Simpson Desert Double Crossing July/Aug 2007 (Parts 1 & 2)

(Note Part 3 trip is a separate trip report)

Part 1 - The Rig Road and Hay River Run

Written by Helmut Wagner

Following is a Trip Report written primarily by Helmut, Richard’s passenger and co-driver with inserts by Richard.

Helmut lives in Melbourne and has traveled to many parts of Australia as a travel guide mainly showing German tourists around this great country of ours. He came along on the Simpson Desert Double Crossing (and has accompanied Richard on other LROC Trips) in order to gain a closer appreciation for the land. When he is showing the German tourists around he usually has less than two weeks to cover the tourist highlights so has to fly from place to place.

On this trip, the group of twelve vehicles split up for the second week of the three week trip. The ’A’ Team or the ‘Magnificent Madigan Mob’ tackled the Madigan Line while the ‘B’ Team or ‘The Hay River Harriers’ detoured via Alice Springs, the East McDonnell Ranges, the Plenty Highway and the Hay River to rejoin at Madigan’s Camp 16 in the lower reaches of the Hay River.

This is the report from the ‘Hay River Harriers’. The Mad Madigan Mobs report is published separately and a DVD of the complete trip is also being prepared - we’re just having trouble sorting through a selecting the best of over 12,000 photos that were taken on the trip. The DVD may be shown at a future GM and/or may be made available to club members.

Firstly Helmut gives a few recollections about certain aspects of the trip and follows with a daily journal.

Cooking
After using our petrol stove for the first few days, we discovered that there was a better and quicker way to boil water or cook dinner. It was using firewood and a grate. Despite being in the Simpson Desert which is supposed to be devoid of most camping needs our team leader always found a camp site with plenty of firewood. As soon as the team pulled over for the night, everyone rushed around to collect firewood and soon after a number of fires sprung up. The team leadership had the biggest fire, which was the assembling area for the exchange of stories after everyone had cooked and eaten dinner.

Weather
Sydney was cold when we left, that is about 10 degrees. As we made our way up north, the temperature and weather pattern changed and stabilized. In the Simpson, we usually woke up at a cool 3 degrees with not a cloud in the sky, day or night. After sunrise at about 7:20 am, it became quickly warmer which required a change of clothes from long sleeved flannel shirts to T shirts and from jeans to shorts. By midday or soon after the temperature rose sometimes up to 32 degrees. After sunset it cooled down slowly and out came the jeans and jumpers again.

Surroundings
According to reliable sources (Billy from Batton Hill) the last time it had rained in the Simpson was in May. We saw nowhere open water, not even small puddles. It was totally dry. Even flies could not cope with this and there were very few animals about. One night our nature experts Cameron and Guy enticed a few of us to a night walk to see a few creepy crawlies, because no other living being could be seen. The creepies had left a few holes in the red sand and some tracks. After a torch-lit walk with hushed voices explaining the likely finds not a single spider was found.

After a few days the tally improved we saw a herd of about 20 camels on a ridge some distance away, then a young male camel which tried to outpace us on our track. It ran ahead and according to Roger reached a speed of up to 35 kph which it maintained for quite a while until it decided to disappear in the bushes. The most interesting aspect of this encounter for me was the way the camel ran. It moved both legs on one side simultaneously. As it swapped legs with the other side it was briefly airborne. This gait resulted in the body of the camel swinging from one side to the other. Now I understand why the camel is also called the ship of the desert. In the zoo you never see a camel run, you have to go to the Simpson to see it.

Other animals were dingoes. They appeared suddenly from nowhere and didn’t display any fear as sometimes they approached the vehicles to about 2 m. The most frequent animals were birds, mostly different types of corellas, galahs, green budgerigars, doves, kites and eagles. On rare occasions a kangaroo was spotted. There were plenty of droppings from animals on every campsite, probably from camels, kangaroos and dingoes. What the animals didn’t provide, the plants made up for. We were told that the Simpson hadn’t been so lush for a long time. Richard thought a more appropriate name would be the Simpson Meadow.

The deep red sand of the dunes was covered with plants like grasses, bushes and small trees. Upon nearer inspection the variety was astonishing and changed between dunes. Sometimes we saw carpets of yellow flowers, sometimes purple or white flowers, bushes in many shades of green and wattle full with bright yellow flowers. Trees were mainly various types of eucalypts and along dry river beds ghost gums and river gums. A large number of dead trees in bizarre shapes provided motives for photographers and for the more practical inclined, plenty of firewood. It was so dry that making a fire was quick and easy.

Rivers
After studying our maps I suddenly realized that the rivers in the Simpson are different from the rivers I am used to. In most parts of the world rivers start somewhere joining other rivers and finally flow into some big lake or into the ocean. Not in the Simpson, where rivers start somewhere and end somewhere in the middle of nowhere but not in the ocean. All the rivers we saw were totally dry however the river beds looked very impressive and I am glad that many pictures were taken. They consisted of a wide stretch of sand bounded by rows of gum trees.

