upcoming trip to the simpson

Flag and UHF radio for safety.
No rim at all for the spares ?
Camera ?
Swimming gearfor Dalhousie ? (there may be others around :)

Steve,

If you have a tarp for an awning you will not need a tent. If it was latter in the year a tarp would not be required. The best nights sleep I have had have been under the stars in the SD. In fact one year Eliza and myself didn't take a tent or tarp at all, 13 nights under the stars.

Depending on the type of roof rack you could carry more. If it has a full length cutter support then it would be rated at 160 kg.

If there is only the two in the vehicle remove all the seats except the ones that you sit on, you will gain heaps of room and cut down weight.

The water is better off in 10lt containers, easy to lift and spread around the vehicle. Jerry cans when full in the vehicle as low as possible and when empty on the roof rack with the empty water containers.

That is about all I can recommend, have a safe trip and enjoy.

Wayne

I assume you will also have the spare on the back with a rim. If you are just doing the nmormal tracks you can get rid of at least one of the extra's. Just make sure you run correct tyre pressures for the gibbers and sand. Look at the trek note fuel consumption figures to see whether you need the extra fuel. You can get furl at Oodnadatta and Mt Dare.

Steve
a five day round trip will see you getting air (under the vehicle) at each dune.

We will be doing similar in a GQ around the same time.... with 2 adults and and 11 and 15 year old. When it comes time to pack some things may not be quite so essential.... lol ( and I don't mean spare parts either)

mrs slave

Steve,

We did the SD in a GU 4.2 turbo with a camper trailer and 5 people on board. Your list of gear is why we bought a camper.

From Mt Dare to Birdsville we did 600km (not the direct route) and used 130l of fuel. I also think you are not quite allowing enough time. We had 3 nights between Mt Dare and Birdsville. We lost half a day when we got rain over night and had to wait for things to dry out a bit before continuing and got into Bridsville well after dark. I would not have wanted to travel any quicker either, and I am not afraid of the throttle, Broken Hill to Innamincka is an easy day for me. Can't wait to see what response that brings.

I would also go along with the idea of leaving one of the spare tyres at home. Provided you can repair tyres along the way. I did have one puncture on the trip.

So where do you put all the gear? Good question, just keep pushing the elastick sided Nissan is a wonderful thing.

Have a great trip
Duncs

Gidday,Leave the missus at home and take me.
Seeya Locallaw

We found there was no need to carry firewood across the SD. Plenty of mulga wood lying around. It burns well making great coals for the camp oven. We dug a pit for our fires. You may need to mortgage the house to buy fuel at Mt Dare - $1.40 in 2004.
Swoosh