Googs Track info from anyone who has been there recently

Any info on Googs Track from anyone who has been there recently. We are thinking of doing the trip in July and will have 2 weeks from Melbourne. Best camping spots etc would be appreciated. How long for a leisurely trek with a couple of 2 night stops thrown in. We know we can look at trek notes but like recent information too. Chris.
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Reply By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 17:25

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 17:25
Hi Chris and Lindsay,
We travelled Goog's track last year in July. The best camping spot is Goog's lake and a day trip from there to Lois rocks etc makes for at least two nights at Goog's lake.
Another good spot to camp is around Mount Finke especially if you wish to climb Mt Finke. Most anywhere along the Track you will find places to camp mostly Mallee and sand.
The last morning we were near the southern dog fence and my tyres were reading -3 C. but beautiful days.
Liked it that much we are going again at the end of May.

Cheers

Graham
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 18:17

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 18:17
Thanks Graham. We are deciding whether the trip is worth it having done the Simpson twice. We love the outback but it is a long way to go if not that different from what we have already done. On the other hand any outback trip is worth doing. It's good to hear positive. How long did you take from Ceduna to Glendambo?
Cheers, Chris.
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 19:42

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 19:42
Chris,
We went from North to South staying the first night at Kingoonya (nice meal at the pub) second night near Mt Finke (we spent a while at Tarcoola if you go past a school in Tarcoola with a mural on it and head north about 1 km you will come to a huge lovely old house, a gold battery and the town race course, have seen the course covered with sturt peas but not last year depends on the rain), third and fourth night at Goog's lake with a day trip to Lois rock about 120 kms return.
The actual Goog's track could probably be driven in about 10 hours but there is probably another 4 hours to Glendambo,we have also done the Simpson the Sand hills on goog's track are not as large but it is different country mainly mallee and black oak and as you said any out back trip is worth doing.
I think we started to enjoy it more when we stopped comparing it with the Simpson.

Cheers

Graham
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:32

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:32
We appreciate the info and take your point about not comparing. Chris.
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Reply By: lostinwauchope - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 19:12

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 19:12
Hi Chris & Lindsay, We did googs ,oct last yearCeduna to Glendambo.
The track north of googs lake was extremely rough the approach to the dune crests were badly rutted, north to south is a much easier run on you and your vehicle , we only spend 2 days on track , would of liked more time . 3 or 4 days would be good. Ron
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:14

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:14
Thanks for the info. I read somewhere that you are supposed to go south to north?
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Follow Up By: True Blue - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 15:20

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 15:20
Anyone who suggests you take the south to north route, and I know it is suggested, is pointing you in the direction of the roughest way to do it.
It's only suggested and not mandatory and why it is recommended I don't know because coming north to south is far easier on vehicle, driver etc.

We specifically chose that direction because we then wanted to flow onto the Eyre Peninsula after it, so it suited us to do it that way.

Stephen from Clare also suggested we take in the Gawler Ranges/Buckleboo stock route just north of Kimba so our route took us north through this area and then down south on Goog's. It worked for us and was a fantastic suggestion from Stephen who knows the area intimately.

We did it last October and it was an absolute delight.

There were wild flowers in abundance, including the sturt desert pea and there were many, many areas in which you could comfortably camp.

The Goog's lake overnight camp was great until we had this massive storm, but we survived.

If you do take the north to south and indeed whichever way you do decide to take monitor very carefully your UHF. We constantly made a call on the suggested channell (18, I think from memory) requesting contact on any traffic on the track.

We took 2 days to do it but you could easily take longer. In all that time we saw only 2 other vehicles and they were travelling together.

Strongly recommend the track, we (8 adults in 4 vehicles) all loved it.

cheers and happy travels,
Wayne
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 15:56

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 15:56
What map/s would you recommend to plan the same route you did? Hard copy preferably
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Follow Up By: True Blue - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 20:14

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 20:14
I'm not too sure whether your asking me in reference to my reply but your question regarding map/s for the area, we purchased the following map:


HEMA "Australia's Great Desert Tracks - SOUTH EAST SHEET"

This map covers approx 1/3rd of S.A. and in particular shows the Goog's Track region in fine detail. We found this map perfect for Goog's but it did not cover the Eyre Peninsula, we had another map for that.

More than likely you can order through the shop on this site. we actually purchased ours at the Melbourne Map Centre and the only reason we purchased it there was so that we could satisfy ourselves that the map contained the detail that we were looking for.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
True Blue (Wayne)
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Reply By: Member - Megan and Kevin D (AC - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 22:47

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 22:47
We travelled Goog's Track in May last year. There really is no comparison between it and the Simpson - we didn't feel the same sense of adventure partly because the sanddunes lack the challenge. However, there are positives: there are some great views coming from the south eg from the top of dunes we got great views of Mt Finke and there are some excellent patches of timber unlike on the Simpson.

