Hay River track

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Cheers

Firstly you need a permit to travel through Lindsey Bookie's traditional land, then you need a Desert Parks Pass to travel through the Simpson Desert if you exit South

After that you definitely need a GPS as there is no track for at least a day in some rather sparse dune country past Lake Caroline

I also suggest you do not travel alone

Apart from that give Jol Flemming at Direct 4WD in Alice Springs a call as he is a go to person regarding the Hay

Apart from that it's a wonderful journey but your last fuel is Jervois Station on the Plenty Highway and then either Birdsville, Mt Dare or Mungarannie

As you still cannot exit to the Birdsville Track via the Warburton Crossing you will need to be very well prepared in case Eyre Creek is still shut. At that point you have to either head back North or go West to Dalhousie and Mt Dare

Regards

RobA

Hi Richard

From every Simpson Track that we have covered, this have be the best Simpson Track to drive for many varied reasons. We first made the trip in 2005 when that track had seen less than 200 vehicles ever travel the track. Now the track sees hundred of visitors every year, so the word has spread.

Permits??
This will depend on which way you travel and will be as little as only one if heading from Birdsville and then up the Hay River Track. You will only need a Desert Parks Pass if coming in from Dalhousie. If you want to go to Poeppel Corner first from Birdsville, come into the Corner the back way and you will not be travelling in SA and will not need the Desert Parks Pass.

GPS Navigation??
Like I have said above, the Track now sees many hundreds of travellers every year and the tracks are very well defined. There may be only a couple of places where waypoints will make your travel a little easier. From Poeppel Corner you head due north up the K1 Line as far as Beachcomber No 1 Abandoned Oil Well site. This section can have wash a ways in it, but again with careful driving in dry conditions will pose no problems what so ever.

From Beachcomber, you head in a north east direction towards the turn off to the Hay River Proper. Again this old shot line is easy and well defined. From the turn off there will again be defined tracks in the hard packed ground, but in the dune country, tracks can be blown over and the waypoints to the bottom of the actual Hay River can be handy. Once you have reached the Hay River, the track is very easy top follow and in dry times, you will not need four wheel drive.

There are many great things to stop at along the way, so do not rush the trip and you will have a great time. The track out to Lake Caroline will follow the actual Hay River bed for a short while, so again here a waypoint or two will keep you on track. While you are passing, the drive is well worth it. Don't waste your time driving up the Hay River after doing the trip out to Lake Caroline. The sand is very soft and suck the power out of your vehicle. Before we got to Batton Hill, one group had driven all the way from the Lake Caroline Turn off to Batton Hill up the Hay River, and Lindsay was not very happy.

Batton Hill.
When you arrive at Batton Hill, Lindsay will know you are coming and will have the kettle on the stove for you. His camp ground was immaculate and a credit to him and the donkey showers are great.

Bush Tucker Tour??
This is a very debatable topic. When we did it there was no bush tucker in season. Lindsay would tell you what was available in season and where it is. The cost is high to do this tour, $80 per person when we did it. For the bush tucker part of the trip it was a waste of money, but it was worth it for the extra country that you get to see.

Make sure that you do the Goyders Pillar Sunset tour, this was well worth it, even if it was not on Lindsay's land.

Have a great trip and here a some picture of what you can expect.


Cheers

Stephen

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go for it ,
its a very good run down ,zig zagging along the dry river course quite a few dunes
but easy travelling go out to Lake Caroline ,you will need to get a permit to enter Batton Hill , a rip off but ??? $125 per vehicle , plus camping .
when we were there in August ,the indiginous person looking after the place . couldn,t even read the permit paperwork , its a nice place to camp .
mechpete .

I would recommend purchasing the Hay River CD ROM (no affiliation to this shop, it was just the first one that came up on google)

Hay River CD ROM
It has maps for Oziexplorer and paper verions of the same maps that you can print out. It has information on each of the points of interest marked on the map and a bunch of history about the area. We found it extremely useful when we did this track in 2009.