Nyangumarta Hwy /Kidson / WAPET info needed

Thankyou for the number it's the Darwin HO and yes they diverted me to a voicemail..

Got a call back, yes fuel 6 days (not Sunday). Very friendly and informative.

Will be interested to read your travel blog, if indeed you get out there. I have contemplated travelling out to the Paterson region as it is a red hot mineral exploration area. Rio Tinto have a significant copper discovery at Winu, about 100 or so kms north of Telfer.

Access originally was via the Wapet-Kidston track and talk of a new airstip. Maybe there is some appreciable upgrades to the road.

Hope it works out.

Hi 1392, yep the Winu copper mine is a major reason for vehicles and people to be out here but no travellers at all. Unfortunately the permit has very strict stipulations about where you can and can’t go and you may only camp at the 2 designated spots. Both had drillers there. We got as far away as we could but every hour a truck would rattle up the track pull in for 10 mins whilst engine running then drove off again. We spoke to some of the workers and one guy was doing a very interesting job on another taskforce to take seismic readings on 5x5 grids measuring the earths gravity at each spot using a little device he put on the ground. He was on a Polaris type quad bike.

Beyond the Nabaru Roses Track (50km to the emergency airstrip) the Kidson track becomes overgrown and the rest of the drive is pushing through scrub. Very scratchy. We are the first travellers to have come through the whole track in over 2 years. There was a convoy of 15 vehicles that came up from the Telfer Rd to the Sgt Tony (Squire) Moriarty Memorial and then tuned around to go back a month before us (according to the visitors book) but it was already overgrown again for us coming through that section. In many sections the shrubs are over the height of the vehicle and growing right across the track. There’s been recent fire alongside the Kidson Track almost the entire way and the vegetation is very green and lush, there’s been new growth after fires. I can see that the Martu rangers also came through a few months ago and I suspect they may have made the fires.

Other than the overgrowth the drive is not hard. we are a solo vehicle with camper trailer. Land cruiser 200 & Ultimate camper. David just found the driving mentally tiring due to the overgrowth and wishing to ensure our bikes made it through as they are on the roof of the camper and the handlebars can catch on a branch etc.

Also, we are still at Well 33…no one has gone past. The Canning is dead quiet! The shop confirmed no one is coming along the track north to south or reverse but only east/west. Interesting! It’s lovely here but nights very cold.

Yes, when we drove the Gary Junction road and others, relying on communities for fuel, we carried a lot of cash for contingencies. Never know when outback connectivity might be down.

Anyone who doesnt carry a decent wad of cash when visiting or travelling through remote regions is crazy. As a retired remote area comms tech who worked on the towers/phones and remote exchanges....once the phone lined dead...there aint no EFTPOS....CASH ONLY. I always carried about 2k with me just to be sure.

Yes I'm aware of the hours but thankyou.

Don't think it is always a connectivity problem. Some of the communities prefer cash. At one community the bowser came to $200 but $150 for cash. Makes you wonder.

Graham

That $150 would have gone straight into the fellas pocket. He doesn't own the store so he doesn't care.

Haven’t reached Kiwikurra yet…I was only referring to my research pre starting the Kidson Track. Currently sitting at Well 33… yes We have internet!!! Optus Sim, nothing on Telstra.

Kidson was as expected but have a lot more to say about it in my next blog/newsletter or read the recent place updates that would have synced along the track now that we are online. We are the first vehicle to come through the whole way for 2.5 years that’s for
Regards Michelle