Five Challenging Off-Road Drives Every Tourer Should Tackle

The first thing that lets go on a hard trip is never the part you worried about. Over twenty-odd years in workshops I pulled more shredded wheel bearings and snapped rear shackles off tourers than blown engines, and nearly every one of those jobs traced back to a road on this list. These five drives will find the weak point in your rig and press on it until something gives. My advice is simple: sort it in the shed before you leave, not when you are sitting on the side of a track with a blocked diff breather and a CV joint clicking like a metronome. Every one of these is worth doing, and every one has bitten people who turned up underprepared.

Simpson Desert French Line

Roughly 1,100 dunes between Mount Dare and Birdsville, with Big Red standing about 40 metres high just before you roll into town. The Simpson does not break gear on rocks, it breaks it on heat and fine sand, and the two work together against you. I have seen a radiator packed solid with red dust and grass seed, then a head gasket let go twenty minutes later because nobody watched the temp gauge climb. Fit a radiator sock, run an extended diff breather kit so you do not draw dust or water into the axle, and drop tyres to around 16 to 18 psi so you float instead of dig. Fine sand is death to a wheel bearing that has lost its seal, so repack them before you go and carry a spare hub set. A sand flag on a 3.5 metre pole is not optional out there because of blind dune crests, and you cross west to east so the steeper faces are behind you. Help can be a full day away, so a sat phone or PLB lives in the console, not the drawer at home. For fuel range and the Desert Parks Pass detail, read our Simpson Desert French Line track guide.

The Old Telegraph Track, Cape York

Palm Creek, Gunshot and Nolans Brook. Nolans has drowned more vehicles than any crossing in the country, and it is almost always the same failure: water pulled through an airbox that was never properly sealed, a hydro-locked motor, then a bent con-rod and a trip that ends on the back of a tilt tray. Blank off the airbox joins with silicone, extend your diff, gearbox and transfer case breathers above the water line, and grease the electricals you can reach. Walk every crossing on foot before you commit a wheel, because the entry and exit lines change every season with the flood. Here is the opinion that upsets people at the water's edge: most caravans have no business on the OTT. Take the Southern and Northern bypass roads with the van and run the hard crossings in the tug only, then rejoin the mob at the far side. You lose nothing but bragging rights, and you keep your van in one piece. The Cape York Telegraph Track guide marks which crossings have a bypass and which you can skip cleanly.

Oodnadatta Track

Marree to Marla, about 615 kilometres, and when it is bone dry the corrugations are the worst in South Australia. Corrugations do not drown you, they fatigue metal at a molecular level. Shock absorbers fade to nothing and blow their seals, water-tank mounts crack, wiring chafes through, and cheap trailer chassis split right at the welds where the drawbar meets the A-frame. The fix is slowing down and letting air pressure do the work, because speed is what turns a rough road into a hammer. On that surface I run about 28 psi on the van tyres and it saves the teeth out of everything bolted to the chassis. Retorque your wheel nuts at every stop for the first day and check the shackle bolts, because they walk loose on that stuff. William Creek, the old Ghan sidings and the Lake Eyre lookouts are the payoff for taking it steady. Get your numbers right before you leave by reading tyre pressures for corrugations.

Victorian High Country

Wonnangatta, Billy Goat Bluff and Blue Rag Range. Steep, greasy after rain, and the descents will cook your brakes stone dead if you ride the pedal. Use second gear low range and let the engine hold you back, because that is what the gearbox is for. If you can smell the clutch or the brakes, you are already in trouble and you need to stop and let it cool before you have no brakes at all. Overheated brake fluid boils, the pedal goes to the floor, and there is nothing at the bottom of Billy Goat Bluff to catch you. Snow closes the high tracks through winter and the seasonal gates go up around the June long weekend, so check current conditions with Parks Victoria before you point the bonnet uphill. I would not drag a heavy van up Billy Goat Bluff for quids; leave it at a valley camp near Dargo or the Wonnangatta and go up in the wagon alone. The Wonnangatta track guide covers the seasonal closures and the river crossings.

The Gibb River Road and the Kimberley

About 660 kilometres of dirt between Derby and Kununurra, laid with sharp ironstone that slices sidewalls like a bread knife left in a drawer. Two spares is the minimum, not the luxury, and a passenger-construction highway tyre will not last the week. This is where a proper light-truck casing earns its keep, and where I have watched people limp back to Derby on a can of tyre goo and a prayer. Air down for the corrugations, carry plugs and a decent compressor, and check your tyres every time you stop for a photo. The Pentecost River crossing is tidal and holds saltwater crocs, so time it against the tide, do not linger at the edge, and keep the kids in the vehicle. Fuel is dear and far apart, so top up at every station whether you think you need it or not. Plan the whole run with our Gibb River Road guide and the wider Gibb River Road itinerary.

Fuel range, comms and travelling in company

Fuel range is the sum that catches people out on these roads. Work out your worst-case consumption towing into a headwind on soft sand, not the figure off the sticker, then add a decent reserve on top of that. Across the Simpson I carry enough to cover the full crossing with margin, because there is no bowser between Mount Dare and Birdsville and a headwind can blow your figures out badly. Jerry cans on a proper rack beat a bladder sloshing about in the back, and diesel is easier and safer to carry than petrol if you have the choice. If your range is marginal, the Birdsville Track is a graded alternative that reaches the same country with fuel stops along the way.

Do not travel these tracks solo if you can help it. A second vehicle turns a broken CV or a bogging from a genuine crisis into an afternoon's work, and someone can go for help if the worst happens. Carry a UHF radio for talking between vehicles and warning oncoming trucks on blind dune crests, recovery boards and a rated snatch strap you actually know how to rig, and a sat phone or PLB on top of all that. Tyres matter as much as any of it out here, so fit a tough light-truck set before you tackle country this sharp, air down for the surface, and check them every single time you stop for a break.

The pre-trip checks that actually matter

None of these roads care how much you spent on your build or how good the paint looks. Repack or renew your wheel bearings and carry a spare set with seals, because a collapsed bearing a long way out ends the trip. Check every breather is extended and clear. Carry two matched spares, a tyre plug kit and a compressor you have actually tested, plus recovery gear you know how to use rather than gear that is still in the packet. Match the van to the country, because a road tourer will hammer itself to bits on the Gibb and the Oodnadatta no matter how careful you are. If you are still choosing a rig, our notes on how to choose an off-road caravan will save you a costly first lesson, and there is no shame in doing an easier lap first to shake the bugs out.