Rudall River NP

[mrs quilty]

Has anyone towed into Rudall River NP? If so what condition was the track in?
Thank you for your responses in advance
Merilyn

[NichBails]

Hi Merilyn - we towed into the Queen Desert Baths and it was well worth every scratch in the paint work. The track is tight in some places, rough in some places with many washouts. Any thing bigger than a topaz would have difficulty only due to some of the tight tree lined bends at the start of the track. We stayed for 4 days and loved it. Swimming in the waterholes and exploring up the gorge looking for aboriginal paintings.


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[Jim and Lyn]

Hi Marilyn,
We towed the tvan through the back of Parngurr  (Cotten Creek) after getting permission from the traditional owners a couple of years ago. We came out onto well formed tracks near the graphite mines after breaking a track through heavy regrowth. We found the rest of the tracks well formed and in good nick but there have been some great wet seasons since which can change the situation significantly. It's that sort of country. Contact the park rangers as if they run a grader through it, it could be a highway!
Cheers
Jim

[peter_mcc]

This is a timely thread - we're hoping to make it out here in late May. The plan at the moment is to come in at the bottom from the west and go out the top via Telfer back to Marble Bar.

[mrs quilty]

Thanks everyone. From what I've read it seems that traversing the track (we plan north to south) shouldn't be a problem. Anticipating to be there about the middle of June. So Peter_mcc if you remember it would be good to hear of your experience. Are you also travelling the Gary Junction Road?

[peter_mcc]

So Peter_mcc if you remember it would be good to hear of your experience.

Happy to be reminded... if you drop a note here I'll get the notification.

Are you also travelling the Gary Junction Road?

Hoping to come in from Newman side via Talawara Track - we're coming from the Pilbara and heading to the Kimberley.

[mrs quilty]

Happy to be reminded... if you drop a note here I'll get the notification.Hoping to come in from Newman side via Talawara Track - we're coming from the Pilbara and heading to the Kimberley.

Ok. We are coming from the east and plan to go through the park from north to south then onto Newman before heading to the Pilbara. (Don't think the insert quote quite worked

[peter_mcc]

Belated update - we were there early June (just got back). Here's some feedback I sent to the Newman visitor centre:

We've just come from Newman to Broome via Rudall River NP. In via the south, out the north.

The road in was in good condition - high speed dirt from the tar turnoff to Balfour Downs to Talawana Track with few corrugations and washed out sections.

We looked at the first road in - cuts across from the Talawana Track to the main North/South road - it looked ok and had lots of tyre tracks but within 500m was a bit scratchy/narrow for our liking. So we went further along to the main north/south road into the park. It is in good condition with one sandy section (the track splits at one point - sandy road straight ahead, detour road to the left - take the left track. The sandy bit is ok but bumpy). The southern water pump doesn't exist any more - make sure people know!!

We looked at two of the pools to the east when hit the river (eastern one of the two was Kalkan Kalkan Soak). They both had water but weren't especially nice. We then crossed the Rudall River (a bit sandy but ok) went along a bit then turned left. This goes to No. 11 pool, Tjingkatjatjarra & Watrara Pools - Tjingkatjatjarra was by far the nicest and we camped there. It was deep enough to swim but we didn't.

The next day we drove to the Desert Queen Baths - easy to find the route. Once you turn off the north/south park road there is 3-4kms of scratchy track before it opens out. There was one tricky creek crossing but we towed our Tvan camper trailer through without a problem. It took around 1hr for the 18kms - slow.

The Desert Queen Baths have heaps of water at the moment. It's a lovely spot - my favourite of the trip so far.

We then drove out the northern exit of the park. The road is ok except from about 1km past the northern water pump where it crosses a river. There is about 1km of really soft sand in the crossing (it just goes on and on) then 1km of hard then more sand. The rest of the road out is ok except for another sandy patch (not as bad as the river).

We took a short cut, turning left just past Moses Chair - there is a road that goes via Nifty Mine then Woody Woody mine to the Skull Springs road. Most of it is in great condition (recently graded, little traffic) but there is about 20-30kms of sand in the middle. This was slow (60km/h instead of 80km/h for the rest) going but not boggy. Once you hit the Nifty mine it turns into a fantastic 4 lane dirt road. There were no signs saying we weren't allowed to be there - there are signs at the Woody Woody end saying no entry (ie if coming back the other way).

Eel Pool/Running Waters has heaps of water flowing into it. The water coming in is super clear and cold - there are thermal springs in the bottom of the pool so it has warm sections and cold bits. The road down to the river section is ok - there are muddly water puddles but they have a solid base and aren't very deep. I wouldn't recommend it for a big caravan but a camper trailer would be ok. If in doubt it's not hard to park at the top (where it enters the river valley) and walk down to check.

We then camped at De Grey River - great spot with more clear cold water. We then took the Boreline Track north to the highway. All the dirt roads were in good condition - we sat on 90 most of the time.

[Phil G]

I was chatting to a Prado/Ultimate owner last week here in WA and he had travelled via Rudall River heading north.  He said he spent 2 days getting through boggy sand.  He was well travelled but his 150 Prado was stock standard and looked like it lacked clearance to me.

[peter_mcc]

I was chatting to a Prado/Ultimate owner last week here in WA and he had travelled via Rudall River heading north.  He said he spent 2 days getting through boggy sand.  He was well travelled but his 150 Prado was stock standard and looked like it lacked clearance to me.

wow - I know it was sandy but didn't think it was that bad! I think our 4 x MaxTrax saved us - once I dug the car/Tvan out & lowered the tyre pressure (more) it allowed me to get up on top of the soft sand and build some momentum.