We are Explorer 4WD motorhome owners and this is the third year we have travelled together. It was around a campfire in the Simpson Desert in 2024 when we spoke about what we would do in '25. Paul said he wanted to do the Gary Junction Road, through the heart of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and a rough plan was set. Paul and Margaret Acton are in a six wheel Discovery, Pauline Davies has a Pathfinder Xtreme, and I have a Vision RV.

We organised our NT and WA permits online before leaving Alice Springs/Mparntwe. On our first day, the dirt road had some minor corrugations, and we sat at about 75 km/h. With the West MacDonnell Ranges to our left, the scenery was quite beautiful. We found a place to camp for the night just before the Haasts Bluff turnoff. We enjoyed one of Paul's famous upside-down campfires as the full moon rose over the ranges. Th eprevious day was the 30th anniversary of the passing of Len Beadell, the outback road survey or who built the Gary Junction Road, and one of the last pioneers of Australia!

CAMPFIRES AND CAMELS

The second day, we arrived at Papunya, a small Aboriginal community. Before we left, we did a lap of the circular road surrounding the community and, on passing a house for the second time, a kindly older Aboriginal man came out, telling us "you have to turn right". He thought we were lost.

Soon Mt Liebig/Watiyawanu, at a height of 1,274 metres, loomed into view. The whole range was striking. The first Len Beadell marker, at Lizard Bore, seemed to be missing. The consolation prize was seeing huge flocks of finches coming to the waterhole to drink, camel and dingo tracks and a beautiful flowering grevillea tree with a fascinating green praying mantis.

Day three, we found a campsite called Jagged Rock Hill. We had lunch and then went for a walk over to the sand dune to the south. We saw lots of different plants, wildflowers, desert oaks and evidence of small scurrying desert dwellers. We were especially impressed by huge imprints from a big bull camel. Since we weren't in a hurry, we decided to stay. Pauline proposed cooking spuds in the coals and the mission was on! There was garlic butter, sour cream, Pauline's amazing coleslaw, cheese and Margaret's special beans.

The daytime temperatures had been around 26 degrees and around 12 degrees overnight. We had beautiful blue skies and tail winds, perfect weather. However, Central-Western NT flies are definitely not an endangered species!

Day four, and we were off to an early start with bullbar pilates, despite the cold fingertips. We hit the road at 8.20am. Three dingoes crossed in front of Paul and Margaret's Discovery and quickly disappeared into the spinifex, but we were keen to see some camels.

At Sandy Blight Junction Road we finally saw a Len Beadell marker, and Pauline stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a camel. Then we had about 10 kilometres of bitumen into the Aboriginal community of Kintore/ Walungurru. The diesel bowser was in a concrete block shelter with a self-serve credit card system.

After some discussions, we went down to the southern section of Sandy Blight Junction Road. Firstly, there  was the Len Beadell marker at the site where explorer William Tietkens blazed a tree in 1889. Beadell searched for the tree in 1960 and used astronomy to pinpoint where it was from information in Tietkens' diaries.

Another 19 kilometres further down the track, we came across the Len Beadell marker for the Tropic of Capricorn. 

Retracing our steps back through Kintore and onto Gary Junction Road, we headed west for another 22 kilometres to reach the WA border. The sign said that we were entering the East Pilbara Council district. On the HEMA map, the NT side of the Gary Junction is shown as a light grey road, but it turns into dashes on the WA side. We did a quick photo shoot as we contemplated the deterioration of the road quality ahead. An excited cry came over the UHF radio when Marg and Paul spotted some camels. It was really cool when the first mob crossed the road before us, as it was on our immediate wish list. Then we saw more and more camels.

We drove on until the sun started getting low and we found a small quarry to camp in, located near Mount Kerr and Angus Hills.

CORRUGATIONS OUTBACK COMMUNITIES AND CORRUGATIONS

Day five, and Pauline woke to a bunch of camels standing in the middle of the road staring at us, wondering what those big white bubbles were doing in their favourite patch of desert. There were many more seen during the day, and we became quite blasé after being so excited the day before.

The first stop for the day was to the most remote Aboriginal community in Australia, Kiwirrkurra. We refuelled and popped into the General Store. A young fellow approached to warn us of the condition of the road heading west. He was very concerned for our safety. This proud Lions supporter owned a Commodore and posed in front of it with his single thong. Then Aunty came out to sell us some of her paintings.

We took off to tackle the road that everybody had been warning us about. There were sections where we slowed down to about 20-40 km/h, but generally we sat on 60 – often driving in the smoother, sandy table drains to avoid the corrugations. There were some rough patches we couldn't avoid. Then the road became so good that we were able to sit on 75 km/h. The things we had to be wary of were sharp rocks, soft sand, washouts, bulldust holes, dips, drainage breakaways and (of course) the dreaded corrugations. We were regularly communicating on the UHF radio about things to avoid. We loved it!

The scenery was breath-taking. There were jump-ups (raised escarpments), sand dunes, rugged peaks, flat plains, impressive desert oak forests, far horizons and rolling hills of spinifex in full flower, blowing in the wind and glistening in the sunlight. It was constantly changing, and sometimes when we came over the crest of a dune we would gasp at the beauty before us. It was nearly 4pm by the time we reached Jupiter Well campsite. As Paul prepared the campfire, the sun was setting and shining through the desert oaks and the spinifex.

FINAL STRETCH

On the final day of our permit we didn't want to leave the campsite in the desert oak forest at Jupiter Well as we loved it so much, but our permit was ending that day. We reluctantly packed up and drove up to the actual well, which has a hand pump. We refilled our water tanks and then went for a walk to see the original well site across the road. It was time to face the worst part of GJ Road, notoriously full of corrugations and washouts… and it did live up to its reputation.

The most severe washouts were marked with pink ribbons hanging on trees so that you had time to prepare. The corrugations were less avoidable, and there were some severe sections. But our Explorers coped very well. However, Pauline had a mishap, forgetting to lock her rear cabinet properly – so it filled up with red dust. At one stage, the scenery changed from driving in between sand dunes to a totally different landscape. Vast horizons with flowering spinifex glistening in the sun.

At last, we arrived at the actual Gary Junction. It is the junction of the Callawa Track, the Gary Highway (it's a goat track) and the point where Gary Junction Road becomes the Jenkins Track. The Len Beadell marker here is fixed on top of an old 44-gallon drum, along with a metal case. The lid opens and there's a visitors' book inside. We all signed the book and took some celebratory photos. We were feeling quite chuffed with ourselves. Mission accomplished. This was the point where our permit ended, and we decided to camp there for the night. This is the Gibson Desert Central.

We lit the campfire and were treated to a most magnificent WA sunset over a flat horizon with no clouds, just pure colour. The next day, we journeyed on past salt lakes and more stunning country to Carawine Gorge and on to civilisation at Newman.

The weather was perfect. There were some screws that rattled off and some broken eggs, but our 4X4 Explorer Motorhomes performed brilliantly with reduced tyre pressures and we loved the road less travelled.

Category: Features
Written: Wed 01 Oct 2025
Printed: October, 2025
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