Uluru | Kata Tjuṯa | Lambert Geographic Centre of Australia l  

Thanks Peter. It’s an amazing place. And these days if you don’t want to drive it’s easy to get to by air. But we reckon you need to see the whole region, so when you get to do your trip it’s worth spending some time in the region. All the best - now go and walk your dog! 😂🙏🙏🙏

@@nextleveloz just waiting on "the other half ' To rise and decide to be part of this wonderful world we live in....

Thanks again for watching and taking the time to comment. Much appreciated! It’s such an awesome region in the genuine sense of the word. Yes, there is a bit more commercialism and it’s accessibility and Uluru’s iconic status means it’s well visited. But still pretty special . We’re glad we did it late in the season with fewer people around - even if it was getting a bit warm. While it was a much harder and longer drive getting to Lambert Centre was special. So isolated and the night sky was brilliant. Sadly my videography and photography couldn’t do it justice. All the best.

Wow. That is hot. I reckon the cold is more tolerable in the centre than the heat ??? We first went in May and it was quite cool. Lambert Centre is a fair diversion for the box tick- but when we were there the night sky milky way was unbelievably clear and bright. We will show a little bit more of it next episode but regrettably the videography and photography can’t do that night sky justice. Thanks again for watching - always love the comments and shares! cheers .

Yes, I don’t like the cold at all but that was extreme and too dangerous, broke all records I believe. Looking forward to seeing more of Lambert Centre next ep 😊

So true! It is a stunning place and so diverse. The centre is massive but has these gems. Thanks again for watching and best wishes. cheers Paula and David

Thanks for watching and the feedback. The camera on the iPhone on HD is very good. The mic/ sound is terrible - but it was windy at Kata Tjuṯa anyway so didn’t matter. I don’t think the Rode mic would have coped anyway. We’ve said it before, for the amateur vloggers like us and for peoples own memories you don’t need too much fancy kit. You could do it with an action cam and an iPhone. They good zoom, but for the outdoor shots they are very very good. Thanks again. cheers

@@nextleveloz The sound to my ears was very good. Cheers. “Where are we going? Lol.

Hi, thanks for watching and no problems at all. No we don’t carry a generator. Too heavy and unnecessary in our experience. We’ve used the a/c a few times. As you saw in this central australia series, if there is going to be a sustained heatwave (multiple days above say 38 degrees) you just have to get somewhere a bit more protected. Either lots and lots of shade or some power if you want to run the a/c. But keep in mind some of these areas aren’t ridiculously hot at night as they aren’t humid so there are some tricks - either run the a/c for an hour or two late in the day to take the edge off and stay sealed up until the heat is out of the day then open up or if you’re driving you can turn the a/C on late in the drive while you’ve got dc2dc power and cool the van down before you pull up. The worst nights are hot and humid. But in perspective we’ve had more cold nights than hot nights. We’ve probably had a bit of a week total of very hot evenings. But the rest of the time being in shade or on the reverse side of the van and under the awning is quite tolerable. So for us having good solar is more important than the weight of a generator and yes, we’ve had a handful of uncomfortable nights but not enough to consider a genny. Amd it might be an unpopular view in some quarters but fact is some people have more battery capacity than they can charge with solar so they then have to rely on running a genny. It’s a good question though. For us, we acclimatized to all but the hottest of days. cheers

Thanks guys. Lambert Centre was very memorable for us. Best night sky ever!! You shouldn’t get lost, but there are multiple tracks where over time people have deviated and some have crumbled into a creek line so the bigger risk isn’t getting lost but you need to take care not to drive the rig down one of the deviations that has deteriorated and washed away and then have to make your way back onto one of the other paths. Some paths are narrower (overhanging shrubbery). Our HEMA helped by showing us that even if we were off what it thought was “the” track, we knew we were adjacent. A couple of times where the tracks forked and it wasn’t clear which was better so just got out and walked a hundred or so metres to identify the best route. So HEMA/Garmin sat nav, walking the route where it forks and deviates and if you’ve got a drone, if in doubt you can throw the drone up and have a look over a few hundred metres in front. We didn’t need to throw the drone up in that case. It’s seasonal, it wears and isn’t maintained except by the traffic so due care, slow down, and keep an eye out for which tracks look like they’ve had more recent traffic and avoiding the washouts and you will be fine. Best wishes. Hope you also get that stunning night sky as you tick off the dead centre. cheers

