Coober Pedy, Painted Desert, Breakaways - Mar 2012

[Guest Close Guest]

Currently looking at taking the extended family up to Coober Pedy and would like to know from the well travelled on here how road conditions are like to Painted desert and Breakaways.

Mother-in-law is tagging along and she is the outdoorsy type. She is fitter than me! I'm the photographic type so we're going to combine easy walks (young kids) with good scenery. So that's 7 of us travelling. I then have my parents who may be able to come visit us too. That makes 9. Our other car is a Tarago. Do you think that it would be adequate to take the Tarago as the 2nd vehicle to visit those places?

We'll be there for maybe 3 nights. Is that too many nights? Not really planning on doing long drives out of Coober Pedy. If 2 nights is enough, I might stop for a night in Flinders on the way back or on the way there.

I know that the easier tracks in the flinders can be done in a sedan but a RAV4 might be better. Not sure if the RAV4 will be OK for Coober Pedy.

I can rent from Avis a Pajero for $385 or a RAV4 for $290 for 4 days. Would obviously prefer to spend less on car rental if possible. Actually, I'm not sure now if Avis' SUV fleet uses 2WD or AWD RAV4.

[chester ver 2.0 Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester ver 2.0]

Rav 4 will be fine just let the tyres down a bit we had trouble with the breakaways last year but that was due to high rain if there is no rain you will be fine. We drove all the way out to lake eyre from cooper 1 day through william creek long day but worth it. 3 days should be neough 1 for town 1 for painted desert and break aways and 1 for doing whatever

[mrkrinkle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mrkrinkle]

Yeah was up that way last month.

Tracks are fine as long as it's dry.

[Chewy81 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Chewy81]

Painted Desert Road is pretty rough in places so make sure you keep the speed down. The track claimed a tyre on the camper, apart from that, take a bunch of pics and share em!

[Guest Close Guest]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
One more thing, how long are the walks as we will have 4 kids in tow with the youngest turning 2 by then. Are the walking tracks suitable for a 3-wheel jogger stroller?

[Sunshine Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sunshine]

amts
I'm sure you are aware that it will be stinking hot in the middle of the day in March and walking any long distance will be a trial. Take plenty of drinks..

[Guest Close Guest]

amts
I'm sure you are aware that it will be stinking hot in the middle of the day in March and walking any long distance will be a trial. Take plenty of drinks..

No, not exactly. I was hoping that it would be slightly cooler from summer temperatures

[letsgoplaces Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close letsgoplaces]

Here is a link with average temps etc http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averag...w_016007.shtml
Stinking hot is in the eye of the beholder, a bit like asking someone 'what was the road like?'

[Guest Close Guest]

Thanks for that link. I found the summary for the month of March 2011 http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/curren....summary.shtml
Apparently La Nina is back again this summer. So might get similar temps again.
Haven't really decided if we should go yet.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

The flies up that way can be pretty thick if its even a bit warm. This stuff http://www.tendernest.com.au/product/NB-C005 is the best fly repellent we have ever used, and it even smells pretty good so the ladies love it.

If we do have the La Nina again that might mean wet roads, in which case you wont be going anywhere up that way, 5mm of rain and some of those roads turn to $hit.

Cheers Andrew

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

The flies up that way can be pretty thick if its even a bit warm. This stuff http://www.tendernest.com.au/product/NB-C005 is the best fly repellent we have ever used, and it even smells pretty good so the ladies love it.

If we do have the La Nina again that might mean wet roads, in which case you wont be going anywhere up that way, 5mm of rain and some of those roads turn to $hit.

Cheers Andrew

"If you were referred to our site by someone else, please enter their name and postcode here (we like to reward people who recommend our site)"

...would you like to be rewarded, Andrew? :P

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

I rewarded him. Said "Andrew & Trish from Loxton". I mean how many can there be in that remote town? Happy to send them a message if he wants to sure up the reward.

Just hoping he didn't use his secret login name of "stud muffin" or Trishes being "Daddy's speshal hugs machine"

[Guest Close Guest]

The flies up that way can be pretty thick if its even a bit warm. This stuff http://www.tendernest.com.au/product/NB-C005 is the best fly repellent we have ever used, and it even smells pretty good so the ladies love it.

If we do have the La Nina again that might mean wet roads, in which case you wont be going anywhere up that way, 5mm of rain and some of those roads turn to $hit.

Cheers Andrew

Thanks Andrew. The rain should make things more fun
That webpage for the creme doesn't mention anything at all as to what it is useful for. Not doubting what you said, just commenting on the content of the website.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

"If you were referred to our site by someone else, please enter their name and postcode here (we like to reward people who recommend our site)"

...would you like to be rewarded, Andrew? :P

Not sure how they are going to reward me with just a name and a post code?

Thanks Andrew. The rain should make things more fun
That webpage for the creme doesn't mention anything at all as to what it is useful for. Not doubting what you said, just commenting on the content of the website.

I must admit I didn't read the webpage at all, just did a quick google so you knew what I was talking about. The creme may well have other uses, it is very much like a moisturiser cream, not powerful enough for my crocodile skin though.
We first bought some of this at Tibooburra, loved it so much we grabbed some more from the Camerons Corner store, that lasted for a few years. We bought more online last year.
I work in $hithole across from an abbotoirs and use it all the time at work and swear by it.

Cheers Andrew

[ondaboat Coopers Pale Ale Find all posts View Profile Close ondaboat]

I work in $hithole across from an abbotoirs and use it all the time at work and swear by it.

Cheers Andrew

Thats why you should be in the shed making more rock sliders