Tanami Road

[juddles]

Hey there all,

I know this is probably the opposite of a flying thread, but I have learnt that here on AFF we have people who have seen/done everything.

Has anyone travelled the Tanami Road? This is the strecth of "highway 5" that goes between Hall's Creek in Wa, to a point on the Stuart Highway just north of Alice in the Northern Territory.

Am thinking of doing it. Mainly just as an outrageous method to break my Stockholm Syndrome travel thing with Qantas. (Thank you @TonyHancock )

Any experiences or advice out there?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I have not done the Tanami Track, but have done a lot of serious 4WD-ing including the old track to the Tip (Cape York) over 3 decades ago before they turned it into a road and trips in Central Australia Simpson Dessert, driving up the (dry) Finke River to Hermannsburg, retracing the old Ghan route, retracing much of the Burke and Wills Route from North to South etc and more recent trips like 5000km from Nairobi to Victoria Falls.

I once drove for a week on trip with my then girlfriend, now wife, where we didn't see another person for a week till we pulled into Horseshoe Bend Station - Wikipedia

The Tanami is a serious trip and you and your vehicle will need to be very well prepared for the rough conditions, and in excellent condition. You also need to be able to carry enough fuel and water for the trip, factoring in that fuel consumption will be higher than normal. Also spares etc (Like include a couple of inner tubes in case you do puncture a tyre or two) and some mechanical knowledge in your party is best.

As long as there are no recent rains provided you have done the above it is quite do-able. It is not a technically difficult track, and you don't have the problems of staked tyres, deep river crossings, deep sand etc like on some of the really rough ones.

How smooth it will be will depend on how recently it is graded before you hit it. Due to the mining activities up that way now it is more a road than the track it used to be.

If you have not done any driving of tracks before including on long lengths of corrugations, then I would start with some easier ones first.

Have a read of the following links. They should give you a good awareness:

Tanami Track, The Kimberley, WA - Hema Maps

Caravanning The Tanami Track (Yes this one has caravans, but MOST caravans would be shaken apart on it. Only take a proper off-road van)

The Tanami Track - Adventures in Outback Australia

The Tanami Track is not only a shortcut from the Kimberley to the Red Centre, but we always prefer to take the road less travelled, and the Tanami definitely ticks that box!

blog.goseeaustralia.com.au

PS: Look up at night. On any of these remote trips in the true Outback the stars and Milk Way are amazing. Oh, and that red dust, you will never, ever get it all completely out of your vehicle

 

[RooFlyer]

Sure .... in the 1980s .... for work Visited the Granites and Tanami gold mines/prospects. Back then it was the Tanami track and needed all the puncture repair skills we had. Swags to the fore.

But I think its so changed now, any other advice would be misleading.

While searching on those mines to see whats up today, I found this. The company that owns the Tanami now also owns Mt Magnet, where I first went as a very green underground geo in the early 1980s. Watching the video almost made me wish for the old life ...

Mt Magnet Gold Mine

Mt Magnet Gold Mine The Mt Magnet gold project is located immediately adjacent to the town of Mt Magnet, 500km north-east of Perth in the Murchison Goldfield of the Western Australian Yilgarn Craton. Ramelius acquired Mt Magnet Gold Pty Ltd in 2010 from Harmony Gold and restarted operations...

www.rameliusresources.com.au

 

[kookaburra75]

Sure .... in the 1980s .... for work Visited the Granites and Tanami gold mines/prospects. Back then it was the Tanami track and needed all the puncture repair skills we had. Swags to the fore.

Strangely, I too was working at those mines in the mid to late 80's, from time to time as a Surveyor when I was living in Alice Springs. It was a easy enough drive back then, and I imagine even easier now with the amount of traffic that would go through.
Although visiting Bruce Farrand at the Rabbit Flat Roadhouse used to be a highlight, but I noticed the Roadhouse is now shut.

