Simpson Crossing
Submitted: Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 10:13
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candef
Planning a trip across the
simpson desert and then to Alice in early September. My parents are arriving from Canada and I want to give them a bit of a tour in the defender. I could really use some help in planning this. Anyone out there have some infor to pass on? I have all the gear and recently bought the Discover Aus CD for my Magellan GPS. Have located the french track on this map. Not sure what the best way to go is. We will be travelling alone so I don't want to do anything that would have high possibility of bogging and freak my Mom out, although they are pretty tough having just backpacked the Yukon in northern Canada. Anybody got any suggestions on which route to take to cross
the desert? How long? How much fuel? water?
Thanks Mark...
Reply By: Steve from Drive Systems Victoria - Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:05
Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:05
French Line is as rough as guts and will shake the old buggers up. The lesser travelled QAA is far more enjoyable. 180-200 litres is sufficient and a margin for emergency detours due to flooding in the corridors. East to west is the steeper side of the dunes. Let your tyres down to 20-25 psi and remember to keep momentun on your side. Carry a tall bamboo warning flag pole and red flag. 5 litres of water per person per day. When you take a dump, remember to burn the
toilet paper before filling in the hole. Should travel with another vehicle, in case of mechanical/medical delemmas. I won't go into the spares,parts,comms issue, unless you really have no idea about 4x4ing.
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Follow Up By: candef - Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:17
Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:17
Thanks for the
feedback, as for the spares, parts, comms etc., yep got that covered just need to plan the route. Does the QAA run parallel to the north of the French Line. The Exploroz maps have the QAA line running to meet the French Line. Seems no way other direct way to do it other than French Line.
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Follow Up By: Steve from Drive Systems Victoria - Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:34
Friday, Jul 11, 2003 at 11:34
Qaa runs north and parallel to French on the NT side of the border. Once at Poeppels you can take the French to Approdina Attora Knolls, turn south and pick up the WBN line on your right. It parallels the French, but to the south, until it meets the
rig road, where the WAA line takes you in to Mokari
airstrip and rejoins the French some 35 kms east of
Purni bore. If this route is not on your maps, then I suggest you need some others maps from a map
shop. Simpson is riddled with unmarked "shot lines", some are dead ends, some are not. Less than 30% have been accurately mapped and checked. Of course, their is also the "Rig" road, which is commonly shown, and this is longer but an easier drive for the oldies and takes you past some interesting sites like Lone Gum,
Macumba Well and salt lakes.
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Reply By: Member - Oskar(Bris) - Tuesday, Jul 15, 2003 at 22:31
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2003 at 22:31
Candef
I know your post is not new and you have had several good replys but we have just come back from the Simpson (our first desert trip - but not our last) and we spent a long time planning it. I believe some of the info you received may not be totally accurate. For example: the QAA line runs out of
Birdsville westwards into
the desert and on into the NT then you turn south towards the corner and then westwards onto the French line. The WAA line is the "middle" track but we were advised to make
the desert crossing THE feature of our trip and not just a way to get to
Alice Springs. We found that 4 days in
the desert was a great opportunity to enjoy such a remote and isolated widerness.
Take your time.
The maps/info in
the Desert Parks Pack are excellent.
I was chastised on this
forum (you may have read the post) for having my flag on my roof-rack. Make sure you have a tall pole (Fishing rod???) with a flag (red??) mounted on your bullbar or at least as far forward as you can (you cannot see over the top of the dunes when you hit the crests)
Let your tyres down
You'll have a great time.
cheers
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