Simpson Desert

Ever wondered whether an Outback or Forester can make it through the Simpson Desert?  Well here's a story and photo album to prove that with a little modification, they can.

You can find out what mods were done to Andrew's Outback here

A DOUBLE CROSSING – SIMPSON DESERT 2002

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When I picked up my Forester in ’99, I had the idea of doing some outback expeditions. It was three years before we had the opportunity to do a true wilderness expedition, but it was worth the wait! Our convoy consisted of three vehicles and seven people; two lifted Foresters and a lifted Outback; myself Julie, Justin in a manual Forester; Robin and Marion Laban in an auto Forester and Andrew Gantimuroff with Andrew Noskoff in the manual Outback. I carried four extra jerry cans, Robin carried three, and Andrew (confident in his fuel economy) carried only two extra cans. We tried to keep our weight down by using lightweight camping gear and carrying only one carton of beer at a time. We carried plenty of spare tyres and tubes plus a full tool kit spread between the cars.

We rendezvoused at Maccas, Goodna on Sat 22 June at 7.30 am. Julie was surprised that Andrew’s Outback seemed to be full of chip packets. After chatting to a group of other expeditioners in LandCruisers (also heading to the Simpson), we hit the road for the long drive to our first camp on the Ward River west of Charleville. Next morning was a shock, minus 3 degrees but at least the fire took the edge off it. Soon it was off to Quilpie and then on to Windorah. A pattern was being set now, to do with fuel consumption. The Outback, clean roofed, always had the best fuel consumption, followed by the manual then the auto Forester, and the worse the roads got the bigger the gap between the three. With Windorah behind us the first red dunes were spotted and the trip proper began.

At 4 pm we found a beautiful campsite dominated by a white gum tree, the same camp we used 3 years ago on our Birdsville track trip. Wood in the desert is surprisingly plentiful and burns easily with little smoke. We were right next to a dry creek bed full of soft sand, so Robin successfully tried out his newly installed SubaXtreme ‘diff lock’ on his auto. The third day saw Betoota, a counter lunch at Birdsville and a southerly course down the Birdsville track towards the Warburton track turn off. At the turnoff was a group of 5 vehicles unsure of the route. We pointed them in the right direction and it was then that I discovered a slow puncture in a rear tyre. We camped that night on the banks of a dry Warburton Ck. We had time to put a tube in the deflating tyre before sunset. For the whole trip we were treated to the most spectacular sunsets, sunrises, moonrises and moonsets. Most nights Andrew Noskoff had a slide show on his laptop of the day’s digital photos.

Next day we were in real 4x4 country as we proceeded up the Warburton track towards the Rig Road. At 11 am we had overtaken the convoy we saw the previous day and turned on to the Rig Road. This caught us by surprise, as some of the hardest dune crossings are the first ones. So after getting bogged on the first and second dunes we got into the groove, let a bit of air out of the tyres and didn’t look back after that. The Rig Road zig zags its way west and northwards alternately travelling between the dunes (fast and corrugated) and across the dunes (soft and slow). The four hundred km or so of road has only one caution sign, “ROAD HAZARD AHEAD”, which Julie took to be a joke only to hit an enormous bump and be bounced off the road, fortunately without damage. That night we had one of our most spectacular desert camps about a half a kilometre from the lone gum tree. It was twilight and I was about 100 metres from camp ‘inspecting the toilet facilities’ when I saw a most beautiful sight. Suddenly a clear bright silver crescent of light appeared just above the dune horizon 2 km away. It was a moonrise in the desert.

10 minute exposure 9pm Full Moon	Lone Gum Tree - Rig Road		Lone Gum camp
Star Trails - long exposure		Rig Road Lunch

Next morning, after seeing our first camel, an old bull, we came to the junction with the Rig Road and the French Line. Immediately we came across a few vehicles and heard some stories. One man had a tray falling off the back of his Rodeo and was looking for some bolts of a certain size. After a bit of rummaging, and much to his relief, we dug out the required bolts. We spoke to another bloke who was heading down the Rig Rd with a slipping clutch. We wished him luck. The really scary story came from a convoy who lost a member due to a broken piston .The Disco had to be towed 470 km back to Birdsville. The fee for this was in the thousands of dollars.

After lunch we made Purnie Bore and then it was on to the famous Dalhousie Springs. We picked a busy night and the campground was so full we had to camp on an access road. As we did a couple of laps of the camp looking for a spot we wondered why there was so much interest in our small convoy until we realized that of the fifty or so 4x4s in camp, we were the only small ones. Nary a CRV, RAV4, or Freelander to be seen. In fact for seven days on the whole desert section of the trip we came across not one other small 4x4. Despite the camp being full, the Springs were not very busy. A dip in the hot springs is an amazing experience. You climb down the ladder out of the chilly winter air into a delightfully warm bath, the temperature of which can be varied by moving to different parts of the pool, the only hard part is getting out again into the cool air. This is where your spare tubes come in handy as lifebuoys. Next day we drove to Mt Dare station to refuel and restock supplies. Petrol here was $1.39 a litre and a slab of VB $55. We used 94 litres for the Rig Rd. crossing at 12.2 L/100 km. Julie, Justin and myself headed back to Dalhousie for an easy day while the Andrews, Robin and Marion took off in the Outback for the Lambert centre, 100km away (this is the geographic centre of Australia).