 

[juddles]

Strangely, I too was working at those mines in the mid to late 80's, from time to time as a Surveyor when I was living in Alice Springs. It was a easy enough drive back then, and I imagine even easier now with the amount of traffic that would go through.
Although visiting Bruce Farrand at the Rabbit Flat Roadhouse used to be a highlight, but I noticed the Roadhouse is now shut.

kookaburra75, so you were a surveyor in Alice Springs? I have just started to re-read some of Len Beadell's books - he was apparently a surveyor or similar back in the old days. His tales amaze me, and it has a personal note, as he did the initial stuff for the Woomera rocket range etc. I love reading of how it was for him, a new project in an essentially unexplored area, when just a few years later I was actually born in Woomera

 

[RB]

kookaburra75, so you were a surveyor in Alice Springs? I have just started to re-read some of Len Beadell's books - he was apparently a surveyor or similar back in the old days. His tales amaze me, and it has a personal note, as he did the initial stuff for the Woomera rocket range etc. I love reading of how it was for him, a new project in an essentially unexplored area, when just a few years later I was actually born in Woomera

I assume you are aware of his Shepparton Talk-think you can borrow the recording from a libary-really enjoyed listening to it when we were passing through Woomera area

 

[Daver6]

@JohnM has probably done it....in his Audi A4

 

[Franky]

kookaburra75, so you were a surveyor in Alice Springs? I have just started to re-read some of Len Beadell's books - he was apparently a surveyor or similar back in the old days. His tales amaze me, and it has a personal note, as he did the initial stuff for the Woomera rocket range etc. I love reading of how it was for him, a new project in an essentially unexplored area, when just a few years later I was actually born in Woomera

Juddles - by chance, were your parents (or more in line with the then times), was your father in either the RAN, Army or RAAF?

 

[juddles]

Juddles - by chance, were your parents (or more in line with the then times), was your father in either the RAN, Army or RAAF?

No, he was an "electronics technician" at the Woomera rocket range and later at Nurrungar, both these positions were "civilian".

 

[JohnM]

I haven’t done the Tanami road but I have done the Canning Stock Route - in a LandCruiser Troopy . The CSR is 2000 km; the Tanami 1000 km. The CSR is much tougher, mainly because of the 1000 sand dunes. Also, the corrugations on the CSR are unbelievably fierce over long stretches in several places and the CSR is not graded at all. It is literally a single-lane track in many places. The Tanami is much more a road than a track and is graded, at least in parts.

My CSR trip (TR below) went from Wiluna to Halls Creek. The last section on the run into Halls Creek was on the Tanami and it was certainly a very wide, graded road there and we were belting along after three weeks of mainly 40-50 kph.

IIRC, one or two of the eastern staters on my tag-along were heading back to Alice Springs from Halls Creek on the Tanami and doing it solo.

 

[juddles]

My current dilemma is selection of vehicle. We will not be travelling in a hurry - am budgeting about 5 days for the Tanami 1000km leg, within an overall Broome - Adelaide adventure. 5 days for us two is about 250 cans of Bundy, which we like to drink ice cold. This impacts greatly on vehicles.

 

[JohnM]

Try to get hold of one of these: Hawkei - Wikipedia

 

[JohnM]

The place in Perth where I rented the Troopy for the CSR has its HQ in SYD or MEL and also offices in DRW and ADL (and possibly BNE).

They do one-way rentals. If they let their vehicles go on the CSR, they’ll let them go anywhere. They come fully equipped with camping gear, fridge, CB radio, two spares plus extra tubes, fuel and water jerrycans.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

My current dilemma is selection of vehicle. We will not be travelling in a hurry - am budgeting about 5 days for the Tanami 1000km leg, within an overall Broome - Adelaide adventure. 5 days for us two is about 250 cans of Bundy, which we like to drink ice cold. This impacts greatly on vehicles.

25 cans of Bundy per person per day is likely to have more impact on you than your choice of vehicle.

Though on second thoughts, 25 cans of Bundy per person is likely to have your vehicle having many impacts!


PS:
Icey cold Bundies, Beers or any drinks for that matter, is easy these days with the right 12V compressor fridge and dual battery setup.

Note that with modern smart alternators that modern vehicles have that you also need the right smart black box to ensure that your dual battery has its charge maximised as smart alternators will not give the right voltage so when you are sitting around chugging those Bundies that your deep cycle battery has enough charge in it.

As your daily kms is not high you might want a solar panel mounted on your roof to keep that battery topped up.

TIP: You only need to put in your fridge in the morning what you will drink that day. That way they are all nice and cold when you want a drink, but your fridge does not have to be huge. A wagon or dual cab ute makes it easy to access your fridge though. Plus room for your slabs and camping gear, oh and yes food too.

