These are our Tours & Expeditions for 2007 as we advertised them. Please click on the links below each for a trip summary.
Click here to see maps of the 2007 trips described below
OFF-ROAD TOUR
This is a shorter Tour designed for those with not much time, and falls into the school holiday period for some States.
Exploring Woomera where Len Beadell started the Rocket Range project, we go to Coober Pedy. Swinging onto the famous Anne Beadell Highway we enter the Great Victoria Desert, visiting Tallaringa Well, Emu Atomic Sites & Anne's Corner.
Turning south at Vokes Hill Corner we meander through the Mallee and sandhills finally petering out into the Nullarbor Plain. The laid back village of Cook and the Transcontinental Railway Line are next on the list.
Returning to the Eyre Highway we travel east to Ceduna and civilisation. Getting back into the desert we follow "Googs Track" through the Yellabinna Regional Reserve to the Trans-Con Railway. Getting into Glendambo, it's an easy wander back to Woomera.
This Tour covers some extraordinary changes in landscape; sandhills, claypans & sweeping plains of Saltbush. Marble Gums, Black Oaks, Mallees, Spinifex & Mulga the best the Great Victoria Desert and the Nullarbor have to offer.
Our relaxed pace is a great opportunity to learn more about the plants, animals & early Explorers. Connie Beadell adds greatly to the experience detailing her father's participation in the projects that shaped the western deserts of Australia.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-ROAD TOUR
Beadell Tours make a concerted effort to give people the best opportunity to see the desert at its best. To do that effectively we offer slower paced trips with more points of interest.
From the S.A. Dog Fence we use the Anne Beadell Hwy to enter the Great Victoria Desert. We visit Tallaringa Well then Emu. Time is required to see everything at the Atomic Test sites, it was a far larger operation than most imagine. Moving west we enter the Mallee & Black Oak country leaving the Mulga behind for sometime. It's a beautiful journey through Australia's largest and most vegetated desert.
During the trip, road sign Plaques put in place by pioneer road-builder Len Beadell will be seen. His daughter Connie Beadell is now in charge of the Plaque maintenance. Explorers are also a focus, men such as Giles, Tietkens, Lindsay, Forrest, Maurice, Hann & Terry.
From Neale Junction we turn north up the Connie Sue Hwy. We visit rockholes, Ranges, Bluffs, Gorges & Chasms on our way to Warburton. Continuing on the roads Len built we come onto the Gunbarrel Highway north of Warburton and skirt the edge of the Rawlinson Ranges. It was this country that Explorer Giles & Gibson struggled through in 1874.
Reaching Warakurna we call in at Giles Weather Station for a tour and see the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party Grader, preserved for all. The magic scenery continues as we follow the Sandy Blight Junction Road. This is one of the most scenic roads in any of our deserts winding around red sandhills through forests of Desert Oaks.
From Sandy Blight Junction we reach Alice Springs via the Gary Junction Road.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-TRACK EXPEDITION
THIS EXPEDITIONS ACCURACY WILL DEPEND UPON PERMISSION BEING GRANTED TO TRAVERSE PARTICULAR AREAS OF COUNTRY.
Seeking adventure a 21 year old Scotsman and a mate sailed to Australia in 1892. Being from a noble family meant little on the W.A. Goldfields. In a few years after battling hard David Carnegie finally found gold near the present day Wiluna. With an amount of financial security he set about exploring the desert country to the north east, a long held ambition.
More than a century later interested people have heard or are vaguely familiar with Carnegie's exploration of our western deserts in 1896, when a small party under his command successfully crossed some of the most inhospitable country on earth, from Coolgardie the goldfields to Halls Creek goldfields.
Carnegie had incredible determination and the sense and intelligence to carry things through where most would fail. Not content to leave it at that, Carnegie and his party after a few months rest set forth and crossed the deserts once more. Departing Halls Creek in March 1897, Carnegie battled through the deserts finally reaching the gold mines at Lake Darlot some 5 months later.
Beadell Tours intends to retrace the 1897 route as far as possible. Currently the route will include approximately 800 kms of Off-Track travel through Gibson's Desert, Lake MacDonald to Lake Carnegie. Transit Permits & permissions will however dictate our line of travel.
Anyone interested in this expedition will receive a monthly report about progress concerning access. Details will be confirmed as the expedition takes shape.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-TRACK EXPEDITION
William Frederick Rudall was a Surveyor in the employ of the W.A. Lands & Surveys Department. In late 1896 he was sent in search of the two men lost in the Great Sandy Desert from the Calvert Exploring Expedition.
Equipped with camels and using Cattle Stations on the Oakover River as bases, Rudall spent 8 months searching unexplored country for any sign of the missing expedition members. Numerous men and camel tracks, Aboriginal stories and sightings were followed up and investigated with little or no immediate result.
Attempting to reach Joanna Spring in 1897, the only place the two missing men could be, Rudall was forced back because of sick camels, lack of supplies and limited water. Upon reaching civilisation he was informed by Telegram that the remains of the men had been found by the Search Party operating from the Fitzroy River to the north.
Enduring incredible heat and conditions, Surveyor Rudall mapped 23,000 square miles of desert country, a feat for which he is little known.
Beadell Tours will be travelling in the footsteps of Rudall and his party for 26 days. Spending time along the Oakover River, Rudall River National Park and the Great Sandy Desert, we hope to locate features named and described in Rudall's journals and travel Off-Track along his final search sweep.
Special conditions have to be met for this expedition, due to the Off-Track content. Considerable assistance in preparation is given to everyone expressing an interest in being involved.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-ROAD TOUR
Our Gunbarrel Highway tour is a trip through time concentrating on the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party, early Explorers and Aboriginal Culture. Connie & Mick are unaware of any other group conducting tours along the entire length of Len Beadell's most famous Highway. These days the Gunbarrel is maintained for 70% of its length, a fact most do not realise.
Len Beadell & his "Gunbarrel Road Construction Party" laid in the first road to cross the arid centre of Australia in the late 1950s, called the Gunbarrel Highway as Len had a tendency to make roads as straight as possible.
From "Carnegie" Station we travel east on Len's most famous road detouring to places of significance along the way. The journey crosses the routes of early explorers and the remnants of the search for oil & minerals.
Warburton facilities are a chance to refresh and a visit to the new Cultural Centre is a good view of the Aboriginal people of the Warburton Ranges country.
Picking up the Gunbarrel Highway again we slowly pass through the sandhills that hold the 133 year old secret of Alfred Gibson. The length of the Rawlinson Range brings us to Giles Weather Station, the most remote weather facility in Australia.
Swinging south for South Australia, we enter country strewn with massive beautifully coloured ranges. Explorers such as Giles, Gosse & Forrest named these features more than 130 years ago.
In contrast we visit several Aboriginal Communities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands who express their culture and stories through unique artwork, a good opportunity to see and speak to the locals.
The Gunbarrel Highway brings us back into cattle country at "Mulga Park" and "Victory Downs" Stations where our Tour ends.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
BEADELL TOURS
Mobile : 0408 841 447
Email : Beadell Tours
ABN : 40 947 959 130