The Trans Access Road

Thanks Mick.

Yes quite a possibilty they had contacts etc.

Cheers Jinki

Stephen

Thanks. The road in the picture looks far better than I would have expected, however understand conditions can change dramatically.

My reason for asking the question was "someone" told us it was a private access road the whole way and big fines if caught on it!!!!. Anyway will now plan the drive from Kalgoorlie to Rawlinna for later next year on our return from the west.

Thanks again for your very helpful comments regularly, always enjoy what you have to say.

Regards
Jinki and Harry

Many thanks for that Stephen.

I'd always surmised that travelling along the line would be a bit boring; but now I'll take it up as an option when next travelling to SA. How far along eastwards is one allowed to go pls?

Cheers.

Hi John

Like Mick has said above, the furthest east that you are allowed to travel is Haig, which is the next siding east of Rawlinna. One track that looked very inviting to travel and would be interesting to hear from anyone that has travelled it is the Track south from the Trans Access Road, just before Zanthus, that headed south down to Balladonia.

Cheers


Stephen

Oops, missed that.

Thks stephen & Mick.

Cheers.

that track gos past the legendary lake boondaroo

normally a small salt pan but is in fact the end point for ponton creek which can get massive runoff from the lakes arounfd leonora. it has been filled twice approx in 200 years most recently turned into a massive inland sea from cyclone bobby in 95


dead gums as far as the eye can see onmly hint at the amount of water that was there

i visited in 04 and there was still 2-3m in the lake

Stephen,

The Balladonia - Zanthus track is a very pleasant drive indeed, though when we last went that way ('05), there was a 80-odd km section at the Balladonia end that had some serious bull-dust holes.. Apparently a rally of some sort had gone through there not long before we did, and cut it up quite badly.. Hopefully, that situation will have improved since then..

Also, approx 30 km south of the trans line (down the afore-mentioned track), there is another track which branches off in a sou-westerly direction.. This meets the highway near Fraser Range.. This too is a very interesting drive (we went that way last year), and actually has a bit more to see, in terms of signs of previous activity in the area... Gets a bit 'confusing' as you get closer to the highway, w/- station tracks becoming more prevalent, but we found our way OK ;-)

Definitely worth a look...

According to my map, the track which runs past Lake Boonderoo, runs south from the Cable Haul Road, approx 20km east of Kitchener.. Haven't been that way (yet ;-))

:)

Dave

Just to clarify, the track that goes past Lake Boonderoo is "just" (~18km) east of Kitchener...not Zanthus (~80km west of Kitchener). The track Stephen was referring to (I assume) is the Balladonia-Zanthus Road (~1km east of Zanthus).

Cheers
Greg

Stephen Hi,
I went down the Zanthus/Balladonia track last year (October). A very enjoyable drive, a bit confusing in the northern section with mineral search tracks.
Some fairly interesting rock outcrops & a couple of native rock holes, a bit hard to find but worth the effort.
The track that I went down was right at Zanthus.

Regards,


Mike.

I'm very surprised anyone would describe the Zanthus/Balladonia track as "a very enjoyable drive." I've now made the mistake twice, and both times it was diabolical, even by the standards of the rough bush tracks most of us like to explore!

The bulldust holes are akin to those on the old Eyre Hwy prior to it being sealed and if you get more than about 5mm of rain you are stuck for days.

There are much nicer tracks on the Nullarbor than this one. Such as the old Telegraph track from Dundas (20-odd km south of Norseman) to Balladonia.

I haven't actually driven all the way east on the Trans Access Rd, but know people who have and it is very seldom that anyone ever stops you, and generally a plausible story that you are just going to the next station or some such puts them off your scent, if you take my meaning.

Cheers, Paul, Kalgoorlie

Hi Michael

Good to hear that you enjoyed the track. From the Zanthus end it looked like a good drive.

Hi Paul

I know that any of that country out there can be a death trap when wet and it would be the last place that you would want to get caught out in. As for the bull dust holes, there were some very good sections on the southern end of the Connie Sue.


Cheers



Stephen

G'Day Everyone
I drove home (to Perth ) via the Trans access road 6th & 7th October.
No permits or permission required, the road was in excellent condition
until it rained Still a very good drive.Cocklebiddy to Rawlinna That's a drive
As luck would have it we had just driven the Anne Beadell HWY
so was good practice
Norm

Hi Norm

Just to clarify - you drove from where to where along the trans line?

My current understanding of the situation is that east of Haig is no go (you can still do it with no "permits or permission" but you are breaking the law.. apparently). If you hooked in at Rawlinna and headed west then no problem as no "permits or permission" are required in that direction.

Cheers
Greg

Hi Norm

I can still see the faces of the two men at the Roadhouse at Cocklebiddy and the comments that they made about the track from Cocklebiddy to Rawlinna.

They were giving us a lecture on how bad the track is and it will destroy our vehicle. You could tell by their tones of voices and read their minds...."More Bloody Tourist"

I was going to say something and it would have turned into a big debate, but Fiona beat me to it.

Fiona said that everyone's driving experience is different, we were experienced outback drivers and we will see what it was like after we have driven it.

For us it was a good drive, yes it was slow but no problems what so ever......BUT if it was wet I would not want to be out there, as you could see a good number of bog holes that would have been very trying to get out when wet. We camped out that night along the way and the 360 degree views were unreal, and they type of experience is one that anyone who loves true remote outback travel should try to experience at least once in their lives.


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Cheers


Stephen

Image Could Not Be FoundImage Could Not Be FoundImage Could Not Be FoundPaul Hi,
There is no accounting for peoples preferences! Guess I could have followed the bitumen from Kal to Norseman then the Eyre hwy all the way across. Pardon my cynicism.


Stephen,
A couple of shots from that track.

Regards,

Mike.

Hi Mike

Thanks for the photos, it looks like it would have been a great drive.


Thanks again.


Cheers


Stephen

Hi Greg and Stephen
Greg, as you said I drove from Cocklebiddy to Rawlinna
then onto Kal It's my understanding Haig is as far East you can go.

Stephen
The drive was great It was dry when I went thru started raing around Kitchener
Stoped at Zanthus for the night
Good trip well worth doing
Norm

What an interesting thread this has turned out to be.

Another option...Seeing that Haig is the last point legally reachable, has anyone travelled any of the tracks from there to the Highway pls, and if so, are they a better option for my next trip east?

Cheers.

The last time I was out that way was in 1976 and Kitchener had about 56 people there replaceing the wooden sleepers with concrete ones, The home gang where on the south side of the line in 6 houses
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The single mens camp was on the north side sidings.
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Sorry the pictures are so small

Hi All

I went out to the Haig on the 17th and the run out there was good, there where a few low lying areas with water on the road but other than that the road was good. I then drove down to Cocklebiddy from the Haig, it must have took me 6 six hours and arrived at Cocklebiddy around 9:00pm. The next day I drove back to Rawlinna past Aurbiddy, this track is not much better than from the Haig and took around 4 hours
I did have video of the drive but found that the camera had died one hour out of Zanthus. Also the first part of the south end of the Connie Sue Hwy is the same.

John

sorry as said i have got my track a bit wrong but you can continue on to the eyre highway supposedly as while I was at Boondaroo a troopy showed up and said he had just come from the north heading to the rawlinna muster

The track into Boondaroo


Forrest of dead trees


the lake



Ponton creek feeds lake Boondaroo

Hi Jinki
You should have no problems towing your camper
It's a good drive and a great part of the country
Norm

Thanks Norm.

Cheers Jinki