Hi all,
A few months ago I posted a query about taking a CT on the CSR and received a number of replies generally to the effect that "you won't make it", and "you'll wreck the trailer" and "you'll wreck the CSR for others", and others in that vein.
Well, no doubt those replies were very
well-intentioned, but nevertheless they were wrong.
We returned tonight from a 3-month trip to WA which included the CSR, and we had zero trouble taking our
Kimberley Kamper up the track.
For anyone else contemplating taking a CT on the CSR, but apprehensive because of the ubiquitous comments like "you won't make it" and "you'll wreck the track for everyone else", following are some comments from someone who has taken a CT on the CSR, versus
well-intentioned armchair experts who either haven't done so or made a mess of doing so.
You'll need a suitable and
well-prepared car (
mine is a #80 LC, petrol, with rear diff lock), a suitable and robust camper-trailer (eg, a KK), drop your tyre pressures (we ran 18 Front, 24 Rear and 18 KK), and take the sandhills slowly (we approached at 10-15kph and let the car crawl over the dunes). Result: no damage to tyres, to shocks, to springs and certainly no damage to the track (and a smooth ride for the passengers). We never looked like getting stuck and in some respects the whole trip was an anti-climax, there's so much hype as to how hard it is.
In my opinion the damage to the track is the result of excessive tyre pressures and/or excess speed. Many times we'd hear on the radio "... righto Fred, have another go and give it all you've got." Some of the approaches to the dunes looked like the East-West runway at
Sydney airport, and the mind boggles at the prospect of hurling (hurling, not hurtling) a 2-3 ton vehicle at the dunes. No wonder they're chopped up.
The bottom half was more interesting than the top half: very colourful with all the
wildflowers blooming, much more wildlife, the dunes were more interesting than the "flattish" country, and there was more water in the wells etc.
The Bungles were fantastic (the helicopter trip is out of this world),
Cape Leveque was lovely (as usual), and so were the Karijini and
Millstream NPs. Could rave on for ages.
Cheers,
DB