Simpson Desert Crossing

Friday 10th July

So this is Jo writing now. We are currently sitting in the middle of the Simpson Desert on the Hay River Track after a fantastic day of driving over sand dunes and salt pans. I’ve just had a real coffee (you would be proud Sue Robbo) and the others are having ‘beer o’clock’.  We haven’t seen any other people since about 10am this morning, the sky is blue, the ground is red and all is good with the world.

We left Birdsville yesterday morning after spending the night in the caravan park there and watching the State of Origin in the iconic Birdsville Hotel (the less said about that the better!!). First stop was the Birdsville Bakery for fresh breakfast pies – nothing like pies from a country bakery. We did pass up on the curried camel pies however. Birdsville is in a bit of shock at the moment having just had the Big Red Bash – 3,000 people from all over made their way to Birdsville for a three day music festival with the headliner being Jimmy Barnes. Last year the Bash had 1,500 people so numbers doubled this year and the place had run out of everything. The lady at the Bakery told us they were feeling a little ‘overwhelmed’. As we walked up to the Bakery, two locals were coming in with a joey kangaroo wearing a nappy. Apparently, the mum had been killed and they were looking after it but it had done a runner – must have been an interesting sightseeing two women chasing a kangaroo in a nappy down the streets of Birdsville.

So after that bit of excitement we headed into the Simpson Desert to begin the real adventure. About 30km into the desert you get to the famous ‘Big Red’ sand dune which all 4WDrivers aspire to conquer. Our travelling companions, Ryan, Sherran and Joel gave one of the harder ascents a try and we thought they were going to make it first go but were foiled about 5m from the top. Meanwhile, I walked up the dune (walking up a steep sand dune is surprisingly hard going – think I will pass on the Big Red ultra-marathon event anytime soon) to watch the antics from the top. Ryan, Sherran and Joel made it on their second attempt on a less steep part of Big Red but still a challenge. Stephen made it up that section too and then we watched some other vehicles attempt to come up the steepest section – they made it on the third try.

The day was then filled with 100km of driving up and down sand dunes along the QAA line and enjoying the incredible scenery. It is quite green out here at the moment and there are lots of yellow and white wildflowers which are a great contrast to the redness of the dunes. The track is fairly busy being the last week of the school holidays and we passed a lot of vehicles heading towards Birdsville travelling west to east. The traverse across the desert east to west is a bit more difficult due to the prevailing winds making the dunes steeper in that direction but everyone (except Joel) had a go at sand driving today with success.

Our camp spot was a secluded spot in the valley between a couple of dunes. The boys put together a rocket which Joel had been given as a present and set it off a couple of times (and managed to retrieve it) and we then settled in to a pleasant night by the campfire under the stars (and wow - the stars are incredible here!!!)

More dune driving to get where we are camping tonight with a detour to Poeppel Corner to stand in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory all at the same time. Now we are on the Hay River Track which is certainly the road less travelled out here. This area was used for oil exploration in the 1800’s and there are a number of abandoned oil wells on the track.

So we sit and contemplate how good life is and look forward to what else this northern section of the Simpson Desert has to offer in the days to follow.

Saturday 11th - Tuesday 14th July

What an incredible country we have and how lucky we are to experience its vastness and remoteness first hand. The past two days we have continued driving along the Hay River Track in the Northern Simpson Desert. Our travelling speed has averaged about 25km/hr and around every bend and over every dune we have been delighted at a new and different vista and often completely different landscape – hard to describe so will let the pictures do the talking

One interesting way point has been passing the Blaze Tree (M39) which signifies Camp 16 of Australian explorer and geologist Cecil Madigan who was the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert in 1939. He did it in 25 days with 9 men and 19 camels. He has beocme known as "the last of the classic explorers of central Australia". Another driving adventure for a later date may well be to follow the Madigan Line through the desert. Madigan interestingly also accompanied Sir Douglas Mawson on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1911-1912.

Other highlights include climbing Mount Winneke (named after Charles Winnecke who led the Horn expedition to Central Australia in 1894), letting paper lanterns fly off into the night sky (yes Rachel Manley, the ones you gave us in Manchester), driving behind a camel on the track, standing in the bizzare moonscape that is Lake Caroline, passing the Tropic of Capricorn marked with a significant signpost and celebrating Sherran's birthday drinking Veuve champagne at our campsite on the actual river bed of the Hay River (obviously dry).

All good things come to an end however, and our last day on the Hay River Track saw us driving through Batton Hill and through to the Plenty Highway for a long trip into Alice Springs. What a fabulous start to our trip. This section was quite unknown and Stephen put a lot of time and effort into research and planning so it was great that it went without  a hitch. We had a last meal with Ryan, Sherran and Joel before farewelling them as they head back to Sydney via Kings Canyon and Uluru.

And then there were two.....

 
Stephen here now. I have been really pleased with how well the car is performing. Sand dunes are tough on a car this size and at the beginning of our crossing we were traveling heavy with 200 litres of fuel and a lot of water an supplies yet despite this the dunes presented very little problem for the mighty patrol.

The only minor problem we had was with the UHF radio which had very limited range. This was easily fixed once we got to Alice Springs but I would really like to thank the guys at TJM Alice Springs (especially Wade) who were incredibly helpful in helping me to trouble shoot and repair the problem, they could not have been more accommodating, thanks guys.

Also must thank Matt at ARB Alice Springs who helped us to re-calibrate our fridge which was having a minor thermostat issue, don't panic, the beer remained cold at all times.

Sturt's Desert Peas (Swainsona formosa)


On top of Big Red

The Simpson Desert

Camping in the desert, pick a spot, any spot


Sunset in the desert

Lake Poeppel, not much water but a lot of salt

The start of the Hay River Track

Poeppel Corner, Jo and I straddling 3 states

The Simpson's on Lake Peoppel

The Simpson's in the Simpson

Jo at sunrise

Yet another dune (just one of the approximately 1500 in the Simpson)

Critter

Amazing dunes

Love the colour

Lake Caroline

Sherran's birthday

Camping on the Hay River (drone)




Launching rockets in the Simpson

On top of Mt Winnecke

The view from Mt. Winnecke

A farewell party as we leave the Simpson

We made it