The Anne Beadell Highway is a non-asphalt runway that leads from Coober Pedy, South Australia to Laverton, Western Australia leads. The surveyor Len Beadell named it after his wife Anne. The road runs approximately 400 km north of the Eyre Highway through the Great Victoria Desert and is the only direct connection from Coober Pedy to Western Australia. The Anne Beadell Highway is approximately 1,340 km long and runs through the states of Western Australia and South Australia. The slope was laid between 1953 and 1962.
background
The Anne Beadell Highway is one of the so-called Bomb Roads. Len Beadell laid the slopes in the desert areas on both sides of the border between Western and South Australia with the Gunbarrel Construction Party in the 1950s and 1960s. They served to develop the areas to build an infrastructure for nuclear weapons tests in the Woomera area.
preparation
The Anne Beadell Highway runs through the outback of the Great Victoria Desert. There are no towns between Coober Pedy and Laverton; there is one on the slopes Roadhouse, which also operates a gas station. The recommended travel time is April to October; the Australian summer is extremely hot, with nighttime temperatures well below freezing.
A well-maintained and equipped off-road vehicle (4WD) is required for the journey. Since you are only in Ilkurlka Roadhouse To be able to shop for little things, the traveler has to be completely independent. For the trip, which will last at least four to six days, the traveler needs water - approx. 6l per day and person - and food including a three to four day reserve, at least one spare wheel - two are recommended - as well as tools and small spare parts. A HiJack jack and compressor to regulate tire pressure can come in handy. First aid equipment should not be missing (in Australia it is usually not part of the equipment of a rental vehicle). If you don't have a satellite phone, don't want to rent one or don't have a radio with you, you should have at least one emergency beacon (Epirb) carry with you.
The traveler should be familiar with the use of a map and compass. GPS is not absolutely necessary. The map material published by Hema-Verlag is ideal Great Desert Tracks Central Sheet Map Hema at. The map issued by the RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia) office in Port Augusta Flinders Ranges & Outback is free for ADAC members and covers the South Australian part of the Anne Beadell Highway, the atlas published by Quality Publishing Australia Roads & Tracks the Western Australian part.
The slope is often sandy. To the west of the Western Australian border it crosses some low dune ridges; otherwise it runs in the dune valleys, which mostly extend in an east-west direction. Corrugated iron-like sections (Corrugations) alternate with a few soft sand passages and washouts. The highway is very narrow in places on both sides of the border.
Five permits are required to drive on the Anne Beadell Highway and spend the night along the piste:
- Woomera Prohibited Area Issuing of transit permits. While planning a traverse of the Great Victoria Desert should be considered early on Ministry of Defense homepage Check when the Woomera area is closed to non-members of the armed forces.
- Tallaringa Conservation Park (costs: admission and camping) or the Desert Park Pass of the South Australian National Park Administration: Email address of the park administration: [email protected],
- Mamungari Conservation Park formerly Unnamed Conservation Park (costs: entrance fee): Email address of the park administration: [email protected],
- Maralinga-Tjarutja Council Homepage of the Aboriginal Community.
- Department of Indigenous Affairs Application form
The permits can easily be applied for by email and are issued within a few days. The fees can be paid by credit card.
The road conditions should be checked with the respective police stations in Coober Pedy or Laverton before departure. De-registration / re-registration is not necessary and not desired.
getting there
Coober Pedy can be reached from the north and south via the Stuart Highway, from the east from William Creek via William Creek and from Oodnadatta via Kempe Road. It is also possible to travel by Ghan or by plane from Adelaide, but the train stops around 40 km west of the city.
In Coober Pedy there are all the necessary facilities to prepare for the crossing of the Great Victoria Desert - gas stations, supermarkets, doctors, drugstore / pharmacy and two car rental companies.
Coober Pedy has a population of around 3500 and is often referred to as the opal capital of Australia. The underground churches and apartments in Coober Pedy are worth seeing. The stay should be used to visit an opal mine; are recommended Tom's Working Opal Mine (German owner) and the Old Timers Mine. It is also possible to spend the night underground.
Drive
Coober Pedy - Mabel Creek Station
From the town center Coober Pedys the route leads to the Stuart Highway, which is followed north past the airport. After about 5 km at the sign to Mabel Creek, a gravel road branches off to the left, which you follow. First the road leads through the rubble hills of the opal seekers. These become less and less, until finally a flat, sparsely vegetated desert landscape begins on both sides of the road. After 40 km the highway crosses the route of the Ghan. Behind the track, the road makes a 90-degree right-hand bend and to the right of the road you can see the Manguri stop, which is the Coober Pedy train station.
