SIMPSON DESERT SAFARI.

July 27 to August 24 1998.

Trip Summary. (by Wal & Beryl Phelps).

We left Sydney on Monday 27th July. Our route was via Narrandera and Mildura in the Riverina, through Renmark, Morgan, Burra and Peterborough to Port Augusta before heading up the bitumen to Coober Pedy. From Coober Pedy we detoured through "The Breakaways" to Marla, then on to Ayers Rock and the Olgas. Then to Kings Canyon and on to Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop Road and Gosse Bluff visiting the attractions of the West Macdonnell Ranges on the way. After a couple of days in Alice we headed off to Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar, Finke and Mount Dare before heading off across the Simpson Desert following the French Line. While at Mount Dare we visited the thermal springs and old homestead ruins at Dalhousie. Our trip across the Simpson took in the sights of Purnie Bore, The Knolls, Poeppel Corner and "Big Red" before arriving in Birdsville. From here it was off to Innamincka, Cameron Corner, Tibooburra and White Cliffs, then Nyngan and finally back to Sydney on Monday 24th August.

All together we covered just over 8,000 Km. I averaged 17 litres/100Km for the entire trip. My best economy was 14 litres/100Km between White Cliffs and Sydney and around Alice Springs while my worst was the 520 Km across the Simpson where I averaged 23 litres/100 Km. The dearest petrol was at Mount Dare at $1.15/litre. The average price paid for petrol was 87cents/litre. Petrol in Sydney when I got home was 64.4cents/litre while the cheapest en route was 71.9cents/litre at Port Augusta. I used a total of 1366 litres.

The trip was free from any serious problems. John shredded one tyre, Allan Jones suffered some repairable side wall damage to one tyre and I got a nail puncture in one tyre. The welding on Tony's spare wheel carrier came adrift. This was repaired in Alice Springs but failed again later on the trip. A loose exhaust pipe was his only other problem. Jim was the first casualty. On the road between Erldunda and Ayers Rock he split one of the most inaccessible hoses on the vehicle - the hose used to heat the inlet manifold. It wasn't Allan Jones best trip; apart from the tyre damage, his roof rack came loose during the Simpson crossing crashing down and smashing his windscreen. At White Cliffs he found that the c-clips on both his front drive axles had come off resulting in some damage to the splines on one side with the other side escaping without any noticeable damage. Both Jim and I had minor problems with our CB radios, but again nothing that caused real problems. My UHF CB aerial completely disintegrated due to vibrations caused by the corrugated roads while Jim had some intermittency problems. Luckily, I had brought along a spare aerial which solved most of my problems. Jim also had a problem with the positive terminal of his auxiliary battery shorting to the bonnet and also some minor problems with his hand brake cable adjustment, none of these caused any major delays.

At Ayers Rock, we met up with the other group from the Club. George, Vicki, Faye, Terry, Joe, Ingrid, Rachel, Kevin and Gail were doing the same basic trip as us except they were heading off from Mount Dare for the Flinders Ranges instead of doing the Simpson Desert crossing.

Unfortunately, John took ill after leaving Alice Springs and by the time we were ready to leave Mount Dare several days later he had not improved. I'm sure that it was a hard decision for him to make but he decided to go with the other group where he could be closer to medical aid should he need it. As it turned out, it was a very wise decision as he ended up in Leigh Creek Hospital for several days while they did tests and waited for results etc. The satellite phone enabled us to get up to date reports on his progress and it was good to meet up with him and Faye again at Nyngan on the way home. He was still not 100% but was much better than when we last saw him at Mount Dare.

While we cursed the rain and strong head winds between Sydney and Ayers Rock it did have its rewards. The wildflowers were magnificent. Bright yellow, white, pink and purple flowers covered the landscape, including the desert regions. Around every corner and over every hill or dune was a photograph waiting to be taken. None of us could have ever expected to see such a massive expanse of colour out here in Central Australia. It was simply breathtaking. These colours combined with the rich red sand, the deep blue skies and wisps of white clouds made it a photographers paradise.

