Central Australia has received some much needed rain in recent days … but the resulting road closures have caused headaches for travelling grey nomads.
Routes such as the Tanami Road and Larapinta Drive have now reopened, but travellers are urged to be cautious.
“When there’s heavy rain we get what’s called ‘scouring’ which chews up the surface,” Richard Sankey from the Department of Infrastructure told the ABC. “Water can go across the roads and not have an effect … but, if traffic goes across the roads, we get bad scouring and the roads deteriorate very quickly.”
The recent heavy rain which has brought some relief to pastoralists in the region is now moving north and clearing.
While it may have caused some delays to plans, many grey nomads have been making the most of the changed conditions in the Red Centre.
Patrick Grant from the Kings Canyon Resort told the ABC that, although access roads are now open again, some visitors have voluntarily extended their stays so they can see the canyon with water flowing.
“It’s quite amazing,” he said. “As you’re walking up the 500 steps or so you can hear the water rushing through the canyon and the waterfall running which is so unique … it was really calming and a beautiful ambiance.”
The Bureau of Meteorology says it’s been the wettest May in nine years in southern parts of the Northern Territory.
Are you in the ‘soggy’ Centre? Did the rains affect your plans? How has the deluge changed the landscape? Comment below.