After another 7 km, the road branches off to the left to Mabel Creek Homestead. The homestead may only be entered with the permission of the owner or in emergencies. However, driving through the land belonging to the homestead is permitted without a permit, provided that the instructions on the signs along the road are followed. The Anne Beadell Highway is a well-developed gravel road that can be driven on without any problems.
Mabel Creek Station - Tallaringa Well
From the sign, drive 1.7 km to a junction - left to Mabel Creek Homestead, right to Mt. Clearance Homestead - cross this and turn left after another 700 m. After 2.1 km you will reach the original route of the Anne Beadell Highway and turn right onto it. The mostly dead straight road reaches an airfield after a further 17 km. Now there are still 56 km to the dingo fence.
On the route you repeatedly come through gates that are supposed to be left in the state in which you found them; i.e. if they have to be opened, they should also be closed again. Road conditions deteriorate dramatically after leaving Mabel Creek Homestead. The corrugations are probably the fiercest in all of Australia. The land up to the dingo fence belongs to Mabel Creek Station. At the dingo fence, the Anne Beadell Highway turns left and heads two miles south. Then the dingo fence is crossed and it goes back three kilometers. These six kilometers are excellent to drive on; unfortunately there is a speed limit.
It starts right at the dingo fence Tallaringa Conservation Park. The highway now leads in a west-southwest direction mostly through dune valleys and is in poor condition. The low dunes are covered with desert Karrajong, acacias and desert eucalyptus. Desert grasses and scrub spread out between the trees. If the desert floor is not overgrown, you can see the 'red earth' of Australia. Overgrown areas of land alternate with stone desert over and over again. After about 59 km you will reach the Tallaringa borehole (Tallaringa Well). Camping is permitted in the park in vacant spaces on both sides of the road that are no more than 50 m away from the route. There are suitable overnight accommodations in the vicinity of the borehole. The actual borehole is 500 m to the left of the track.
Tallaringa Well - Emu Junction
The Tallaringa Conservation Park is intended to protect a dry zone typical of inner Australian deserts. In addition to the plants already mentioned above, the animal world is also interesting: Kangaroos and dromedaries are often seen, and dingoes are seldom seen. You rarely see reptiles, sometimes a monitor lizard or a snake. Among the birds, glossy and alexandra parakeets predominate, several types of bustards feel at home in the dense undergrowth.
After exiting the Tallaringa well, the Anne Beadell Highway turns west-northwest. The journey is still determined by very large corrugations, for the crossing of which there is no suitable (gentle) speed. The jolting is equally violent at every speed. After 46 km you will reach marker 654 and after another 15 km you will reach marker 653. These markers were set up by the Gunbarrel Construction Party and contain information about directions and distances. After a total of 108 km, the Anne Beadell Highway reaches the place where the British armed forces detonated two nuclear weapons in 1962.
Detour Ground Zero
- The path on the right leads to two obelisks - totems 1 and 2, which mark the zero points. The zero points can also be recognized by the slight depressions that were created by the detonations. Here and there you can see some molten steel. Allegedly the area no longer shines. The path to the left leads to a small hill from which the detonations were observed.
Now it is 17 km to Emu Junction. The settlement emu no longer exists. At the junction, a track branches off south to the Eyre Highway; however, passage is prohibited. Turn right to Emu Junction Airfield, which is used by mining companies. There are good places to stay in the area around Emu Junctions.
Emu Junction - South / Western Australia border
After leaving Emu Junction, the Anne Beadell Highway becomes narrower and more curvy. To avoid damaging the exterior mirrors, it is advisable to at least fold them in; better to unscrew them. Because of the branches that often protrude far into the road, scratches can easily occur in the car paint. The road initially continues in a west-northwest direction, later in a westerly direction. Extreme corrugated iron passages alternate with sandy sections. There are seldom stony or rocky sections. After about 51 km you will come to a fork in the road Anne's Corner. The highway follows the track to the left. The way to the right is called Mt Davies Road and leads over the Pipalyatjara Community to Warburton Road (520 km). Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Construction Party bulldozed this portion of the Anne Beadell Highway from Mabel Creek Station to Anne's Corner in two months in early 1953 and in November 1957.
