Esperance To Balladonia

disagree , by taking parmango road you miss most of the best spots on balladonia road coming out too far north

I agree with Get Outmore.

There's certainly some interesting history through that country, bearing in mind there used to be some hundreds of people lived around Israelite Bay for the 50-odd years of the Telegraph Station from the 1870's to the 1920's.

If nothing else. at least look out for Pine Hill, Deralinya & Booanya and spend at least one night on the track.

Remember, if you're in a hurry there's always the Eyre Hwy! Or the jet overhead.

balladonia to cape arid[/url]this is a trip report from a few years ago


balladonia to cape arid

This road has a very contentious history and is the source of some considerable dispute between the shires of Esperance and Dundas (Norseman).

For the communities east of Esperance it is a massive shortcut (200-odd km) for them if heading east but the Norseman people feel massively threatened by the loss of business from tourism & travellers, notwithstanding they constantly urge the sealing of the Norseman to Hyden rd, seemingly without consideration for a similar loss of business at Coolgardie!

Anyway, this explains why the road is quite well maintained at the southern (Esperance) end but the minute you cross the shire boundary into Dundas you encounter a bit of a goat track.

Enjoy your trip. And merry Christmas

I don't think a gets any maintenance at all does it Paul?

Roger it also gets closed if it rains. As it always rains Norseman Balladonia way - for us anyway - be aware of this. We camped in one of many gravel scoops alongside the road, but were careful to be up out of the scooped out area and ready to move onto the road if it rained, as rain looked likely.

When we came past in November 2009 it was signed closed and barricaded off at the Balladonia end. On asking i was told probably because of the rain (that day), but people who went passed some weeks before and after us saw the same.

Mh

what you on about?

your talking about the lake king road which is maintained by the shire of I think lake grace and not by the norseman shire so the minute you pass by the sign it turns rough

Yeah, the Esperance shire maintains the section within its shire boundaries. In fact, once it unofficially did up the whole section which caused a major "diplomatic incident" (ie almost war) which is still seared indellibly into the psyches of all concerned!

The top end is invariably barricaded off by the Norseman mob who maintain the rage to this very day!

Thanks Paul - that explains why the barricade was up and Main Roads road closures and conditions hotline did not have it logged in at all.

We did not see it as a "short cut" to reduce our journey time but a different way to go to see different things. Having done that, we have taken the main road on all subsequent trips as we were just travelling through. I have not compared travel times.

Mh

I've not been on the Norseman to Lake King road, so can't comment, but certainly the difference on the Balladonia track when you pass through the shire boundary is very obvious.

The Norseman to Lake King Road has always been pretty scrappy in the middle section through the Frank Hann NP Paul, but still acceptable to us and our preferred route due to where we live.

Mh

sorry I mistook what you are saying.
ive never tazken the parmango road because as I said it misses out on the highlights between the turn off and cape arid.

I understand it is maintained in the farmland area but not the northern section

the lake king road last time I took it was fantastic then as soon as you get to the shire boundary someone has sprayed on the sighn wheres the F......n grader and it changes from a well graded wide gravel road to a narrower much rougher road,
From memory my speed went from 100kph to 60kph with frequent slow downs for the larger holes and rock ledges

bottom line in both cases is the Norseman shire doesnt seem to want to pay to maintain roads which are used largly by farmers as access roads from outside shires

I doubt very much that you would need a winch. If there has been recent rain there could be difficulties with water on the road in places but otherwise, as others have said, a good drive. Easy in 4x4 terms although a bit rough (rutted and stony and a few patches of corrugations) in the northern section. Paramango Rd was in good condition last September.

Cheers,

Val

southern part of the track is rough due to limestone caprock - definitly no winch required

Thanks very much everyone for the information, sounds like a good trip, worth taking your time over.

Cape Arid NP is one of our favourite places and we like to give it a look when we're crossing the Nullabor.

I wish you all safe travelling 2013.

Cheers,

Roger