Daily Archives: July 15, 2015

Great Central Road – Australia’s longest shortcut

Australia, AWC, desert, Landscape, landscape, NT, sunrise, WA

The Doc is now in Alice Springs for 2 days preparing to go to AWC’s Newhaven Sanctuary on the Tanami Track north of Alice.

This trip started with a visit to AWC’s Bowra Sanctuary and will finish with AWC’s Newhaven Sanctuary. The 2 big AWC sanctuaries for birders. The Doc would love to get some good shots of Princess Parrots at Newhaven, time will tell.

Then The Doc will make his way home after 4 months on the road. The most likely route will be the Plenty Highway (starts just north of Alice Springs) to Boulia in Queensland then back to the bitumen through Longreach and Outback Queensland to Ballina for a week, then Sydney.

Using the Great Central Road saved 1,500kms and 2 long days driving and he hopes the Plenty Highway will give a similar saving. This trip has roughly another 4,000kms to go, bringing the grand total a bit under 30,000kms over the 4 months. It has been a long trip on rough roads and the body is beginning to say enough.

A few photos from Laverton in the West until Uluru in the East along the Great Central Road.

ODO Update #3

Australia, coastal, Landscape, WA

With the return trip under way from Western Australia quite a few kilometres have been travelled in the last 5 days. New milestones include:

  • AWC’s Newhaven Sanctuary, Northern Territory, 77,000kms;
  • Erldunda, which is the turn off from the Stuart Highway out to the Olgas and Uluru (Ayers Rock), Northern Territory, 76,0000kms. (Erldunda is 200km south of Alice Springs and you still have a further 245km to drive to Uluru. It is a myth that Uluru is close to Alice Springs, think 425km away!)
  • Middle of Nowhere (technical term), Great Central Road, WA, 75,000kms
  • Kalbarri National Park, West Coast of WA, 74,000kms

A few snaps from this time.