After 75 km the highway reaches the limit of the Mamungari Conservation Parks. In 2011 the park boundary was still marked by a nameplate with the former name Unnamed Conservation Park marked. The Mamungari CP is a world biosphere reserve; it consists of red sand dunes and salt lakes - the typical fauna and flora of the Great Victoria Desert are protected. The park is also of great cultural importance for the indigenous population, who look after the park together with the South Australian National Park Administration. The road conditions are still bad because of the extreme corrugated iron sections. The slope leads through long dune valleys, the dunes of which are covered with spinifex, mulga and acacia bushes. After 17 miles the road reaches Vokes Hill Corner. The path that turns left leads through Cook, a settlement of the Maralinga Tjarutja people, to the Eyre Highway (370 km). This road may only be used with an additional permit. At the junction there is a visitor's book with which the Maralinga Tjarutja Community wants to determine the number of travelers.
The landscape changes little; the highway becomes even narrower and more curvy. After 170 km you will reach the Western Australian border. This is also where the Mamungari CP ends. Camping is permitted within 100 yards on either side of the Anne Beadell Highway. It is completely forbidden between the longitudes 129 ° 20'E and 129 ° 48'E. About a kilometer before the highway reaches Western Australia, it crosses the mostly dry ones Serpentine Lakes. There are very good overnight accommodations on the east bank. The section from Vokes Hill to the border was the Construction party Finished in 1962.
South / Western Australia border - Ilkurlka RH
After crossing the Serpentine Lakes the Anne Beadell Highway reaches Western Australia. There is a sign near the border Tjuntjunjara Community, on which the distances to the four camping options and their facilities are described. Overnight stays are free in places 1, 3 and 4. The Anne Beadell Highway also bears the name from the border in Western Australia Serpentine Lakes Road and runs through the to the west of the Ilkurlka Road House Spinifex Native Title Area.
As you cross the border, the time zone also changes. The clocks must be put forward by an hour and a half. Note, however, that South Australia has adopted daylight saving time, Western Australia has not, and road conditions west of the border are improving dramatically. The slope becomes sandy and the Corrugations get smaller. After the jolting in South Australia you seem to be floating. However, it remains narrow. The Anne Beadell Highway runs generally west for approximately 50 miles between the dunes of the great Victoria Desert. Then it runs for about 40 km in a north-westerly direction and crosses a series of dunes. These are no higher than ten meters. The ascents and descents are sandy, but not deep. Nevertheless, they should be crossed as far to the left as possible in a low gear at high speed. After crossing the dunes, the road turns again to the west.
After a total of 165 km you will reach a crossroads with the Aboriginal Business Road. This road may only be used with additional permits. This is to the left west of the intersection Ilkurlka Roadhouse. The Roadhouse is open Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Outside of the opening times it is possible to arrange services by telephone (Tel .: (08) 9037 1147). Since from the roadhouse the communities of the indigenous Tjuntjunjara People in the surrounding area are supplied, you get all goods for daily life there; the prices are accordingly. A liter of diesel cost AUD 2.70 / l in 2012. There is a possibility of camping at the roadhouse. There are showers and toilets there. The overnight fee is AUD 10.00, shower only costs AUD 3.00.
Ilkurlka RH - Neale Junction
The Anne Beadell Highway continues west. It is sometimes stony and no longer as tight and curvy. There are also no more dunes to cross. In some places it leads straight through the desert for kilometers. After about 59 km you will come to a sign pointing to an airplane wreck to the right.
Detour plane wreck
The runway to the plane wreck is fine sand, on the dunes deep sand. The dunes are up to six meters high and run in an east-west direction. The exits / driveways on the northern slopes are steeper than those on the south side. In total, the length of the detour is a little more than 8 km or 18 dunes. The track is easy to drive on, only the driveways are sometimes winding. The plane belonged to a mining company and crashed here on January 28, 1993. Some of the four inmates were seriously injured. It was not until 1995 that the track to the wreck was created. The plane was completely intact after the crash, only the instruments were broken. Over the years, vandals robbed the engines. More and more parts of the wreck disappeared because many visitors took a single souvenir with them.
The slope mostly runs in a westerly direction, often dead straight for several kilometers. The vegetation on the sides is receding, so that the path looks wider. The ground is firm and allows higher speeds than before; Corrugated iron sections are short and have only low waves. After approximately 44 km the Anne Beadell Highway reaches the boundary of the Neally Junction Nature Reserve and after another 47 km a former airstrip, at the northern end of which travelers can see rock art of the indigenous people. There is an overnight accommodation near the runway.
After another 25 km you reach Neale Junctionwho have favourited intersection with the Connie Sue Highway. This track leads from Rawlinna (330 km) at the Trans-Australian Railway in the south after Warburton (330 km) at the Great Central Road in the North. The track takes its name from Len Beadell's daughter, and he named the intersection after his son. About 500 m further to the west there is an overnight accommodation with simple sanitary facilities.
