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.