We Survived the Bungles Road! You can buy bumper stickers that say the same thing at the visitors centre but it seemed a bit premature to buy one before we did the trip out. There is a camper trailer behind the visitors centre with the chassis split in two. A couple from Cairns and this was their first drive on a gravel road. They sure picked a good one to start with.

On the way out we were passed by one of the many Britz troopies at a great rate of knots. Not long after, at our much more sedate pace we came across one stuck up the bank into a tree with the front drivers side wheel sheered off. For those who know the Troopie it has a large knuckle on the front diffs and a plate that holds the wheel to the knuckle. The plate looked fine (the bit I could see) but there was nothing between the wheel and the knuckle any more except grease and air. Nobody inside and locked up so we continued on after a couple of pictures and a quick talk to another guy who pulled up.

We got passed by so many cars on the way out. I had the truck as soft as I could get it plus low tyre pressures but with the heavy springs in the back it just wasn’t possible to get any momentum or rhythm so it was a very slow 1st or 2nd gear trip out. We took over 2 hours to complete the 53KM to get out about 20 minutes slower than coming in.

They look easy side on!

Some bone shakers

The first (or last) bit is the worst and it was interesting to see people pounding past us going in over the worst of the corrugations and you could see the massive loads going through their suspension and wheels. We just heard so many horror stories in the campsites about the Gibb, Tanami and the Bungles roads. On the way out two tilt trailers were on their way into the Bungles road. A few $$$’s there in those recoveries…..

The highway is SO close (another 20 minutes!)

We visited an interesting rock feature called the China Wall and Old Halls Creek as we passed through the new Halls Creek and filled our gas bottle for the rip off price of $27.50!!!!! You quickly learn around here though that you fill with fuel if it’s available, fill with water if it’s available and get gas when you can as you never know when you will next find it or if the next stop will be open or not. We are safely in Fitzroy crossing tonight after belting down 400KM of smooth bitumen road and feeling pretty good about it.

Old mud wall post office, Old Halls Creek

Under a substantial building to stop it washing away?

Part of the China Wall close up

Part of the China Wall