2027 Western Desert Explorer * REMOTE *

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2027 Trans-Desert Expedition

Kalgoorlie → Great Victoria → Gibson → Great Sandy → Pilbara

There are outback trips — and then there are journeys that cross the very heart of Australia.

In 2027, Explore WA returns to one of the most remote and least-travelled regions on Earth with a true trans-desert expedition linking five of Western Australia’s greatest deserts into one continuous adventure. This is not a tourist loop. This is a continental crossing, stitched together by forgotten tracks, exploration routes and some of the most isolated country left on the planet.

We depart from Kalgoorlie, leaving the bitumen behind almost immediately as we head north-east into the vast wilderness of the Great Victoria Desert. Here we follow remote station tracks, sandalwood cutlines and the historic Anne Beadell Highway, a route first opened through this country by early explorer Frank Hann in the early 1900s.

Between 1903 and 1908, Hann explored huge swathes of the Great Victoria and surrounding deserts, naming more than 500 geographic features — many of which we will pass, camp beside and explore. This is country that shaped Australia’s exploration story, yet today sees only a handful of vehicles each year.

From here we turn north along the Connie Sue Highway, crossing immense dune fields and spinifex plains before reaching the remote Aboriginal community of Warburton — our first chance to refuel and reconnect with civilisation.

Then we disappear again.

Turning west, we follow the old Hunt Oil Road, a little-known exploration track cut through the Gibson Desert in the 1960s by an American oil company searching for petroleum beneath the sands. This is harsh, beautiful country — endless red dunes, desert oaks and a sky that seems to go on forever.

At Geraldton Bore, we rejoin another of Australia’s great outback routes — the legendary Gunbarrel Highway, built by Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party during the Cold War era. Few roads carry more outback history than this.

From here we branch north onto the Gary Highway, then west once again along the isolated Talawanna Track, pushing through to Windy Corner and finally onto the Canning Stock Route at Georgia Bore — one of the most iconic and remote tracks in Australia.

After refuelling at the community of Parngurr, we head into one of the least visited national parks in the country:
Karlamilyi (Rudall River) National Park — an enormous, wild landscape of desert rivers, gorges and spinifex plains in the Great Sandy Desert.

From here we attempt one of the most remote passages of the entire expedition: a little-used westward track out of Karlamilyi and into the Oakover River Valley — a route so isolated that even experienced desert travellers rarely see it. On a previous expedition, conditions forced a retreat. This time, we’re going back.

We then aim for the surreal rock formation known as Hanging Rock, before pushing west toward Skull Springs and the hidden watercourses of the inland Pilbara — where red desert finally gives way to rocky gorges, river systems and permanent pools.

Here, we wash the dust from our boots, share one last camp under the stars, and finish the journey in Newman.

This is not a tour — it’s an expedition

Our route is planned, but the outback always has the final say. This journey demands respect for isolation, changing conditions, and the sheer scale of remote Australia. Days of red sand, nights under unbroken skies, and places where few vehicles — and even fewer people — ever go.

If you want an easy trip, this isn’t it.
If you want to cross the deserts the way explorers once did — this is your calling.

Are you up for the journey?

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