Gibb River Road and Caravans

Cowboys is an apt description! Seen plenty of them on my travels.

A lot of places can be accessed while towing by SLOWING DOWN & taking it easy. Also it is very important to adjust your tyre pressures to suit the terrain you are encountering.

Do as the travellers do (as opposed to tourists!). Reduce your tyre pressures in rough conditions, take it easy & enjoy a stress free time travelling.

In answer to your question I took an off road camper on the Gibb river road & have no experience with towing a van but I reckon I would be able to travel the GRR with a van & not break it.

Graeme,

I think you have answered your own question.


"I had similar concerns when we did the Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks last year. We took it easy and watched the cowboys pass us by only to see them up further with tyres or suspension trouble.
I have spoken to some who have done the Gibb road and no problems at all. I have a 16ft Van well built with 16" wheels and independent suspension, we have a 2008 Diesel Pajero with A/T tyres and all the recovery gear. "


You will encounter similar conditions to those on the tracks you have done and therefore should have no worries with the Gibb. It is roughest in the last 40km around El Questro due to the high amount of traffic that area gets. The majority of the track is well maintained and there are huge sections around Mt Barnett that are currently being upgraded.

I would advise that the Kalumburu Road up to Drysdale and beyond, is generally a lot rougher and heavily corrugated. I would leave the van at Drysdale if going to Mitchell. If the grader has been through at the times of your travel, you may get the van to King Edward and leave it there (Providing the KE River is not too high).

Cheers Mick

Thanks Guys

Yes tyre pressures very important I left it out in my initial explanation.

Kalmburu we will only attempt living out of the car. We would leave the Caravan at Drysdale Station. We will use the tent and yes only if the King Edward allows us.

I have to say how great this site is and how freely people give of their experience.

Cheers

Graeme

We have done the GRR twice in 2004 & 2006. Yes you may well have an easy time of it towing your van doing all the right things etc, however, it always, depends on the road conditions at the time YOU are on the road. This can be when the grader has been through before you, what rain there has been and how late the rains were. The amount of traffic that has been on the road before you. It is Never the same everytime and it changes all the time. Because of this we have only ever taken a tent, but we have always gone up to Drysdale/Mitchell Falls etc and believe me we have seen people with off road vans and camper trailers limping out with suspension problems even broken axels. Tyre pressure is paramount depending on the part of the road you are on. You know some people say it is best to drive at 80kmph some feel comfortable with less than that or even get up to 90-100kmph. You have to do what you feel comfortable with but always remember to allow for the unexpected to happen. Remember getting a tow in these remote areas can be an expensive exercise especially if you have to get a van/tailer towed out as well as a vehicle if something goes wrong with your vehicle not the van. Good luck in your decision making and we may well see you on the GRR next year but we will be leaving our caravan in Kunnunurra and be taking our tent.
Caravan parks in Darwin, we stay at the Free Spirit but in Darwin you may well have to accept wherever you can get into at the time you are in Darwin. Busy busy place during winter.
Regards Greig & Mish.

Whilst not "lately" we travelled the GRR in 2005 with a 16ft Windsor Rapid rough road van. Independent suspension and 31/15 tyres. Dropped the tyre pressures in the van to around half the road pressures (btw 25 and 30 psi) and car to 25psi and drive to the conditions. Sometimes very rough corrugations and sometimes nicely at 75-80k (could have gone faster except for tyre pressures).

Had one flat tyre on van due to very sharp rock - got too far over to avoid cars coming toward me at speed and drove over rocks recently sharpened by graders going through (this was near el questro turn off).

Other than that, no problems. Had van fully checked when i got back and no dramas with chassis or frame.

Take it easy and enjoy the views.

Happy travelling

Richard

Hi Graeme

We took our caravan through, including to Kalumburu in June 2008. Road was mostly good (graders were working, so there were still bad patches, but we are used to dirt roads) but a few days into July others said it was the worst road they'd been on - traffic was much heavier by July and lots of hire vehicles travelling too fast corrugated it again quickly. With very few exceptions, the caravans we met were Bushtrackers and lots of them. We had no tyre troubles and the only breakage was we lost our two-way antenna from vibrations (wire type - since replaced with a sturdy thick white one).

Perhaps leave the final decision until you get to Kununurra (assuming that is your direction) and discuss with others who will have just been through. It is an easy loop back to pick up the van via the highway if you decide to take the tent. We were travelling on so didn't do the full loop, but did include Purnululu and Geikie Gorge (at Fitzroy Crossing) in our tour.

Bear in mind that if something major does go wrong, recovery costs from the GRR can be huge. That is the risk i would weigh up.

Motherhen

More grist for the mill here Graham. We have done the GRR in Sept 2005 and again in June 2010. One young US tourist complained that he wasn't needing his 4WD and he's right, it's a ROAD and no better or worse than SA's two iconic "tracks". In 05 the El Questro end was good but this year potholed and rough while the end from Derby to Mt Barnett was as smooth as.
The wet in the dry could affect your plans as it did this year with unseasonal rains in late May and again in July. We dawdled in Broome and Cape Leveque- go there as the hype is actually true - and left Broome June 2ndish to go to Mitchell Falls. I read on this forum about giving your passengers and shocks a break from the corrugations. Best advice for the trip from King Edward R to Mitchell with 2.5 hrs driving 80km in a 4 hour trip (Pathfinder towing a Dove O/B). Van shocks got too hot to touch so plenty of long stops. but we made it with no problems. Drysdale was cleaning up with repairs to campers with blown shocks and welding a snapped A frame. Ps Do not drive fast near the bowsers lest you incur the wrath of Anne!
The only low range stuff we have encountered is the fun tracks at El Questro and an adventure to the remote Walsh Point. Tracks to Bells and Manning gorges are a doddle. June proved to have more water over the falls and in the gorges with Sept being almost too warm...... W

Towed our 1978 vintage Jayco Dove camper van( on road model ) along the GRR in 2002 very carefully, and had a great trip. No damage.

I did the Kimberly including the gib River Road and also up the Mitchell Plateau. I am going to be doing it again prob in 2011. Last time I did it with my Healsip Camper Trailer and just bloody loved it. Next time I will be taking a caravan I have bought. Yes it is an off road van (Territory) My intnetion is to do exactly the same as I have done in the last trip but taking it even more slowly. My experience and understanding tells me that all you do is to slow down and enjoy the experience in preference to just saying, lets get in the rig and go go go. The roads were great when we went through and that was about the June - july. Yep be a nike and just do it. Enjoy and might see you there.