Yes, I arrived
home earlier in the evening.
Trip 1. To a place to the west of
Alice Springs with a permit. Four vehicles. Some bitumen, some very rough gravel roads, some very overgrown tracks, some almost non existent cleared lines and then about 100km cross country. Nissan GQ with Cooper STT's towing 7x4 offroad trailer, Landcruiser 80 with BFG 315's, PradoTD auto with 17 inch Cooper AT's and Landcruiser 100TD auto with Bridgestone cheese cutters V-something. I staked two tyres, Landcruiser 80 staked 9 tyres, Landcruiser with cheesecutters staked two and slit one(not a happy chappy) and Prado had no punctures(go figure...lol). We plugged all the tyres and used them again
We went in search of 5
places of interest and found only two. NatmapRaster 250K digital mapping is very inadequate. One needs 1:50,000 maps. Cross country driving was very rough and hard on the vehicles. I busted a fusible link but we managed to salvage the situation with a cable tie. Also busted part of snorkle and HF aerial tap wire. Ripped all madflaps and flares loose. Not much else to report except that we found some fantastic
rock shelters with old
rock art and petroglyphs. In one canyon we found tiny frogs.
Trip 2. Objective:To drive to the Geographical Centre of the
Simpson Desert to look for
plaque placed there some 19 years ago. Three vehicles. Nissan GQ with trailer, Landcruiser 80 and Landcruiser 100TD auto IFS coming in from
Birdsville.
We met just a tad east of the Erabena
Track intersection on the French Line. The fella in the 100TD had some Novice German Tourists in a Troopy with him. They were hell bent on crossing the Simpson with no experience and no comms and a short handled shovel. After pleasantries we took outr leave and I swung the Gq north on a GPS bearing and we were into the rought stuff. Glancing bacvk after a while we saw the Troopy stationary on a dune crest. After much deliberation we went back and found the very
well bogged. A quick stachem and they were mobilre again. Then one of the group gave the fella some very quick
driver training. We went back to Erabena
Airstrip and camped for the night. Following day we said goddbye to the tourists and headed out to Erabena Oil
Well and then beyond. It took one and a half days to reach the Geo Centre, a distance of 89km, on our trajectory route. We averaged 7.9km/h. Pretty much Low Range stuff all the way and extremely rough. At one stage there was a heavy 'clunk' under the GQ. On inspection we found that the
suspension radius arm rear nut had fallen off. As luck would have it I had a spare nut to fit. I always have good luck!!!
We reached the Geo Centre at 12 noon on 5th May. EO sticker in place there now! Made
camp down in the valley and then I went and drove another 20km in all directions looking for my
plaque...but to no avail. Oh
well, maybe next time. It is also possible that it has been covered by sand. The desert is extremely dry and sands have been blown in and out from the south in recent times. The place looks akin to the Sahara. It took another day and a half to get back to the French Line. Fuel consumpstion towing the trailer there and back was 27lts/100km or thereabouts.
From the French Line we tracked to the Knolls Track, The
Rig Road, Lone Gum, Poolawanna
Airstrip and then 60km south to Kallakoopah Creek. There was very little water in the creek and later we were told that the rest of the creek is bone dry. We tried to reach Kallakoopah Bend but there are no tracks and the thought of more arduous cross country driving put a damper on things and we headed back out on the
Rig Road,
Warburton Track and
Birdsville Track. The last big dune stopped me on the second run up(the only bog for the trip). We deflated the tyres to 9psi and using sand mats cleared the rest of the dune easily. We camped at Claytons
Bore last night enjoying artesian showers and a hot tub in the spa this morning.
For those going to the Simpson this year...take care as the dune crests are extremely soft. I found that either first High Range or 2nd Low range was best. Select your gear at the bottom of the dune rise and then idle up gently and then kick it in the guts at the top.....that is, if the sands have been blown up again.
We saw lots of camels, dingos, emus, skinks ,lizards, wedgies and also lots of footprints of night animals. We saw only three other vehicles in the Simpson. We had absolutely perfect weather for the 19 days we were away execpt for one day went there was a bit of a blow. The wind died down at night though.
Cheers