Due to the rain in the previous weeks, the actual desert crossing was a lot easier than expected. The sand had by now dried out and was fairly much compacted and although the French Line is reputed to be the more difficult route, none of us had any problems. Most of it was negotiated in 2WD with high range 4WD only needed on some of the crests. We only needed to reduce tyre pressures marginally to around 26 psi instead of the expected 15 to 20 psi. Even to cross "Big Red" we only needed to reduce our tyres to about 22 psi. This was the only time that we needed low range 4WD. Beryl, Allan Jones and I were the only ones to conquer "Big Red". Tony had three attempts but his narrow, stiff walled tyres were his problem, while Jim also had several attempts before taking the easier route. Allan Ferrett had memories of his encounter with large sand dunes at Stockton Beach and decided to take the easier route over the top also. It took us four days to cover the 520 Km from Mount Dare to Birdsville.

We were actually very lucky to make the crossing at all. The earlier rains in the area had closed the track with the Spring Creek Delta Track out from Dalhousie Springs being impassable due to the mud. Also, the fuel tankers had not been able to get into Mount Dare and they had been completely out of fuel. Also, some of the clay pans along the track would have been a real challenge. In fact even though the tracks had dried out nicely Tony was unlucky enough to get bogged up to his axle crossing the clay pan at Poeppel Corner. The rest of us were lucky.

The fuel tanker finally got through to Mount Dare the same day as we arrived; the Rangers then allowed some vehicles to use the Spring Creek Delta track (which was still pretty much of a challenge) and negotiations with the local aboriginal land owners had opened up a bypass track through aboriginal land from the Mount Dare to Old Andado Road around Spring Creek Delta rejoining the main track west of Alka Seltzer Bore. As this track was to be closed once the Delta track was fully re-opened, we took the opportunity of using this track and being part of only a handful of people seeing some of the countryside which is not normally open to visitors to this area. It was also about 20 Km shorter than the normal route.

This track was slow going with the biggest challenge being to find the track markers. At one stage about half way along this track it appeared as if both the track and the markers had ran out, with apparently nothing but rocky, trackless ground in front of us with no markers in sight. However, with some careful scouting about we picked up a faint track heading roughly in the right direction. We followed this for a short distance over several hills and it finally brought us into a much more obvious and clearly marked track. Several GPS reading confirmed that we again on course.

Once over "Big Red", an expected "short cut" (read as wrong turn) led us over several more large sand dunes before our progress was stopped at a very boggy marsh. We were less than 1 Km from rejoining the main track but as time was getting late we decided to retrace our tracks and take the main track into Birdsville. As it was, we got into Birdsville in the dark, but were still able to get a meal and drink at the local Birdsville Pub.

Birdsville had been invaded by about 150 Frenchmen and their Citroen motor cars. They were taking part in a vintage car rally from Paris to Birdsville and the Gold Coast and they, like us were leaving next morning. Our presence on the gravel road out of Birdsville was probable as much of an annoyance to them as they were to us. Threading our way through the dust and stones thrown up by these relatively slow moving vehicles was not the most pleasant experience. We left the Frenchmen and their Citroens when we turned off and headed towards Cordillo Downs and Innamincka.

This was Wednesday and it was "Creek and Beef" night at the Innamincka pub and we were lucky enough to get the last bookings for this meal. For $10.00 per head we got a serving of steak and fish from the Cooper Creek with fresh salad and bread rolls. A good night was had by all. The next evening , after a day of local sight seeing, we all went on a Sunset Cruise on the Cooper Creek with one of the local tour operators.

Next Morning it was off to Tibooburra via the Old Strezlecki Track and Cameron Corner. After Tibooburra our next stop was White Cliffs where we all stayed at "PJ's Underground Bed & Breakfast". A delightful experience that we will all surely remember. It was then on to Nyngan where we, by chance, met up with George, Vicki, Fay and John. After that it was back to Sydney and the end of a great but hectic four week safari into Central Australia and across the Simpson.