Anne Beadell Highway

Submitted: Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:00

ThreadID: 92262 Views:2902 Replies:4 FollowUps:8

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Anne Beadell Highway

An inland alternative to travelling the Nullarbor, the Anne Beadell trek offers remoteness, isolation and unique vegetation and wildlife.

Anne Beadell Highway

Section: Treks

An inland alternative to travelling the Nullarbor, the Anne Beadell trek offers remoteness, isolation and unique vegetation and wildlife.

cooby

Hi, My wife & I are travelling from Sydney to W.A leaving around mid to late august in a 200 series Landcruiser diesel towing a Goldstream off road pop top with independent suspension. Rather than travelling the Eyre hwy again was thinking of The ABH as an alternative.

Can anybody give me an idea if the road is passable towing our goldstream without destroying it. We have traversed the Great Central Rd in the past without any probs if this is any comparison.

Look forward to any comments

Regards Cooby.

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Reply By: Coenen N & G (WA) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:08

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:08

No comparison whatsoever. The ABH is rough but very beautiful. We did it in 2008 with our 80 series and a heavy duty off road camper trailer.
Expect 1200km of bad corrugations. There are a few short sections of relief but the are very few.
We found the only way to go was very slowly. We did incur some damage. Lost a shocky on the trailer and ripped the second battery clean out of the body of the car. We had done a 3 month trip of the central deserts so some of the damage was already done previously. If you have the time and patience to go very slow, it is worth the effort. Ring ahead and good your fuel stop at Ilkulka as they disappear for days at a time. Enjoy this lovely part of our wonderful country.

AnswerID: 479287

Reply By: cooby - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:14

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:14

Thanks for your promt response, not sure Its for our camper.

Rgs Cooby

AnswerID: 479289

Follow Up By: Member - Tony (ACT) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:23

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 15:23

The Great Central Road my be a better choice.

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Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 21:36

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 21:36

Have done the ABH with a Jayco Camper, No problems just drove to the conditions and run the tyres at about 14psi.

Dont let ppl scare you off, the ABH is one of the greatest trips out there.

Cheers

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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:53

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:53

I agree with Blaze.
Low tyre pressures on both car and camper and low speed are the keys to keeping everything in one piece. We've been out there about a dozen times - punctures are uncommon if you stick to the track and watch out for the sharp mulga roots.

Also, Peter made a good point about the width of the track - the vegetation closes in on the track and be prepared for some pinstriping on your 200series and your camper will cut the corners a bit and bash more than a few branches out of the way.

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Follow Up By: Member - Blaze - Sunday, Mar 04, 2012 at 04:40

Sunday, Mar 04, 2012 at 04:40

Phil, I have to agree with you about the width, we had to remove the awning and we lost the external light and had to cut and polish the Jayco when we got back, but compared to some so called REAL Offroad Campers, these 2 small problems were nothing compared to their weld breaks and broken springs etc all through pushing to fast with high tyre pressures.

The corners are interesting but if you push your bull bar as far into the edge of the outside of the corner before turning, it does give the camper more room to not cut the corner by to much. :-)

Also I did take the stupid standard shocks of and run without any shocks, at the speeds you are doing out there shocks certainly aren't needed.

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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Sunday, Mar 04, 2012 at 09:43

Sunday, Mar 04, 2012 at 09:43

The Tvan has the long drawbar and the Landcruiser has a long wheelbase so tends to cut the corners a bit more than some.
I think I'll leave my shocks in - they stop the springs from falling out!!

Cheers
phil

FollowupID: 754825

Reply By: Mick O - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 16:55

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 16:55

Cooby, I'm presuming you mean a pop-top camper and not a caravan. I would have grave concerns regardless of the independant suspension. I like the Goldstreams and appreciate their build quality especially when compared to a Jayco, but the Anne Beadell is a harsh mistress. You would want to be very sure of the robustness of the camper suspension and of your own ability to effect bush repairs. You would want very good shockers and tyres and it would be a slow trip. A lot written up on it so do a forum search.

Camper on the Anne Beadell

I'd also recommend a search of the blog section as there has been plenty written down by members of their experiences. Here's a link to mine (I towed an off road camper trailer across a few years back and was out there last year as well).

Anne Beadell Blogs

Cheers Mick

''We knew from the experience of well-known travelers that the
trip would doubtless be attended with much hardship.''
Richard Maurice - 1903

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Follow Up By: Ozhumvee - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 18:51

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 18:51

I wouldn't take any of the bigger style campers on the ABH, if the corrugations didn't break it the scrub you are dragging it through will. Anything wider than a cruiser or patrol cops a hammering. As Mick said best pick an alternative route for any sort of caravan, there are already a few abandoned after they broke up.

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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 19:13

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 19:13

Hi Cooby

If possible leave your van at home and take the swag or tent. There is some magnificent scenery along the way and for any person that loves our true Aussie Outback at its very best, then a trip along the Anne Beadell should be at the top of the "To Do" list.

We all talk about the corrugations, and yes they are constant with no let up after leaving Ilkurlka heading east. It is only when you looks back at the images that you have taken, I liken it to childbirth. The pain is not the best when out there but when you look back, it was all worth it. Intact I am planning a return leg in 2013.

Here are some images of what you can expect along the way, and yes it is all worth it, but without your van and you will have an unreal time.

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Cheers

Stephen

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Follow Up By: Member - Warrie (NSW) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:17

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:17

Thanks for those pix Stephen. We too are likely to do the ABH in Sept so it looks like corrugations with a capital C. Hopefully the scenery and wildflowers wil make up for it. How reliable is fuel availability at Ilkurka? ......W

Warrie

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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:33

Saturday, Mar 03, 2012 at 22:33

Hi Warrie

You will have a great trip. I ran 18psi all round and travelled slow and the corrugations were drivable. We stopped regularly for photos which broke up the drive.

I phoned ahead to Ilkurlka (allow at least a minimum 2 days from Laverton and 4 from Coober Pedy, we took in total 7 days), but they said that it was not realy necessary. I have heard of people waiting for days, but they said that was very rare. If you know an approximate date that you will be through, they will mark it on a board and make sure that someone is there. The preferred payment was credit card believe it or not, as that way it goes straight into their bank a/c

We were told that during the winter/tourist season, they usually have 10,000 litres of fuel on had, and the fuel truck makes regular visits all the way from Kalgoorlie.

Cheers

Stephen

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