Sandy Blight Junction Road

Steve,

Things don’t change much out that way, You can expect the first 65km north from the Great central to be in reasonable condition as its maintained for access to the Tjukurla community. Don’t forget to have a loom at Bungabiddy, it’s one of the box. The stretch of track to the Sir Frederick turnoff was reasonable although corrugated. The track into Sir Frederick is amazing but I’d recommend leaving the campers at the turn. You won’t be able to tow them up the range without doing a heap of damage to the track and possibly your vehicle.

It gets progressively sandy from there. Be aware that the bore roughly halfway between the Sir Frederick Turnoff and the WA-NT border is salty. Don’t mix it with your drinking water. Fantastic drive along those first 200 km. All very corrugated so take it easy. There are a few shortcuts that go directly across dunes while the main track runs along the dunes for a few km before crossing. By all means use these but be careful. There a quite a few car wrecks lying in positions that can leave you very little reaction time to avoid them.

Just take it easy and enjoy. It’s a beautiful drive and I can see why it was always one of Len’s favourites.

Onto the Sandy Blight Junction Track

The odd mishap along the SBJT

Sir Frederick Range - SBJT


Cheers Mick

Thanks for the detailed info Mick, much appreciated. Looking forward to the trip, as we are heading across the Anne Beadell to start with.

Cheers
Steve

Steve, I've been along there many times and love it more each time. Last October the northern end had been graded and was in fantastic condition. The long straight section running south from Mt Leisler had always been a shocker, having never had any work done on it since LB made it. So bad in fact that my newish Bilsteins self immolated in July 2011. I detected smoke coming from under the bonnet - never a happy sight when travelling remote. Inspection revealed that both Billies were smokin'. With little choice we pressed on carefully, which was impossible on the SBJT before it was graded. At about the WA border the shockers let go and the front of the vehicle bounced up and down wildly. Soon after one of the wheels jammed. One of the Billies got itself sideways through the spring and was jammed against the tyre.

Anyway, no such trouble last year. We spent a few nights camped out there to give us time to visit some confluence points, and explore the Mu Hills. Not to mention a fang up the Sir Fredrick Range.

Bob