The camp was quiet when we got back as most people had left .We noticed a couple arrive in a Cruiser with wide BFG's and a trailer. They set up and went for a swim. Presently we noticed a fire near their camp and, on closer inspection, the fire was under their vehicle with a tyre on fire .We quickly dug out the extinguisher and quenched the fire. Apparently he had thrown a log under the vehicle not realizing it had glowing embers on it .On day 7 we all went for a joy flight around the springs, not bad value at $30 per person. The aircraft, an Australian built Wrightair STOL, has a flat six 200 kW Lycoming engine and can take seven passengers. After the flight we set an eastbound course towards the French line, a much slower and sandier route.

That night we had another fantastic camp just past the Colson track junction. The next day was the hardest, 120 km in 7 and bit hours to Poeppels corner. The main reason it is so slow is that the undulations prevent any build-up of speed. If you try to go any faster the car gets a bounce up which gets worse and worse .We came across a few convoys heading westbound on this section. Contact is usually made with approaching convoys when about 5 km apart by listening to channel 10 on the UHF. This avoids any nasty surprises when cresting the dunes. The Andrews’ kept a count on the number of dune crossings and they recorded well over 1000 each way. Camp was made near Poeppels corner with everyone looking forward to next day and our first encounter with Big Red dune at the end of the QAA line.

Talking with people the previous week had elevated Big Red to almost legendary proportions. There were discussions about which would be the best way to attack it and whether we would be able to get over it at all! As we came over the last few dunes our anticipation was rising, then suddenly there it was about 2 km ahead! It was large, very large, and it looked different to the other dunes as it had numerous sidetracks up it and a bare top. Just visible, perched on top were a few vehicles and some spectators. About a km out we passed the turnoff to the bypass road, but we hadn’t come all this way to go the chicken track! As trip leader I was nominated to have first attempt so after dropping the tyre pressures down to about 14 psi we approached the dune. Which track to take? I remembered a discussion with a guy at Dalhousie where he said the Subas would be able to go “Straight up the middle!’ So up the middle it was. As we reached the sand at the base I selected first low and raised revs to 5000 and we were on our way! With Justin in the passenger seat clutching the video camera we bumped and jolted up the track; so far no problem, but as we approached the top I could see why so many have problems. The track does a left turn and the sand gets very soft so if you aren’t on maximum power and your tyre pressures are too high you get stuck. But no such problem for us .We zipped around and over with no problems At the top it is like a large bowl about 50 metres long with the spectator vehicles lined along the western edge, so we circled around and parked on the edge.

Next it was Andrew’s turn in the Outback. He hit the hill in second with not as many revs as us, resulting in him getting stuck in the last bit of soft sand. He succeeded on his next attempt by using more revs then roared around the bowl on top at full noise to park behind us. The auto Forester needed a few goes to get up. It kept wanting to change up instead of staying in low so when it hit the soft sand it was off peak revs. One of the spectators was Theo Nell, the proprietor of Birdsville Auto. We chatted with him about life in the outback and his recovery business (the recoveries can be very expensive; he uses an independently sprung trailer towed by an old Land Cruiser Ute). Julie asked him, “Which is the hard way up?” He replied, “The way you just came up.” Now we were joined by a 90 series Cruiser who made it up first go, after we gave him the drum on the CB about what to expect (and some good driving). After we all had a play around, Julie had a go, Justin had a go, and we checked we could get up the other way, then tyre pressures were restored and it was off to Birdsville via a fast dirt road.

That night, camp was made on the Diamantina River just out of town The Andrews’ drove into town for a meal and to watch the World Cup final with a group of Germans. Probably half the people we met on the track were overseas tourists. Everyone we saw in the desert stopped to talk and a real camaraderie exists. It was day ten now and as we drove east past Betoota the Outback scored it’s first puncture. That night we camped beside the road north of Innamincka only a few km from where Steve Fosset would touch down two days later. Now with the excitement over the Andrews wanted to get home ASAP so they drove the last 1450 km in one go to get home late Tuesday night.

The Foresters took a more leisurely pace, camped at Eulo and arrived back on Wednesday, making it a twelve-day trip. On reflection the twelve days went so fast. The days were always interesting and enjoyable and if you like sand driving this is the place to go. The scale of the desert is unbelievably vast with the dunes just coming and coming hour after hour. Our overall fuel consumption for the 4700 km was 10.3 L/100 km. Our worst fuel consumption was 14.5 L/100 km for the Mt Dare to Birdsville French Line section. Interestingly, the Outback used 13 L/100 km here and the auto Forester a thirsty 16.7 L/100 km. We suffered one slow puncture, the Outback one puncture and no problems with the Cooper shod auto Forester. We would love to go back with the club, possibly doing it in the reverse direction.

JOHN SHERA SC 466

Andrew's Photo Album

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