Kidson track

G'day Willem

WE talked earlier this year prior to my trip to the Rudall and your treck West. Our trip was great without too many mishaps. Hope yours was the same? Thanks for your response again. I thought it looked OK on google earth but best to ask. My wife and I travel alone so my preparation needs to be right. Lost your email address. Mine is qrshort@optusnet.com.au Thanks again

Regards

Quentin

Sentence ' will need slow you down ' should read ' will need care to drive and will slow you down ' :-)....oh for an individual after-post edit function !!

Thanks Mick

We have the same car I think. 2002 Gu 3lt turbo Patrol? We tow an off-road cub spacematic.

Water is not a problem and we tend to carry about 200lt of diesel which gives us around 1000klms with a bit to spare.

I am interested in how long you spent on the Kidson track and your fuel usage if you have that detail please? I intend refuelling at Punmu and understand that the next fuel will be at Sandfire as we are proceeding to Gibb River Road for a more leisurely drive.

Regards

Quentin

Quentin,

I tend to base my distances on an average of 5 km per litre. Usually it's better on good roads. I averaged 6 and a bit kpl last year fully loaded and towing about 900 kgs of trailer over 14000 km. Worst was 3 kpl but that was off track and leading through sand. Punmu is a good fuel option as it is usually a good bit cheaper than Kurnawarritji ($2.80 per litre as opposed to $3.20).

Hope this helps. Mick

Thanks again Mick. Your numbers are very close to ours. We were around Cotton Creek when you were on the Kidson and diesel there was $4/lt. I didn't need to purchase any as we always carry enough plus a bit. How long did you take on Kidson track and from where to where please?

regards

Quentin

One longish day from Well 34 to 33 (over those horror corrugations), water at 33, fuel and pie and Kurnawarritji and on to Razorblade Bore. Kurnawarritji to Razorblade would be a nice days travel and leave plenty of time for camp set-up.

If contemplating Razorblade, collect some timber well before. We did the 155 km from Razorblade to our turn in a long morning having a late lunch at the intersection. This allowed for quite a few stops along the way at the Callawa intersection, Swindell Field, old outstation, cables etc etc. Based on those estimates and some anecdotal info from friends who finished it a day or two after, I'd reckon three comfortable days would see you at Sandfire from Kurnawarritji with plenty of time to look around along the way.

There is an article about the track in the latest edition of 4x4 Action mag (issue 143) and they say 4 nights camping Alice to Sandfire. If that means six days comfortable travel for the Gary Junction and the 662 km of the Kidson, that'd be about right.

Will be out there again early July 2010 going as far as Razorblade again so leave me a message along the way.

Cheers, Mick

Thanks again Mick,

We will leave you a message and let you know the detail of location before we leave on Jun 1.

We will take time to look around on the way through and 3-5 days will suit our plans. Is there any good reason to look at Razorblade given that it looks like about a 15lt round trip and that we will carry ample H2O. If there is no other value to us I would prefer to expend this fuel looking for good rock paintings and other significant historical attractions.

Regards

Quentin

Quentin, Razorblade is right beside the track. It's marked as a windmill and bore at 21 33 13 S, 123 26 22 on the Hema map and is 41 km west of the top of Lake Auld. You will drive right past it.

Cheers Mick

G'day Mick

You know this small exchange between us re Razorblade highlights the importance of seeking on the ground experience and not just accepting what is read.

I have an excellent publication called "Roads and Tracks - Western Australia" and this book is the only set of maps that I have that refers to "Razorblade" on the Kidson Track. These maps place Razorblade on a side track and about 45klms west of the track (90 k's round trip). It is shown at about 10 K's on a bearing of 203deg T from Moogera Rock Hole and about 40K's on a bearing of 343deg T from Twin Gum Hill.

I also have a set of HEMA maps presented as a publication called "Western Australia Road and 4WD Atlas" which does not identify Razorblade at all and the Co-Ords that you gave me do not appear to identify any significant feature.

I also have HEMA maps and NATMAPS loaded onto my PDA from Ozie Ex. Sim ilarly Razorblade is not identified and the Co-Ords you gave me do not correspond with anything except sand dunes well off the "printed" track.

Thank you for your assistance on this. You may have saved me a valuable jerry of diesel. Regards Quentin

Quentin

The name "Razorblade" sounds good to Australian and overseas travelers...

The bore was but in by WAPET in the 60's and some Queenslanders The ones that travel repaired the bore sometime after we visited it in 2005

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when we traveled it back in 2005... we new Jack...

No one on this site had traveled it, or just didn't answer my questions... :)

Just do it

Happy NY

Richard