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From Innamincka we
headed towards the Simpson Desert. First we travelled along the Cordillo Downs
Road along the Edge of the Sturt Stony Desert to Birdsville. A very picturesque
but as well barren landscape along the way. We arrived in Birdsville in
temperatures around the 45 degree mark.
Here we replenished our fuel,
water and food. After renting a satelite phone from the Birdsville Police, we
finally set out to cross the Simpson Desert. We were to cross over 1133 sand
dunes. The first sand dunes are located 40km outside of Birdsville if one
travels along the QAA Line. These first dunes are amongst the highest in the
Simpson Desert. Big Red, the first dune we encountered, reaches a Height of up
to 90 meters. Due to the pretty high summer temperatures, the sand was quiet
soft since the sun already had dried most of the moisture out of the sand
dunes. This made it at times quiet difficult to climb the dunes. Therefore we
had to lower our tyre preasure down to 25 PSi.
Every few hundred meters
another dune had to be climbed. Bumps on the track limited the average
travelling speed to around 20-25 km/h. After roughly 150 km on the QAA Line
Track, we reached Lake Poeppel. A saltlake that quiet often ist flooded and
makes the crossing impassable. Over the Bypass Track we reached nearby Poeppels
Corner, where the state borders of Queensland, the Northern Territory and South
Australia meet. Trying to cross a second Saltlake resultet in us getting
bogged. After digging the car back out, we used as well the bypass track to get
around this saltlake. The night we camped at Colson Junction, it started to
cloud the skies in the afternoon and then around 23.00 it promptly started
raining. It rained for a solid 12 Hours. This would only make it easier to
climb the sand dunes on the wet sand. Our worries though were lieing with the
Delta Creek Spring Track near Dalhousie which often becomes impassable after
rain. So as well this time. Since there were almost 10cm of rain, we were told
that we had to wait at least one week to be able to pass on to Dalhousie. We
decided to head back for Birdsville. But first we had to wait 2 days at Purni
Bore for the tracks to dry of a bit before we could head to Birdsville together
with another Traveller that was stuck at Purni Bore as well.
From
Birdsville, where temperatures of above 45 degrees were forecast for the
christmas period, we then headed towards the East Coast in search of some
cooler places to spend our remaining holidays.
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