How the night sky must be!! Yes I can hear you all saying it right now. The tour is perfect for everyone who loves 4wheeldrive tracks and cars. Not a lot, and no room for error, but I was fairly confident. The desert is closed between December 1 and March 15. Motorcycles are exempt but must travel with their headlight on. If your tyres are already good and you already have (or don't feel you need) driving lights then boom – there's another three grand you won't need to find. What with waiting for my swag to dry, and having one last swim at Dalhousie, I didn’t get away until midday. We carried most of ours on the roof basket, with some rubber floor mats on the bottom that protected the roof bag from tearing on the basket's mounting brackets, while giving us a 'front door step' on which we could remove our hiking boots (helps keep dust and prickles out of the tent). Here are some other essentials we took along…. This tough MSA bag sure beat carrying our stinky rubbish inside the Prado. Who would think that sitting in a pool of water could be dehydrating, but it can. Try to avoid traveling after dark or around dusk or dawn, while wildlife is most active. I had my concerns about the roof basket's universal mounting brackets, which didn't exactly seem over-engineered. The main route across the Simpson Desert between Dalhousie... 2. This created a cosy 'cubby-hole' for both, and prevented the usual back-seat bickering quite nicely! Enter your email address to be notified when a new blog is published. There are many and varied blogs about towing trailers across the Simpson. With the exception of the driving lights, which were supplied by Narva, the author paid for all expenses attributed to this trip. 202 km Back on the road and excited to be heading straight across to Birdsville. The Simpson is the largest dune desert in the world and is all parallel dunes 300 – 500km long running north-south created by the consistent south-westerly wind and this means the east side of the dunes are steeper and more difficult to climb with 4WDs. Keep heavy items low and cram every nook and cranny with doonas and pillows, to prevent the lot getting airborne over dune crests. I’d calculated that from Oodnadatta, based on all information I had, I would make it through the Simpson and have around 10 litres of petrol left when I got to Birdsville. Flags must be 3.5m from the ground and be mounted from the Bulbar or Bumper at the front of the 4wd, or at least 2m high mounted to the front of a roof rack. For use of photos please contact me direct. I decided to come into Dalhousie from Oodnadatta rather than go through to Mount Dare. There's also fuel at Mount Dare Station, up the road from Dalhousie Springs. Wasn’t it? Having said that, and as with water, you do need to have a few days in reserve in case you end up stranded. I’d calculated that from Oodnadatta, based on all information I had, I would make it through the Simpson and have around 10 … With a heap of Techni Ice's freeze sheets, it kept everything cool for at least a week, while pre-preparing and vacuum-sealing meals was a big help too. xoxo love ET. For our 11-year-old Toyota LandCruiser Prado – a four-cylinder turbo-diesel model with 150,000km on the clock – that meant giving it a major service before departure (roughly $900 at a Toyota dealer, including a new timing belt) and adding a few more accessories. Don't forget to take some firewood; it can get pretty darn cold in the Simpson in winter. I made a deliberate decision when coming out here that I wouldn’t bring any wine. The recommended advice is two per vehicle, but I was doing this trip with a friend who also had a Prado with the same stud pattern and tyre size (and also just the one spare). It comes with a couple of maps but we also carried Hema's Great Desert Tracks (Simpson Desert) paper map in addition to a Hema Navigator HN7 GPS (borrowed from a mate). Corrugations, more corrugations, and even more corrugations. There’s also a shower, but really, who needs a shower in the desert? What a can of worms this topic can open from the sublime to the ridiculous. “But trailers are not allowed or able to be taken across the Simpson desert “Or“ it is strongly advised against “. The Simpson Desert is the driest region of Australia and it is a dunal desert - a sea of parallel red sand ridges around 300-500 kilometres long covering a … The 120 Series Prado has two long-range tanks with a very-healthy total capacity of 180 litres. Our eight and 10-year-old boys were segregated by a large food box and a box of cooking utensils, both of which were strapped to the cargo barrier. Simpson Desert Crossing has 3,370 members. Sam Purcell is back from the hardest crossing of the Simpson Desert, across the Madigan Line. Alice Springs to Birdsville. The Simpson stretches between Birdsville (1585km west of Brisbane) and Dalhousie in Witjira National Park in northern SA, (around 700km south-east of Alice Springs); it's between 550 and 715 kilometres across, depending on which track you take. That name immediately brings to mind remote, long distance, outback travel. This adds an extra challenge There are all sort of equations to determine water needs (just ask Russell Coight! That's over a four-day/three-night crossing in winter, when nothing went wrong. The Prado came with a well-used set of BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres. robcaz Posts: 1175 Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:07 am Location: Stockton NSW. You don't need a new 4WD to cross the Simspon, but you do need a reliable and well-set-up one... Don't forget the air compressor and pressure gauge... BFG All Terrains aren't cheap but they have a solid reputation for good reason. Here's how he prepared for one of Australia's iconic off-road drives, and what it cost. We run 40psi when fully loaded on sealed roads and 25-30psi on quality dirt roads. That would have to be one of the worst roads I’ve driven on. Using The Combined Route, you will travel 570km. While the countless mega-buck four-wheel drives found all over Australia may suggest otherwise, tackling the Simpson Desert can still be achieved on a modest budget – even with a family in tow. The Simpson Desert is the last refuge of some rare Australian desert animals, including the fat-tailed marsupial mouse. Follow these links for specific trek notes if not doing the Combined Route: Simpson Desert French Line, Simpson Desert Rig Road and Simpson Desert WAA Line.
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