Arriving in the small beachside town of Ceduna in South Australia I’m a little disoriented to realize I have driven half way across this massive continent. Looking west a massive road sign announces there are another 2000km (1265 miles) to drive to Perth, while facing east an equally large sign shows 2000km to Sydney on the East Coast. I’ve never before ventured this far west, though I won’t be continuing any further just yet. For now my sights are aimed north, onto a tiny dirt track cut through the sand dunes.
In 1973, John ‘Goog’ Denton decided to cut a track directly north through the remote Australian desert without the help of the government or military. Over many years Goog and his family slowly pushed the track north with old machinery in the hope of finding better grazing land for their cattle. The original unmaintained track exists today as a primitive route and crosses 363 sand dunes as it moves relentlessly north, passing close to the one and only mountain for thousands of kilometres in any direction, Mount Finke, named by famous Australian explorer Charles Stuart in 1858.
Setting out late in the afternoon I immediately air down to provide a larger contact patch and more grip in the soft sand. I also attach the a sand flag to the roof rack of the Jeep to make us more visible to other vehicles. Over the years there have been some horrific crashes when two vehicles meet on the top of a large dune, unable to see each other until the last second. Combined with frequent call-outs over our CB radio the tall and bright sand flag is a last line of defense to avoid the worst case scenario.
At first the track is dusty and corrugated and passes over only a handful of smaller dunes made of bright red sand. After a couple of hours we reach camp for the night at Goog’s Lake - an enormous salt pan that rarely contains water. After sunset we are treated to an impressive display of heat lightning far in the distance as the rain storms that have ravaged Australia in recent months continue their endless assault. I’m shocked by how green the desert is, a clear indication of the recent heavy rainfalls and flooding experienced across much of Australia.
In the morning we’ve been on the track less than five minutes when we get into the thick of the sand dunes. They are huge red waves running east to west across the track, and we climb up and over one every few hundred yards. It seems there are ten or twenty smaller dunes that slowly build in height until we reach an infrequent much taller dune, from the top of which we get stunning views over the barren and flat landscape surrounding us.
As we move north we catch the occasional glimpse of Emu, and even spot camel tracks in the soft sand. Thanks to all the rain one spider species is experiencing a boom, and we see hundreds and hundreds of Golden Orb Spinners building their huge nests. These spiders can be almost as big as my hand, though thankfully are considered low toxicity to humans. Even still, I keep my distance.
We continue for hour after hour, never having any issues in the soft red sand. The Geolander X-AT tires provide plenty of traction with a huge contact patch. Even on the rutted and lumpy dunes we crawl up the steep dune faces at walking pace and never have any problem with traction. In fact, traction is so good the big Jeep never spins a tire for the whole trip.
Late in the afternoon we enjoy sunset while camping at the base of Mount Finke, and hiking up for sunrise provides spectacular views over the barren landscape, utterly devoid of development.
Goog’s Track has been a stunning adventure and the perfect training ground for the much larger desert crossings to come.
-Dan Grec