To find a vehicle test use the pull-down lists below.
On location, hunting for dinosaurs! While waiting for a massive Sauropod to wander across the barren...
Destinations > Sand Storm
Sand Storm
Leaving this great little spot the next morning was hard, with time on our side we could have easily have stayed here another day soaking up the atmosphere. Within a few kilometres, we were again in open country and ever changing conditions. Travelling still through soft sand, this section of land had not been burnt by man or nature for a number of years, with large sections of spinifex with tall flower heads dwarfing our vehicles. Stopping our vehicles to inspect this very tall spinifex, we could not believe the height of it; close to two-meters.
Back on the track again, conditions were still ever changing and every now and then, tall termite mounds around a metre tall were starting to appear. For the rest of the trip they were often seen, becoming more numerous the further we travelled north. A section of track was in the bed of a water course. In this area where there were no water courses as such, small canyons more than a metre deep had carved out the original section of track, through years of water erosion. One such washaway separated the track and one of Len's blazed desert oak trees, marking 124-miles until the Sandy Blight Junction and 126-miles since leaving the Giles Weather Station.
read on below advertisement
Clearing the dune country, we were again into open country with scattered vegetation and spinifex, with our next target to the north now clearly in our sights. Looming ahead of us was the Sir Frederick Range, which gives visitors the chance the drive to the summit and is the highest vehicle access point along the Sandy Blight Junction Track. The country that we were travelling through had been burnt out and gave the landscape an eerie appearance, with the naked range clearly visible, because of the lack of vegetation, and clearly visible was the large stone cairn that was erected at the summit. Before turning off to the summit track, drivers should carefully take note of what Len had stamped on the plaque, advising travellers that it has very steep grades. Up until this point, there was no need to engage 4WD, but this was going to change shortly, due to steep grades and the large stones that the track was blazed over to reach the summit. Ground clearance is also a very important factor, as two vehicles in our party, a Nissan Navara and a Mazda BT50, both stock standard, were not able to drive to the summit.
next page »
Back on the track again, conditions were still ever changing and every now and then, tall termite mounds around a metre tall were starting to appear. For the rest of the trip they were often seen, becoming more numerous the further we travelled north. A section of track was in the bed of a water course. In this area where there were no water courses as such, small canyons more than a metre deep had carved out the original section of track, through years of water erosion. One such washaway separated the track and one of Len's blazed desert oak trees, marking 124-miles until the Sandy Blight Junction and 126-miles since leaving the Giles Weather Station.
read on below advertisement
Clearing the dune country, we were again into open country with scattered vegetation and spinifex, with our next target to the north now clearly in our sights. Looming ahead of us was the Sir Frederick Range, which gives visitors the chance the drive to the summit and is the highest vehicle access point along the Sandy Blight Junction Track. The country that we were travelling through had been burnt out and gave the landscape an eerie appearance, with the naked range clearly visible, because of the lack of vegetation, and clearly visible was the large stone cairn that was erected at the summit. Before turning off to the summit track, drivers should carefully take note of what Len had stamped on the plaque, advising travellers that it has very steep grades. Up until this point, there was no need to engage 4WD, but this was going to change shortly, due to steep grades and the large stones that the track was blazed over to reach the summit. Ground clearance is also a very important factor, as two vehicles in our party, a Nissan Navara and a Mazda BT50, both stock standard, were not able to drive to the summit.
WHEN TO VISIT
next page »