It must be an awe inspiring sight to see floods of water covering the wide sandy river beds. In wet years the rivers apparently flood the wider surrounding to widths of some miles. I would like to see that. To get there would be a problem because most of the roads would be impassable. Apparently the rivers flow after heavy rains in Queensland during the wet season. The rivers of the Simpson were dry however, a creek on the fringe of the Simpson had plenty of water. It was the Cooper Creek which was wider than the Mighty Murray, which is classed as the biggest river in Australia. It seems to be a guessing game as to which rivers flow and which ones don’t.

Dunes
According to brochures, the Simpson Desert has more than 1,100 parallel, red, sand-dunes. It is between Birdsville and Alice Springs (which are 600 km apart as the crow flies) and is about 170,000 square kilometers in size. It was named after Alfred Allen Simpson, president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society by Cecil Thomas Madigan the South Australian geologist who in 1929 with the support of the Federal Government attempted the first systematic aerial strip-photography. In 1939 Madigan traversed the Simpson by camels and established camps along the way. His route is now followed by 4WD tourists, like our ‘A’ team.

On the way from Poeppels Corner to Birdsville, the last 130 km stretch of dunes before we could try to find the right speed on the corrugations to minimize the shaking and rattling with one dune followed the next. After a while we realized that it would have been a good idea to count them. Then we decided to measure the average distance and extrapolate back. We discovered that the dunes were about 1 km apart. With a distance of about 130 km between Poeppel Corner and Birdsville we must have crossed about 130 dunes on that stretch. They ranged in height from about 5 m to 45 m.

The highest dune is the last one before Birdsville called Big Red. It is 50 m high and provides the ultimate challenge for the 4WD enthusiast whose aim is to cross it on the first try. The trick appears to be to select the right tyre pressure with the right gear ratio and the right approach speed. Since Richard is not a very experienced 4WD driver he lowered the tyre pressure like most others to 18psi and asked Fred’s advice how to conquer Big Red. Fred said go flat out no matter what. With a long and smooth approach to Big Red we went full bore and with the car jumping and moaning. Our luggage being thrown around and the wheels grinding and throwing sand in all directions we made it.

Some needed up to four tries and lowering the tyre pressure to a low 12 psi. Our master and lead driver made it look easy. No tyre grinding, no wild speed, no rattling or jumping, he just climbed Big Red at a moderate constant speed, moseying over the dune, as the experts call it.

Technical Expertise
During conversations at the camp fire the subject was initially about the bad Greenies who stop us adventurers access to ‘our’ National Parks, but mostly about cars, and obviously about the Defender. About restorations, models, intercoolers and injectors, most suitable tyres and above all modifications. Are Bilstein shock absorbers better that Rough Dogs, are ‘Mud’ tyres better than ‘All Terrain’, BF Goodridge better than Cooper ?

It was not just hot air like the campfire but counted when it mattered. Due to the terrain and the required driving style (full blast to get over dunes, high speed to jump the ruts (corrugations) on some shocking tracks like Birdsville Track and others, and high speed through Bull Dust and soft sand) some cars got stressed. Two required front end treatments, that is the front differential had to be either replaced or disengaged. This was done on the side of the road and described by Roger through the radio as ‘minor repair’. Another minor repair was required on Richards car (see below). It took four people four hours. Didn’t look like a minor repair to me.

During the repairs of ‘front ends’ the front wheels had to be taken off. They are connected to the axels with numerous nuts, bolts, washers etc, however, listening to the choir of experts, and I had the impression everyone was an expert, nearly all were able to describe accurately which washer followed which nut and why and how the types of washers, nuts and other bits varied between the different models of Land Rovers. Whenever repairs were needed the group sprung to life, eyes sparkled, bodies crawled under the vehicles and the Simpson Desert didn’t matter any more.

Richards Repair
Minding our own business and wearily awaiting the next dune we received a radio message that there was some fluid on the track. A car must have a leak. We all stopped and checked. It was Richard’s car. And still about 140 km to Birdsville. Richard’s technical knowledge allowed him to determine that the leak was diesel oil and did not originate in the fuel tank but behind it. After a few more kilometers travel we were ordered to stop on the side of the track. The whole convoy came to a halt.

Now something interesting happened as our car was taken over by the experts and the rest of the team settled in for a practical session in car repair. Directors’ chairs appeared and all car crews assembled around Richard’s car discussing the possible cause, origin and fix of the problem, or other unrelated technical matters. Without central command or direction work began. We were told to empty the back of the car. Not a quick task because that’s where all our supplies and camping gear was stored, including our fridge. With no danger of rain we piled it all up next to the car. After a fair bit of crawling under the jacked up car, the experts concluded that one of the fuel lines must leak. A detailed chart of the system with all technical specifications was produced by Rod on his laptop computer using the workshop CD of the vehicle. Meanwhile Cameron and Guy, having jacked up the car and disconnected and lowered the fuel tank with two more jacks (the tank contained 40 litres diesel) had discovered which fuel line was leaking.

