S 29°00’24.6"
E 136°28'08.0"
Australia’s remote outback tracks are the stuff legends are made of. Slicing through the vast and inhospitable interior, these gravel tracks make their way from one tiny middle of nowhere town to another. Ninety nine point nine percent of the time, these tracks are strictly hot, dry and dusty affairs.
Trust me to find the zero point one percent.
The Oodnadatta Track represents the first European attempts to explore the centre of the continent, and the track was built following a series of natural springs which provided much needed fresh water to the camels imported specifically for the purpose. Water up to three million years old bubbles up from the Great Australian Artesian Basin, an enormous underwater reservoir which covers much of Central Australia.
With unprecedented rain and flooding across much of Central and Eastern Australia it was only a matter of time until our plans were impacted, and as we drove into the tiny outback town of Marree in remote South Australia we knew the time had come.
Endless rain for 48 hours closed the track to all traffic, and we waited impatiently for four days, making the trek out to the official road sign to check conditions, trying to avoid the worst of the sticky clay and enormous puddles that consumed most of town.
When the road was finally cleared for four-wheel drive vehicles we immediately hit the road, hoping to get through before forecasted rain might close it again. From the very beginning we had to navigate sticky mud pits, trying to carry enough momentum to get across while not tearing up the track. For hour after hour we pushed through until the Jeep must have gained 500lbs of sticky clay, clinging to every surface.
Soaking in Coward Warm Springs at sunrise helped get the mud off ourselves, though unfortunately the Jeep had to soldier on covered from top to bottom. The mighty inland Lake Eyre is almost full for the first time in living memory, and stopping on the shore gave stunning views of what is usually a bright white salt pan.
Once again the GEOLANDAR X-AT tires were up to the challenge and we had no problem maintaining forward progress on the hundreds of kilometres of slick clay, through water crossings and sticky mud. As it turned out we completed the track just twelve hours before it was once again closed to all traffic, and we were thankful to be safely across.
Sticky mud and numerous water crossings were the last thing I expected to encounter as we near Central Australia, and it’s reassuring to know the Jeep equipped with the X-AT tires is more than capable to tackle these kinds of unexpected challenges.
-Dan Grec