Oodnadatta Track

Submitted: Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 14:16

ThreadID: 98697 Views:3592 Replies:11 FollowUps:6

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Oodnadatta Track

If you’re a history buff you’re going to go nuts crossing the Oodnadatta Track. The track follows the orignal Ghan line from Marla to Oodnadatta and then on to Marree. There's stacks of ruins,

Oodnadatta Track

Section: Treks

If you're a history buff you're going to go nuts crossing the Oodnadatta Track. The track follows the original Ghan line from Marree to Oodnadatta. There's stacks of ruins, mound springs,

Oodnadatta Track

Section: Shop

This map covers the Oodnadatta Track from Lyndhurst to Oodnadatta via Marree, Lake Eyre, William Creek and Algebuckina.The Oodnadatta Track closely follows a major Aboriginal trade route,

SDG

While I hear/read about the road conditions, corrigations, suspension failures, etc of this track all the time, I was just wondering if this applies for the entire track, or certain parts of it.
Next year just before Easter I'm doing the southern half of it. Turning off onto William Creek road and going to Coober Pedy for a few days. Then heading north on bitumen.
Do I really need an off road camper/van just for this few hundred k's?
I do know if it has rained, there is another set of problems.
Is Easter wet there?
The only other dirt road at this stage is the one to Uluru. Is that also recommended offroad suspension?

Only reason I'm asking is tying to decide wether to spend the extra on off road versions of the same thing you get onroad. More money in my pocket for trip.

Not sure wether to go on any dirt when up Darwin way or not.

Thanks for any replies from any who have done this track.

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Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:15

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:15

G'day, depends on what sort of van/camper you are looking at, some are more robust than others, but then again some "off road" trailers/vans are not really suitable or robust enough. For the dirt section to William Creek/Coober Pedy, take it easy and lower your tyre pressures and you may be fine.

What do you plan to tow the camper/van with?

No dirt sections to Uluru either...........

John and Jan

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AnswerID: 497274

Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:49

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:49

I have a 96 GQ Patrol, withy the 2.8turbo diesel. Currently tow a soft floor camper, but getting sick and tired of canvas.

FollowupID: 773087

Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:03

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:03

Having owned a 96 Patrol Turbo Diesel, I would suggest the Patrol is more than adequate for towing a camper trailer, but not a caravan. For the few hundred k's of dirt should not be a problem with an on road trailer, just slow down, and lower tyre pressures. Enjoy your trip.......................

John and Jan

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Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:20

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:20

Are you including those Jayco type campers in that?

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Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:29

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:29

Yes, Jayco type should be fine, but, depends on all up weight. The Patrol can be difficult to get off the line when towing too much weight and also maintaining any reasonable speed on hills etc.

John and Jan

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AnswerID: 497281

Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:24

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:24

Rain aside, most years the Oodnadatta 'track' is extremely good overall, once graded for the tourist season - long sections of the top half can be near 'seal smooth' (thanks to the skilled road crews). But, the lower section can be quite stony in places (no local clay soils for the crews to use I guess). If you soften your tyres and take it quite easy where required, an on-road camper should be ok. Check the weather and roads status in good time, so you can change plans and go via Pt Augusta if indicated - a late northern monsoon season could easily dump rain there in late March, early April. Sealed to Uluru. Gravel out of Darwin ? - if this sort of thing keeps up, you might need an offroad camper :-o).

AnswerID: 497288

Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:39

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:39

Thanks for that. For some reason I thought the road to Uluru was dirt.
By dirt in Darwin, I mean if I wanted to go exploring any of the tracks up that way.

FollowupID: 773092

Reply By: KevinE - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 20:11

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 20:11

Hi SDG,

We've just got back after doing the Oodnadatta track & a few other bits & bobs, we don't tow a van, we tow a soft floor camper;

We came across a very nice couple at William Creek who had towed a nice brand new "off road" van. They had massive problems! The door on the van had kept blowing open on the track & you can just imagine what that did to their holiday! It also shook their table to bits as well.

Met another couple who had issues with eggs flying out of their fridge! (YUCK!)

Camper trailers/camper vans/Troopies etc will have very little problems up there, but quite a few caravans do.

I hope that info helps?

Cheers,

Kevin.

AnswerID: 497297

Follow Up By: Member - Keith P (NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 22:39

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 22:39

Hi SDG,
I have the same Patrol as you ...a 97 model.
I also own a Goldstream Crown off-road caravan camper and have had both on the Oodnadatta track a couple of times now with no problems wotsoever!!
I let the tyres down to 26 front/28 rear/28 camper ....kept the speed down to about 70-80 ks and thoroughly enjoyed the track. Also did not use 5th gear either (never do when towing). The camper weighs 1.2 tonnes tare and the beautifull little RD28 has no problems with it treating it with care. I,m a truckie by vocation anyway ....so changing a few gears now n then and keeping the donk in its "sweet spot" (about 2800-3000 rpm) is not a problem anyway...and I have never had a problem starting off from camp yet. If it has been a bit uphill or soft...I just throw transfer into low range for a bit and then upshift to high before getting up too much speed and away I go. This is pretty easy to get the hang of and can be done easily with no damage
Enjoy the track and the Patrol.

