Back in Birdsville but not for long – onto Walkers Crossing Public Access Rd

September 17^th

Next morning we headed off in no hurry at all (still not ‘serious’ 4WD people in relation to early morning get ups!!). We gave Big Red another crack (without success yet again) and landed back in Birdsville just before lunchtime – just in time to have a pie. They were a little less stressed in the bakery than when we were last here and they were recovering from the Big Red Bash. Need to mention at this point that we did it!!!! Completed the west to east crossing of the Simpson without any issues at all arriving safe and sound in Birdsville via our own car and not a tow truck. We are VERY happy about this!!!

Should we stay or should we go?? What would we do if we stayed? Where would we stay? (not keen on the camp ground again). We deliberated over these questions and more in the Birdsville Hotel with a champagne for me and a beer for Stephen (never too early when you are on holidays). 

Still not keen on hitting the bitumen just yet we decided that Innamincka sounded like a good place to visit and narrowed the route down to two options – the Cordillo Downs Rd or the Walkers Crossing Public Access Rd. Thought a visit to the Birdsville Tourist Information Centre might be helpful. How wrong can one be!!

We asked the lady behind the counter (a local) what the Cordillo Downs Rd was like at the moment. 

Her response - “About the same.”

Us – “Same as what?”

Her – “Same as last week.”

Us – “Sorry but we aren't from around here and don’t know what it was like last week, could you give us some more information please?’

Her – “Well people have been coming and going along it so it should be ok.”

Us – “What is ok? Is it graded? Are there many corrugations? What might the travel time be?”

Her – “They have graded it this year.”

At this stage we were becoming a little exasperated to say the least.

Us – “What about the Walkers Crossing Rd?”

Her – “Couldn't say about that one. Do you know anything?” (she asks her colleague who appears to be a German backpacker)

The German backpacker proceeded to be a wealth of information about both roads and their most recent condition. Go figure!!! We decide on the Walkers Crossing Public Access Rd and after refuelling and grabbing a few minor food items we head off south along the Birdsville Track towards the turn off which is about 100km along and marked by a 44-gallon drum.

Not far before the turn off we pass the Page Family memorial cross. Tragic story of a family of five who in 1963 endeavoured to drive from Marree to Birdsville in a Ford V8 in a heat wave. They lost the track and ran out of fuel and then tried to walk south for help. All five died of thirst and are buried near the road with a memorial in place. What a tragedy! The message is the same today as it was then – this is harsh country for which you need to be thoroughly prepared and not become complacent when travelling in remote areas. Similar events have occurred more recently. Staying with your vehicle is certainly the safest and most sensible course of action.

With that sobering thought, we turned onto the Walkers Crossing Rd and into the Sturt Stony and the Strzelecki Deserts. The first part of this road is probably some of the most arid and dry country we have passed through all trip – gibber country. Not much around save for a few emus. We also pass some sand dunes (because we haven’t had enough of them) but nothing as large as in the Simpson. The road ranges from a single lane track to service roads for the gas fields and it is tricky sometimes to stay on the public access road – fortunately our GPS comes in very useful here and we only make one wrong turn.

We eventually got to Walkers Crossing at Cooper Creek where we decide to stay for the night. The crossing is named for Sydney James Walker who worked in SANTOS Field Services Division at Moomba. SANTOS is a large, predominantly Australian owned oil and gas company. Its name is an acronym for South Australian Northern Territory Oil Search. Syd Walker was responsible for the rebuilding of this crossing of the Cooper Creek which suffered regular flood damage. Soon after the project was completed Syd had a massive heart attack and in his honour, the men of Field Services decided to name the crossing after him and built a memorial at the crossing. 

Certainly no water in the creek but lots of trees and bird life and we found a great spot off the road for a quiet evening.

On a mission to do the west to east crossing of the Simpson Desert without breaking down!

September 14^th, 15^th and 16^th

Leisurely get up, breakfast and pack up this morning. Great weather – not too hot with a breeze. Enjoyed a great hot shower before heading out as we will need to be frugal with water over the next few days. Excited and a bit nervous about heading back into the Simpson. The elephant in the room is the car break down and recovery back in 2001 (if you don’t know this story and it is a good one, ask us to tell you sometime). Although the current car is in perfect shape and we are extremely well prepared, it is still hard not to be a little anxious until we pop out the other side.