According to the manual fuel flows through the line under a pressure of 60 psi. It was difficult to get to the leak because the fuel tank could not be lowered sufficiently for access. It was decided to take off the right rear wheel. Another jack was needed. To stop the leak a sleeve was glued over the leaking area with a special two pot Epoxy supplied by Roger and held in place with three clamps which required a setting time of about 12 hours. We couldn’t continue and the whole convoy spent the night at the repair site. We were not alone. Suddenly cars appeared from both directions. I am sure nobody could have helped us. We would have been lost without Roger, Fred, Cameron, Guy, Rod and David. I am glad we traveled with them.

Fellow Travelers
Along long stretches of tracks we didn’t meet anyone. On the Hay River track we were alone. It was a bit busier along the French line and more so between Poeppel Corner and Birdsville. Most travelers were advanced in age, 50 plus, sort of grey nomads in 4WDs, mostly males. They traveled usually in convoys of between two and twelve cars. Many of the cars were Land Rovers, Defenders and Discovery Td5s, or the Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero or Nissan Patrol. We were surprised to also see two cars towing trailers between Poeppel Corner and Birdsville.

They must have made it over the dunes because we traveled the same way later and didn’t see them again. In one of the more demanding stretches of the French Line, we met a tour company bus with escort vehicle. The bus was a 4WD MAN which had a track wider than the other cars. I can’t believe he made it over the dunes because in many cases their approach was winding with deep ruts and the top of the dunes had deep soft sand and a sharp drop.

The spirit of the travelers was well described in one of their banners which read “Adventure before Dementia”.

Day by Day Reports

Saturday 28th July 2007- Sydney to Nyngan - 600 km
Being Saturday morning, no traffic and straight run via Katoomba, Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange and along Mitchell Hwy to Dubbo, Narromine and Nyngan. Used pre-booked accommodation in Camping ground. For dinner we went to the local RSL club.

Sunday 29th July 2007 – Nyngan to Fowlers Gap - 670 km
With the team assembled we drove in convoy along the Barrier Hwy to Cobar and on to Wilcannia and White Cliffs. All on paved roads. The visit to an opal mine was memorable because of a screaming guy, called Jock, who tried to give us the mood of the place. All miners are mad, and nobody knows if and how many opals were found. White Cliffs seems to be closing down. As we left the place, we also left the asphalt for a long time.

We followed some minor, hardly defined tracks along sheep fences and made it miraculously shortly before dark onto the Silver City Hwy north of Fowlers Gap. After a few minutes we reached our destination Fowlers Gap which provided excellent accommodation in a number of buildings. We slept in a large dormitory which had good sanitary installations and cooking facilities. It was normally used by students, however, they must have had holidays because we saw only two who had their own place to stay.

Monday 30th July 2007 – At Fowlers Gap
Fowlers Gap is a remote university and part of the University of NSW, as we heard from the director of Fowlers Gap during a presentation after breakfast. It is involved in the study of the arid landscape. This is not the Sahara Desert but supports quite a lot of vegetation. It is very slow growing and can only survive because of major floods which occur irregularly during the La Nina years. Fowlers Gap is in the winter rainfall belt. What I remember from his very interesting talk was that they study what types of sheep in which numbers may be bred to ensure sustainability, whether kangaroos are a threat to sheep farmers etc. As far as the latter is concerned, kangaroos weigh on average 25 kg and need between one third and one half of the feed of sheep and don’t have an identical diet.

Sheep farms in this area are large, in the order of 150,000 hectares. In the past sheep farming was very profitable. One bale of wool fetched enough money to allow the seller a trip to London and the stay in a good hotel. The wool grown in this area is coarse and of medium quality with 22 micron. It is used for the manufacture of carpets and suits. Other animals researched are goats for export. The director said that goat meat is the most common red meat consumed in the world. The area of Fowlers Gap has the potential for tourism, since it contains the four largest breeds of kangaroos, the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo and Euro (Wallaroo).

Other studies undertaken here are avian behavioral ecology meaning bird watching and their behavior and testing the suitability to grow high value plants, such as craftwood and sandalwood which is used as incense in India and fetches prices of up to $5,000 per tonne.

Students from many countries come here to study, in total 200 to 300 per year. Many of us have a souvenir of Fowlers Gap, a maroon coloured jumper with the logo of the place. The area of the university has many nature walks and the whole group decided to walk the most interesting. It was a loop walk of a few hours past dry river beds, dams, mountain ridges and valleys. No driving.

Tuesday 31st July – Fowlers Gap to Martins Well – 515 km
After another night in the dormitory we headed south along the Silver City Hwy to Broken Hill which is only 110km away for restocking and refueling. A meeting was called in the café at the top of the Line of Lode to decide how to proceed due to the fact that one of our vehicles needed an urgent repair. A required spare part had to be supplied from Adelaide and a delay was expected. The meeting decided to proceed with two vehicles left behind which were to catch up with us after the repair. We left in the afternoon and took the Barrier Hwy in the direction of Adelaide.

In Yunta, 207 km west of Broken Hill we all stopped to refuel because we were about to leave civilization for a while. A narrow, single vehicle dirt track led north past the ruins of Wakaringa and Erudina station to Martins Well, a place in the middle of nowhere, a paddock with dry river beds and higher sandy plains covered in shrubs. Emerging clouds led our nature experts to suspect that we might get flooded during the night, which led some of us seek higher ground for the night.

