Hay River Expedition
August 2007

Written by Kylie Godden

Roger’s Simpson Desert Trip was always going to split into two trips just purely through the sheer number of people keen and eager to experience this fascinating and remote part of Australia. We all arrived at the Old Andado Station near Finke which was the point where the two groups split up.

As our vehicle had been running for the past couple of days on only four of the five cylinders we had to pull out of the Madigan Line part of the trip. We headed in to Alice with the HRH’s to get the problem fixed and then tag along with the gang down the Hay River. While we were disappointed at not being able to continue with the Magnificient Madigan Mob (MMM), we were eagerly looking forward to seeing the Hay River and being able to access remote Aboriginal Land and scenery we hadn’t expected to see!

Cameron’s vehicle was also experiencing some mechanical difficulties and he had rung ahead to book service time with BigJon (from AULRO) at Sutton’s in Alice. Because we had to pull out of the MMM trip and head into Alice for repairs, we took on a swap of flogged out trailing arm bushes from David Williams’ vehicle with our bushes which were in great condition so he could continue on the MMM trip. David had the bushes installed brand new before leaving Sydney, but one of those things – they were not up to scratch or were faulty and just didn’t last. It was organised by David that replacement bushes would be sent to Alice by overnight air freight to Sutton’s Motors (the only Land Rover Dealer there) where we would have the old bushes replaced with the new ones at the same time as getting the injector problem fixed. As we were to find out – nothing is “overnight” to Alice from the eastern seaboard – allow 36 to 48 hours for “overnight”!

We set out from Old Andado with fond farewells echoing in our ears from the MMM group and headed north-west for Alice. The scenery as we drove through the Train Ranges was gobsmacking (see above photo) and after about 1½ hours, we came upon our first glimpse of wild camels. We had been seeing their spoor on the road and they were following the same track when finally the call came over the radio from Neta that camels were spotted on the ridgeline! Well we missed them completely! I had my nose in a map working out how much further we had to go to get to Alice (approx 2½ inches on the map) and John was too busy controlling a vehicle which kept on insisting that the taillights should be in front of the headlights! I’ll leave the photo of the camels to be included by the guys at the back of the convoy!

After a short stop for afternoon tea at the base of one of the ranges we headed for Santa Teresa then on to Alice by late afternoon. We “camped” that night in a caravan park (showers at last!) and Cameron & Guy headed off first thing to Suttons to get their repairs done. As it happened, they didn’t need all the time they had booked for their repairs, so John was able to get the truck down there and have the injectors looked at – it turned out that the injector harness had completely snapped – no wonder she wasn’t a happy truck! As luck would have it though, BigJon at Suttons had a replacement in stock and had it fitted and back in running order in just over an hour (for a VERY reasonable price too I might add!) Unfortunately though there was no sign of the new bushes……

Everyone went their own way in Alice for the rest of that day whether just sightseeing, re-stocking on essentials, buying bits and pieces for the guys on the MMM trip for when we met up again (mostly this was beer). The HRH guys were to head off the following morning for Arltunga (East McDonald Ranges) then north up the Cattlewater Pass Track toward the Plenty Highway where we were all to reassemble and camp. We missed out on this part of the trip because we were still waiting on the bushes to arrive – which they did at about 10am and by the time they were fitted and we were on the road out of Alice it was about 12:30pm – hooray!

We were too far behind the others to try to catch them on the Arltunga route so we whizzed up the Sturt Highway and then across the Plenty to the top of the Cattlewater Pass Track. On the way we stopped for a bite to eat at The Gemtree – this is an area where a great deal of fossicking goes on for garnets, zircon and mica.
The bloke behind the counter, after a bit of a chat, asked what vehicle we were driving, we told him and he came out with a Land Rover joke we hadn’t heard before……...….

“ Why is a Land Rover like a mother-in-law? Because it’s always sick but won’t bloody die.”