Almost immediately on leaving Mount Dare the road surface became extremely corrugated again with sections of large loose rock. This continued pretty much for the entire 70km to Dalhousie Springs – a group of over 60 natural artesian springs that feed a large main pool with water temperatures like a hot bath (38 – 43 degrees Celsius). The springs are home to a number of unique fish species and other rare aquatic life that are found nowhere else in the world. It is quite the oasis in this very dry countryside. Very glad we didn't press on to try and get to the Springs last night as it would have taken forever plus the word on the track is that the mosquitos at the camping area there are voracious. We are still in Witjira National Park at this stage. Dalhousie Springs is a lot more developed than when we first ventured here in 1998 and then again in 2001. There is an amenities block and camping area and the area around the entrance to the Springs has a deck and step ladder. I had a swim in the extremely hot springs but didn't stay in for long as I was working up a sweat (Stephen doesn't enjoy the hot water so stayed on the side). It isn't quite the same arriving at Dalhousie coming west to east as you haven’t even hit the desert yet. I remember the springs being such a welcome relief when we came from east to west. After five days in the desert without a proper shower it was all you could do to keep us out of them! A few other people at Dalhousie but all appeared to be day trippers coming in for a swim and then heading back out again (as you do). We didn't come across anyone coming from the desert nor anyone heading into the desert like us.

After our stop at Dalhousie we made our way east with variable road conditions until we finally reached Freeth Junction where the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve begins and of course, the sand dunes start!! The Simpson Desert is the largest dune desert in the world (1,200 parallel sand dunes some up to 300km long), the fourth largest desert in Australia; and is also one of the most arid places on earth and the driest place in Australia. It is 550km between fuel stops – Mount Dare to Birdsville. The dunes began almost immediately at this spot and the rocks and gravel gave way to red sand (still corrugations though – you can’t get away from them!!). Up with our flag again, down with the tyre pressure and ready to tackle the 1,200 dunes over the next few days.

Our travel across the desert was mostly on the French Line which was built by the French Petroleum Company in 1962 as part of their oil exploration efforts in the Great Artesian Basin. Not far into the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve we stopped at Purnie Bore with water almost at boiling point (no swimming here). Purnie Bore is also known as the accidental lake! The French drilled a bore here in the 60’s to explore the rock strata. They drilled down 1.8km into the Artesian Basin and then capped the well which eroded over time and hot water started gushing out creating a lake in the desert which wildlife started to rely on. They have since recapped the bore but still let a little hot water out to maintain the ecology of the place. The birds here were simply amazing. We spent a long time enjoying some bird spotting but the wind started to pick up and it was hot and unpleasant so it was back in the car to continue our dune crossings.

So for the next three days and nights we drove at about 10-20km/hour, crossing dunes, admiring the magnificent scenery including amazing salt pans, finding an array of wildlife (some we were pleased about, some a bit too close for comfort), watching glorious sunrises and sunsets, enjoying the solitude and the stars and in general, just soaking up the whole ‘vibe of the thing’(except for the flies). We passed a few vehicles along the way coming from the east but not anything like the traffic we saw on the main track when we started the trip back in July and before we turned off onto the Hay River Track. School holidays seems to make a huge difference to the amount of people out and about in the desert.

Wildlife sightings of note include a mangy, skinny dingo which ran alongside the car for some distance with us one day but then didn't seem to be able to go any further. Getting sustenance out here must be so difficult for the animals, it’s a wonder there are any at all. The lizards seem to be better suited to the climate and terrain. The more up close and personal experience was on the first night that we camped. We pulled into a flat, cleared spot off the side of the track and set up camp. We were cooking our dinner with all the lights on and these were attracting a vast array of insects which is quite normal if not a little annoying and it is always a challenge to keep the moths etc out of our meal. This night however, we had some additional new visitors – a whole lot of spiders came seemingly from nowhere. They gathered under the lights and caught any stray insects that got a bit close to them. This was a bit disconcerting but we could cope as they weren't interested in us at all. The big ticket item that night though was a snake. I was chopping up something and out of the darkness slithered a snake about 2.5m long. It passed by very close to my feet and I screamed and yelled ‘snake’. Stephen had his back to me so when he heard me scream, he yelled too and turned around to see the snake slithering towards him. We backed out of the way quick smart but it seemed to be on a mission and moved across our campsite and off back into the blackness. I ate my dinner that evening with my feet up on my chair and was especially keen to get into the tent. This was the only night we saw anything like this – other evenings were relatively creature free.