Wednesday 1st August – Martins Well to Farina – 244 km
During the night rain fell but not as heavily as feared. As we got up it reduced to a trickle and we were able to pack up without our equipment dripping with water. The ground was rich in clay which stuck to our shoes like the proverbial shit to the blanket. Fortunately we got onto sandy ground quickly and continued on the narrow winding and hardly defined track towards the Flinders Ranges. Under a clear blue sky the ranges looked their best and our photographers stopped frequently.

The highlight of the Ranges was probably the drive through the Brachina Gorge which led Nick to the summise that he would come back here for a month to take in all of nature’s beauty. As we reached Parachilna we were on the asphalt again and turned north. After stopping in Leigh Creek for refueling and restocking we visited a local celebrity near Lyndhurst called Talc Alf because he creates sculptures out of talc. He talked nearly non-stop. His home is a mess of falling down sheds and rubbish. He tried to convince Bryce that Australia needed a new flag and that within the design the union jack section should be replaced by the Aboriginal flag. He picked the wrong person. It didn’t work. Some of our group only understood some of his rantings. The previous group he had been working on were French. I wonder what they made of him, whether they agreed with him and why they were here in the first place.

In Lyndhurst the Strzelecki Track leads east towards Innamincka, but we continued north to a collection of dilapidated and crumbling stone houses marked as ‘Farina (ruins)’ on the map. We were told that Farina is latin for wheat. It is hard to imagine that wheat ever grew in this stony wasteland. Farina used to be the railhead for the Ghan railway leading to Port Augusta and was developed by the government as a substantial settlement in its hayday. The old railway station with some track and two old rusting locomotives provided photo opportunities.

There was also a sign to a campground which we followed. The ruins were standing on gibber plains however the camping ground in a valley was a surprise. The ground was sandy and level and there were bushes and tall trees around providing plenty of firewood and even proper flush toilets and a donkey shower (so called because to get hot water you had to light a fire under the water tank and maybe they carted the firewood with donkeys to get the name). It worked well.

Thursday 2nd August 2007 – Farina to Warburton Crossing – 400 km
We continued along the rough road with deep ruts (corrugations) and sharp stones where you never knew at which speed to travel in order to minimize the shake and rattle and at the same time being able to maintain control over the vehicle for 80 km to Marree where the track splits.

The Birdsville Track veers towards north east to Birdsville and the Oodnadatta Track in westerly direction. After a short coffee break in Marree we turned onto the Birdsville Track which is wide but as bad as the previous road. It leads through the Sturt Stony Desert. A short distance away was an open cut coal mine with rusting machinery. After about 200km we arrived in Mungerannie where behind the Roadhouse is a shower block and further behind a lake. On its shore is a small swimming pool about 10m long and 3m wide. The water comes from a natural artesian bore and arrives at the surface 38 degrees hot but It cools down a little bit and gives an excellent relief for our stiff and tortured bones.

Some used the break to wash some clothes. After hanging them on a fence dripping wet they were bone dry within a short time due to the dry air. Our two companions who we had left behind in Broken Hill caught up with us after some grueling and fast driving. After a further 109 km we left the Birdsville track to turn left into the Warburton Track.

We had finally arrived at our destination the Simpson Desert. From now on the track consisted of two tyre markings on the ground. No need for overtaking lanes because there was no one around with no more rocky tracks and soft sandy ground. A short way down the Warburton Track we established camp. As soon as our leader turned off the track for the night which was usually sometime after 5 o’clock every vehicle tried to find its own suitable campsite. It had to have flat ground for the tent or the swags with a bit of shade and supply of firewood and some privacy. The camps were always large enough to satisfy these requirements. Over the next few days a routine developed. After dinner we assembled at the main campfire for a chat. Break up in the morning was nearly always at 8:30 am. This meant that it was still dark when we got up at about 6:45 am. The sun rose by about 7:30 am. The mornings were pretty cool.

Friday 3rd August 2007 – Warburton Crossing to WAA Line – 200km
During the next three days, 03-Aug until 05-Aug 07, we crossed the Simpson desert and stuck to the same daily routine. Up before dawn, about 6:45 am (for Roger about 4 am), ablutions consisting in my case of wiping my face with a wet rag, reviving the fire to boil water for breakfast, having breakfast, going for a walk with a spade (Richard), watching the sun rise by about 7:20 am, packing up sleeping bag and tent and waiting for Roger’s scream to roll, which was at 8:30 am.

Saturday 4th August 2007 – WAA Line to French Line east of Purnie Bore – 200km
Sunday 5th August – French Line to Finke River – 190km
Initially the track went parallel to the sand dunes, which run roughly north-south, but when it turned west, we started crossing the dunes. In anticipation of driving through deep sand the tyre pressure was reduced to about 20 psi. Crossing dunes was a new experience for me.

As with the Victoria High Country trip a few weeks earlier I didn’t expect that vehicles could get over some of the terrain.

