - Saturday, Apr 04, 2009 at 15:37

Saturday, Apr 04, 2009 at 15:37
Hey Buddy, while you are at Lorella Springs make sure you POP out to Rossie Creek, ground clearance shouldn't be a problem :)
Now is the only time you own
Decide now what you will,
Place faith not in tomorrow
For the clock may then be still

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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:09

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:09
And what for us in Australia is a Cabrio Challenge???????????????????????????????????????????????






AnswerID: 357804

Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:52

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 09:52
No fuel at Wollogorang either now.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome
AnswerID: 357817

Reply By: Peter McG (Member, Melbourne) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:37

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:37
Amy,

I take it you plan to have a a group of soft top cars drive from Sydney north along the Queensland coast, across to Darwin, down to Alice Springs then Uluru, Adelaide and back to Sydney.

I've checked your website and here are a couple of quotes:

"Because sleeping in the open air is not really an option and hotels seems to be vanished from the earth, we will make sure a campground is ready."

"It will definitely not be a touristic tour through Australia, but a real challenge where most Australians would never think of to start! Tourist actually don’t have the possibility to do this, no rental company will rent cars, also no 4x4 vehicles, to go on unpaved roads. Let alone the desert!"

As you will see from your reading of this site most of us do enjoy camping and bush camping in particular. Your route certainly is the main tourist route and you will be surprised at the number of Australian tourists you meet on the track. Many companies do rent vehicles for off road use - even in the desert where you aren't really going.

It sounds to me as though you need to do more research in preparation.

Cheeers

Peter
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Follow Up By: Geoff (Newcastle, NSW) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:10

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:10
Peter,
After reading the site this could be the most challenging part of the Cabrio Challenge: "Your car is waiting for you in the harbour "

Geoff



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Reply By: anglepole - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:37

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 10:37
Look around at fuel prices at Booroloola as I found the General Store in town was the cheapest.

Last time I was at Hells Gate they offered emergency fuel only, cash up front and a limit of $60.

I travelled from Booroloola to Normanton with out refueling in the Patrol.

With all the rain around that area check that you can get through the many river crossings.

Have a good trip
AnswerID: 357823

Reply By: slammin - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 12:46

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 12:46
FWIW Hell's Gate shut down due to the loss of their grog license.

Good luck with the trip but as others have said "keep it real".

All of those roads are driven by 2wd cars daily except during the worst of the wet season. It'll be fun, it'll be a challenge but sorry you're not Robinson Crusoe. You're biggest PITA will be the dust.

Therte is a wealth of experience and information on this website. Have a proper look around and ask the right questions and you'll have a great time.

regards,

Sam.
AnswerID: 357841

Reply By: Rangiephil - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 13:42

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 13:42
A Boxter?????

Someone must have NO regard for their car.

All those vulnerable pipes , and lovely alloy castings.

Some of the rocks in the river crossings will challenge the ground clearance.

Many cars will get through the conditions, like the old 2CVs that went up Cape York but at what cost.

I hope they realise that the nearest Porsche dealer is a looong time away from there. Hmmm, I wonder if the Borraloola servo has a lower control arm for a Porsche Boxter in stock? or a VW or a Renault or whatever.LOL
I couldn't get a regulator for a Commodore Bosch 85 amp alternator in Jabiru. Nearest was Darwin.

Regards Philip A
AnswerID: 357851

Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:04

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:04
Wish you well for this trip Amy.

By my rough calculations, you are doing about 15,000k in about 20 days of driving. Average about 750km a day. We do that on the bitumen, but not on dirt.
Oz has 100km/hr speed limits, 130 in NT, so it's not like a dash down the motorway, and we have cattle and roos on the road at night, but then you already know that.

Will be interesting to see how you go.

I know we did about 35,000k around Europe many years ago, but that was over 6 months. And all our relatives in Europe thought we were mad. :o)

Think you are going to see a lot of trees.
AnswerID: 357855

Reply By: Geoff (Newcastle, NSW) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:30

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 14:30
Hi Amy,

Do you have an exact route planned and I mean really truly planned by someone who knows the local conditions? I don't mean someone who knows the most scenic way from Amersfoort to Amsterdam.

I ask that because some of your sentences under the heading of "The Trip" on your website just don't match the geography of Australia.

Example, "We leave Sydney west bound to go over the Blue Mountains, where we will go north."

To get from the western side of the Blue Mountains to the Whitsundays??? It's a bloody big diversion and you've allowed 3 days for that leg. It'd take the best part of the 3 days via the Pacific & Bruce Highways from Sydney to Airlie Beach.

"Here we will have our first experience with the incredible nature of Australia. Driving seems to go automatically until it gets dark... kangaroo’s, koala’s, wombats and other large animals makes driving here a real Safari."

Koala's are tree dwelling sedentary animals rarely found on the ground. Wombats on roads in the parts of Australia you are selling for 14,500 Euro's per person are as common as rocking horse poo.

Do you have an actual route map or a written itinerary for this trip?

I get the pictures and the sales spiel on your website, you've cruised some bloody scenic gravel roads in South America and good luck to you.

Unprepared tourists die in outback Australia in November and December. When us locals wander out there in the cooler months the horizon is a mess with rusting cabriolets and quite frankly, dead European tourists stink.

All the answers you've received so far haven't told you not to do it but they've all been searching for the existence of a concrete plan and some semblance of research of the chosen route if one actually exists.

Happy travels,

Geoff

Geoff,
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Reply By: Baz&Pud (Tassie) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 15:54

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 15:54
Just went onto the web sit and read it, and all the threads, these people can't be for real, they are just asking for trouble.
Baz
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AnswerID: 357877

Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 15:59

Friday, Apr 03, 2009 at 15:59
For any one interested, this is the schedule off their web page.

From a screen dump of the web page.



Image Could Not Be Found
AnswerID: 357879

Reply By: Member - Rick P (NT) - Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009 at 01:12

Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009 at 01:12
You menthioned that you might like to go into Lorella Springs, firstly I would check to see if they are still operating. If they are, you would have to let them know how many vehicles and people are involved. Because it's only a small camp ground with very basic shower and toilets also she is a pretty rough old track going in. Infact it's really only suitable for 4wd's.
AnswerID: 358724

Follow Up By: CabrioChallenge - Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009 at 18:43

Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009 at 18:43
Hi Rick,

thank you for your comment. We are already in contact with the people at Lorella Springs.

Thanks Amy
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