We finally got to do our crossing of the Simpson Desert on the third try... the previous two attempts to cross the desert being thwarted by flooding... something that would only happen to us!
Originally the trip was going to be called "Dare 'n Back", with us heading through the desert from Birdsville to Mt Dare and back to Birdsville (dare and back...get it??), but due to a last minute change of plans and us winding up doing it solo, we decided to half the risk and drive around the Simpson and only come back east through the desert.
A bit of a different trip for us for a change, leaving the AOR Quantum caravan behind... only those who don't care about needlessly damaging the track for others, skull drag trailers and caravans through the desert. Sleeping in a swag in the desert has always been on the bucket-list anyhow and was actually surprising snug and comfortable.
This first part is just the loop around, heading down the Birdsville Track to Marree and up the Oodnadatta Track...well, that was the plan at least. We were still running our original Dunlop tyres (or bedroom slippers as Heather calls them) and as we were originally only anticipating soft sand driving through the desert, we planned to do one final trip on them... 25K and they were already getting worn!
The near last minute decision to head down a surprising rocky Birdsville Track was a bit of a wake up call, when we are used to running on much tougher Coopers ST-Maxx's and we decided to detour back to "civilisation" and replace the rubbish Dunlop's with a set of PROPER off-road tyres, plus replace our old faithful 20 year old Engel fridge, which also chose the Birdsville Track as a fun place to expire. Driving out in the middle of nowhere, with a hot, burning electrical smell wafting through the vehicle is probably not something we want to experience again....ever.
You will also notice we wussed out a bit on this trip round the Simpson, primarily sleeping in accomodation, rather than the swag, primarily because of the need for early starts to cover a lot more ground each day, but also due to howling wind, which would make sleeping on the ground a bit of an endurance event.
Негізгі бет Simpson Desert Loop - Part One
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