road conditions/travell time

redbacks
It's a bit early to even consider the conditions on that stretch of road. Last time I was on it (a few years ago) you wouldn't have even contemplated taking an on road van along it (let alone a Jayco!!!) This sign will give you an idea of the distance involved.Image Could Not Be Found This pic will tell you why you should wait a while before making up your mind to go that way.Image Could Not Be Found
I think you should make your enquiry about the middle of September, and hope that there's no rain after that.

teege

Hi Guy's,
many thanks for your imput, all taken on board, & i will look at the situation around september, just a matter of interest, that "Jayco" has done Kajabi to Lake Julius, Wilcania through Ivenhoe to Dubbo,Cobbel gorge, Mt Perry,& a few other "off Rd" place with no problems, anyway many thanks
Dave

We did that trip in Oct last year with our 100 series cruiser towing a 21.5 foot int van which has 15" wheels, 3t simplicity suspension, upgraded chassis. We were loaded up with water and fuel - total rig weight was over 6t.

We weren't in any hurry and drove to the conditions. At that time it was very dry. Road from Broken Hill to Tibooburra is alternating dirt/sealed. There were rougher sections of dirt with some corrugations and other sections with bulldust. We probably averaged 70kph - might have been a bit less. Top speed was probably around 80, some corrugated sections down to 40. I think we left Broken Hill mid morning and stopped at Evelyn Ck around mid afternoon - it may have been a bit later.

We had a few stops for smoko and lunch, and also to tape shut the windows that wouldn't stay closed - duct tape solved that problem. We got a fair bit of dust in the van until I opened up the front vent on the 4 seasons hatch - no more dust after that.

The camp at Evelyn Ck is a good place to stop. From there it is a short drive to Tibooburra where we stopped a few nights and went out to Cameron Corner without the van. Next time we are out that way I will take the van out to CC and camp at Fort Grey on the way.

The road from Tibooburra to Noccundra is mostly dirt - about the same condition as the one to Broken Hill but probably with a bit more bulldust when we went through. We were going to camp at Wilson River but had to stay in touch with family so kept going to Thargominda. I think it took 4 or 5 hours to get to Noccundra.

There had been a bit of rain around Noccundra a couple of days before we got there and you could see that these roads become impassible very quickly. I wouldn't go out that way if it's wet - I don't think you'll have a choice as the roads are closed when it's too wet and there are pretty big fines if you ignore the signs.

Best advice is to just poke along - it's beautiful country. We hope to be back out there in May/June providing it's dry enough.

regards

John

G'day Dave

Before we went out that way I did as much research as I could and I made sure the caravan was capable of travelling on dirt roads. When it was built I had it specced up a bit, and then I spent a bit of time adding protection. All wires and pipes under the van were covered in ag pipe, and I replaced the original water tank protectors with others that covered everything that could be damaged.

I checked all the forums and the majority advised not to go out that way with anything less than a full blown off road set up. I'm fairly conservative and looked at all the advice and decided that I would go out there and just test the water - if it was too bad I would turn around.

So I added a stone guard to the front of the van - no damage to the van and no rocks bouncing onto the back of the cruiser - and we headed out to the unknown.

We got to Hillston and then had to decide whether we could go across to Ivanhoe and Menindee - 300ks of fairly remote dirt if I remember correctly. I asked a few locals about the road and after they looked at our setup all said something like "you should be ok, just poke along".

And that's what we did - we had no real schedule or plan.

The roads out that way weren't that bad when we were there. Every few weeks we take the van to Stewarts Crossing, between Nerriga and Braidwood. And when we go on a longer trip we use this camp as our start/finish point for as it lets us make sure everything is ok before we get too far from home, and it's a place to relax on the way back. Our comment on last trip was that the local roads were in worse condition than those out back.

It's wasn't that serious out there when we went - we camped where ever we wanted and didn't have any set schedule - I think that is the key to travelling like this - you need to roll with the punches.

regards

John