Sat 21st – Thu 26th July - Birdsville – Simpson – Alice Springs

Day 6 (Sat 21/7/18)   Birdsville  -  Simpson Desert (QAA Track)

First light, at least when the the sun hits the tent, we are up.  Low temperatures again but we manage.  First stop is the Birdsville bakery for a Camel pie or pastry for breakfast before we head off into the desert. Then on towards Big Red.

   

First stop “Big Red”, the largest sand dune in the desert.  Played with the drone a little to try some “follow me” shots.. somewhat successful.

Then on to our campsite for the evening somewhere along the QAA Line.  106km’s travelled today.

Day 7 (Sun 22/7/18)   Simpson Desert  -  Simpson Desert (Knolls track junction)

Up and away about 9:30, will learn to park in positions that will allow the sun to wake us up rather than hiding behind sand dunes or trees.

Fairly tough going as the tracks seem to be all chewed up and therefore bouncy.  Probably got something to do with 9000 people at the Big Bash last week… we assume many would have linked a Simpson adventure with attending the bash.

Along the way we visit Poeppel’s Corner, where Qld, NT & SA meet.  With the addition of successfully going passed the furthest we have gone on our past 2 attempts for an East-West Simpson crossing. 

   
 

And our campsite for the evening.  Along with our dinner friend who we keep a watchful eye on.

   

101 km’s  travelled today.

Day 8 (Mon 23/7/18)   Simpson Desert  -  Simpson Desert (WAA line)

   

After bouncing a fair bit on the French line track we opt to travel down to the WAA line in a hope that it will be a little better to travel on??  The WAA line still had its bumps and difficult sand dunes, how different from the French line… who knows.

But sitting in our campsite for the evening with lovely sunsets.

94 km’s travelled today.

Day 9 (Tue 24/7/18)   Simpson Desert  -  Dalhousie Springs

Then back on the track, soft sand dunes to begin with but once on the Rig road with its man made harder base our speed picked up from 12 km/hr to about 40 km/hr.  So our plan to stay at Dalhousie for 2 nights looked possible again.

   

Then on to Dalhousie Springs and once camp set up, a quick dip in the fantastic 37 degree water… 

170 km’s travelled today.

Day 10 (Wed 25/7/18)   Dalhousie Springs    -    Rest Day

A fantastically relaxing day today, nothing to do but read and take short dips in the the Dalhousie Springs which are a soothing 38 degree temperature.

   

  

And of course, being a rest day we are always spoilt with a fantastic roast.  Today’s roast being pork with baked vegetables, stuffing and sauce.  Wonderful!!

Late evening, Kate and Paul slipped down to the hot springs for a quick dip before bedtime.

Day 11 (Thu 26/7/18)   Dalhousie Springs  -  Alice Springs

Tracey & I awoke early due to our camping neighbours beginning to pack up from 5am… so we decided to get up early and watch the sun come up while in the hot springs.  Surprisingly we were not the only ones there but the water was beautiful, the morning was crisp enough to have steam rising from the springs.  And the the sunrise was also worth it.

   

  

Left around 8:20 with the plan to stop short of Alice Springs for the night.  Filled up at Mt Dare and stopped for lunch along the old Gahn Railway line (Finke Desert race road) and as we had made good time decided we would continue through to Alice Springs today having us arrive around 4:30pm.

                     

Away from the Desert, removal of the Sand flag – put aside for the Canning Stock Route as well as entering the Northern Territory

However we managed to notice a tyre going flat at our afternoon tea stop so had to get stuck into changing that.  Luckily this occurred, silly I know for it to be lucky to get a flat tyre…  but it was lucky for the couple who passed by while we were delayed changing the tyre as we came across them 20 km’s further up the road with their camper trailer’s wheel virtually detached from the trailer and not going any further.  With no phone coverage and no one else passing by we loaned them our Sat phone to call for help through the RACV/roadside assistance network, this took almost an hour to confirm a tilt tray tow truck was being dispatched and we could safely leave them and continue to Alice Springs arriving 2 hours later than planned but got a view of dust silhouetted sunset.  But still a night earlier than planned.  So all good.

   

  

Next few days we relax a little in Alice Springs while we check over the the vehicles, stock up on all the food etc. for the trip to Wiluna and the start of the Canning Stock Route.