Gunbarrel Highway Feedback

Thats true Alan

It starts with the Happy Family

Cheers

I agree 100%

Cheers Steve.

maybe you should get a life and leave things the way they are
mechpete

equinox, I still call the Princes Hwy the Princes Hwy even if I am only driving it to Warrnambool not the rest of the 18,712 km of it.

Maybe this trek can be given the same grace

It's Late and I'm about to wade into the debate (That rhymed by the way!). Alan, you are 100% correct. As one of the few individuals who venture out into the outback these days to substantiate much of which was recorded in the days of sextants, your opinion is incredably valuable. I think though, as things that were once considered "extreme" become pedestrian, we can often lose sight the spirit that was intended.

I did the Gunbarrel for the first time in the very early 80's with a compass and RACV stripmap based on Len Beadells notes. There were bugger all corrugations back then and only one track that saw a handfull of vehicles each year. I started my Trek on the Giles Mulga Park Road where it left the Stuart just over the NT/SA border and finished at Wiluna (The David Carnegie Road was called the Eagle North South Road back then and the Hussar bore was still being drilled (Sh1te and I'm not even that old!!! lol - No comments Willem!)).

These days, I passed a bloody Toyota camry with a queen sized mattress strapped to the roof heading east from Carnegie Station. There are often four main tracks side by side all of which have corrugations that'd match the Himilayas! I reckon If you've done any length of the "double Barrell", and in particular, the run west from Docker to Everard, you've earnt your stripes. It is iconic, it aint what the maker intended but it is The Gunbarrell. If you've got the intestinal fortitude to get out there in your air conditioned Grand Cherokee, you get braggers rights.

It's all about getting out there!

Cheers all Mick

Why call it a highway at all ?

Hi guys - there's a few issues here. Firstly, ExplorOz gives names to treks for best consumer recognition and the most important tool of our business is SEO, so we must use page titles that contain the best search terms used by our target audience to ensure they can find us on the internet. Secondly, our publishing policy for Trek Notes is to try to give the traveller a start and end point in a town or place with fuel supplies just for logistic purposes. We also often expect people, particularly travelling in the outback, to connect a number of treks together so rather than aim for historical purism on trek start/ends we aim for modern day convenience and practically - to ensure the treks are a useful tool when driving/planning trips - so end points are often at major intersections. Another factor is that we only publish navigable treks for which anyone can freely drive (or at least obtain a permit to drive). Sadly, a section of Len's original Gunbarrel route now lies within the Pitjantjatjara Lands and it is near impossible for most people to obtain the necessary permit to drive there so we show the most common route that is possible - this gives everyone a fair chance of being able to actually travel the route we show. You will note that all our treks are built using live - recorded GPS plot files. Sorry if our need for practically messes with purism! No offence intended. Long live Len's memory!

MM