Anyone ever driven to NT?

[Neil]

Duncan,,,take the car man,,,,pack a box of octane booster and go. Just make sure you have a spare room for us,,,we might come for a visit. I'll bet Hidden Valley has never seen Skylines running around.

Neil.

[Duncan]

The more I think about this idea the more sensible it becomes I think I may be a screw loose

Carlo, in all serious I may look at shipping it up there, I'm not sure that I have 4-5 days to drive it up there and back.....but I do need something to get around in when I get there and I don't want to drive a commonwhore

[carlo]

Yeah I would personally ship my car up if I was going. Would not cost tooo much in comparison to petrol and time wasted.

[Duncan]

OK, the cruise is back on, I've lasted 3 months without the line....but now Im up there for 6 weeks after xmas I can't survive that long.

Leave when we sober up on New Years Day, arriving in Alice by Sun 4th. Its coming back home by train, I think, once will be enough

So who's in for this ridiculous idea

BTW, Bri, you're exactly right, Bo's is the only action in town (apart from the skanky backpackers at Melankas) All the gory detail is at http://www.boslivesaloon.com.au/cam/default.htm, we're usually on the "Snakepit" cam

[OZ GTR35]

Duncan,

Tam & I drove up about 5 years ago, it was a top drive and not too draining with 2 drivers. Lighting storms, 2 dollar towns, unlimited speeds, personally something I would do again.

[Majanal]

I do have a bit of TIL owing at work...

[siksII]

cant u get one of those car-bra things to protect the front of the caR?

Even tho they are hell ugly, id get one for long trips where stone chips happen... anyone know how much they arE?

[smsoh]

I have done this trip last wk with my mates. Done hume-sturt-adelaide-cooberpedy-alice spring and return frm alice spring-cooberpedy-pt augusta-brokenhill-greatwesternhighway-sydney. We rent a magna and the car was pretty shit, full of dusk, moth and fruit flys everywhere.

Some towns u may worth visiting, woomera, coober pedy, broken hill, pt augusta

[Duncan]

yeah, we've got 9 days so we'll be taking it slow, have a chance to check out the sights! any highlights?

[smsoh]

I will hv 2 options for u.

Option 1

Great western Highway - Dubbo - Broken Hill - Port Augusta - Woomera -Coober Pedy - Alice Springs.

1. Lithgow, Bathrust, Orange, Dubbo, Cobar,Wileannia - No ideas of any attraction as we are rushing back.

2. Broken Hill - Sculpture site, silverton, Museum. Wat abt Cameroon Corner !!!

3. Port Augusta - Flinders Ranges

4. Woomera - Missile site for America and British.

5. Coober Pedy - Underground motel, opal mines and more opal, stars watching.

6. Alice Springs - This town is fantasics, has lots more to offer. I luv outbacks...

Option 2

Hume Highway - Strut Highway - Adelaide - Port Augusta - Woomera - Coober Pedy - Alice Springs

1. Wagga Wagga, Hay, Mildura, Renmark - We did this route in the nite.

2. Adelaide - Lots to offer. Wine valley, kangeroo island (worth going), beaches

3. Same as above. U could find lot of salt lakes while u took route 87

Notes:

1. Premium fuel is hard to find.

2. Petrol is expensive >$1/litres everywhere except adelaide and within nsw.

3. Dormity cost $16 - $22 per person in all towns.

4. Plan ur trip ahead. Most important fuel stops.

5. Have fun cruising.

[Hiroshima Screamer]

Duncan to answer your question, can’t say that i have

[Duncan]

Well, we're hitting the road tomorrow (taking smsoh's option 1)

See y'all when we get back!

[OZ GTR35]

Enjoy and happy driving.

[Edge]

Damn I didn't read this sooner.

I've been planning to do route 2 oneday.

So which route are you taking?

How much dirt road on this route?

Do you need a full body rubber coat to stop the paint chips or is a front bra enough?

You could take off the carbra when you get to NT's tarmac.

let us know when you get back where to slow down, for bad road sections, speed traps, skinny dipping locations, nice salt lakes, good views, nice hotels etc. etc...

Tell us all about it.

oh and make sure to take a notebook to write it all down.

[Duncan]

Well, we made it here yesterday, 3000klm, 6 days, and no problems.

Route was Sydney-Goulburn-Dubbo-Broken Hill-Port Augusta-Cooper Pedy-Alice.

Easy! We went via Goulburn to catch up with some friends, I think its about 2700klm without the detour.

0 dirt roads on the way, all great wide highways. 110 speed limit all the way from Sydney to NT border tho

Good hotels? Nup sorry... and the cave we stayed in in Cooper Pedy didn't even have aircon @43 degrees. bugger.

Speed traps? 0 as well, couldn't believe it! Passed less than 5 (moving) cop cars on the whole trip.

Also, we didn't have a car bra, and didn't get any stone chips....just don't drive behind anyone...there was very little traffic.

As for problems, we lost the plastic liner in the guard just after we came into NT, bloody noisey but no damage to the car. I remember others had posted about this problem before but despite plenty of track days mine had always been OK...no longer.

The only real problem was petrol - you don't know who will have premium or not, we ended up running on regular unleaded on a bloody hot day between cooper pedy and Erldunda (about 350k). On the other hand we did score 98 octane right up until after Dubbo.

It was an excellant, trouble free trip, I'd recommend it to anyone with a few weeks to kill

[benm]

I think its about 2700klm without the detour.

Damn you must have spent as much in fuel as you did in petrol?

[Duncan]

Damn you must have spent as much in fuel as you did in petrol?

yep, exactly as much in fuel as petrol. Hell of a co-incidence

:confused:

Oh, and I still have that damn speed limiter...cuts in at 192 according to the GPS speedo.....which means the rental pulsar is actaully quicker than the skyser....oh the irony.

[benm]

argh... i meant as much in fuel as you did accommodation...

:flamed:

[Duncan]

lol

/end smart arse mode

Yeah, accomodation was ~120/night, petrol ~100 per day so pretty close! luckily both were tax deductible.

You could definately find cheaper places to stay....there are *so* many crap motels out there *shudders*

[smsoh]

Good one ... 120/nigh for accomd !!! tat pretty exp.. i spend abt 20/night/ppl as am in budget. I recom some cover at front end if u take route 2 as there too much fruit fly and ur car will get hell dirty.

I wonder wat the Grid across the road along port augusta to alice for... Road was long and windy too...