Neale Junction - Laverton
The Anne Beadell Highway is now getting wider. The subsoil consists of firm sand - rocky or stony sections are rare. Every now and then washouts force you to drive slowly. After rainfall, the track turns into a slippery mud runway. If you are caught by heavy rains, it is advisable not to drive any further. The piste is usually dry after a day at the latest and it is possible to continue driving safely.
The track now leads the next approximately 47 km in a generally westerly direction and straight through the desert for kilometers. Then you reach a junction to the left. That is the Ranson Lake Roadwhich leads along the lakes of the same name to Laverton (375 km), but is even less traveled than the Anne Beadell Highway. The Anne Beadell Highway turns north-northwest and reaches another junction after about 40 miles before the Norton Craig Range. The track continues to the right, now in a north-westerly direction and after 19 km reaches a junction where you turn right to the mostly dry one Yeo Lake can drive. The Anne Beadell Highway crosses the intersection and after another 31 km you reach the ruins of the Yeo Homestead.
The ruins are now looked after by the national park administration after the owner of the cattle and sheep farm had to give them up in the early 1960s due to lack of water. The ruins are well preserved and offer very good overnight accommodation.
The slope now turns to the west again. For the next approximately 65 km to the Yamarna Homestead the track becomes narrower and a bit confusing. Many roads cross the Anne Beadell Highway or lead away from it on both sides. The site belongs to a mining company that digs for mineral resources here and has laid out countless routes that lead in all directions. It is important here: always keep in a generally westerly direction and stay on the main path. Yamarna Homestead offers overnight accommodation again.
The Anne Beadell Highway goes straight west of the Yamarna Homestead onto the White Cliffs Yamarna Road. The road is wide and a well-developed, paved and regularly maintained gravel road. After approximately 145 km you will reach the entrance to Laverton. The Anne Bedeall Highway ends or starts here:
security
- Driving style:
- - Even if the vehicle density only increases in the high season - in the Australian winter - up to eight vehicles per day, the speed should be reduced in blind spots in order to be able to avoid oncoming traffic in good time or to stop.
- - When driving on corrugated iron, the waves of which are very pronounced for miles between Mabel Creek Station and the South Australian border, it is recommended to reduce the tire pressure for a more comfortable ride.
- When you encounter wild animals, you should drive with increased attention:
- - Kangaroos and emus often run alongside the vehicle at the same height and then cross the street in a suicidal manner directly in front of the vehicle.
- - Camels often use the slope and do not leave it even after honking or jostling. The only thing that helps is patience.
- - Snakes and lizards like to heat themselves up on the slopes. When a vehicle approaches, they flee in any direction, including in front of the vehicle. In case of sightings, reduce the speed and allow the reptiles to escape.
- The regulations for dealing with fire must be strictly observed. When parking the vehicle, there should be no Spinifex under the vehicle, as this grass can ignite on the hot exhaust. After long journeys over an overgrown strip in the middle of the road, it should be checked whether a lot of seeds and grasses have collected on the floor of the vehicle and these should be removed.
- Breakdowns:
- - Be sure to stay with the vehicle. A car is better recognized from the air than people.
- - With a satellite phone, the problem can be precisely described and help can be targeted on the way.
- - A general (radio) emergency call is sent out with an Epirb. Usually an employee is then sent out from a nearby farm in a vehicle to determine what has happened. A helicopter is often used instead.
trips
Laverton is a small western Australian town in the outback on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert. After 1350 km of mostly bad slopes, driving on asphalt feels like gliding on calm water. There are petrol stations, a hotel and a motel and a campsite in Laverton. There is also a supermarket. There is a small hospital for medical emergencies.
From Laverton two roads lead in different directions: before you reach the city, the one turns right Great Central Road from that via Warburton (355 miles) and the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park (1167 km) to the Red Center to Alice Springs (1603 km) leads.
The paved road leads to the western end of the village Laverton-Leonora-Road to Leonora (125 km) and the Goldfields Highway via Menzies (230 km) to Kalgoorlie (362 km).
literature
- Otmar Lind, Andrea Niehues: Australia Outback Handbook, 4th edition. Travel Know-How Edgar Hoff Verlag, Rappweiler 2008, ISBN 978-3-923716-24-1 .
- Rob van Driesum: Outback Australia, 3. Edition. Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, Footscray 2002, ISBN 1-86450-187-1