What made crossing the dunes difficult was that the approaches to many dunes was windy with deep bumps which forced you to drive slowly, but you needed speed (or momentum, for the expert) to get through the deep soft sand on top of the dunes. If you drove too fast you couldn’t make it around sharp corners or the deep bumps threw the vehicle in the air, and as it crushed down, it had lost valuable speed.

Different driving styles were adopted depending on the drivers. Experienced drivers knew when to slow down and when to accelerate, how fast to spin the wheels in the soft deep sand and which approach line to take. Inexperience drivers simply followed the gouged out track in low gear ratio but nearly full throttle disregarding the bumps and hoping that the wildly spinning wheels would get them eventually over the top.

We had ample opportunity to work on our technique because we must have crossed hundreds of dunes during the trip. Other remarkable features along the trip were a number of deserted oil wells. Oil exploration was the reason most of the tracks in the Simpson were created. Oil exploration companies had the money to create many of these tracks. They have interesting names, Warburton Track, Rig Road, WAA Line, French Line, QAA Line etc.

The oil exploration took place sometimes during the 1960s. Despite great efforts and the drilling of some bores to a depth of more than 1,800m, no commercially viable field was discovered. Lucky for the Simpson and for the 4WD community. The exploration companies left, the tracks are no longer maintained and increasingly difficult to negotiate. Only 4WD vehicles can handle them and only experienced drivers. I hate to think what would have happened if oil or gas was found. Probably paved roads built with road trains hammering through and the establishment of road houses, exploration settlements, camping grounds to accommodate the happy campers with their big caravans leading to the gradual taming, and probably spoiling of the Desert. The mind boggles at the thought.

The Warburton Track led into the Rig Road and the Colson Track and eventually the French Line, always driving west and perpendicular to the dunes. After the experience of the Rig Road which was pretty wide and well prepared in parts I expected an even better stretch of the French Line. I was wrong. The French Line is a narrow track for a single vehicle at a time, very windy and with many large and steep sand dunes. The first few were the most difficult. We got stuck a number of times. When getting stuck, you have to try to reverse down the track, if need be, dig yourself out, go further back than before, find a suitable hard base from which to accelerate and try again with, maybe a different gearing or gear, more speed or lower tyre pressure or a different driver. If this doesn’t work you need help from other vehicles which pull you out with snatch straps. In this environment we met a tourist bus with an escort vehicle. They were from Adelaide and didn’t seem to have difficulties with the dunes. This means that the Simpson Desert is not only for the Australian 4WD community but also for international tourists.

We photographed a few capped bore holes and the “Lone Gum”, a gum tree which shouldn’t be here because it is not his proper environment. Nobody knows what brought him here. As we traveled further, the dunes reduced in size and distances from one another and we arrived at Dalhousie Springs, a most unusual location in the desert. It is an artesian mound spring forming a lake of about 300m by 50m with a maximum depth of 14m. It is the ideal swimming pool and much larger than the one in Mungerannie.

As with Mungerannie the water comes out of the ground at about 38 degrees. It was very enjoyable paddling around. There are a few fish and other creature who live here. There is also a camping ground but no store or refueling facility. After a good rest we drove on towards Mount Dare, 55 km away. Here nearly everyone refueled and filled up all available additional fuel tanks. For the Madigan Group this was the last fuel stop for the next Simpson Crossing along the Madigan Line before Birdsville. Some carried now a total fuel load of 250 l diesel. The cost of diesel was the highest of the trip with $1.79 per litre. Mount Dare has a small super market. About 105 km from Mount Dare is the Old Andado Homestead. Before getting there we crossed the border from South Australia into the Northern Territory and establish camp for the night in the Finke River area.

Monday 6th August 2007 – Finke River to Alice Springs – 410 km

For our morning coffee/lunch break at about 11:20 am we arrived at the Old Andado Homestead. Until recently it was occupied by its owner, Molly Clark, a 92 year old lady who now lives in Alice Springs. Sometimes she comes back. It is a living museum with all the furniture, memorabilia, dilapidated cars and old farm machinery on display and nobody to watch over it. You can walk through all the rooms, and even use the toilet, which works. The area is ringed by sand dunes about 15 m high.

At the homestead our group split up into the A team, later renamed the ‘Magnificent Madigan Mob’ and the B Team, renamed the ‘Hay River Harriers’. The A team was to cross the Simpson along the Madigan line, the B team to round the Simpson and cross it from north to south along the Hay River. According to schedule both teams were to join again at the Madigan Camp 16 about a week later.

Belonging to the B team we made our way to Alice Springs, along the Old Andado Track. On a mountain ridge we saw a herd of about 20 camels. We arrived in the Alice at about 6:30 pm and settled into the Wintersun Cabin and Caravan Park where we shared a cabin with Cameron and Guy, luxury plus again. For dinner we mixed with hordes of tourists in Bojangles Restaurant.

