Here are some notes based on my experience on these great tracks. I guess others may have additional or alternative comments.
Vehicle:
I travelled with my lovely wife and two daughters aged 9 and 11 in a 78 series LC.
The only relevant modifications are heavier springs, with OME Ntirocharger shocks all round, and Firestone airbags on the rear (inflated to just 35 psi). I run BFG All-Terrain T/A's.
We had no breakages and no flats.
Well, we did lose one nut off a bolt that holds the awning to the roof rack.
Both the CSR and ABH are overgrown in sections so we copped lots of scratches.
I think we were very lucky to get off so lightly as we saw several cars with broken
suspension, cracked chassis and so on. Also three or four trailers with serious chassis damage.
There's no telling what will fail. We met a number of soft roaders with no mods that were having no trouble. Then we met seriously modified cars that were broken. I guess it's how you drive, load the car etc.
Route:
We travelled from
Brisbane to
Blackall via the highway, then
Isisford,
Lark Quarry, Old Cork,
Boulia, Alice (via Plenty and Arltunga), Billiluna,
Wiluna,
Leonora,
Laverton, Spackman's Track (around
Lake Rason), ABH, and
Coober Pedy. As the tracks were rougher than I expected (more later) and because of rain, and the kids had to get back to school, we headed
home on the bitumen via Pt
Augusta,
Broken Hill, and
Bourke.
Alll up 9828 km in 5 weeks.
Fuel:
Fuel consumption varied between 10.9 and 15.3 L/100km. On the CSR we managed 15.3 between Billiluna and Kunawaratji, 12.9 between Kuna and
Leonora. For the ABH, figure was 10.9 between
Leonora and
Coober Pedy. The bitumen figure averaged mid 12's.
Fuel (diesel) at Billiluna was $2.60/L. At Kunawaratji $3.40/L. Ilkurlka $3.00/L. I have figures for other stops as
well but the prices are reasonably close to city prices.
Supplies:
Billiluna has a
well stocked
supermarket with almost everything you need including fresh fruit and vegetables.
Kunawaratji has a
well stocked mini-
supermarket but don't rely on fresh produce being available.
Ilkurlka has frozen meat and bread with a few tinned items.
Road conditions:
I appreciate this is entirely subjective. My view is that the Plenty is reasonable in the Qld side, rough up to about Jervois, then good, then rough again from Harts Range to the bitumen.
The Tanami is variable from good to very rough - mostly rough.
CSR is rough (heavy corrugations especially around wells 31-35). Bottom section between wells 1 and 9 had been flood affected so there are lots of wash outs but nothing difficult. It was all bone dry when I was there (late June - early July).
There was water flowing in Savoury Creek but with a hard bottom and only a few cm deep. People had attempted to drive on
Lake Disappointment with obvious disastrous results judging by the signs left of their recovery. The dunes were OK but were rough in spots. Travellers told us a group using Mercedes trucks as tour vehicles were making a mess of the dunes and there was certainly evidence of that.
The Spackman Track was in good condition and goes through excellent country. This was my first time on this track and I would recommend it. It is shown in
Treks as
West Great Victoria Desert. I wasn't sure about permits for this track so I got one anyway!
The ABH (at least from where Spackman's track joins) to near Ilkurlka is a
well maintained highway. From Ilkurlka to the border it is rough, and from the border to the dog fence it ranges between fair and terrible - but goes through spectacular country. The corrugations are especially bad around Emu. From the dog fence to
Coober Pedy it is a
well maintained road.
Fellow travellers:
We met lots of people. Both tracks are exceptionally busy these days compared to the last time I was on them (15 years ago!!!). Everyone was very friendly and we made a number of new friends.
We met cyclists, motor cyclists, walkers and runners on both tracks - some having more success than others.
A big trip. And yes I feel flat now that it is over and the kids are back at school and the wife is back at work. All I have to do at the moment is plan the next one!!
Happy to provide more details if anyone is interested.