There is nothing better than resetting your mind and your body clock by journeying through the vast Australian outback. This is the great Australian dream and journeys through our red center are undertaken daily by thousands of adventurers and grey nomads who tour around this massive sunburnt country.

There is no time like the present to get your vehicle ready for the journey of your dreams, we’re going to give you some pro tips on making sure your rig can handle everything that the long expanses of outback tracks can throw at you!

New shoes!
Your tyres are your 4WD’s point of contact with whatever surfaces you are driving over. With inadequate tread or worn out tyres you face many hazards on the tracks, like punctures and loss of control at higher speeds.

A good set of tyres will make sure you have excellent control of your vehicle, and with the massive miles usually undertaken getting in and out of remote areas. Your piece of mind is worth it!

Simply set your new tyres to the appropriate pressure with your Kwiky Tyre Deflator or Thumper MKII air compressor and go!

Suspension

With long distance desert touring, you never know what terrains you’ll encounter, you can prepare for washboard roads, and soft sand, but are you ready for washouts and even muddy clay pans, and vast stretches of open highway. Desert roads are often graded red bull dust but can have many unsuspecting hazards and ruts that you are un-aware of. So a solid suspension upgrade will make sure your rubber almost always stays in contact with the road and you have maximum grip and control no matter what terrain comes your way.

Raw Suspension, put together many kits for dozens of vehicles, and a suspension lift kit will enhance your road feel and eliminate any sag caused by heavier upgrades. The added benefit to good suspension is you can have slightly enhanced fuel range, due to better handling and less tyre spinning.

These are all good reasons to asses your suspension and make sure it is up to the job of hitting long and unpredictable tracks

Storage
When packing your vehicle to hit the desert tracks, don’t forget to pack your gear neatly, and if your vehicle is fitted with them, use the fastening points included from factory to secure your bulky gear down, and prevent it from bouncing around the cab!

There are many storage solutions in the offroad market, ranging from plastic crates from the hardware store, all the way to car seat organisers that include pockets for nearly everything. But hands down, one of the best modifications you can make to your rear cargo area is a set of Titan rear drawers built from solid galvanised steel and fitted with roller bearings. A set of Titan rear drawers come standard with heavy duty tie downs on top and solid metal self-latching handles. Meaning no matter what you pack your gear will stay put.

If you plan on running a 12v fridge, you can even fasten it to your Titan rear drawer’s built in fridge slide for easier access on the side of the tracks!

Driving Lights

You may plan to never drive at night time, but with long distances between stops, sometimes delays can catch you out. Its times like this that make a quality set of driving lights essential!

Whether you choose something like a spotlight or even some of the more modern LED Lightbars, any additional light is a godsend when you are an hour or two from your next destination and the sun has set. With all the desert wildlife, Roo’s in particular like to graze on the roadside grasses, and have been known to sit in mobs of 100 or more, meaning your vehicles radiator, headlights and potentially windshield stand no chance.

A good set of driving lights, like the Kings illuminator 9” Spotties can throw usable light over 500m down the track, that is nearly double a standard high beam fitted to many modern cars!
The advantage is obvious and the ability to spot hazards well in advance, will pay itself off the first time you use them!

A good set of spotties is worth more to many people than a heavy cumbersome steel bulbar!

Navigation

We cannot think of anything more gut wrenching that taking a wrong turn on an unmarked dirt road with limited fuel and supplies and travelling hours through nearly featureless terrain to find you are heading in the wrong direction.

This is where it is essential to carry with you an accurate and fully functional GPS navigator with on and offroad tracks. The VMS Touring 700HDX is one of the best tools for this job and includes over 3000+ Maps pre-loaded on a massive 32GB VMS SD Card!

The VMS has a Massive 7” high definition backlit touch screen and can even be hooked up to a VMS Reversing Camera for safer visibility when reversing a must for any parents or grandparents looking to take their kids camping with them!

Comms!

If you are travelling through the outback, there is one resource that is greatly under estimated. A Solid UHF to communicate with, many people skimp out and buy cheaper hand-held units for their ease of use and lack of installation effort to get them going on the tracks.

However, a vehicle mounted unit like the Oricom UHF380PK 5W system offers a far superior range, with its included 6dB vehicle mounted antenna it can offer between 15km – 20km in ideal conditions, some people even report more. Considering the massive desert distances, this range doesn’t seem like much, but it could easily get you in touch with other travelers or a nearby farmhouse in case of emergency and get you out of a sticky situation!

Accomodation

With roadhouses being nearly as far few and between as townships, you’d be wise to bring your own accommodation. Desert touring accommodation can vary from a setup that is as simple as a swag or something more elaborate like a Roof top tent.

For longer trips its definitely a wise idea to splurge a little and get your hands on a roof top tent, offering massive upgrades in comfort and getting you up off the desert floor, you wont have to worry about snakes and spiders in the remote desert campsites.

A good quality swag does still offer one of the best ways to watch the night sky as you fall asleep, and if you have read anything about the desert, the night sky is something to look forward to.

Get out there and see more, with a properly setup campsite and gear from 4WD Supacentre!