28 Apr 10 – Anne Beadell Highway

By Craig: Finally we were here. I had read about it, watched and learnt about it on DVD & had heard stories and now as we left Coober Pedy and travelled west with all our parks permits and original landowner passes we were about to head out on the Anne Beadell Highway, something I had been looking forward to and preparing for, for some time.
Being a solo vehicle we had all the gear and usual bells and whistles for this sort of track, stacks of fuel, water & food.
We travelled approximately 80kms for the first night, set up camp and started a fire. It had rained a little but it was peaceful and the night sky was bright as the cloud disappeared.

Moving on the next day we set our target for 200kms which would see us pass through Taralinga National Park. A point of interest was the dog fence constructed to keep dingos out of the park; we had to divert along the fence 3 kms or so before finding a gate and back the same distance to the road before we could continue. We also had the opportunity to see the original survey markers laid down by Len Beadell and his team as they forged the Anne Beadell Hwy.

Unfortunately a little short on luck, 200k's or so later the HF radio decided to short out and leave us with no communication. Options, only one really as when you’re travelling as a single vehicle and with a young family you tend to think safety first.

As it happens whilst looking over the trailer I also found that a shackle bolt had broken into three parts (guess which spare part I didn't have) but necessity being the key to invention I was able to use a pin from the boat rack and a U-bolt as a washer to fix this little problem.
Well it wasn't to be on this trip although what we had seen was so beautiful and would certainly encourage us to return, we simply could not continue with no radio communication.
As I watched my journey across the Anne Beadell slip away I thought to myself, the track is dry although very corrugated and if not for the failed communication 4 to 5 days we would have seen it through, Bugger!

Only one thing to do I said to Lou ‘before returning to Coober Pedy lets spend a day or two just relaxing trackside and taking in the atmosphere, cook up some sultana damper and have a beer’.


By Lou: I have to admit I was nervous about doing this part of our trip, really our first experience at remote outback travelling. We anticipated it would take 4 – 5 days to travel 800kms until the first fuel/water stop and expected we would be lucky to see 2 cars in that time. (As it turned out, we passed our first vehicle on Day 4.)
From there we allowed another 5-7 days or so to reach Neales Junction and turn south onto the Connie Sue Highway to make our way down to Cocklebiddy on the Nullarbor. Again, not expecting to meet much other traffic. The track was notorious for breakdowns so we also had to allow enough supplies in case we got waylaid by mechanical issues for several days until help happened by. My beautiful husband had jumped through hoops to meet my safety standards and I finally had to admit I couldn’t conjure up any more excuses, it was time to do it.

We set off from the caravan park to top up our water supply from a town water station (20c per 30 litres). We could not believe our eyes when water started leaking out of one of the recently repaired tanks. There wasn’t time to do anything about it, so back into town to buy a couple of jerry cans and then back out to the tap to fill up. Of course, we are packed to the hilt so it took a good few hours to repack the roof rack to Craig’s satisfaction. Incredibly my informed suggestions from the ground weren’t deemed helpful. Off then to fuel up. Then a call to the police station to get the latest track conditions report. We were told to expect rough track, take plenty of spares and lots of water (yeah, we knew that). There hadn’t been any rain so we’d be fine in that regard. That was good news. Right! So it’s afternoon now but let’s get the journey underway.

Craig’s mood lightened the closer we got to the start of the Anne Beadell Highway. He had been waiting for this for ages. The going was pretty slow with corrugations kicking in pretty much from the start. After 80kms and at around 4:00pm we found a clear patch of dirt by the side of the road and pulled over to make camp for the night. As I was getting out of the car, Craig ambled up to me and said, ‘I don’t want to panic you but I just noticed the second water tank is leaking’. Panic? Me? In a desert with low supplies of water? You must have the wrong Nervous Nelly. It must be in the way I clench my jaw or perhaps purse my lips or even don’t speak for ½ hour that he picks up the vibe that I’m not happy. So he makes a herculean effort to remain perky and positive and launches into lighting a campfire. He’s even keeping up the jollying act when the heavens open and we are showered with the rains that weren’t supposed to be there. (This is not the first time we have kicked ourselves for not hiring ourselves out to farmers to bring on the rain. You want rain? Well the Newsomes have arrived so pull out your umbrellas.) So now my concerns flip 180 degrees from lack of water to being stuck in mud for 3 days.

We are now at silent loggerheads: Craig is so happy to be on the track that he’s not going to let anything get him down and I am thinking of every worst case scenario. After a suitable time of moping I pick up my dummy, got dinner going and accept that we are safe and make a bargain with myself that I won’t worry about what may happen until it happens. Besides, Samuel is super- tuned to my reactions and I don’t have the energy to fob off his questions about me being worried. The shower didn’t last too long but it did literally dampen the enjoyment of the fire and the curtains stayed shut on our long anticipated star lit desert night.

Despite the turmoil of the day I slept peacefully and when I woke in the morning I was surprised we hadn’t been disturbed by wildlife. The beauty of the early morning night helped shed the foreboding I had felt the day before and I appreciated the physical surrounds as well as the peacefulness. We departed camp at 9:30am after a radio sched on our HF radio. Very bizarre having an airways conversation with someone as far away as Albany WA but also reassuring.

We travelled along anywhere between 5kmh and 40kmh, taking it easy over the endless corrugations for the sake of the trailer. Over the noisy rattle and shake of the car I read aloud one of Len Beadell’s 6 books that we had purchased at Woomera. Len was an absolute legend and he and a faithful crew of about 4 were responsible for making the very road we were travelling on and it was brilliant to be witnessing the same terrain and milestones that he details in his book. Here we are hooked up to all the modern technology and he talks of taking his wife (Anne) and infant daughter (Connie Sue) in a Land Rover for a 5 month stint along the road as it was being made back in the 50s. Although it’s great the roads were named in honour of those intrepid family members, calling them highways is drawing a very long bow.

We only travelled 120km all up that day and still managed to clock up: a flat battery on the laptop containing our topographical maps and GPS marker; Sam’s bike hanging onto its holder by only a thread; the mouthpiece of the UHF radio bouncing off its holder and falling into 3 pieces; a bolt fundamental to holding the tyre to the axle on the trailer falling off and the piece de resistance…the HF radio lost all programming and died.

Needless to say by the time we pulled off the side of the road to make camp that night Craig’s jolly act was nowhere to be seen. He was soooooo frustrated. I had actually been so pleasantly surprised by the beautiful scenery that I genuinely regrettably agreed we needed to turn back. Most of my paranoia about safety relates to the fact that we are a single vehicle and if something were to happen to my chief engineer, mechanic and weightlifter, we would be up the proverbial creek. So with the inability to holler for help should the need arise, we followed Murphy’s Law and turned back to Coober Pedy. Unfortunately repairs couldn't be carried out there so we headed 540km south to Port Augusta.