JOURNEY to the RED CENTRE
Crossing the Australian continent through its vast Red Centre is a daunting challenge, one that many travellers prefer to avoid by sticking to the blacktop around the coast by the Nullarbor or the Top End. But there is one central east-west route which, though unsealed for much of its length, is scenic and readily accessible by most vehicles and vans — the Great Central Road (GCR). It also shortens the continental transit by hundreds of kilometres.
Beginning the adventure at Laverton, in Western Australia’s northern goldfields, the GCR stretches 1150km across the Great Victoria Desert to Yulara on the eastern boundary of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory. It forms part of the Outback Way that extends for another 1600km through Alice Springs to Winton in Queensland.
It takes about three or four days to comfortably travel the length of the GCR, but self-sufficient adventurers will find plenty to do along the way — wildlife watching, nature walks, Indigenous art galleries and geocaching — and quite a few overnight bush camps to extend the journey for a few more days. The route also connects a handful of roadhouses that supply fuel, power, showers and hot meals, which takes a lot of the angst out of remote long-distance logistics.
“...the GCR stretches 1150km across the Great Victoria Desert to Yulara"
THE GREAT VICTORIA DESERT
At an estimated 424,400sq km, the Great Victoria is Australia’s largest desert, ranking third on a world scale behind the Sahara and the Arabian Desert. Its vast, sandy
