Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
Gibb River Road
Poorly prepared drivers dicing with death on the remote Gibb River Road http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-06/poor...d/10204382 It's marketed as the ultimate outback adventure and a trip of a lifetime, but a single mistake or poor preparation on the Kimberley's unpaved Gibb River Road can mean serious injury or death.
We didn't complete the Gibb River Road on our trip. We destroyed a tyre about 130 km in from the eastern end & only had one more spare wheel so we decided to return. Too expensive to get a new tyre brought in to this remote area & we could not replace a tyre on the rim either. We ended up doing the Gibb River Road from the south via Winjana Gorge & Tunnel Creek, then turned east to Bell Gorge etc. The road is reasonably good at this end.
Later in Broome we be bought TPMS for the car. I would recommend anyone in the outback get TPMS. It does take a bit longer removing & screwing on transmitters to let down or pump up tyres, but after a few goes you get pretty efficient at the procedure. Not to forget you save far more time not constantly checking the pressure of the tyres as you have tyre pressure on display continuously. I previously checked tyres every day & before every time I let the tyres down or pumped them up for reference. Now I have tyre pressure on display! A massive time saver!
So we ended up doing about 2/3 of the Gibb River Road twice in both directions! The worst thing about this road is the speeding drivers. They rarely slow down for the cars changing tyres, We had 6 cars pass us while changing the wheel. 2 slowed down a bit, 4 sped past & one of these actually sped up! There is no common courtesy or safety considerations. Not one car stopped to ask if we were ok. We had stopped for the 3 previous cars replacing tyres & asked if they were ok. (on a busy pubic road where we had stopped to check a tyre & within 2 minutes a mining vehicle stopped & asked if we were ok!) Asking also stops one racing past at 100 kph throwing stones everywhere!
Not only this road, but when changing tyre pressure we rarely saw people adjusting tyre pressures in or out of these roads. We did a back of the envelope count in Purnululu NP & only 1 in 10 cars had let their tyres down for the miserable corrugated roads. 53 km just to get into the park & then the park itself, 200 km minimum round trip. There is even a sign at the entrance of Purnululu to let your tyres down 10 PSI from your highway tyre pressure!
So if you are planning to do the Gibb River Road or similar, a second spare wheel is a must, TPMS is peace of mind & allows you to repair a tyre before destruction, tyre repair kit will bring tyres back to life, put as many plugs in as needed, 1 is usually enough, & get a top quality dual compressor with pressure gauge, nothing worse than waiting to pump up 4 tyres day in day out to get back onto the bitumen! Run the engine while using the compressor to keep voltage up & also to avoid flattening your battery! & upgrade cables to compressor to improve the 20% power loss due to undersized wiring on all these compressors! Maybe wire in an Anderson plug to speed things up!
The Gibb River Road is full of speeding drivers who also don't let there tyres down & on top of that a good percentage of these are Britz & Apollo 4WDs who probably have never driven on a dirt road in their life!
The poodle LR 18 inch rims are really not suitable for this road. We took our time & ran tyres at the right pressure but there really is not enough rubber on the 235/60 R18 tyres. Hopefully next time with slightly larger 255/60 R18 the increased wall height things will be a little better, but it is still not ideal. If you have 19 inch rims I would not do the Gibb River Road, especially the eastern end. 19 inch, 25 PSI, corrugations & sharp rocks on the road are asking for trouble, take 3 spare wheels with you!
Returning through second river crossing.
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Fluorescent tag on TPMS spanner so you don't loose it!
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TPMS tyre pressure on display. Rear right of 35 PSI was the third screw we got in a tyre on this holiday! One tyre has 4 plugs in total from previous flat tyres on holiday, all from screws!
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We did get the tyre replaced at Halls Creek, they had one "road" tyre only, for a reasonable price in the garage on the road to Sawpit Gorge.
235/60 R18 might be ok in the city but it is a useless size in the outback, so you really have to have your own replacements. If you have a Toyota you can rent a sixth wheel at one end of the Gibb River Road & drop it off at the other. Kunnunurra or Derby.
Carry extra fuel up here as these roads drink fuel & you will want to do side trips. No point being up here & simply driving though!
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The sort of vehicle you need. This owner carries 4 spare wheels & trailer wheels are the same as the car wheels. He also can carry up to 475 litres of fuel.
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Gibb River Road fuel requirements, side trip to Bells Gorge.
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Halfway through the 800 metres of Tunnel Creek
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Windjana Gorge, it was full of crocodiles.