Tuesday 7th August 2007 - Alice Springs to Rainbow Valley - 345 km
Some of us needed repairs to their vehicles, we took off to look around. Alice Springs has a large number of very interesting sites. I only talk about what we did. After stocking up on supplies and fuel we drove West along the Larapinta Drive to Hermannsburg, a Lutheran mission opened in 1877. It is now an open air museum. Some of the buildings in the German architecture are restored, a library and food store sell interesting books and a lot of rotting decrepit farm machinery lies about spoiling the picture a bit. As we left, Bruce and Nita arrived. Not far from Hermannsburg is one of the many spectacular nature sites with which the surrounding of Alice Springs abounds, Palm Valley. Some ancient palm trees are only found here. Palm Valley was also the place where Albert Namatjira, the most famous aboriginal painter painted many of his water colours. As far as access is concerned, it was the worst track we had traveled on. In parts it was nearly impassable. The rocks and large gravel stones forced us to travel at a speed slower than walking speed. However, we met quite a number of cars. The next site we wanted to see was Rainbow Valley. It is reached by returning part way to Alice Springs and then using a shortcut through Owen Springs. The station was formerly half owned by Australia’s cattle King Sir Sidney Kidman. After reaching the Stuart Highway and traveling South there is a turn off after a short distance leading to Rainbow Valley. This valley is known for a rock formation which changes colours with the setting sun, from grey to red to deep orange. In front of this spectacle next to a big clay pan is a small camping ground with bush toilet and tables, the ideal spot for the night.

Wednesday 8th August 2007 - Rainbow Valley to Cattlewater Pass Track - 288 km
After a long morning walk past the imposing rock formation we packed up and headed back to Alice Springs, where we restocked and refueled. Our meeting point with the rest of the B team was somewhere off the
Plenty Highway. The members of the team who had stayed in Alice Springs for repairs had selected to travel from Alice Springs to the next camp on a cattle track via Arltunga. This track was regarded as somewhat challenging. We selected an easier route via the Stuart and Plenty Highways. Surprise, surprise we found the right track off the Plenty Highway and the camp of our team.

Thursday 9th August 2007 - Cattlewater Pass Track to Batton Hill - 297 km
Soon back on the Plenty Highway we traveled due East on a wide, gravelly and badly rutted road where it was difficult to find a suitable speed to minimize the hammering of the car. Jervois was our last chance to refuel before Birdsville. All available tanks were filled up. Our main tank had 90 lts and our three spares which we carried inside the vehicle 60 lts. The general store carried potato chips and mineral water. Only cash was accepted. After backtracking about 6 km we reached the turn off to the Hay River Track. On detailed HEMA maps, only the river is marked. I wondered how to travel along this river without tracks, maybe in the river bed, or do we have to cut our own tracks through the wilderness ? As it turned out, Central Australia is wild, but not that wild. The Hay River track turned out to be a quite well prepared and defined 4WD track without difficult high dunes or dangerous river crossings. It follows the river, sometimes closer, sometimes further away and is very windy which reduced our average speed to about 20 km/h. This allowed the passenger at least to have a good look at the countryside, which was beautiful to look at. There were the regular stands of tall river gums along the Hay River, bushes of different heights along both sides of the track and colourful carpets of flowers everywhere.
Our first stop along the track was at Batton Hill where we had an appointment with the Bush Tucker Man. Batton Hill also has a camping ground with shower facilities (donkey shower), shaded eating facilities with tables and chairs and wood supply for cooking. At first we missed the place because its entrance was marked with the sign “No entry, $1,000 fine”. After consulting the GPS we returned and went through regardless. As it turned out it was the right spot. Soon the bush tucker man arrived and told us to be ready for the tour tomorrow at 9:30 am.

Friday 10th August 2007 – Batton Hill to Tropic of Capricorn - 76 km
The highlight of the day was the bush tucker tour, best described by Richard. The tour was a 40 km round trip to various mountain tops which allowed a wider view of the landscape. We left the camp at about 1:30 pm and arrived at the next camp after crossing the tropic of Capricorn by about 5 pm.

Saturday 11th August 2007 - Tropic of Capricorn to Madigans Camp 16 – 151 km
Along the Hay River the going was very slow but we made it to Camp 16 shortly before 5 pm where we joined the Madigan team and pitched camp for the night.

Sunday 12th August 2007 – Camp 16 to Beachcomber Well – 93 km

Today we saw a lot of birds, kites, eagles, green budgerigars, finches and galahs. We came across a capped well with the inscription Beachcomber #1, Spud 2910-88, TD 11 11 88, Depth 1827 m, PA 14 11 88 and made camp shortly after.

Monday 13th August 2007 – Beachcomber Well to QAA Line – 123 km
From Beachcomber Well we followed the track to Poeppel Corner, the place where two states and a territory meet, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. It is marked by a detailed description and various survey poles in the ground. Retracing our way from Poeppel Corner we line up for Birdsville on the QAA Line, a straight track of about 130 km with about the same number of dunes to cross. They vary in height from 5 to 45 m with the highest and also last the “Big Red” of 50 m. This track seems to be very popular with the 4WD community, especially Big Red, the ultimate challenge for 4WD enthusiasts. Out of the blue our car develops a leak in a fuel line and forces the whole team to an unscheduled overnight stay, because the repair takes about four hours and Roger knew that the team of Richard and I was lost without them.