Cheers Keith

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Reply By: Member-Heather MG NSW - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 06:59

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 06:59

The road conditions vary according to the weather (recent rain) and when it was graded. We did both the Oodnadatta Track and the Mereenie Loop in 2011 towing a Jayco Sterling outback caravan and our travelling companions towed a Jayco standard camper ..a Swan or Dove or similar....both with very minor damage. (crack in water pipe outlet which let in a lot of dust.)
I don't think there is any need to buy an off road version of your camper.

We dropped the tyre pressure of vehicles, and drove to the conditions. The track north/west of Oodnadatta was the stoniest and the road between the turn off to Gosse Bluff and Hermannsburg west of Alice springs was the roughest.
Suggest you put protective covering (thick cardboard) on the rear window of your tow vehicle to stop deflected stone breaking the glass.
There is no dirt road to Uluru.

regards,

Heather

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. John Muir

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Reply By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 08:04

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 08:04

Like a lot of things it can come down to luck. In august we came across three "off road" vans parked on the side of the Oodnadatta track just about 20Kms north of Cowards Springs where they had stopped for the night. Two with mechanical issues (part shaken apart) and one out of fuel (!!!!!). Then again you hear of lots that get through without any hassles as mentioned above.

That time of year the road should be fine. Rocky with corrugations as usual but in comparison to others it should be fine. But it depends on traffic and the weather.

According to our recently deceased friend form the Pink Roadhouse 20 front tyres and 26 for the rest including anything towed. Keep the speed down and hope luck is on your side.

It's a bit like flat tyres. You see heaps of damaged tyres on the road and read about people having multiple flats in one day. Our last flat tyre was at Oran Park in Sydney in 1969.

Luck or good tyre management? I would like to say the latter.

Phil

AnswerID: 497336

Reply By: Siringo - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 10:47

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 10:47

I did that exact trip in April this year. Went from Marree to William Creek and down to Coober Pedy in a (long) day.

At that time you could have done it in family car, there was nothing I came across that req'd a 4WD or 4WDing at all.

There wasn't alot of traffic, but there was traffic, if I had become totally broken down I would have had someone go past within a few hours.

I don't know what the roads are like now, but I would recommend you get good quality tyres for your vehicles as the only threat I could identify where the flies and some of the stones on the road.

AnswerID: 497346

Follow Up By: Member - MUZBRY(Vic) - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 12:19

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 12:19

Gday
My brother went down the oodndatta track in a Holden Caprice a few years ago.

Muzbry
Great place to be Mt Blue Rag 27/12/2012

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Reply By: Member - Broodie H3 - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 14:31

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 14:31

We towed our normal roadstar caravan up the track and turned of from william creek to Coober pedy and didn't have a problem I lowered the tyre pressure on the van and pathfinder and travelled to the road conditions and that was in may this year and some people told us not to do it, but in saying that we were overtaken by other vans, travelling at about 100k's an hour. We sat on what ever the road surface dictated. With road conditions you just don't know until you get their. We also had a rough idea what to expect from the good people on this forum of what to expect and planned accordingly. I hope this helps you.
Broodie H3.

Broodie H3
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Reply By: homevale - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 21:55

Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 21:55

Make sure whatever you are towing has a good stone guard, there are sections of the track that have very large stones. I would also cover the rear glass in your Patrol to prevent any stones hitting the rear glass, even with stone protection. We towed an "on road camper trailer" up here recently with no problems, except that the stones cut the standard stone guard to bits and a broken rear window was the result. I have since invested in a Stone Stomper that prevents most stones form coming above the height of the trailer. I would still cover the back window all the same. To travel to Uluru via Kings Canyon requires about 120 kms on dirt roads.

AnswerID: 497400

Reply By: Member - Scott F2 - Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:54

Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:54

SDG.
I came down the Oodnadatta earlier this month. Travelled south from Marla through to Marree.
The track is generally in good condition. It's all about tyre pressures and the correct speed. I ran both my Pajero and Tambo Camper at 26 PSi and didn't have a problem.
The condition of the track continuously changes you can check via the Sth Aussie roads.

On my trip Marla to Oodnadatta was good. Oodnadatta to William Creek was ordinary to say the least, William Creek to Marree was good. But that have changed by now.

Staff at the Oodnadatta Road House were repairing 6 tyres when we stopped for fuel, basically to fast, wrong tyres and wrong pressures.

Stay at Farina if you get a chance between Lyndhurst and Maree and make sure you visit Palm Valley.

No dirt out to Uluru.

AnswerID: 497447

Follow Up By: Member - Scott F2 - Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:55

Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:55

This photo was taken on the track.

FollowupID: 773285

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SDG

Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:15

Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 15:49

Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:03

Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:20

Reply By: Member - John - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 16:29

Reply By: MEMBER - Darian, SA - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:24

Follow Up By: SDG - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 18:39

Reply By: KevinE - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 20:11

Follow Up By: Member - Keith P (NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 22:39

Reply By: Member-Heather MG NSW - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 06:59

Reply By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 08:04

Reply By: Siringo - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 10:47

Follow Up By: Member - MUZBRY(Vic) - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 12:19

Reply By: Member - Broodie H3 - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 14:31

Reply By: homevale - Thursday, Oct 25, 2012 at 21:55

Reply By: Member - Scott F2 - Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:54

Follow Up By: Member - Scott F2 - Friday, Oct 26, 2012 at 16:55

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