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Windjana Gorge.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
6th Sep 2018 9:55 pm
mikehzz
Member Since: 04 Sep 2009
Location: Springwood
Posts: 749
Nice pictures. I learnt on my very first trip out there that tyres are everything when it comes to 4wding and rough roads. You can equate it to shoes on people, going for a bushwalk in high heals isn't a good idea. I honestly think Land Rover has lost the plot with the choice of wheels they put on their cars these days. It seems like a fashion thing, as if people like 20" rims with no rubber. Personally I think a 4wd looks better with big rubber, not big rims. An analogy, Serena Williams playing a Wimbledon final in stilettos, she'd look ridiculous and wouldn't be able to run. That's Land Rover's off road strategy. Everyone talks about it out here and it's a deal breaker for anyone wanting to take them off road. The Defender replacement is Land Rover's last chance at credibility, if it comes out with 19" rims forget it.
Where to next mate?
7th Sep 2018 1:50 pm
Lightwater
Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
Agree that rubber band tyres simply look stupid on 4WDs apart from all the practical issues.
We had intended to go to Mitchell Falls & Kalumburu (permit required, book online & you only have to pay if you actually get there). It is Toyota country in the outback, you only see "stupid" people driving Land Rovers up here. Poodle wheels, tiny fuel tanks to name a few issues!
Putting aside the politics of the telecommunication issues in Kalumburu. The real issue it that 'It is a 12-hour drive from Kalumburu to the nearest town and existing telecommunications are limited.'
It is only once you have actually been in some of these remote outback areas that you start to feel how really vulnerable you are. 4WDs with poodle wheels & thimble sized fuel tanks are not up to the task & quite frankly it is a safety issue to put it bluntly! Roads are too rough & distances are too great.
80 litres on Defender roof!
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50 litres on Freelander roof!
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We saw a few trucks on the Gibb River Road, a bit daunting the size of these things on these roads with the wall of dust you have to drive into!
A good video here in a Defender..... with radiator issues, 8 days later back on the road!
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=weste...;FORM=VIREProcrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
Last edited by Lightwater on 9th Sep 2018 10:14 am. Edited 1 time in total
9th Sep 2018 1:10 am
mikehzz
Member Since: 04 Sep 2009
Location: Springwood
Posts: 749
I can't recall if I've linked this video before, sorry if I have. It really demonstrates the vulnerability of the low profile tyres. It's a Land Rover sponsored trip with two D4's and a Defender plus a host of other various cars. A tough trip, isolated and hard on the cars. Vesko took his FL2 solo into Bilbunya Dunes last year, a real gutsy effort. He lost the rear muffler and had to do makeshift repairs. This trip is on my list....
9th Sep 2018 10:10 am
Lightwater
Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4907
Great video. I wonder what some of these cars were doing for fuel, keeping it inside? It's a very long way between fuel stops around here. Even more so off road & even worse on the sand!
We were in Esperance & had stopped to look at a map to decide whether to go to Cape le Grand National Park & up Balladonia Road to the Eyre HWY. Then someone came out of their house & asked if we were lost. We said we were not sure if we wanted to go to the Cape or to Norseman for the quickest route back home. They had been in this area a week before in their serious 4wd & said the road was in very poor condition & it would take longer & you would use a lot of fuel. With the rain setting in again in this part of the world we decided to give it a miss & headed north to Norseman camping overnight on the way. Basically getting away from the coast with the bad weather.
As it turned out most of Australia is in drought except for the south west corner which has had their best rainfall in 15 years! We basically had rain from Perth to Esperance & there is only so much one can take living out of a car!
Remains of jetty at Eucla.
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Remains of telegraph station at Eucle.
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Worlds longest golf course, the Nullabor.
The road sign to Koonalda Cave on the Eyre HWY has been removed, I believe it is because the cave has been closed to the public. We camped in the gravel pit 300 metres off the Eyre HWY overnight, nice sunset, but earlier in the afternoon found another hole in the ground, turn off to the left about 2 km up Koonalda Road. We then drove north along this dirt track for many kilometres, but didn't hang around as there was a pretty severe thunderstorm. Everything was very green, not like the brown aerial picture.
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We only had GPS with road maps & as usual there is no mobile access, so you only know where you are in relation to a main road. Koonalda Road is a horror, it is covered in stones just the wrong size to be completely miserable to drive on. The goat track north from the hole in the ground was actually really nice to drive on!
We also looked at Murrawijinie Caves along the Nullarbor, the signage from the Eyre HWY is hopeless & the first km of the track is unpleasant to drive on but it gets better, you are not allowed to drive on it in wet weather, but it was still relatively dry for us. You also need a short ladder to get down into the cave, but nevertheless it was interesting walking around the 3 caves in the area. No trees to the horizon & just these holes in the ground. Photos in my Kimberley holiday thread: https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32055.html
Some interesting numbers:
Sydney to Ubirr 4,023 km
Ubirr to Perth 4,076 km
Perth to Sydney 3,934 km
Side trips 5,667 km
Total 17,700 km.
Sydney to London 17,000 km.Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18
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6th Sep 2018 9:55 pm
