LAND OF PLENTY

PIVOTING PLANS DUE TO A CLOSED BORDER, A TRIP TO QUEENSLAND BECOMES AN EXPLORATION OF THE EASTERN END OF THE PLENTY HIGHWAY AND SOUTH ON TO THE BINNS TRACK.

- KEV SMITH

IT IS funny how current COVID conditions can change a trip, not only for us but for a lot of others travelling state to state. The plan was to head across the Northern Territory’s Plenty Highway to remote areas of Queensland, but, with a border closure, this wasn’t going to happen.

The Plenty Highway is notorious for its remote 500km meandering route and for being as corrugated as hell, with bulldust holes big enough to swallow anything in their path. Not really suitable for caravans, the Plenty often sees 55-metre-long road trains and is closed when the rivers flood, often for days at a time.

These days the Plenty is sealed for nearly 100km – from its starting point on the Stuart Highway 70km north of Alice Springs, across to Ovgeva Creek – but when we first tackled it a few years ago, it was an all-dirt narrow track and took several days. It used to be just a cattle property access road from western Queensland to the NT, but the road has improved for the general public and is slowly being upgraded.

Even though the Plenty has a State Route number (12), it’s still classed as a medium to hard track. Not because of any tyre-shredding hill climbs or winching sections, but due to the extreme remoteness of the area, and there are only a couple of spots where you can get fuel and camp.

From the Stuart Highway turn-off, the Plenty heads eastward passing through several stunning mountain ranges to Queensland, all heavily signposted and almost impossible to miss.

GEMTREE