@@nextleveloz thanks for the reply 👍🏻 I did a google earth recky to follow the track into lambert centre and watched a few videos on RU-vid seems straight forward and I’ve noticed as you say the track forks in places…..so as you say get out and walk to see which is the best way (good advice) 👍🏻 coming from the uk I won’t have a hema sat nav…will have a 4wd camper and a hema map book but no drone or sat nav that’s why I asked about getting lost. did you drop your tyre pressures ? and how long did it take to get to the centre from the main road ? Did you find Lamberto centre spooky at night ? The sky looked amazing lucky I’m bringing my robot telescope 🙌🏻 I may get a drone but I can’t justify buying a hema sat nav for one trip it wouldn’t be of much use after our trip…..the 4x4 hire company should have a sat nav in the 4wd but they don’t unfortunately which is annoying but hey ho all Part of the fun. I see on your videos you’ve been to places we’re planning on going kings canyon mereenie loop uluru which looked great….our trip is from Darwin to lambert centre then back up to erldunda then onto uluru then back onto kings canyon and onto the mereenie loop to see the gorges then back up to Darwin seeing other places on the way so thanks for sharing your trip 👍🏻 thank you for the info it’s very much appreciated…..all the best and safe travels 🇦🇺🦘🪃🤗

Ok, thanks guys. No we didn't get spooked but we've done a lot of outback, off grid free camping. We were by ourselves for most of the time, but one lady in a ute (pickup) with rooftop tent did join us later and camped a few hundred meters away. Lovely lady who travels by herself so like us she either likes to be tucked away out of sight and out of mind or doesn't mind having a few people around with a bit of space. Chances are you might have one or two others around there even though it's a long way. I'm not sure what remote travel you've done before so I don't want to assume. Best way might be to cover off the basics as if it was somebody doing their first van trip ever around Australia and hadn't done much off grid or off road stuff. So, firstly - with an equipped off road 4x4 and off road van Lambert Centre is quite do-able. It wasn't the hardest place we traveled to, not even close. But it is remote. Lambert Centre is 140km or a couple of hours remote driving on the gravel Finke Road, away from the Kulgera Road House (which is itself a bit basic but right on the sealed main north south highway - the Stuart. Its about 1.5-2 hours on the Finke Rd (conditions depending) and the last 13km is on a narrower. less maintained bush track, which at times is a worn twin wheel track and it is weather dependent. Allow 30 -40 minutes lower and steady driving with stops if you need to get out and check the route. With the right track selection most people with a 4x4 should be fine. It is a bit under an hour away to the Aboriginal Community at Finke which is basic but has a community store and fuel. Some people come down the Ghan Heritage Road via Titjikala and Fine - which is the route of the Finke Desert Race. Longer, slower rougher. Bottom line though, on the night you are about 3 hours night driving at best from the main sealed road to the west and 1.5 hours night driving to a small indigenous community with limited services to the East. Of course while it's actually relatively easy by day, I'd avoid night travel especially on the bush track and especially without navigational aids. If I had to do that for any reason by night without navigational aids I'd likely walk ahead of car in a number of sections with a torch to ensure I was staying on the main vehicle accessible track(s). But I'd avoid it. Yes, as per the video, we dropped our pressures at Kulgera. We went to our standard corrugated road pressures which in our rig was low to mid 20's on the front of the car and van (around 25psi) and 28-30 on the car of the car given the load of the van. That was our starting pressure for the bush track also knowing that if it got sift in places we could come down further. We have a compressor in the van and smaller portable one for the car if we travel separately. While I don't advise traveling without an air compressor, in the case of travel from and to Kulgera you can air down at Kulgera and air back up again on your return. (N.B many reports of people getting to service stations/ road houses to find air pumps not working - BUT, during daylight hours if that's the case, there is a steady flow of travelers who stop through the various main road road houses. I am a bit concerned about what equipment you are carrying. If you have no navigational aid apart from a paper atlas/map, can I at least ask what comms you will be carrying? There is no cell signal at Lambert centre (indeed in several places you are intending to travel). Does the 4x4 company offer a sat phone hire or similar for breakdown and emergency. We always had starlink and a Garmin InReach mini2 with us for emergency (and more). Also what recovery gear do they offer or suggest if you are travelling not just remotely, but off-road. (While a good 4x4 should have no problem with Lambert Centre - what is the plan if you break down/ can't start/ bust an axle or CV 13 km from the Finke Rd? If there is a plan, no issues, but just throwing it out there. I wouldn't travel that remotely, off-road, off grid without my own basic recovery gear and some form of sat based emergency comms. PLBs etc are great (the Garmin has a PLB emergency feature), but while I'd have no hesitation triggering that for a medical, personal or critical vehicle emergency (fire, accident etc) for things short of that - like vehicle recovery / contact you need some form of comms short of the emergency response system. Keep in mind in 4 hours travel on the Finke Rd (2 each way) we saw one road train and one other car. At Lambert Centre we we were eventually joined by one other single traveler. A helicopter can easily get to Lambert Centre but might be a few hours response away, but you'd have to get to Finke or Kulgera for fixed wing unless RFDS have a section on the Fine Rd or other Station landing strip they'd direct you to for fixed wing recovery if needed. All this is highly unlikely but it's a reality of Australian remote travel. Does the rental company insurance cover off road to Lambert Centre? (I don't think it's a registered road). It might, but just check specifically because many rental companies only offer insurance on sealed and in some cases registered gravel and in a limited range of cases off road. All the other places you are intending to go are pretty easy and well traveled and easy to to get some help inside an hour or two if relying on passing traffic. But even then you are hours from recovery. Yulara, Alice Springs and to a lesser extent Kings Canyon have services and access. they are all about half a day apart with a handful of road houses and small communities sprinkled around in between. The main Roads down Alice Springs (Stuart HW ) from there to to Yulara/Uluru, and then to Kings Canyon are all sealed these days. You do need to air down a bit on the "outer" Mereenie Loop also noting there is nowhere to access a pump if you haven't got one until Hermannsburg/Ntaria. That might not be open. I try not to travel long distances on sealed road when aired down and certainly not at speed. Depending on weather and how recently it's been graded it can vary from pretty good to a number of corrugated sections and some sharper surface stones. The only sidewall damage we sustained in 32000 km of travel was the Mereenie Loop. So it wasn't the toughest road by any measure, and nowhere as rough as it once was, but it is still a rough road capable of doing damage so needs the due care and attention. Our Centre of Australia episode gives a tiny bit of the insights. All quite do-able for most sensible, relatively well equipped travellers in a 4x4 - the issue for the most part isn't access with care, but making sure people are prepared for the contingencies from break down off road to remote emergency. Hope that helps and as I say, you might be very experienced remote travelers in all sorts of places around the world, so forgive the extent of the response which I thought I'd go down a level or two for anybody else who might also read it.

