Simpson Desert crossing End of September?

End of September, keep an eye out for the pushbikes! :)

http://www.sdcc.org.au/

JM

I live in the Great Sandy Desert with my wife (a Tribal Aboriginal woman). I sincerely hope that if you are going to travel the area with just one vehicle, you have some serious communication equipment, ie, a good quality HF radio, and a satellite phone, with a GPS.

I would strongly recommend however that you seriously consider finding other people doing the crosising, so that you can help each other as required.

Safe travels and enjoy.

Yes, I have all the recovery equipment: winch + sand hook, maxtrax, uhf radio, sat phone, long range tank, water etc.

JM

You should have no real problems JM , mainly because that is school holiday time, and lots of other cars will be around.

In trip planning getting the big settings right is the way to go , and thats the way if you have 1 car.

We did that trip (french line) at that same time of the year in 2004.

It got upto 40deg in the daytime so be prepared for heat (lots of drinking water) and flies - millions of them. If I was going again I'd go earlier.

Agree with comments there is likely to be plenty of traffic - you should see more than a few vehicles going each way. We towed a good camper trailer with a 100 series IFS cruiser and had no difficulties. It took us 3 days from Dalhousie to Birdsville down to an average of 15kph in places.

Hi JM,
Another tip is to try and get out onto the dunes early before the sun make the sand hot and more loose. We have crossed twice at that time of the year and had no trouble. We were up early and on the "road" by 7 and usually stopped and set up by 2. Lots of time then to set up camp, stoke up the fire and prepare the oven roast. Have fun and stay safe.
cheers,
Sally

Gday,
It will be getting warm but its not the worst time to go. It all depends if YOUR up to the heat or not.
It sounds like you have the right gear and make sure you take heaps of water.
A second car is always a better option but there is nothing wrong with doing it on your own if, you are prepared and have heaps of money put away for the recovery if you need it.

Cheers
Hairy

"You'll be right , it's school holidays so there will be people around"......what a good way of thinking, if something happens some one else will help me.

This is so far from the truth and very misleading.

Sure you can rely on others people if your traveling in a group but when traveling by your self you have to think along the lines of "there is no one else to help me if something goes wrong".

You might venture 10 kilometers onto another track for a look, a track that doesn't get used much.....something happens, 10 kilometer walk and a long wait in 40+ temps can seem like 100 kilometers and days.

I would be listening to "Marc Luther B (WA)" very seriously and following his recommendation.

The Simpson is not that hard depending on you skills and experience but things can still go wrong and something small can escalate very quickly into something BIG, the Simpson can be a very dangerous place.

When we have done the Simpson in September we have see 44 Deg.C at 11.00am with a tailwind, this puts extreme pressure on vehicle mechanicals, cooling systems and travelers.

Tack a good supply of water just incase you need it but don't think you have to drink 5 to 10 liters a day per person if it's 40 Deg. C, drinking to much water can give you the opposite effect.

Have a good firstaid kit, use a vehicle fitted UHF radio and take a large tarpaulin for shade.

And please don't fall into false security of thinking if something happens, someone else will be by soon to help.