STOP PRESS – Current Roads Information if you are planning to travel to Dalhousie Springs
We have just returned from our annual working bee based at Dalhousie Springs and the following comments are not designed to make any recommendation to travel or not but may assist you in your planning. This information is current as at Sunday 30th May 2021
The Hamilton Station Road to Mount Dare, starting 18km north from Oodnadatta on the Oodnadatta Track, has been graded and is in good condition.
You cannot access Dalhousie Springs from Hamilton Station via the Pedirka PAR as that road is closed due to flood damage. It will be repaired some time during June.
As you continue north towards Mount Dare there is the turnoff on the right at the Blood Creek windmill. This track takes you through Federal to the Mount Dare to Dalhousie track. This “shortcut” is also closed due to deep water over the track. There have been vehicles stranded in this water who ignored the signs.
You need to continue towards Mount Dare and turn right towards Dalhousie Springs about 9km before Mount Dare.
At this point you have 60 kms to go to Dalhousie Springs and this track is really bad, as it has not been repaired since the rains. There are numerous wash aways. It took us about 2 hours to negotiate this section albeit we were towing camper/trailers.
For the working bee we base ourselves at Dalhousie Springs so our camper trailers stay there if we go into the desert.
We did a working bee task out near Purnie Bore so experienced the track from Dalhousie to Purnie. The track is in really bad condition, even worse than the Mount Dare to Dalhousie section. None of us would have towed anything on that section, because of the danger of rollovers.
All that said if you get there soon you will see the desert in bloom. There is lots of greenery and water, complete with birds in many of the creeks and low-lying areas. It’s worth the effort to get there.
For more information on tracks within the parks go to the below link then click “opening hours” and under that tab you will find a link to the latest Desert Parks Bulletin
For information regarding the above public roads look on this web site at “travel tips and links”.
Safe travels