Kidson Track

Very overcast this morning and it rained overnight - quickly packed up before the rain returned.
The Kidson Track is approximately 606kms and runs from Well 33 (on the Canning Stock Route, and 7kms from Kunawarritji) to Eighty Mile Beach. We were on the road by 8.15am and the first 107kms is maintained and by 11.15am were at the Telfer turnoff where the road turns into an abandoned 2 wheel track.
The Kidson Track/Nyangumarta Highway is one of the longest private roads in the world. It was created in the late 1960s by West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET) for exploration purposes on unallocated crown land.
We were expecting it to be overgrown in parts but that turned out to be an understatement! The Spinifex was a metre and a half tall and growing down the middle of the track in many sections creating a potential fire hazard. The road surface itself wasn’t too bad except for the occasional bad washouts and rocky corrugated sections.
A $55 permit is required to drive on this track and there are 2 designated camping sites but we were about 100kms from the nearest one so managed to find a relatively clear spot as the sun was setting. A fog was moving in so after bacon and eggs for dinner and a bush shower we climbed up to bed.Read more