Simpson in December?

I havent been , but I am planning a trip there June / July . From the information I have soursed , its a disaster in December . 40deg heavy rain . And something I just found out . If it rains , your not allowed to drive till it dries up . Big fine also .

I still think they were havig a lend of me , but , we soon will find out

The thing I would dearly like to know is.........

How hot does it have to get before the flies think..."Bugger it..... let's just stay right here..."

Cheers

No flies on me Wolf!

G'day Sean,
I did the Simpson in December 2002. While the drive was great, it wasn't the flies that got to me. It was the heat.

Temperature wise, it was too hot for flies. Even at night. My mate and I ended up driving late into the night just to escape the heat.

Ray

Rays is right to damn hot for flies.
I was in that area during January temps into the 50's (55 at Innaminka)

Flies all died from the heat.
Just to uncomfortable.

As the others have said, the heat levels, and the possible stranding form wash outs via the top end's wet season drifting a bit south (as it does) are the main issues - flies will be the least of it. If you need convincing, have a talk with a local - David Cox at Mt Dare homestead - he's right into the area and associated toursim - has a bulletin he posts weekly - link to it from www.VKS737.on.net - roads page - Dave's number is on the bulletin.

Sean,

Best advice is don't bother!
You are just putting vehicle under increased pressure.Heat and very soft sand
Putting yourself at risk
Putting the rescuers at risk.
Put one bullet in the chamber of a revolver and play russian Roulette. It could be safer.

Good idea to avoid during summer, the temperature is already sliding up to the 50's (over 40 for the last few days).

As far as the flies are concerned there seems to be some common misunderstandings though. Whether it is hot or cooler has very little to do with how bad they are, though obviously they won't be doing too much under 16 degrees. There seems to be some bad years and some good years. For instance at the moment the flies are not bad at all ! Yet in April they were shocking....

This leads me to think it's the tourists who bring the flies!

The end result is that you will never know just how good/bad the flies are anywhere unless you are there! (Much like asking somebody what the road conditions are on a certain track......It will totally depend on the individual's experiences.....Ah, the beauty of life)

As far as wet season goes here, there is no guarantee of floods in summer. In fact, there are more dry summers than wet ones! Then when it does rain up north we usually have between a month and two month's warning that the water is coming.

Hope this clears up some misunderstandings re: weather around Birdsville and the Simpson.

Thanks all for the reply. The heat I can live with. Mid 40's is ok but 50 is a tad past the confort zone.

Its the flies i just cant stand.

Sean

I did a Simpson Desert crossing in January 1999. I travelled Rig Road from Dalhousie to Birdsville Track. I had no rain and Warburton Crossing was bone dry. Rig Road is considered by far the easiest route through SD and it really is, but...

From Mokari Airstrip on about 40% of the track was covered by sand and sometimes hardly visible. Thickness from 40 cms to 1.7 m. Very soft sand.
Daily temperature (in shade) was 55 centigrade Celsius. In the night it dropped to "pleasant" 40. I travelled in an old Hilux. Engine was permanently overheated. First I switched off airconditioning then I had to switch on heating. Temperature inside was 85 centigrade. From time to time I stopped to let engine cool down. Temperature outside in full sun close to hell. I drank 14(!) litres water daily. I was taking pills to prevent dehydration from Na/Ka inbalance. One good news : no flies.

I called my friends in Sydney via sat phone. They were complaining about high temperature of 35 there.

SD in summer is not a family trip. Needles to repeat all about good preparation, water, etc. You paddle your own canoe and there is nobody to help you hundreds kms around.

Good luck

Lech