Simpson Desert Oct 04

Finally got organised and decided to head North away from the coolness of Adelaide in October.  We headed off Friday after work and got a few hours on the road and camped at Stirling Nth caravan park.
From here we headed off on Saturday morning a bit later than planned due to unforseen circumstances with our builder which put us behind a few hours.  We did all the usual tourist stops at the ruins etc on the way up thru the Flinders.  As fuel was expensive at Maree, we filled up at Leigh Creek and then only did a top up at Marree.  From there we travelled up the Birdsville track for a few hours and camped at a roadside camp site that Clayton Homestead had setup.  This had natural hot water from underground so we had showers etc to use.

The next day we headed off to Birdsville.  We finally reached Mungerannie where we were informed that the Inside Track was unoffically open.  We hit this a bit up the road and followed this for about 50kms.  As this is not being graded anymore, it does not get used too much.  We lost the track about 50kms in and as it was heading late in the afternoon we decided that it would not be wise to be driving around at night in the middle of nowhere not knowing where we were.  We back tracked to the main Birdsville Track and headed north to Birdsville.  Finally crossed the border at about 8pm and shortly after that drove into town.  Had the compulsory beer at the Birsdville Hotel and a snack.

Stayed in Birdsville for the next day to do all the touristy things like the working musuem, cemetry and Big Red.  See below the photos of Big Red.

About 150kms out of town of Birdsville when we left we came across a brand new landcruiser who had lost his last tyre, jacked up on rocks.  This person must have been here for a least a day or more and probably sitting in the car for a while waiting for a car, he finally admitted defeat and made a huge sign on the road spanning approx 50m made out of rocks and toilet paper saying "NEED WHEELS".  This sign itself would have taken hours to make.  We checked if he was around the place to help but found a note on the windscreen saying that he has got a lift into Birdsville.  This is a classic example of a few following points.

1.  Do not take road tyres out bush.  Take A/T or Light Truck tyres.
2.  Never trust a 4wd car straight out of the show room.  Lots of work need to be done to these cars before they are suitable for travelling tracks like these.  Tyres and Suspension are a minimum upgrade requirement.
3.  Take communications.  No radios in this car.
4.  This was a very remote track and quite possibly he/she may not have seen anyone in days or more.  Always carry an EPIRB.  It's one of those things that you must have but hope you never use.  They don't cost much (approx $300) but will (not could) save your life.
5.  Always carry more than one spare tyre.  If you have tubeless tyres then also carry tubes as a backup for them.

Anyway that's enough of the ear bashing.  At the end of the day it comes down to personal responsibility.

Hit Innaminka and camped on Cooper Creek that night.  The next day we went out to see Burkes Dig Tree.  This road was probably the worst one of the whole trip and was probably the biggest reason why our tyres got chewed up.
Headed out to Coongie Lakes that day and spent the night there.  A very nice place and worth a visit.  The road going out there (106kms) had recently been graded so was very smooth.  Other people have said that it has been so bad they had to turn back.

Another big day on the road which took in the Moomba viewing platform and travelling the old Strzlecki track.  Here we camped on a flood plain just before sunset.  The flies were bad for most of the trip but for some reason this place was really bad.  We decided not to have bacon and eggs on the cooker for breakfast because of the flies so just packed up and headed off to Camerons Corner.  From here we headed off to Parachilna Gorge and arrived just on dusk and setup camp.  This spot has always been a favourite of ours.  Pulled up there with no-one in site so the whole place was ours (though we did share the creek with a few sheep).  Got a few drops of rain that night but nothing much to worry about (apart from being camped in a creek line!).

From here it was back home the next day and back to work.  All in all a great trip but learnt that distances mean nothing up on those roads.  Our travelling days were probably twice as long as what we had hoped for because of the road conditions so keep this in mind when travelling up there for the first time.

I have put some photos on below.  I have kept them as a low quality so this web page can load quickly.
 
  This was the first tree we drove past in hours so it finished up being a lunch stop!