Tuesday 14th August – QAA Line to Birdsville – 140 km
After the epoxy had enough time to seal the fuel pipe we were ready for the final dunes with the last and biggest one being ‘Big Red’. Richard was lucky to make it with the first go. It is now a quick run into Birdsville and civilization. The town is known for the Birdsville Races at the start of September, when its airport is the busiest in Australia. The airport is big as is the race track.

Birdsville also has the famous hotel where we all had dinner. There are two petrol stations with supermarket, a number of residences, a museum and a camping ground where we all stayed. It is on the shore of the Diamantina River which together with a few other rivers of the area give the surrounding country the name Channel Country.

Wednesday 15th August 2007 – Birdsville to Cordillo Downs Area – 243 km
The Bakery was our meeting place for breakfast. Afterwards we visited the Working Museum. It contained many collected items from the past, farm machinery, household gadgets like old refrigerators and other items used in the kitchen. Birdsville has about 100 residents during winter. As summer approaches the population shrinks to 23 and hardly anyone comes to visit. It’s just too hot.
On the road again and out of Birdsville along the Birdsville Developmental Road. After about 116 km we turned off to a track leading to Cordillo Downs. We only made it after the ruins of Cadelga Outstation before another vehicle had problems with its front end. After watching the repair by our experts David, Rod, Roger, Fred and Nick (our night entertainment) we drove on in search of a suitable campsite which we found shortly after sundown.

Thursday 16th August 2007 - Cordillo Downs Area to Naryilco - 404 km
The first stop, after only a few km was Cordillo Downs. I am glad we didn’t drive past it the previous day. It used to have the biggest shearing shed in Australia. In 1882 a total of 88,000 sheep were shorn in the shed, built of stone with a steel roof. The transportation of the wool by camel train took more than two months. The wool was taken to the railhead Farina, where we had camped previously, from where it was taken by train to Port Augusta for shipment to Europe. Lack of rain and maybe overgrazing have changed the landscape. It looked more like a moonscape with lots of stones but very little grass. In 1907 the number of sheep had dropped to 36,000 and mechanical shearing was introduced. One shearer established a record by shearing 187 sheep on one day. In 1942 the station was closed for sheep and they were replaced by 7,000 head of Hereford cattle. The station has a size of 78,000 square kilometers.
After this substantially reduced station we came to a totally abandoned one called ‘Arrabury’. The station consists of about 20 buildings, mostly built of corrugated steel. The doors are all unlocked, the furniture is mostly removed, many items are left behind like lawn movers and machine fittings. You get an eery feeling walking through the houses and sheds. The surrounding landscape explains the abandonment. It is a gibber plain, like Cordillo Downs, only stones, hardly any greenery. We had a morning tea break here and then moved on. After about 115 km our gravel road joined the “Adventure Way” where we met many road trains covered in clouds of dust. The area contains many oil and gas wells. A short distance before Innamincka we crossed the Cooper Creek and had a lunch break on its shore. It was full of water and many ducks and eagles could be seen. We veered off the main road again, crossing the Queensland and South Australian borders a number of times and snaked our way past Epsilon station to a camp near Naryilco Station about 50 km north of the NSW border.

Friday 17th August 2007 – Narilco to Byrock – 609 km
Due to a track closure because of flooding we drove through the Sturt National Park to Tibooburra for restocking and refueling. A few kilometers earlier we had crossed the border from Queensland into NSW via Warri gate across the highway. It was part of the Wild Dog Fence, the longest fence in Australia with a length of about 5,300 km. A ranger told Roger that the park had never looked so good for the past 12 years. It had carpets of yellow and purple flowers(Darling Pea) and looked green and lush. Many kangaroos hopped about. The tracks became wider now but required attention. Sudden washouts jolted the car badly if not detected early. A shortcut bypassing Milparinka led us to Wanaaring and on to Bourke for refueling. 30 km before Bourke, the rutted gravel road ended and from now until Sydney we stayed on tarr. It was too early for night’s camp and after a brief consultation it was decided to drive on and make camp in Byrock on the Mitchell Hwy towards Nyngan. Byrock has a good hotel, called Mulga Creek Hotel, with a big caravan and camping ground. To minimize the time for packing up in the morning we decided to take a cabin ($20 per head). It had running water outside, a refrigerator, kettle, coffee and good beds with linen.

Saturday 18th August 2007 – Byrock to Sydney – 728 km
From Nyngan Sydney can be reached in one day. Along the way we stopped at Bryce’s farm near Orange. Here the group split up and went their own way home. Sydney received us with a cold 10 degrees and showers.

Total: Distance traveled - 6,926 km

THE DEAD HEART

The dead heart is anything but. The Simpson Desert especially at its northern end is more like the ‘Simpson Meadows’ with a covering of bush grass and a variety of shrubs and trees. Even at its heart, especially after earlier rain this year, the desert is teaming with wildlife on two wings, two legs, four legs and more. The range of flowers is gorgeous with yellow, blue and purple tones bursting through the rich red sand.

