Simpson trip summary

Thought I would send thru a quick summary of our trip across the Simpson incase anyone is close to going.

Left Adelaide the headed towards the Birdsville track. Entered via the Warburton track to face very soft dunes (no tracks so had to run up each dune to find the way over). Met up with the Rig Road and took this to Mt Dare.
From Mt Dare we refuelled and headed across the French line to Birdsville.

Details:
Fuel was not as bad as i thought. $2.20 at Mt Dare, $1,80 at Birsdville. Approx $2.00 at Mungerannie (all Diesel).

Our GQ 2.8td excelled with fuel economy doing 16 litres per 100km across the dunes (carrying food and water for 3 bike riders). Carried 165 litres of fuel but only needed approx 80 - 90 litres for each crossing.
the Petrol car along with us (Pajero) averaged 28 litres per 100 km across the dunes.

The rain hit on our way back across the French line. A classic example of always be prepared for the unexpected. We carried extra rations for just this scenario so it was fine that we spent an extra night or two due to slower travelling. The lakes in between the dunes were a nightmare with mud and slosh everywhere. A great example of having the correct tyres as our ST-C's had good enough tread pattern to handle this. The Pajero did not and whilst it did surprise me with it 's abilities, the tyres made it very difficult in the muddy stuff (no grip). Even A/T tyres would not have been good enough (as we saw getting other cars out of bogs). Good open treads did the trick without being too aggressive to rip the track up for everyone else.

A Ford Ranger trayback along with us ingested water into it's air cleaner so this was a very close call. Whilst he was drying it out I thought it was a good opportunity to clean out mine (on a snorkel). It was as good as new! Snorkels are a great investment and will save your engine (and your holidays) in this type of weather.

The last lake at the base of big red was the most challenging. We hit this at night and could not find a way over (we walked it and it seemed impossible). The bikes only just mad it over and recommened that we stay the night on the next dune back and look at it in the morning. The easy track across the lake to the right was also impassable. Eventually we went over in our Patrol but only just made it over! The other cars drove around the lake to the North. We later found out that a car got stuck the night before us and the local policeman had to winch them out. We found their Maxtracs that they used in the mud (walking over the night before) and luckily ran into them at the caravan park to return them.

The Birdsville track heading home (South) was a nighmare also being only just passable (closed to anything over 3 tonnes). Again good tyres and plenty of clearnance as the wheel ruts in the mud was quite deep. The night before 2 Patrols took 6 hours to go 100km. They were very relieved to hit the showers in the Birdsville caravan park!

All in all a great trip but a great example of always prepare for the worst. Have a well prepared car and always have a few days up your sleeve when you plan incase travelling takes longer than planned.