Got back from an epic three week trip to the Simpson desert, the main objective was to do the madigan line from east to west and a secondary objective if we had time and fuel was to visit the geo centre which is some 100 km north of the French line.
We had no idea of how hard or easy any part of this would be. We knew that people have done this before but how long before and in what condition the tracks, if any, would be was anyone's guess.
There were six of us in three vehicles, me and my brother Chris in my GQ wagon, Stewie in his GU ute, and my other brother-from-another-mother Chris with his wife Kylie and daughter Desiree in his PX Ranger. Desiree hopped in to the spare seat in Stewie car, and we were away!
We were all going to meet at Birdsville, but I recently read the excellent book by Peter Fitzsimmons on the Burke and Wills expedition so I had a desire to visit the dig tree on the way, so that was settled and we all met at the dig tree. I came from the Sunshine Coast, Stewie from southern NSW and Chris and family from FNQ. Amazingly, after 2 days of solid travel we got to the dig tree within minutes of each other!
I left the sunny coast with brother Chris on the Saturday and we got as far as Bollon, 100 km west of St George. Great free camping on the Bollon river, and the biggest counter meal from the pub that I've ever had!
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We had a sprinkle of rain overnight, the next morning the road was wet and the wildlife was out in force drinking from the puddles on the road.
It soon cleared up and we settled in for an 800k trip to the dig tree, via Cunnamulla and Thargomindah. Tell you what, that area is more desert than the Simpson!
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Somewhere along the way we came across the first red sand dunes, and the first camel.
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We met the others at the dig tree and had a good look around before camping there for the night.
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We had no idea of how hard or easy any part of this would be. We knew that people have done this before but how long before and in what condition the tracks, if any, would be was anyone's guess.
There were six of us in three vehicles, me and my brother Chris in my GQ wagon, Stewie in his GU ute, and my other brother-from-another-mother Chris with his wife Kylie and daughter Desiree in his PX Ranger. Desiree hopped in to the spare seat in Stewie car, and we were away!
We were all going to meet at Birdsville, but I recently read the excellent book by Peter Fitzsimmons on the Burke and Wills expedition so I had a desire to visit the dig tree on the way, so that was settled and we all met at the dig tree. I came from the Sunshine Coast, Stewie from southern NSW and Chris and family from FNQ. Amazingly, after 2 days of solid travel we got to the dig tree within minutes of each other!
I left the sunny coast with brother Chris on the Saturday and we got as far as Bollon, 100 km west of St George. Great free camping on the Bollon river, and the biggest counter meal from the pub that I've ever had!
We had a sprinkle of rain overnight, the next morning the road was wet and the wildlife was out in force drinking from the puddles on the road.
It soon cleared up and we settled in for an 800k trip to the dig tree, via Cunnamulla and Thargomindah. Tell you what, that area is more desert than the Simpson!
Somewhere along the way we came across the first red sand dunes, and the first camel.
We met the others at the dig tree and had a good look around before camping there for the night.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