Clearly the early white settlers saw potential. How else can you explain the vast canvas that Cordillo Downs once covered? 88,000 head of sheep on a mere 78,000 square kms (they don’t measure in hectares out here!) Then up to 2 months to get the bales of wool to the railhead at Farina by bullock or camel drawn cart. The wonderful and unique collection of home wares collected by John and Judy in their Working Museum in Birdsville (don’t turn up late!) shows just how innovative man and woman have been in ‘making a go’ of life in one of the world’s toughest places to live. Makes wingeing about Sydney traffic seem out of place.

BUSH TUCKER MAN
Billy turns up dead on time to take us to what we hope the locals eat as healthy and sustaining bush tucker. Off we go in convoy behind his ute. Eighteen solid kms later (“Glad we are not walking” says Helmut) we stop beside a tree which happens to look no different from any other we’ve passed. Billie starts scratching around in the dust and with a wonderfully triumphant look on his face, proffers two magnificent bush onions. Trouble is they are each about the size of 6 year old’s little finger nail! We ask about bush oranges. Billy says they are there but for now ……….“All gone”.
Then we see a bush banana hanging from a branch - “Can’t eat that one, it’s for the next group to see” says Billie. I swear it’s held to the branch by a zip-tie. Off we go again on a tour that is decidedly more ‘scenic’ than ‘bush tucker’. Atop a local hill “Mt Deakin” advises Billy, “can’t remember the Aboriginal name”.
Then Cameron, our excellent tour leader for the Hay River Harriers (sounds better than B team) sees Billy tear off excitedly after we’ve been looking at some sharp stones and rocks (maybe more onions underneath?) With unbridled anticipation the rest of the group holds back hoping indeed we have at last found bush tucker nirvana. Suddenly Billy stops, pulls his track pants aside and has a pee. Cameron tactfully retreats.
Billy is not actually quite local; he’s standing in and lives 170kms away. He also is not wasteful with words. When we ask how has the drought been, how much rain they had in the big wet in May, he replies “December hot, May rain, now dry.” Not a lot of info for that thesis on desert climate! We’ve also learnt a new form of providing conditional information. “What tree is that, Billy?” we ask. Reply: “It’s a bush wattle…………… I think”.
The highlight for all of us, especially Billy, is his throwing an axe 6 metres to knock out a goanna. Once dead and in the back of his ute a big smile comes over Billy’s face “Dinner for the new missus” he says triumphantly. Our Bush Tucker tour is over.

ANOTHER PLACE ANOTHER SPACE
Spending a morning with Billy in his relatively natural environment and seeing his ‘brothers’ lolling around Alice Springs is to realize that the white men and black fellas might as well be on different planets. Time and space to many Aborigines appear to signify nothing like our deadlines and quarter acre blocks or strata titles may mean to us. Their understanding of ‘the way things work’ in the remote bush seems to be borne out in the desolation that surrounds so many places around the perimeter of the Simpson. Farina, once a bustling railhead for productive sheep stations is now just a wreck. The remote stations now largely survive on the backs and wallets of the grey nomads and off-road clubs. Looking at the vast stretches of gibber plains, parched dry soil and the quaint laundry devices in John’s museum, you really ask “How on earth could Europeans see anything coming from farming and raising local communities?”

VAST HORIZONS
It takes two days of solid driving across appalling corrugated and dusty roads from Bourke just to get to Birdsville. Then the fun starts! Get over Big Red and the vastness of the Australian red centre declares itself to the intrepid traveler. Just how did the early white explorers (Sturt, Bourke & Wills to name but a few) and the later ones like Madigan react when crossing a dune only to see an endless panorama stretch out before them? The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is drier and bigger and stretches right back from the sea (just a big sandune really!) but Like the Simpson, reveals its feminine side when rain falls; colourful flowers, brilliantly green shrubs and animal life that appears from nowhere, rather like in the Sahara where the local lads after a smoke suddenly appear from behind a rock. Still a mystery, as Madigan noted, where the animal life gets its water from. The LROC is none the wiser.

TUFF STUFF, DIFF LOCKS AND TYRE PRESSURES
There’s always a lot of talk around the camp fire about competing brands of shockers, chip or not to chip, central diff locks and special axle drives. Which tyres to use, which sort works best in the sand, the ideal tyre size and profile, which gear to use: low range 3rd or high range 1st, whether to go full tilt at a dune or to mosey up in low range 4th. Well, it seems even the experts and those with a great deal of experience and great big tyres can struggle at times to get up some dunes first go. It appears that choosing the right line and having the right (read low) tyre pressures can mean more than anything else. In fact, if I had to bet on it, the right tyre pressure – and that usually means a max of 15 psi – can mean the difference between getting over or getting stuck.

Part 2 of Simpson Desert Trip - 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. So when we all arrived at the Old Andado Station near Finke, this 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 and head 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 as 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 inspected. It turned out that the injector harness had completely snapped so 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 traveled 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 traveling 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 of “The Boys”. I successfully got out of the photo by taking it instead!

On we traveled 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.