mereenie loop/ chambers pillar
Submitted: Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 08:20
ThreadID:
67703
Views:
4027
Replies:
6
FollowUps:
9
This Thread has been Archived
dthomas
hi all can you tell me wether the
mereenie loop NT is suitable to travel with nissan xtrail towing trak shak camper during june/july also would the road to
chambers pillar from
alice springs and back be suitable as
well . last time i travelled to these was in trusty hilux 20 yrs ago i now have
young family and want to show them some of these sights
Reply By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 09:26
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 09:26
The road south from Alice to Chambers sees a lot of traffic so whilst a good road, it is often very corrugated. They were doing a lot of work on it in July of last year but the raffic from the Finke 500 usually puts paid to that. The Meerenie Loop is similar again. Good road but quite corrugated due to the amount of traffic it gets. Just a matter of backing it off and having the low tyre pressures to assist the shockers in doing their job. Ormiston
Gorge is a great place to have a wander and has a good
camping area. Gosses
bluff is a must see up that way as
well.
AnswerID:
358925
Follow Up By: dthomas - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 10:10
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 10:10
hi Mick O is apermit required out to gosse
bluff etc
FollowupID:
626930
Follow Up By: get outmore - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 10:13
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 10:13
yes a permit is required for the whole loop road and was available for a small fee and includes a small guide booklet from the alice TB as
well as hermensburg - absalutly no hassel to obtain
FollowupID:
626932
Follow Up By: HGMonaro - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:03
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:03
when we were there 2 years ago, you had to obtain the Meereenie loop permit the day of travel. Couldn't buy it the night before! May or may not effect your travel plans.
FollowupID:
626963
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:09
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:09
Hi HG Monaro
We found some flexibility with the Pass but left it to purchase at
St Helens on the way through. They allowed us a date range of a full week, as we were going to spend a few days at
Palm Valley. I think it was a flat $3.30 per car (specifying passengers by name). People who purchased at Kings Canyon Resort were charged a rate PER DAY, and it was $5.50 - may have even been per person. Voyages must have a mark up on the sale.
Mh
FollowupID:
626964
Follow Up By: HGMonaro - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:57
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:57
interesting, and a much more sensible solution.
We bought it at Kings Canyon (we were heading to
Glen Helen) but it was $2.20 (total, not per person). Can't remember having to name all passengers but probably did!
Cheers, Nige
FollowupID:
626981
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 19:24
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 19:24
Hi Nige
Yes, it probably was $2.20 we paid. Sorry about the mis-quote. Also for mis-naming
Glen Helen. I thought St Helen sounded wrong but couldn't remember the correct name! The permit showed names. The people we met along the road who had paid $5.50 per day (and i think per person) were mighty annoyed when we compared costs. It was in September last year.
Mh
FollowupID:
627013
Reply By: Motherhen - Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:03
Thursday, Apr 09, 2009 at 14:03
We travelled both last year. Is it an 'off road' mode camper? I would not take an regular model camper of any sort on any of these roads.
On the
Mereenie Loop we helped a couple who's camper trailer had broken a spring. It was just another corrugated inland road. The people at the
Alice Springs Tourism office strongly advice travellers not to take the
Mereenie Loop. Clearance for your vehicle not an issue. Worst section of Mereenie is the section near Hermannsberg. Pass can be obtained at St Helen's, Hermannsberg or Kings Canyon Resort. People paid more when purchasing at Kings Canyon Resort. Gosse
Bluff well worth a visit. Good road - virtually all bitumised to Gosse
Bluff from the West MacDonnells. The track in was a bit rough, but is only a few kms long.
Chambers Pillar from Maryvale was probably the worst track we went on. To start off with there are areas of loose sand. We got through them OK with our F250 towing the caravan, but wouldn't have done it when we towed with the Patrol. Corrugations on the rest of it no different to any other tracks we went on. Crossing the Charlotte Range shouldn't be a problem for your outfit. The dunes have been 'capped' with
limestone, so easy to cross, but track is narrow with nowhere to pull off so you need to announce on UHF - channel specified on
gate. The Finke road from
Alice Springs was corrugated all the way down, except for a patch where a road re-alignment had just been done.
Motherhen
AnswerID:
358973
Reply By: Member - Bucky, the "Mexican"- Friday, Apr 10, 2009 at 06:24
Friday, Apr 10, 2009 at 06:24
dthomas
The "Jump up", on the way into
Chambers Pillar may be a bit rough on the X Trail, if it's towing a TrakShak, but if you take your time and the "chicken route", to the right on the way down, you should be OK.
We had a Subaru Forester follow us in, back in 06. It was a bit overloaded, and very very low to the ground. But with a bit of gentle coaxing, we managed to get the family in and out, safely.
Cheers
Bucky
AnswerID:
359046