Googs Track

Submitted: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 20:57

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Googs Track

A most adventurous short-cut for those travelling from the west to Coober Pedy & the Alice. Excellent views and plenty of wildlife, featuring memorials dedicated to Goog and Dinger,

Googs Track

Section: Treks

A most adventurous 4WD short-cut for those travelling from the west to Coober Pedy & the Alice. Excellent views & plenty of wildlife, featuring Goog’s Lake & Mt. Finke. No dogs permitted.

Mount Finke

Section: Places

Mt Finke is located at northern end of the Goog's track in the Yellabinna Regional Reserve. A walk track to the summit offers great 360 views over the mallee from the trig.

Googs Track - Outback Travellers Guide

Section: Shop

Series 4 - Track 3 Eight stripmaps break Googs Track into identifiable sections giving travellers information on regional roads, access routes, tourist information, historic snippets, fuel, water,

Member - Jim H (SA)

I am interested if anyone has travelled on Googs track recently. We will travelling in the next week or so on the track. I am interested in the condition of the track and did you have any difficulties. I am travelling with a few other vehicles from South to North.

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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 08:22

Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 08:22

Hi Jim

The down side with Googs Track is conditions usually do not recover from season to season and you will find that at the northern sections of the track where the dunes are a little higher, the southern approaches are very badly cut up from drivers that frankly have no idea of how to four wheel drive in sand and the concept of lower tyre pressures.

Make sure that you use sand flags and scan the UHF Channels, as you will be surprised that there are still travellers that do not use the recommended channel, or as we have found, have no radio communications what so ever.

Enjoy the drive and one of my favourite Australian Deserts, the Great Victoria Desert.

Cheers

Stephen

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Reply By: Member - Rob K (VIC) - Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 13:32

Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 13:32

Hi Jim,

We did Googs Track earlier this year (late Feb). Travelled south to north with a C/T. As Stephen says, the track is fairly cut up on the south approaches to the bigger dunes at the northern end. Many of the dunes showed signs of corrugating due to people not lowering their tyre pressures. I found the track very overgrown and added a fair bit of new pin stripping to the side of the vehicle and C/T. Only had to back up and have another go at getting over the dunes a few times so momentum is important if your taking a trailer otherwise low tyre pressure will get you through with no problems. If you come from the north (N-S travel direction) you'll find the dunes are steeper to climb and the sand softer to traverse.

We rushed the trip and did it in 2 days easy. I'd recommend allowing 3-4 days so you can stay at Googs Lake and climb Mt Finke. We didn't see anyone the whole time we were in the NPs but then again, we were travelling there through the "off season". Still had the UHF scanning constantly and had the sand flag up. Might be a bit busier now as peak season I'm told is the winter months. Plenty of camping spots along the track and at the main attractions. Track conditions change from soft sand, clay base and there are some rocky sections around the Mt Finke area. The clayey areas get very slick after some rain.

Its a great little trip to do over a week or so if your coming from Adelaide area. There are some old mine workings around Tarcoola if you're interested in that sort of stuff. We didn't take a look ourselves but might be worth a look. Hope the above helps.

Cheers

Rob K