2027 Western Desert Explorer * REMOTE *

2027 Trans-Desert Expedition

Kalgoorlie → Great Victoria Desert → Hanns Shortcut → Hunt Oil Road → Gunbarrel Highway

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. A truly remote experience, this is one of our personal favourites. 

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 on the Great Central Road.

After a short journey to the West we then disappear again into the desert. 

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 move back toward Wiluna along the Gunbarrel including a stop at at Carnegie Homestead to complete our desert expedition. 

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.

Are you up for the journey?

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