Trip Itenery to Simson desert

Stephen

thanks for your advice.
the Prado has 180 litre fuel tank standard.
but may have to work on a little more water as per your suggestion.
p.s. great sunset pic

cheers

John

Hi John,
Which ever way you travel across the Simpson for the first time, it is always a great trip.
If you have not driven in soft sand, you will be an expert by the time you have completed the desert crossing. Like I said before, to make the trip easier for you and your vehicle, make sure that you do drop your tyre pressures. If the sand is soft and you have a few warm days, drop your pressures even lower. Under bad conditions, you could even start at 14psi and lower if the need be. You will not do any damage to your tyres, as you will only be travelling at slow speeds (approx 30kph in the good sections) Take your time and you will have a ball.

Cheers
Stephen

Hi Roachie

Like most of these things its a bit of a judgement decision based
on your own circumstances.

Over here in Vic with plenty of trees and steep wet tracks I use a winch a fair bit.

But in my experience of the deserts particulary on main routes, there are few
trees and less situations in which a snatch strap doesn't solve the problem.

While we were doing the North/south simpson crossing recently others doing the Madigan planned the same action removing winches in group (except one) preferring more fuel instead.

There will always be the odd case of course but for us it, like a hi-lift jack is
low down on the list as beyond the obvious good tyre control and basic recovery
gear, we have/take double difflocks floor mats that can be sandmats, Air Bag and light chains.

If you had few of the above, and were alone, then a winch would be up the list a little.

We find that common sense and a shovel are our best friends in the sand and that a bigger issue is the odd downpour and flat muddy roads, while a winch may pull you out of a ditch, with a lot of effort, thats about it.
Whereas the light chains do that and then allow you to continue safely if slowly.

If car was way underloaded though I wouldn't bother taking it off.

Robin Miller

Hi footloose

thanks for your feedback.

I will have UHF hand held radios.
Have thought about the flag now and will arrange something suitable.

cheers

John

Hi John

With 5 weeks (lucky guy) you shoudn't really have any issues. The main Simpson drive is fairly busy these days and or average you can expect to see several vehicles most days, sometimes a lot more.
Its also relatively easy to, specially without a trailer. We have gone across more than once alone.

On our most recent trip there june 2006, which was actually off the main track we
used 1.5 lt water per person per day and on most Simpson crossing we
camped 2 nights and 3rd night at Dalhouise. I.E. we use 13.5 for typically crossing
as plan our camping such that don't need washing dishes/clothes.
While we know our own requirements well , we still carry twice what we need
as backup.
This was backed up with 3 special drinks each per day , like a can of diet coke etc for kids (about extra 1 lt fliud).

A lot of this stuff depends on your style of camping, and most I think just take to much unecessary junk along.
We removed our winch and towbar for last trip - don't use a bullbar and this alone can make 100kg weight difference.

Being on your own, you may feel the need for backup, whenever we have felt that way out there we have usually asked around all the campers at places like dalhousie , when they are going across - and just left an hour or two earlier
or you can tag alone if you find someone friendly.

The cheapest "Insurance" is to pick up a sat phone at Mt dare and drop it off on the other side at Birdsville or vice versa.

I would do the following basic things in addition to the normal tools and camping gear-

At Melbourne - make sure you car fully loaded is under its GVM as per public
weighbridge - overstressing cars is a fundamental underlying cause of breakdowns.

Take basic belts and hoses and know how to change them - you can by these in kit packs.

UHF radio

GPS - with track plot in it

We always carry 5 days of emergency food, usually deb mashed potato/peas etc which packs up very small.

1 spare is fine , just travel at a reasonable pace,
This is much better tyre insurance than carrying extra spares.
I.E. 80 not 100kmh on Birdsville's stony track etc

I consider carrying a range of patches, spare tube and tyrepliers or equivalent
important and also actually having used those tools in advance, not learning
on the road.

Go camping one night, with gear as per planned trip , to shakedown any issues,
see how much water you actually use etc and get everyone involved in this process to build up anticipation.

Don't try new/unusal/rich foods on the actual trip. Take only what you
have eaten before and your system knows.

Flies during the day are probably only annoying issue.

Its a lot of fun and not much of a worry on the main tracks.

Robin Miller

Whoops someone interruped me with a nice cup of coffee!

I was going to say that a small sand flag is , I think important and that it doesn't need to be tall if mounted at front bumper, just over roof height is good, as this makes it effectively higher when going up a dune.

We just use kids bike flag. (flexible fibreglass not to high)

On last trip with 6 vehicles we had all sorts of flags , some even with 6 meter tall bamboo ones flapping around.

By the end of trip, only ours remained undamaged as most others had broken with
excessive loads on mount or been taken out by overhead branches which were more prevalent in the north simpson than the main track which has lfew such obstackles.

G'day Robin,
I agree with almost everything you said above, but query one thing (with all due respect).......
You said you removed your winch to do the Simpson Crossing. I'm very surprised by that comment! I would have thought it would have been the sort of thing you could leave off your truck for 11 months of the year and only bolt it on when you are about to tackle a (potentially) hazardous trip. My winch sits on the bullbar 90% of the time with no chance of it being required. I'm too lazy to remove it. However, if I was prepared to put-it-on then take-it-off, I certainly wouldn't be taking it off in readiness for a "outback trip".
Just my opinion.
Cheers
Roachie

jojo

thanks for the offer....i would say we would be still be travelling through Flinders ranges on the way to Alice during this stage.

We intend to travel from Dalhousie to Birdsville mid September which i believe is after the races.

thanks again for you offer

ciao
John

Gday Crackles / Craig

The idea of hiring a Satphone has crossed my mind, and I will probably arrange that to happen for the crossing for sure.

Your route laid out is almost what i had planned but in reverse....is there any benefits going one to the other ...?

I understood the winds create a different approach angle on the dunes, which can make one direction possibly harder than the other. Driving up the steep side versus the more anled approach..
Just purchased a 50 litre water tank and will carry an additional 20lites seperate tank...hopefully that should be enough.

thanks for your feedback
cheers
JOhn

The dunes will be slightly steeper East to West but the additional traffic that travels the "easy way" chop the track up on the western approaches to the dunes making it much the same which ever way you go. I think its nice to spend a couple of days relaxing after the crossing in the Dalhousie springs where others prefer to spend time with their feet up in the Pub. With the Birdsville Races on around the time you are leaving you may be able to incorperate that into your itinerary if you go the direction I have suggested (not sure of exact date).
70 litres will be sufficient with enough reserve for any problems. Just avoid cooking meals that require alot of water to prepare or wash up. Always good to have multiple containers for water, a leak in a single tank could leave you with next to nothing.
Cheers Craig...........