We left Ceduna around 11am and travelled 125km that day. We noticed numerous good camping spots with plenty of wood. From Googs Lake the sanddunes developed, some quite big and covered with healthy mallee and undergrowth. Many dunes had long, straight approaches and sharp crests but were badly chopped up. Most could be crossed slowly in 3H or if very rough, in 2H at about 1,000 rpm even without further deflation. Corrugations were reasonable.

On the second day we travelled 120km which took us across the railway line towards Tarcoola. Our description of the site is recorded as: "there are big gidgees, mulga, quondongs (at least the nuts on the ground) and plenty of firewood BUT there are thousands of nasty burrs/prickles, flies and viscious little mossies."

We reached Port Augusta the next day (418km).

Hope that helps.
MeganImage Could Not Be FoundImage Could Not Be FoundHi Chris and Lindsay
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:15

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:15
Thanks. Was there a lot of water around to produce mozzies ?
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Follow Up By: Member - Megan and Kevin D (AC - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 14:04

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 14:04
Hi again
There was no water around, but it had been a good season and the vegetation was lush. We were a bit mystified about the quandong nuts on the ground because we couldn't see quandong trees (maybe we had the wrong idea about the appearance of quandongs) and assumed that the nuts had been washed into the area over the previous few months.
Megan
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 14:15

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 14:15
Hi Megan and Kevin,
Can assure you there is plenty of Quandong trees out there and most probably the seeds you saw would have been below the Quandong trees.

Regards
Graham
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Reply By: Member - Graham Watson (SA) - Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 23:22

Sunday, Apr 24, 2011 at 23:22
We started Googs Track in October 2009, but had to abort the trip because of mechanical problems. Went as far north as Googs lake. See my blog on this site and photos on Flickr
Graham Watson

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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:30

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 12:30
Fantastic photos. Sorry about your car trouble. Are you planning another trip or did you see enough? Chris
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham Watson (SA) - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 17:55

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 17:55
There are no immediate plans for a follow up trip. I would like to see the rest of the track, but there are so many places to see, and so little time to see them. It is also a trip I would probably not attempt solo, not with my luck anyway. So seeing the rest of the track would depend on friends being interested in seeing it as well.
Graham Watson

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Reply By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 17:04

Monday, Apr 25, 2011 at 17:04
We travelled Googs on the way to the Simpson last August, we went South to North and had no problems at all with that direction. As mentioned the Lake is a good camping spot, spend the day going to Lois Rock and back, there are plenty of camping spots on the way. Agree with spending time looking around Tarcoola and definitely a stop at Kingoonya. As for comparisons to the Simpson, totally different terrain, but none the less a great trek.


Simba, our much missed baby.

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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 at 16:07

Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 at 16:07
Thanks for your input. Chris.
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Reply By: Member - Adrian M (SA) - Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011 at 13:54

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011 at 13:54
A group of us travelled from south to north last year in October and had no real dramas at all. We travelled over from Adelaide and spent the first night at Acramans Creek.

We then started the track the next day and spent the night at Googs Lake after heading out to Lois Nalara Rocks and back to the lake. This part of the track was easy and possibly do-able in a 2wd.

The following day we headed off towards Mt Finke and Glendambo and this is where the track got rougher and more chopped up.
Once correct tyre pressures were selected no one had any dramas cresting the dunes and we made good progress to Mt Finke, which we climbed, and then headed off to Glendambo, where we arrived at approx 4pm.

As we were limited time wise in doing the trip it was a little rushed, if you had more time I would suggest camping at Goog's lake the first night, Mt Finke the second and then heading out off the track the next day.

Westprint Maps has a good paper or electronic map for the track but its coverage is limited to just the track, if you would like a more broader coverage then the Hema Maps Great Desert Maps South East map sheet is the way to go.
Please be aware that both maps are inaccurate at the northern end as the track orientation has been altered but this is well signposted on the ground and no confusion should occur.

I hope this helps.
Adrian
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 22:18

Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 22:18
We have the Westprint map. Thanks for the info. Chris
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Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 17:23

Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 17:23
I was monitoring HF radio comms the other night on the VKS737 network - several members were on lower Googs (northbound) in recent days - overall the going seemed ok - one member did report that he was glad he didn't have a trailer - said a few of the sandhills were quite 'chopped up' - also, it occurs to me that the sandhills get a bit taller up the top end (was for us, a few years back). They may be challenged up the top end..... to be continued :-o)
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 22:20

Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 at 22:20
We should be fine as we don't tow anything. Thanks, Chris.
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