Great Central Road 

I left Manjimup and headed inland, arriving in Laverton on 10 August to pick up my permit before travelling across the desert along the Great Central Road, aptly nicknamed "The Longest Shortcut". 

The vehicle I was travelling solo in was a Matilda Crystal III motorhome. This vehicle is not an off road vehicle as it has six wheels. The road I was to travel along was gravel and very rough so the journey was going to be slow and steady. 

It was late when leaving Laverton on my first day so I only managed to cover 100 kilometres before calling it a day after travelling 20-30 kilometres an hour. I camped in an old gravel pit, which was very peaceful at night time. The next day I was off with a 7am start and arrived at Tjukayirla, 317 kilometres from Laverton, to fuel up. The road had some rough patches but there were some really good spots to travel at 70-80 kilometres an hour. The scenery was beautiful with greenery all around. 

During the course of the trip it was not uncommon to have a herd of camels wandering on the road, along with other wildlife.

It soon became time to camp again at a spot known as Desert Surf Central, where the ground rises up to form a cliff type area, which offers some protection from the cold wind that blessed me in the morning. Nearby was a dried-up Aboriginal waterhole. These are known as Gnamma Holes and often have white rocks around them for identification.

I headed off to Warburton after sunrise to fuel up the vehicle once again, due to rough road conditions for my vehicle, I was only able to travel 130 kilometres before calling into another gravel pit to make camp for the night. With 90 kilometres to get into Warakurna to again top up with fuel, I had another early start as the road continued to be very rough, so it was slow and steady ahead. 

Camels on Great Central Road 

The road was corrugated at times and evidence of vehicles being abandoned on the side of the road, being too expensive to recover, showed the pressure roads such as this can place on a vehicle. 

Having arrived safely to get my fuel, I detoured off the main road to arrive at Giles Weather Station to view the many interesting articles on display. The grader that Len Beadell (responsible for opening up the last remaining isolated desert areas of central Australia from 1947 to 1963) used to carve out roadways throughout the desert, including the Gun Barrel Highway, was there on display, as were some other machinery, including the remains of the Blue Streak Rocket from Woomera. 

I headed back onto the Great Central Road, with Yulara and Uluru getting closer by the day. 

Docker River, which is an Aboriginal Settlement, is off the main road and was worth a look. The country side around there was very sandy and there were some small creek crossings that were manageable; the vegetation was a lush green at this time of the year. 

Olgas from Sunset Strip 

I decided to call it a night when I arrived at Armstrong Creek as it was getting late and the road had been reasonable to travel a little quicker on so I had already made up some time. 

It was 14 August and there was approximately 90 kilometres to go till I arrived at Yulara and the Olgas. I was greeted with a nice sunrise and made my way onwards to arrive in time for a wellearned coffee break. I must say, I was very happy to see the bitumen road again 

Seeing the sunset at Ayres Rock took away the pain of travelling this rugged dusty road. 

One of the many dead car bodies on Great Central Road 

This trip was completed in four days, without a flat tyre or damage to my vehicle, and only two lost wheel trims. However, I did accumulate half the desert inside the motorhome as it wasn`t dust proofed as well as I had anticipated. 

Gnamma Hole on Great Central Road 

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Written: Fri 01 Nov 2013
Printed: November, 2013
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