Time’s a wasting – so on we go to the Cattlewater Pass Track and head down to meet up with the others. After about 20kms along the track (and noting at least half a dozen fantastic campsites to choose from), we stopped in a relatively flat area to await their arrival. After about 15 minutes or so, we heard faint chatter on the UHF that was definitely Nick’s voice and it was getting stronger and finally we made contact! When we met up to much cheering all round, we headed back up the track toward the meeting point to catch up with Richard & Helmut, who had spent the previous day and night at Rainbow Valley. We found the most perfect campsite on the banks of the river (see the photo below) and Cameron & Guy went further up the track to meet Richard & Helmut and bring them into camp.

That afternoon/evening Bruce was concerned about some weeping he’d seen coming from his clutch master cylinder and next morning (after a fabulous night’s camping) while we were being serenaded by the birdlife, he and Neeta decided they wouldn’t risk it and would head off for Alice for repairs. If possible they would try to catch up with us all when the HRH and MMM groups met up and travelled into Birdsville in about a week or so, if they weren’t there, then they’d just chortled off back home.

The remainder of the group headed east along the Plenty Highway heading for Jervois Station for a fuel top up before turning off for Batton Hill campsite on Aboriginal Land. The road into Batton Hill runs due east along a fence line and was a magic run in. After a bit of confusion we finally found the entry to the Aboriginal Land and chortled in to Batton Hill. What an absolutely magic place! We were greeted by the stand-in Caretaker, Billy, who showed us the facilities then left us to our own devices to settle in. The campsite was spotlessly clean with his and hers ablutions (including a donkey heater for the shower water for both blocks), three undercover areas we could use which had tables and a few chairs, a fabulous wood BBQ complete with running water in the sink and the ground around the entire area was neatly raked (including the Axminster under one of the covered areas!)

At 9am the next morning Billy arrived to take the boys on their bush tucker tour and as John and I weren’t supposed to be on this part of the trip, we hadn’t booked in for this trip, so we had a wonderfully lazy morning catching up on the washing! I’ll leave the description of the bush tucker trip to the others who went on it. When the boys arrived back about noon, we had a quick lunch then headed off down the Hay River.

We were travelling down a track which ran parallel to the Hay River itself. As we meandered along, weaving gently between sand ridges and the river bed, we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and the river gums were just spectacular. Cam & Guy found a wonderful campsite just off the side of the road on the banks of the river. Richard went off looking for camels and I believe he found some and got up quite close too! Guy and Cam went on a major fire wood hunt on the other side of the river and thanks to their efforts, we all enjoyed a campfire to remember that night.

Up early next morning and away we went following the river down towards Camp 15 on the Madigan Line to meet up with the MMM’s. Some time late morning (I didn’t check the time!) we arrived at the Tropic of Capricorn so of course we had to take the dutiful photos – see next page for the photo of “The Boys”. I successfully got out of the photo by taking it instead!

On we travelled and in some parts we were actually driving in the riverbed as we criss-crossed from one side to the other. Magic. We were pushing along a bit to try to reach the other group by nightfall and we arrived in Camp 15 late afternoon to find a note left behind for us by the MMM’s. They had passed through the previous night and had headed on toward Camp 16 to wait for us to catch up. While we were chatting over the radio about this between our vehicles, Roger picked us up and had a bit of a chat and told us they were camped about ¾ of a kilometre down the track past Camp 16. So we hurriedly took pictures of the Blaze Tree and headed off to meet up with the others.

What a welcome we received! There were hugs and handshaking and mile wide grins aplenty as we all shared the news and highlights of the two trips. It was a rather rowdy campfire that night……..

I would like to take the opportunity to once again express my thanks and appreciation to Cam & Guy for the excellent manner in which they led the HRH trip. As neither of them had ever led a trip before and with this one going into completely unknown territory for everyone – they are to be commended, they did a terrific job and were a pleasure to travel with.