mulga park rd

thanks for the info last time i travelled it was 22 yrs ago and from what i remember i did not use 4wd . do you know what condition th ernest giles rd is in as i thought after going to kings canyon i may go that way to alice

Hi
The Ernest Giles Road is a different kettle of fish. Firstly there are signs advising no caravans and it is a lot more corrugated and the sand is deeper and is a slower track to drive. Your vehicle would be able to handle it, but you may damage your van. It all comes down to the way you drive and your driving experience. For me it was just another sandy track, but we had to pass a couple of small groups that were sitting on 30 kilometres per hour because of the sandy conditions.

Cheers

Stephen

Stephen we will be towing a trak shak camper trailer if you think the vehicle will handle it i think camper should . do the sandy patches require low 4wd or will hi 4wd do it as xtrail doesn't have low gear (one down fall of the xtrail which is a pity as its a good small 4wd) also what tyre pressure did you run at cheers
David

Hi David,
The sand is thick in patches, and we were in two wheel drive, and was not in the situation to even thinking of low range,let alone going into 4Hi, as traction was not an issue. If you work on dropping your tyre pressure about 20% and the van even a little lower. On the Prado, I was running 24psi front and 26psi at the rear. Like I said above, the vehicles that we had to pass most likely thought that the road was very bad, but for us, it was just another sandy track that required more attention to driving conditions.

Cheers

Stephen

We chose not to go through the Ernest Giles Road as someone had fun and games taking their Bushtracker through the sand, but it was fine to access Henbury Meteor Craters from the Stuart Highway end. As it was, we went to Kings Canyon via the Mereenie Loop after touring the West Macs and going to Palm Valley (recently added Blog), then on to Uluru so didn't need the Ernest Giles road.

Mh

Richard thanks for that . you didn't by chance do the Ernest giles rd as well ? or know what condition its in or suitability for xtrail cheers david

David,

No I did not do this track.

Regards Richard

thanks Motherhen for advice I knew we couldn't access MT CONNOR without doing tour just thought it would be a better alternative drive to the rock rather than doing the bitumen thing ,cheers David