The third day of the desert crossing found us back at Poeppel Corner (junction of NT, Qld & SA) where were stood with the Evans family two months previously. We took more obligatory photos and found our names from the earlier stopover in the visitor’s book. Of course, we signed the book again. From here we travelled very briefly on the K1 Line and then onto the QAA Line for the final stretch to Birdsville.

                                     

The third night saw us camping about 40km in from Big Red. We probably could have made it into Birdsville that night but couldn't see the point – we would much rather bush camp and continue to enjoy the serenity. This was one of the prettiest spots we camped in a clearing surrounded by trees. So pleased that we decided to take the Simpson Desert route back towards the east. It is one of our favourite places ever and it did not fail to deliver yet again.

Alice Springs to Mount Dare Hotel via the Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail

September 13^th

Took myself for another run along the dry Todd River this morning before we headed out of town towards Mount Dare via the Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail. We had deliberated over whether we would take this route to Finke or go via the Old Andado Track but finally decided on the Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail as it was a more direct line to where we wanted to go. Internet research on both tracks gave pros and cons. Not sure this was the best decision as once we were past the Rodinga siding ruins (old fettlers camp) the track became extremely corrugated and sandy and continued like this the entire way to Finke (141km). Just meant slow, careful driving and who knows what the condition of the other track would be like anyway. Did shake us to the core though and we had to stop a few times just to get out and be still for a while.

The Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail is an interesting journey in history. The route is based on the elevations of The Ghan rail line which started in August 1929 and originally ran on the Central Australian Railway built as a 1,067mm narrow-gauge railway that ran as far north as Alice Springs. The Old Ghan got its name as a result of the Afghan camel teams who operated goods transport services to the outback stations from the railway towns and sidings. The original Ghan ran for the last time in 1980 and now its preservation is in the hands of The Ghan Preservation Society, which repairs sections of the old narrow gauge track and some notable sidings.

You actually drive on the old rail bed and get to see some of the ruins of the sidings and railway infrastructure along the way as well as track remnants like railway spikes – saw loads of these and had fun trying to avoid driving over them as they could have played havoc with the car tyres.

As well as driving on the old railway line, the track runs parallel to the Finke Desert Race Track. This is a major national event for off-road bikes, cars, buggies and quad vehicles which is held on the Queen’s birthday long weekend in June each year. It is one of the biggest sporting events in the NT and has the reputation of being one of the most difficult courses in one of the most remote places in the world.  The course looks like a roller coaster ride and we could only imagine what it would be like with hundreds of vehicles speeding along the 226km route. 

                      

Sign posts along the way included white coloured car bonnets sticking out of the sand every 10km to note the mileage from Alice Springs. 

 

There were also some amusing signs such as the one below as we passed Rumbala.

Finke (known as Aputula since the 80’s) itself is an Aboriginal community of 250 people just north of the SA border. Originally the old Ghan Railway crossed the Finke River (dry when we were there) just north of the township. Any major flood in the river washed out the rail bridge so the settlement developed primarily to repair the rai crossing. When the new railway was opened up in 1981 passing through Kulgera, 150km to the west of Finke, the community was set up as a Uniting Church Mission for the local aborigines. Aputula holds the record of having the hottest day ever recorded in the NT (48.3 degrees Celsius) on January 1^st and 2^nd 1960.

When we finally rattled into Aputula (Finke) after many more hours than we anticipated it would take us, we were greeted with nothing much. It was Sunday so nothing was open (not even the public toilets) and it seemed like a dry, dusty, hot place to be. We passed through quickly and stopped on the other side of town for some lunch on the side of the road.

The road improved somewhat after Aputula and we were able to increase our travel time a little. We eventually passed into Witjira National Park (some interesting things banned here) and after about 105km from Aputula we arrived at the Mount Dare Hotel – an oasis in the dust and dirt. We hadn't planned on staying here the night but didn't know what we would find on the road past the hotel so decided to pull up stumps for the evening. Had a few ciders in the pub, marvelled at the collection of icons hanging from the ceiling including a t-shirt from some crazy outback runners, met some other travellers, set up camp out the back, had some dinner and then sat around chatting with our new acquaintances (and their dog which they really shouldn't have had in a National Park) enjoying the stars.