All my 4WD trips and off-grip camping trips these are "ice-free". Well unless I set my fridge/freezer to be cold enough to make my own ice. Banished too are the LPG, or white fuel, lights as LED lighting is just so good and low power demand these days.

 

[jb747]

My current dilemma is selection of vehicle. We will not be travelling in a hurry - am budgeting about 5 days for the Tanami 1000km leg, within an overall Broome - Adelaide adventure. 5 days for us two is about 250 cans of Bundy, which we like to drink ice cold. This impacts greatly on vehicles.

You need a drink that could double as fuel for the vehicles....

 

[JohnM]

The rum he drank in Chile was probably even too high-octane for a Ferrari...

 

[bigjobs]

Tanami Road is awesome. I was fortunate enough to be working on a pipeline job that went most of the way from just north of Alice at the junction.

that's the best way to see it, get paid, be accommodated, provided a vehicle etc etc. lol

like others have said, pick the time of year - there's loads of grey nomads and caravans that go up it.

 

[juddles]

Tanami Road is awesome. I was fortunate enough to be working on a pipeline job that went most of the way from just north of Alice at the junction.

that's the best way to see it, get paid, be accommodated, provided a vehicle etc etc. lol

like others have said, pick the time of year - there's loads of grey nomads and caravans that go up it.

Time of year will be mid October - am hoping that is before the Wet arrives.

One disappointing thing I have noticed whilst researching the trip is the apparently very high rate of break-ins on vehicles at the towns up in WA (Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek) Seems it is a sport around there to smash your windows at night and steal anything. I think we will stick away from the towns.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Time of year will be mid October - am hoping that is before the Wet arrives.

Rain can be unpredictable though, and when it rains up that way then unsealed roads and tracks can quickly become impassable.

I have been rained out twice in July in Central Australia. When it rains you need to get to blacktop quickly or you may get stuck.

The first time it started to bucket down and as we were just on graded tracks and not gravel we just headed for the Alice quickly. The morning after we arrived the Todd River was a raging torrent and we had to in the Alice wait 3 days for it to drop enough that they would allow us to cross it in our 4WD.

We had originally been going to head up the Birdsville Track. People were stuck on the Birdsville Track for weeks waiting for the ground to dry out enough to drive out.

At that time when we there, almost forty years ago, the road to Adelaide was not sealed, and the only road out of the Alice that was sealed was north! So while not part of our original plan, rather than cool our heels in the Alice where many things were closed due the weather we headed north to the amazing Mataranka Springs and Kathrine Gorge. Stopped enroute to view the Devil's Marbels. It was night and we viewed them in the glow of our headlights in pouring rain. The next day the sun came back out again.

As this is a flying forum the highlight of the gorge was that after having headed off on a series of boat trips down the gorge, and just after we were lying back relaxing and sunning ourselves after a swim, two Mirage RAAF jets appeared out of nowhere and screamed along the gorge, one actually flying in the canyon. The noise was amazing and the whole experience amazing and surreal.

On another trip we were when retracing the Burke and Wills Route from North to South we were visiting the Dig Tree on Cooper Creek. Arriving at the river crossing the water was a lot deeper that it usually is, but was not fast moving (With water crossings what makes them dangerous, or difficult, is the water velocity). I was a lot younger and more gungho back then and so even though we (my gf ,now wife, and I) were by ourselves in our Troop Carrier, I tarped up the engine bay, disconnected the fan belt and got the Tirfor (hand winch) out and ready just in case. The water went over the engine bay! We had started our trip by finding the northern most blaze tree from the expedition which is about 10km south of the Gulf of Carpentaria and so having already driven a fair old distance I did not want to miss this very important site on this particular trip.


All of which is a long post to say that while it is mostly dry up that way, that is unpredictable and you can't just go by the seasons.

 

[juddles]

@lovetravellingoz , I understand that rain is not an exact science Especially in the outback! I "hope" October will be fine, but at the end of the day I intend to be prepared for all eventualities.

I lived in Alice and in Tennant Creek in the 70's, and as you say, the road south was dirt. I was still a kid, but I remember the trips a couple of times a year down to Adelaide / Melbourne to visit relatives. Back then it was fun - you had everything to survive unexpected delays. Completely self-sufficient with water/fuel/etc for weeks if need be. You could drive for a 1000km and only pass a couple of semis and other motorists.

I hope with a combo of ample water/food/fuel/epirb, and a few extra cartons of Bundy, we can ride out any blips in comfort