Great Central Highway

Hey Shane. I am planning on doing the GCR in February on my motorbike. I have been gathering as much info as I can over the last few months, as I am totally aware of the risks involved travelling at that time of year, eg temperature, rainfall, lack of other motorists on the road. I am going to leave the final decision up until as late as I can . It's not set in stone that I will do it, If I think the risks are too great I do have an alternate trip I can take.

You say you travelled in Jan, and that there was a lot of rain during that period. Can you tell me, does it take much wet weather to make the road hard to travel?. I have checked the Giles weather station info , but it's hard to tell what level of rain has what effects on the road, if you know what I mean. Do you have any info you could fire my way?, anything would be much appreciated. Grant

If you are on a two wheeler, it will be simple to go around any puddles. I enjoyed the trip, but did it in a hurry. other plans for work. All you really need are the permits and the fuel range. As I said in the thread, I have heard that this road is earmarked for bitumen. Another great track ruined! I found it easy, but don't want to belittle the outback. Nor am I saying i am a great driver, but the track is firm and hard, even when wet.
Observe proper practice, take some time and all will be good. I believe APT do a trip that covers the area in two days! Spoke to the guide who was unimpressed with this.
shane

Yer I have just loaded the latest version of Hema maps and Natmaps onto our car computer and laptop. Looking forward to getting some use out of them.

Gidday Shane

i don't think you need to worry about bitumen on the GCR ... they have been talking about it for years and I confidently predict it will never happen. It is right up there with the high speed rail links promoted by the pie in the sky people. Can you imagine the cost? And there aren't a lot of votes in outback roads, the state of them is usually evidence of that. The best the proponents for the link to Cairns can hope for is an all-weather road, and that doesn't mean bitumen, just better gravel.

Cheers

Rocco

Hey rocco, I really hope you are right about this. It is getting hard to find great outback tracks that aren't being "fixed up". Doing a bit of road building on a track is a great way to get out of the car and smell the roses. I didn't camp in any of the community camp areas so don't know much about them.
shane