BEADELL TOURS 2025 - ANNE BEADELL & FRANK HANN

Close scrub on Anne Beadell Highway east of Emu - June 2025

Hello everyone,

Connie Beadell & Mick Hutton here after a couple of months travelling Len's roads during our 2025 touring season. We had some very anxious preparation, waiting for the Western Australian side of the Anne Beadell Highway (ABH) to reopen after the floods of last year. We finally heard in mid-May that the road regrade had been completed (to approx 70 kms west of the WA border). Woomera had also cancelled their June exclusion period so with the approval of all of our punters we rescheduled a Coober Pedy start. We left Coober Pedy in mid-June and travelled the Anne Beadell Highway, had a nice day off at Ilkurlka Roadhouse with the excellent Phil Merry, did a small section of the Connie Sue Highway (CSH) before striking off westerly on Hann's Track. The tour finished in Laverton on the 4th of July, luck was with us weather-wise for the whole tour.

The deserts were very dry this year with more grass than usual, very few flowers and stressed trees - this shot is just east of the Wanna Lakes, ABHwy - June 2025

Washouts north of Neale Junction, CSH - June 2025

In general, the roads were better than usual although there were still patches of close scrub, the odd corrugated section, rocks and a few washouts. The worst areas were east of Emu and either side of the SA / WA border. The new regrade on the WA side of the ABH was wonderful although still had a few areas to watch out for here and there. We only did a small section of the CSH but as it was not regraded recently, I would suspect that many more washouts and corrugations would be on the cards. Hann's Track was very overgrown in places plus with sections of high spinifex between the wheel tracks, radiator protection was a must. It is a very interesting track though and well worth the effort, but you must do your research on the old explorer Frank Hann first to get the most out of it, particularly his sojourns in 1903.

Hann's Track with high spinifex east of Saunders Point - June 2025

Amy Rockhole - June 2025 - Hann named this “Amys Rock” on 25^th July 1903 and called it “a splendid soak” with “rushes there”

We did have a few tyre and vehicle issues on this tour which Mick will explain in his usual post season reports on our website https://beadelltours.com.au/. We will get them uploaded as soon as they are completed.

Many thanks to our participants for their help and company. Their enthusiasm and interest in the desert and it's history is great to see!! For the second tour, see my part 2.

Connie Sue Beadell

Beadell Tours.