Advise on a Simpson trip

Rod a good one month trip ex Melb would be Broken Hill to Tiboorburra, Innaminka to Birdsville. Cross the Simpson via QAA to Poepels, & WAA to Dalhousie allowing 4 days. Mt Dare, Old Andado loop back to Oodnadatta. Oodnadatta track to Copely, left to Gammon Ranges. South through Flinders & Home.
I would recommend doing the Simpson early in the trip thereby allowing time for breakdowns or rain delays.
Get Ron Moons Flinders book which has all the detail required for travel in that area including all of the private 4x4 tracks.
Desert Parks Pass's can be bought at the last minute & apart from that the suggested route has no further permits to get.
Cheers Craig..............

Hi Rod
4 weeks will give you plenty of time if the weather holds.
Decision time east to west or west to east.
The sand blows the dunes one way? or you drive into the afternoon sun the other way.
or you want a cold drink at the Birdsville hotel at the end or a nice relaxing dip at Dalhousie spring (highly recommended).
It went west to east,Mt Dare, Waa line/Knolls track French line to Popple cnr.
You will have enough time to do the three corners.
Allow a day from Birdsville to Haddon corner
And a day from Haddon corner to Innaminka/Cullyamurra water hole (you could spend a few days there) via the Dig tree.
Then a day down the the Bore track to Cameron cnr/Tibooburra.

Rob.

Hi Rod
If this is your first Simpson trip, it will not be your last by a long shot.
Even as a first timer, if you follow the golden rule of lowering your tyre pressures, you should have no problems. You will learn by your mistakes. If you muck up on one dune crossing, don't worry, as you still have 1099 more dunes to cross.
As for August, it will come down to what mother nature will dish out during our winter months. You can expect cool to cold nights, below zero will be on the cards, with some very nights thrown in if there is cloud cover, with daytime temperatures in the high twenties and low thirties. Do not rush your visit, as there is a lot to see.

Enjoy the mighty Simpson and you will be back.

Cheers

Stephen

Went across the Simpson (Simo' to it's mates) for the first time in August straight after the Birdsville Races last year. A mate who'd done the trip numerous times to film DVD's told me that last time he went aclross he finaly did the French Line all the way and reckoned the scenery on that track is the best of the lot. So that's what we did. Great trip, the dune driving is amazingly great fun.
I was a little concerned ahead of the trip about going solo, sharing a trip like that with mates would have been great, but wouldn't hesitate to go solo again, as long as the vehicle is well prepared and up to it. 3 days in easy time, 4 or 5 would have been even better, but unfortunately we had an agenda.
My understanding is that the other tracks are less challenging, coz they were made for the mining companies to move their big rigs around, there's no way a rig would make it across the French Line. There are tourist buses that use the other tracks.

Hi Rod,

We did a trip across the Simpson last year, from Melbourne. Our itinerary was roughly to go up past the Flinders Ranges to the Birdsville track - camp and refuel at Mungerannie.

Then we went in across the Warburton crossing to the Rig road, and mainly followed this through to Dalhousie Springs and Mt. Dare.

After some R&R, we then turned around and went back to Birdsville via a combination of the French Line and the WAA line. So we ended up seeing most of the tracks in the Simpson, and maximised our time actually in the Simpson, for the time we were away (rather than just crossing 1 way and the rest of the time spent getting there and back).

For your situation, and taking into account an earlier comment re doing the Simpson before the Flinders, you could consider getting to Birdsville (via whatever route you like, but possibly through Camerons Corner, Innaminka), and then crossing via French Line to Mt. Dare.
Rest for a day or 2 and refuel, then head back across a varied route of WAA and Rig Road, exit via Warburton Crossing to the Birdsville track, and then you're on your way down to the Flinders Ranges, and home to Melbourne.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Mark.