Purposeful Meandering Around Remote WA - Week 6

Saturday was our coldest start for the trip. The desert is a cold but beautiful place in winter. Warakurna had put on an icy 0.3deg as we got out of the swag. There was ice on most things and everything we touched was painfully cold on the hands. Setting off there was an air of excitement to the day ahead, we’d made arrangements and secured permits to Surveyors General Cnr which borders WA/SA/NT. A 2hr drive off the main dirt road took us to a local community called Wingellina where we met our indigenous guide Linda. We transported her to the corner which is a few kms from her residence. Once at the Cnr she explained some of the history over the past 50 years. We grabbed some photos for our memories before dropping our guide back home and we continued our journey east. The Great Central Rd passes through various communities and a transit permit for the journey is only valid for 3 days so there’s not much time for detours. Given the Timezone changes as we crossed back into the NT we made it to Uluṟu right on sunset. We opted to skip the sunset over the rock as it’d been a big day and we still had few errands to do before calling it a night.

Sunday in Yulara was far more pleasant than the previous few mornings. We’ve decided to kill a few days as rain is once again forecast for the Simpson Desert, so we’ve decided to detour via Kings Canyon and the Larapinta Loop Rd around to Alice Springs. The weather gods must have been listening to us because as we headed out of Yulara the desert turned on a pea souper fog making the scenery impossible to see. However by the time we reached Kings Canyon (some 3hrs later) the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. We opted to do the gorge walk through the canyon before heading around to the resort for lunch. With our bellies full we continued along the extremely rough Larapinta Loop to the Finke Gorge NP and a small campground called Palm Valley. We opted to find a nice spot along the river which entailed doing some sand driving, well that didn’t go too well for us as it seems the front drive of our 4WD is broken. Alas we didn’t realise this till I was well n truly bogged in the sand. 2hrs later, thankfully Garth was able to recover us to some more firmer ground. With my pride dented we opted for a simpler spot for the night. I’m now left with some mechanical repairs to work out what’s wrong with the red wagon. Hopefully we can fix it before the Simpson desert crossing.

Monday dawned to another heavy fog blanketing the area. We packed up and made our way around to the Mereenie Loop which runs through the West MacDonnell Ranges. We made numerous stops at the various gorges and lookouts throughout the valley. We walked into a couple of the gorges where swimming was available. While the water looked inviting watching those in the water shiver uncontrollably we decided against it. By mid afternoon we’d made our way into Alice Springs, we took the opportunity to find a safe place to undertake some repairs to the front end of 4WD. An hour or so later I’d diagnosed an issue that wouldn’t be permanently fixed on the side of the road, however a temporary fix has hopefully allowed us to continue into the desert in a few days time. By days end we’d found a woolies where we restocked some fresh food, we also took the opportunity to treat ourselves to the comfort of a motel for the night.

Tuesday started with the realisation we’d just spent the night under a town curfew. Another heavy fog and cool temps blanketed the area. With food and fuel restocked we headed south out of town. The 130km/hr speed limits were tempting but for a change I acted responsibly and stuck to safer speeds. By mid-morning we reached Kulgera where we turned east towards Finke. Our first stop was Lamberts Geographically Centre of Australia, this ticked another item off our bucket list. Pressing on we were soon in Finke where we seen a few parts of town used in the desert race. Continuing towards Mt Dare, Garth took us to the remote place called Duffield, this was an old rail siding habited in the 60’s by his grandfather. Sadly only the ruins and a small section of track remained. You could see the excitement in their faces as they relived their family history. Back on the main track and with the sun setting we arrived at the Mt Dare hotel. Who would have thought to put a pub in the desert, but it works, the place was packed with travellers. We joined the hundred or so other campers as we enjoyed an outback pub meal which concluded a very long day for us.

Wednesday was another chilly morning in the desert. We packed up and were first in line for fuel as the single bowser opened. Thankfully we didn’t need much fuel @ $3:05/ltr. Heading further into central Australia we were soon at the outback oasis of Dalhousie Springs, this thermal pool bubbles out of the earth at approximately 37deg and made for a refreshing swim and change from sitting behind the wheel. As we left Dalhousie Springs you officially enter the Simpson desert, we’d put our sand flags on the cars and lowered our tyre pressures. By lunch time we’d arrived at Purni Bore, this is another artesian bore where the water comes out of the ground at almost 100deg. We had lunch here before continuing our journey over the sand dunes. With 3 routes over the Simpson we decided to take the WAA route and shortly before 3pm we’d found a great spot to camp for the night. Our first night in the Simpson desert was spent relaxing around the fire with a few liquid refreshments.

Some time very early Thursday morning I had a lightbulb moment that I should pull the front wheel hub apart again to see if I could improve on the makeshift repair I’d previously made. Well, at first light that’s what I did, only to find more broken pieces which is never good. After discussing the possibilities with everyone we decided to continue heading across the Simpson. By 9:30 the car was back together, we’d had breakfast and were all packed up. We quickly learned that crossing the Simpson desert is a slow activity, you rise and fall over each dune, you bounce and hop across each corrugation with an average of only 30km/hr. By lunchtime we’d only gone 90km. We shared our lunch spot with a very inquisitive dingo. Careful not to feed it we were soon back on the road. We passed a few vehicles and various adjoining tracks. The thing that surprised us the most was the greenery. Recent rains had freshened up the place, wildflowers bloomed everywhere and made beautiful carpets across the dunes. Late in the day we reached the large salt pan at the end of the WAA line. Given the recent weather and our 4WD issues we opted to walk the route across the salt pan and lucky we did. It appeared not many people had succeeded in crossing the pan. We erred on the side of caution and opted to turn around and return the 30km to the nearest alternative route, this made our already big day that much longer. By nightfall we’d found a suitable place to camp, all of us feeling very exhausted. There was no campfire like the previous night, we literally cooked dinner and hopped into the swag (where I am now, writing todays blog).

Friday marked the end of 6 weeks away, we’ve covered so much ground but there’s still a lot to go. Packing up we checked out the “Lone Gum Tree” before continuing our journey eastward, now on the Rig line. There seemed to be more and more irregular noises coming from the front corner of the 4WD which did nothing to soothe our fears of the hub failing while in the place that we needed it the most. The Rig line proved to be very easy, we had to detour around a wet salt pan but for the most we covered good ground, we even laughed at the moment we got into 4th gear and were doing 60km/hr. Once back on the French line the traffic increased dramatically, the desert is no longer desolate place and on a number of occasions we’d have to stop and let 6 and even 9 car convoys pass by us. The closer we got to Poppels Cnr the steeper the dunes got and with trepidation we had to engage 4-high a few times to make it over, each time the noises coming from the front got worse but we’d top the dune and the adrenaline would ease. About mid afternoon we reached our 2nd border corner for the trip, Poppels Cnr is the junction of the NT/SA/QLD borders and we were both grateful to tick off another bucket list item. Pressing on we both commented how we’d started our day in SA, we ventured 20km north into NT and by stumps today we finished in QLD.

Fingers crossed with 2 weeks left, more outback roads open up and we can get to the places we want to.