Anne Beadell & Gunbarrel

Hi

I am lead to believe you are not allowed (i.e. they won't issue a permit) to travel certain sections of the Gunbarrel at any time of the year as a solo vehicle....but I could be wrong

Cheers
Greg

Gidday,

I was on the Anne Beadell to Neale Junction, the Connie Sue to Warburton and then the Gunbarrel to Wiluna in July last year.
If you are travelling solo you won't be alone out there at that time of year. I was with a group and we encountered a few solo travellers. The night we camped at Carnegie there were probably six or eight groups of different sizes and a few solos as well.
I didn't think the tracks were that difficult technically, just the usual WA desert tracks: some washed out bits, some soft bits, some rocky bits, the ocasional good bits and lots of corrugated bits. With the usual proviso of an experienced driver in a suitable vehicle driven sensibly and with some form of communications equipment (HF or sat phone) it wouldn't seem to be a major problem travelling solo.

As for being out there in October/November ... not my cup of tea

It is a great part of the world I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

Cheers

Rocco

Pyalong Hi,
I travelled the Anne Beadell mid October 2010 solo.
The temperatures were ok not much over 30 of the day & very pleasant evenings.
Being late in the travel "season" there was not a lot of other vehicles, For the trip from Coober Pedy to about 30 klm east of Laverton I met 4 other vehicles two solo vehicles and one group of two vehicles.
I mainly travel alone, know the risks and am fairly well prepared.
Hope this helps.
Mike.

Hi Pyalong,

We travelled solo along the Anne Beadell Hwy, Great Central Road, David Carnegie Road, Hunt Oil Road in mid October last year and had excellent travelling weather.
Lots of overcast skies but only a few showers and daytime temps around 30-32 degrees with blankets needed at night.

There were still a few travellers out there at that time and we kept in touch with VKS737 Network every day with our HF Radio which is very reasuring in remote areas.

We travell solo all the time so we can really please ourselves with our itinerary, but we think it is vital to have long range communications for which we choose HF Radio, and use it every day so someone knows we are out there.

The Great Victoria desert was in fantastic condition when we went through due to a couple of good rain seasons and maybe the weather at that time was a little unseasonal, so keep an eye on the weather bureau web site and ring the Ilkurlka Roadhouse for up to the minute conditions.

Cheers, Wooly

We did Anne Beadell Hwy and Gunbarrel in late October 2006 - had a heatwave - 6 days straight where it was over 40 degrees in the shade. Not very pleasant. Tyres got very hot running low pressures on the corrugations. Found there was some sidewall delamination after we got back home.

Thanks guy's....some good info.....Cheers

We traveled the whole Anne Beadell form West to East in early October 2011. We had 2 vehicles and for the duration saw about 4 others. One of whom had a broken axle and was waiting for their companions to return from Coober Pedy with a repaired one. They were sitting there about 4 days. I would not like to rely on someone having to come and get you. That said, great trip.