Simpson Desert French Line Feedback

100 litres plus reserves. You will not need a gps and you will probably see several other vehicles on the track. See the 'Treks' section of this web site.

Please take more than 100 ltrs. plus reserves. I don't have a definitive answer, but fuel consumption guide on Exploroz is a good guide. A couple of cans. won't hurt. Holed tanks happen. Don't need it all in one tank, same with water. Didn't use as much water as I took, but was sure grateful I had it. Used Sat phone when my son had a problem. Had HF radio also. Belt and braces man. Watch that road from Dalhousie to Mt Dare. It's says go 40Km/h. Perhaps I should have. Lost a tire to stones,(sidewall). Great trip. Dunes the most interesting, but not difficult. bit of momentum up and just roll over. When blind at the top, hardly moving, a little time to see whether left or right. few straight over. That flag essential, plus talk on ch10.
Have a great one. David

For a normal diesel patrol / cruiser etc....
Have at least 180litres..
A good way to go is french, rig, waa, knolls, french, k1, qaa.....

Take plenty of fuel, water and food.... and have some comms. UHF ch 10 is the desert channel, but if you get into strife you might need sat phone or HF. (Depends on the "strife" really, car trouble you "should" be ok as there are lots of others doing the same trip and someone will stop to help, although late August might be different..... it's Medical emergencies that are the ones you might need better comms for!)

GPS is a handy thing to have, but not an absolute necessity, cool to plot way point for Points Of Interest along the way etc, and if you do get stranded and have to contact others, at least you know exactly where you are!

We're off in about 3 weeks (wow- is it that close !!)..

From Dalhousie Spring- French line- Rig Rd- WAA line-to the Lone Gum Tree- WAA line- Knolls Track- French line- Poeppel Corner- then on to Birdsville.

Will be fuelling up at Oodnadatta, then it's about 693km to Birdsville.
Will need about 120 litres- but Troopy carrys 180 litres so should be OK. (May carry 20 litres extra just in case).

Have all the waypoints plotted with turns, points of interest etc. Would be happy to send you if you have a GPS.

Cheers

Gday John

We crossed the French line 3 weeks ago, was pretty hard packed and chopped up in parts so slow going. The best info you can get is included in the desert parks pass which covers all the different things to see.

A GPS is always good to have for peace of mind. In saying that, the track is so well defined now Its hard to make a wrong turn and the major turns are sign posted.

I have a 4.8 Patrol and we used 160 litres Birdsville to Mt Dare, we paid $2.18 per litre (ULP) so you can bet diesal will be at least 20 cents per litre more.

Make sure you stop for a dip at Dalhousie springs and have a good trip.

Cheers

We crossed Birdsville to Mt Dare in early May this year using the suggested route in the Treks section. The tops and face of quite a few dunes were very soft in some areas. We used 150l of diesel in a 79 Series TD cab chasis. We had two jerries just in case as we were travelling by ourselves (so probably 180 - 200l usable). If the whole crossing had been like the WAA line 200l may not have been enough! The group that arrived at Mt Dare in front of us went straight accross the French line (and were experienced travellers having crossed Simpson 6 times previously) had their fuel lights on 50 km outside of Mt Dare. I'm not saying how much fuel you really need rather conditions can change and the amount of fuel required changes as well. In our situation the wind came up most nights and often completely filled in the tyre tracks on the crests of the dunes. I have never been in the Simpson later in the season so can not comment about August.

Steve

we just got back from that trip did Birdsville to popels 170km them 92km in seven hours second day then another 170 to dalhousie then down to Oodnadatta very rough road but didn't do a tyre thank god and i run coopers $2.22 diesel at Oodnadatta then on to coober peady . i fuelled up at Birdsville 190lt and made it easily to Coober Pedy . brought a hema gps just for the trip it was good but if u have maps not really needed anyway hope u have a good trip