Yulara to Dalhousie via Amata Tjurma

Hi Anthony,

The Ernest Giles Road does not join the Gunbarrel Highway, it runs between the Luritja Road and the Stuart Highway, and does not require a permit. I have driven this road on several occasions, it can have some corrugations, and has a couple of sandy patches as well.

The road that you are referring to that joins the Gunbarrel Highway is called the Mulga Park Road, and is much further south. It runs between the Stuart highway just north of the N.T./S.A. border and joins the Lasseter Highway just east of Curtin Springs. I have also driven this road on several occasions. A permit is required for this road if you continue west past Mulga Park towards Armata into the APY Lands. You will most likely not get a Permit to cross the APY Lands.

Are you looking to travel from near Hermannsburg south to the Stuart Highway? If so, this road is called either the Palm Valley Road, or the Finke River Road and follows the Finke River. It does eventually join the Ernest Giles Road that ends up at the Stuart Highway. I believe this is the road you are actually referring to. I drove this road back in 2004, it is very Sandy in patches as it follows in and out of the Finke River.

Macca.

Hi Macca,

Thanks so much for the response. You are correct, we will be travelling along the Finke River (Palm Valley Rd) south where we meet the (what i suspect) is the more commonly known Ernest Giles Rd. From there we will pick up the Luritja Rd and head south picking up the Lassiter Hwy to Yulara.

The section i am speaking of is heading 17km east from Mutitjulu along Petermann rd until you hit a track that heads south which on Google maps says its Alpara, but on the Hema GDT Central sheet actually has it marked as Ernest Giles Rd (confusing i know and i assume it used to connect with the Ernest Giles Rd in the North before changes were made to the areas out there). That runs almost directly south to Amata, picks up the (not old) Gunbarrell Hwy which appears to eventually meet Mulga Park Rd where they continue east to the Stuart.
I have attached a couple of images, Image 1 shows from Mutitjulu to Alpara Rd, the 2nd image shows a wider picture with the reference points mentioned. As i mentioned in my post, Hema has this track as requiring a permit. Hope all this makes sense.

I think the chances of getting a permit for the route you want or anything south of the SA-NT border are almost nil.
The Mulga Park road is a nice drive. It is always our route choice.

Just for interest, the Peterman Road that goes west from near Curtain Springs to the Mutitjulia community is the original access road to Uluru before the community was established and before Yalara was "developed".
We drove that route on several occasions from 1967 (in Minis) and 1974 (in a VW Kombi camper).
Camping was about 1km east of Uluru.







ps.... we fitted a set of snow chains to the rear and drove on. :)
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

I did a lot of work and travel in the APY lands. I doubt very much that you will get a permit in anything to do with APY homelands country.