Normally Id agree. And yes bulges are bad. Unfortunately these were deeper cuts than I could guess and show on camera (it didn’t look as bad on the video as with the naked eye) and the one I’d been monitoring developed a slow leak and we had to change it for one of our spares. As we were traveling on the Finke road and the track in and out of Lambert Centre I left it on and monitored it but it did keep slowly going down so once we hit higher speed sealed road it was better to change to the better rubber on that corner. No issue, it happens and they’ve done a terrific job on some rough roads but unfortunately you can’t plug a sidewall.

@@nextleveloz For an emergency side wall reapir look up Glue Tread. I carry it but never needed to use it. Not for on road use but it might get you out of trouble at some stage.

@@michaeldallimore8590 Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look. In the case of the current lap we carry two car spares and this was the first wheel change. So we’ve done pretty well considering. We were able to keep inflating it while off road and either way we needed to change the tyre for the higher speed on road, but sound like a useful off lighter off-road repair option so will check it out. Great share. cheers.

@@nextleveloz Really enjoying your videos. Going back and looking at earlier ones now. I think you said you have Maxis tyres. Are they LT rated? I have been usng the BFG KO2s on both my cars for many years now and while I have had many side wall cuts never had any issues. They are Light Truck rated and all terrain tread. I do mainly outback touring plus Vic High Country work between my two 4WDs. Anyway happy touring.

@@michaeldallimore8590 Thanks. Yes LT rated. Problem with BFGs is there are two specs of composite in circulation. One softer US / Aus standard. Which have better grip and not quite as good wear (probably more the standard that was the industry leader for a few years) and increasingly an Asian spec longer wearing harder compound, but this is the cause of the more recent reports of less grip on the wet. We checked with BFG and they couldn’t /wouldn’t tell us how to check so it was a no go for us. 6.5 tonnes leaves no room for increased risk of loss of grip in the wet. Maxxis AT 811 and Falken Wildpeak AT3 were our two shortlisted tyres. Both very well rated and reviewed and a good 70/30 crossover tyre for black top and off road. Given the roads we’ve been on we reckon they have done very well, maybe a bit more outer west than we’d like but again they’ve spent a lot of time aired down on tough roads. BFGs were probably the industry standard a few years ago and you see quite a few rigs with them on, so good tyres. No question. But the two specs were enough to cause some doubt for us. Great share and it’s a well debated topic isn’t it. If you’ve had any good experience with them for your driving then it makes sense to stick with them doesnt it?