Off Road Trailers into the Kimberly,s

We took our off road trailer from Derby through to Kununurra on the Gibb River Road and included the trip up to Kalumburu and the Mitchell Falls. We had no problems whatsoever. Just drive to the conditions, take it slowly and you will be fine.

Viv

All the chopper fuel goes in by road.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

travelguy

Friends just come off the Gibb and Mitchell Falls on Friday. Both travelled with camper trailers.

Score was four shocks (Tuff Dogs, only about 12months old) x 4 on the 2 vehicles.
1 Camper Trailer required one side of the suspension to be re welded after it snapped off.

Track is rough as guts at the moment, description I received was that the corrugations were big enough to hide your arm in comfortably.

1 Tourist Truck travelled in at the same time and snapped its axle.

Most places dont encourage you to take camper trailers in there as they are forever repairing them.

There are heaps of camper trailers travelling in but a heap of them are getting damaged as well.

My suggestion is to get in there early in the season, usually sometime in early June. We did it last year on the 2nd of June, track opened officially the day before and we followed the grader in. Track was as smooth as. 4 weeks later it was back to being its normally corrugated bone shaker.

Chook

I think it would depend a lot on the camper trailer. I reckon my Cape York Adventurer is built more than strong enough to cope with anything my heavy duty suspension modified 60 series LC can handle. My previous trailer would certainly have self destructed on those sort of roads however.

I have done it with a Home made trailer with a Cameron Top, friends had a Cavalier and also an Adventure Camper, not one problem.
I also own a Jayco Eagle and am intending taking that there also, this unit did the Anne Beadell last year with no issues and that is a lot tougher on suspension etc that the GRR could ever be.
As others have said drive to the conditions, if it means doing 20 or 30kph then do that. We did 1400 k's across the ABH and only time we got above 30kph was on the Emu airstrip.. LOL

It's all to do with driving to conditions. My friends have just returned from GRR, they hired a camper trailer and towed it with their Prado. They had new shocks and lift kit fitted just before they left (didn't want the lift kit but that was all that was available on hand at the time, being last minute decision). On the first day they did a shock! Apparently, though, they were all in a rush and were travelling at 80-90kmh, way too fast for the conditions.
Go slow, let your tyres down, and you will have no problems. We're planning to do it next year with a 20ft van...
Kym

Best advice given so far is to drive to the conditions. We were up there last year in July/August and had good roads along the Gibb and up to Drysdale Stn and even up to the King Edward River turn-off. From there to the King Edward River Camp it was rough. We decided to leave our camper there and travel to the Mitchell falls for a day trip, and others took a tent for a 'few days stay'. We had heard that the road was very rough! The road into Mitchell Falls was very corrugated but we made it in/out in a standard Nissan Patrol with no damage. The road on the way out was being graded as we leftt!

Always drive to the conditions. In corrugations this sometimes means 'staying on top of them' rather than too fast, or too slow.

Have a great trip!

Bundy

No problems taking a trailer into Mitchell Falls, it is just a dirt road other than the King Edward River crossing, there is also one other steepish creek crossing but still no problems. Corrugations can be bad and this is where things break.

The camping at King Edward River is fantastic and then you can just drive in to the Mitchell Falls area for the day and avoid the choppers taking off all day at that camp ground.

Cheers,
Dave

We travelled along the GRR up to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu June 09, it's not a technical drive but the corrugation's and occasional rock do have an impact on tyres, suspension and vehicle. Was advised by the boys at Drysdale Station that correct tyre choice, pressures and driving line is crucial! Use a quality all terrain tyre and if pulling a trailer approx 32 psi front, 38 psi rear less if no trailer and avoid hitting those occasional rogue rocks that appear. We drove a Prado and towed a Tambo trailer at an average of 60 to 70 kph which made it easy with no problems along the way.
We camped at King Edward river and stayed longer than anticipated with a day trip into Mitchell falls, it worked well for us...K.E is a great place to stay and also recommend McGowan's Island beach @ Kalumburu, small but an idyllic location!!!
The drive is a must do in my books and possibly a high light, the community at Kalumburu is interesting and the mission museum tour with Father Anscar is a must (Sat and Wed when we were there).