These were our trips for 2012 as we advertised them. Please click on the links below each for a summary of facts & figures.
Click here to see basic maps of the 2012 trips described below
** Please note -: Final itineraries are dependent on permit approvals **
OFF-ROAD TOUR
By the early 1960's apart from a scattered network of Sandalwood tracks the Great Victoria Desert, Australia’s largest, had no made road through it. Then in 1962 a surveyor, his wife and their baby daughter in a scarred and battered Land Rover carefully picked a path for a bulldozer & grader to follow. Two roads were carved out of the virgin scrub, one east & west, the other north & south. That tiny road-making crew became famous for opening up the western deserts for the first time, they have become immortalised as The Gunbarrel Road Construction Party. Of course the surveyor was Len Beadell, his wife was Anne & the infant daughter Connie. As they say in the classics, the rest is history....
Fifty years on the Great Victoria has changed little, an immense area some 6% of Australia’s landmass still lies virtually untouched. Len Beadell’s road network has endured the test of time and almost all of his tracks have now become famous as 4WD adventure trips for folk from all over the country, many of the roads have become household names.
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the finish of construction of both the Anne Beadell Highway and Connie Sue Highway and to celebrate Beadell Tours (Connie & Mick) are devoting 26 days towards travelling both. With local Aboriginal permissions the trip will include a variety of extra features & sites not normally seen by travellers. Anecdotes and diary entries from Len himself with journals & maps from the earlier explorers such as Giles, Hann " Lindsay will combine to offer a unique perspective of an environment unlike any other in the world.
If you want to travel safely and have the time to look around, enjoy & learn as much as possible this trip might be for you.
Anne & Connie at Neale Jn, pointing the way |
Distances
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-ROAD TOUR Aboriginal Artwork
This is a shorter trip focusing on the little known Central Ranges, an area sprawling over the borders of South & Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Early explorers such as Giles, Gosse, Forrest and MacKay passed through this region and from them the maps we see today have come. Aboriginal culture is alive and well in the Central Ranges with the bulk of the remote area communities nestled in and around the Musgrave, Mann, Tomkinson, Rawlinson and Petermann Ranges.
Kata Tjuta dominates the skyline as we turn west and head into the Central Ranges. Near Docker River in the Petermann Ranges we get onto Len Beadell’s Sandy Blight Junction Road in the same country as explorers such as Giles, Terry & Hann once walked & rode, in fact Lasseter’s lost reef is in this same country.
The Schwerin Mural Crescent stretches out of sight to the west as we continue on to the Gunbarrel Highway, Rawlinson Range & Warakurna Roadhouse. A visit to Giles Weather Station and surrounds are next on the agenda. It is here that modern science interacts with ancient Aboriginal culture.
Following the Gunbarrel Highway south we visit the exceptional Blackstone Community Art Centre then swing east for the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands of South Australia. The Tomkinson Ranges loom large and the picturesque community of Kalka in the very north west of S.A. is next. Staying on the Gunbarrel Highway we pass along the Mann & Musgrave Ranges calling in at Amata Community on the way east.
As the Central Ranges taper off we pass Victory Downs Station and join the Stuart Highway at Kulgera Roadhouse. This ends a trip through remarkable country that few people see as permissions are difficult to obtain especially in South Australia.
Please note -: The route will depend upon permits being issued for Aboriginal Lands. Beadell Tours will advise all interested parties of any changes to the above itinerary.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
** Please note -: Final itineraries are dependent on permit approvals **
OFF-ROAD / OFF-TRACK EXPEDITION
Seeking adventure an almost penniless 21 year old Scotsman sailed to the goldfields of Western Australia in 1892. After a couple of years battling David Carnegie finally found gold near the present day Wiluna. Then with an amount of financial security he set about putting together an exploring party with the aim of finding valuable assets in the vast tract of county between the Goldfields and the Kimberley. Leaving Coolgardie in July 1896 the party successfully reached Halls Creek after months in the wilderness. After resting over the summer not content with one desert crossing Carnegie and his men turned south in 1897 and headed back to Coolgardie entering the incredibly vast desert region for another 5 months.
David Carnegie had incredible determination and the sense and intelligence to carry things through where most would fail. The only reminder these days of his efforts are some names on maps and a wonderful written account of his expeditions called "Spinifex and Sand". Sadly after leaving Australia he was killed in Africa apprehending a bandit at the age of 29.
More than a century later only a small section of the population have heard or are vaguely familiar with Carnegie’s exploration of our western deserts in 1896 & ‘97, when that small party under his command successfully crossed some of the most inhospitable country on earth, from Coolgardie to Halls Creek and then back to Coolgardie.
Our 2012 Expedition will see us following young Carnegie’s route of 1896 in the eastern part of the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. As well as Carnegie’s recorded features we’ll also be concentrating on unnamed hills as well as sites that are shown on maps but are rarely visited. This will be an extremely interesting trip for those keen on explorers, natural history and doing something different. In all we anticipate something around 650kms of off-track travel, the remainder will be a mixture of roads, tracks and overgrown wheeltracks.
If you have any questions drop us a line, maps of our intended route are also available.
Compulsory Vehicle Requirements - As most of the expedition will be travelled without roads or tracks and distances are long some requirements are compulsory.
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
OFF-ROAD TOUR
During the early 1870’s rivalry developed between three Australian colonies, South & Western Australia & Victoria. The reason was simple enough, at that time the country between the newly constructed Adelaide to Darwin Telegraph Line and the sparsely settled pastoral stations of Western Australia were still unexplored. Nobody knew what that vast amount of country held and many men of vision wanted the problem solved and were prepared to pay to find out. Of course they held the hope that any outlay would be recouped by the riches & opportunities waiting to be found on that large blank space of the maps of the day.
Four men led parties into the field to find out; Giles was first in 1872, Gosse & Warburton in 1873 and two young brothers, both surveyors, by the name of Forrest were sent from the west to force a way through to the east in 1874. Only two of the four parties succeeded.
Beadell Tours will be retracing the Forrest brothers’ route with a trip through history. These days the western deserts those men were sent to investigate have been mapped and access roads built. By chance a great part of John & Alexander Forrest’s route is now easily travelled by a series of roads & tracks in modern 4WDs, a far cry from horses & camels.
This is a unique trip that will appeal to travellers with a sense of adventure and a curiosity about the pioneers, explorers and a vast part of our country that most Australians will never see. Take the opportunity to see, feel and experience regions almost untouched by people.
Become an explorer for a short time.
Mt Worsnop from top of Mt Allott - Forrest 1874 |
**Please note that vehicles with camper trailers & heavy vehicles will have to join the trip at Well 5 on the Canning Stock Route
Distances
** Please read our post-trip summary ( for summary click here ) **
BEADELL TOURS
Mobile : 0408 841 447
Email : Beadell Tours
ABN : 40 947 959 130