Gary Junction Road – Namatjira Drive – Alice Springs

September 11^th & 12^th

A leisurely start to the morning, not really in any hurry to be anywhere. Left our camp site and continued along Gary Junction Road to Papunya. Known locally as Warumpi, the Aboriginal community of Papunya is about 240km NW from Alice Springs in the MacDonnell Ranges and is home to approximately 400 residents (displaced Aboriginal people mainly from Pintupi and Luritja groups).

Interesting trivia about Papunya - the Warumpi band (Aboriginal rock group) were formed in Papunya and it is the closest town in Australia to the Continental Pole of Inaccessibility (the place on land that is furthest away from the ocean – 920km from the nearest coastline).

Papunya also saw the emergence of ‘dot’ paintings in the 70’s by the senior Indigenous men of the community who were the custodians of the ancestral stories. This has now been called the greatest art movement of the 20^th century. The first artists’ collective, Papunya Tula Artists was set up in 1972 by men from this settlement and was the inspiration and model for many other indigenous artist collectives. Many famous Indigenous artists have come from Papunya. We were keen to stop in at the art centre but it was unfortunately closed.

We did a quick lap of the town and discovered a health centre, a quite large primary school and community store but nothing much to keep us there so we kept on towards Alice passing by Mereenie Bluff and finally hitting the bitumen (haven’t seen any of that for a while) when we turned onto Namatjira Drive.

Namatjira Drive is the tourist drive which takes you through the West MacDonnell Ranges and a number of gorges. We took the turn off to Redbank Gorge first and the drive in was very pretty. The walk to the actual gorge was quite a long one so we decided against doing this. We have done more than our fair share of gorges this trip and given it is really hot we don’t think anyone is going to hold us to account for not visiting every single gorge we pass. Did see an interesting insect when we stopped there which was well worth a photo.

Back on the black top you would think we would be making good time however, this is Grey Nomad country and we seem to manage to get behind every single caravan, camper trailer and Winnebago as they slowly meander along the road. Very frustrating. We stopped into Glen Helen Resort for an ice cream and it was here that we decided our route home. We have been deliberating as we still have two weeks and don’t want to just retrace our steps to get home. Lots of machinations have been occurring and options discussed, most of them involving eventually getting onto more black top and heading east through Queensland. As we sat enjoying our ice cream, we realised we were surrounded by ‘older’ people and realised that most of our home bound travel choices would involve travelling behind more retirees cruising their retirement away. Good for them but not for us just yet – plenty of time for that. And with that in mind we decided to throw caution to the wind and travel home via the Simpson Desert again (west to east). Why the hell not!!! It beat us in 2001 and we are now determined to do this crossing without drama.

With this decision made, we hopped back in the car and motored into Alice via a lovely Aboriginal art place – just a shed in someone’s yard but fabulous jewellery which was a bit different to other stuff I have seen so I did some early Christmas shopping.

                      

In Alice we returned to the hotel we stayed in when we were here with Ryan, Sherran and Joel a couple of months earlier - The Chifley. Nice rooms, reasonably priced, short walk to town and most importantly – a great laundry which we are in dire need of. Checked in for two nights in order to get our ducks in a row in preparation for going bush again.

Spent the afternoon pottering around and then had dinner at the most bizarre place – Monte’s Lounge. It isn't quite a pub and not quite a restaurant and has this whole circus theme happening with strange things hanging from the ceiling but the burgers were highly recommended and that is what we were craving (Stephen a beef one and me a vegetarian one). Not disappointed – excellent food and good beer. Just what the doctor ordered after over a week of remote bush travel.

On our next day in Alice, Stephen did car stuff and I went shopping (managed to buy three dresses in a cool little shop among other things). We met up after a few hours and did a tour of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) – excellent. Great dynamic history lesson with a hologram of Reverend John Flynn (founder of the RFDS) then a wander through the museum which was extremely well done and very informative. What an incredible service. Having spent weeks in the vastness that is remote and regional Australia we have an even greater appreciation for the work that the RFDS does both in primary health and emergency services. Well worth the visit! www.rfdsalicesprings.com.au

Had to do some grocery shopping before heading out tomorrow and we were interested to find all the aerosol containers locked away in a cabinet. You hear about the social issues in remote Australia but it is when you are confronted with reality checks such as this that it really hits home. Likewise with the alcohol and fuel carrying restrictions in many of the places we have passed through.