Ok, I know most of you members wouldn't have made this trip (mainly because it was short notice and too far away LOL), but I thought I would share it with you anyhow. Recently featured in 4WD Action (formally 4WD Monthly).
This trip all started with a chat with one of my work mates, he kept telling me you gotta do the Boggy Hole trip. So after some beers one night we made a date. So after a late night packing the morning came around pretty fast and before I knew it we were on our way. My first decent trip out of Alice.
The destination was Boggy Hole, in the Finke River National Park. For the facts, Finke River is the oldest river in the world and oh boy what a drive. We left Alice pretty early and drove down Larapinta Drive towards Hermansburg, with the temp hitting the low 20s. Just before we entered Hermansburg we left the tarmack to air down and took a short cut to the main track to Boggy Hole. After a few Klms of corrigations we drove straight into the dry riverbed.
As soon as you drive through the river amazing colours of the nearby gorge shines through. Not a sign water anywhere, although when it rains here the entire gorge fills with water and is impassable. So this time is a great time to see it, or straight after the floods.
After an hour or so sticking to the tracks heading south we came across a bogged Britz troopy with you guessed it backpackers without a clue about offroading, sounds like Fraser Island all over again. So out comes the snach strap for a quick rescue and we were on our way again. Next stop was a welcome releif, water. We made it, Boggy Hole and what a great camping spot and only just over an Hour and half from Alice.
This place also had a Police Station here years ago until one year it flooded so bad they had to move it somewhere else, hense the ruins.
As we headed further south we ran into a heap of other vehicles heading north, they were taking the same trip although in the opposite direction.
The plan was to do a loop drive from Larapinta to the Stuart Hwy via the Kings Canyon access track. The track was really easy to follow although there were heaps of other tracks going in all directions you just follow the arrows. As we exited the southern end of the park my friend Mark took me to this great camping spot further down the river. We stopped here for lunch and had a swim in the river before the gruelling return trip via the Stuart.
Around about this time we took a wrong turn and ened up a little lost, I forgot the map and Mark forgot his GPS so we ended up driving an hour and 80-100klms more then we needed but in the end we found our way out. At least we wernt going to starve or get thirsty as of all things it started raining. Our track should lead us to a salt pan, and finnally we made it. I was starting to get a bit worried, I had to back at work the next day.
So after over 400klms and 8+ hours we meet the Stuart Hwy. We had to airup in the rain and froze our nipples off. We didnt bring any wet weather gear and it had been the last things in our mind. With 160klms left to go we hit the blacktop set the cruise control on 130klms sat back and enjoyed the cruisey drive home.
This trip all started with a chat with one of my work mates, he kept telling me you gotta do the Boggy Hole trip. So after some beers one night we made a date. So after a late night packing the morning came around pretty fast and before I knew it we were on our way. My first decent trip out of Alice.
The destination was Boggy Hole, in the Finke River National Park. For the facts, Finke River is the oldest river in the world and oh boy what a drive. We left Alice pretty early and drove down Larapinta Drive towards Hermansburg, with the temp hitting the low 20s. Just before we entered Hermansburg we left the tarmack to air down and took a short cut to the main track to Boggy Hole. After a few Klms of corrigations we drove straight into the dry riverbed.
As soon as you drive through the river amazing colours of the nearby gorge shines through. Not a sign water anywhere, although when it rains here the entire gorge fills with water and is impassable. So this time is a great time to see it, or straight after the floods.
After an hour or so sticking to the tracks heading south we came across a bogged Britz troopy with you guessed it backpackers without a clue about offroading, sounds like Fraser Island all over again. So out comes the snach strap for a quick rescue and we were on our way again. Next stop was a welcome releif, water. We made it, Boggy Hole and what a great camping spot and only just over an Hour and half from Alice.
This place also had a Police Station here years ago until one year it flooded so bad they had to move it somewhere else, hense the ruins.
As we headed further south we ran into a heap of other vehicles heading north, they were taking the same trip although in the opposite direction.
The plan was to do a loop drive from Larapinta to the Stuart Hwy via the Kings Canyon access track. The track was really easy to follow although there were heaps of other tracks going in all directions you just follow the arrows. As we exited the southern end of the park my friend Mark took me to this great camping spot further down the river. We stopped here for lunch and had a swim in the river before the gruelling return trip via the Stuart.
Around about this time we took a wrong turn and ened up a little lost, I forgot the map and Mark forgot his GPS so we ended up driving an hour and 80-100klms more then we needed but in the end we found our way out. At least we wernt going to starve or get thirsty as of all things it started raining. Our track should lead us to a salt pan, and finnally we made it. I was starting to get a bit worried, I had to back at work the next day.
So after over 400klms and 8+ hours we meet the Stuart Hwy. We had to airup in the rain and froze our nipples off. We didnt bring any wet weather gear and it had been the last things in our mind. With 160klms left to go we hit the blacktop set the cruise control on 130klms sat back and enjoyed the cruisey drive home.
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