Simpson Desert summary

[an000 Member Find all posts View Profile Close an000]

Hi all,

Just got back from my Simpson trip, thought I would summarise a few things before I forget

Things that went well (in no particular orders):
- ZCG fiber glass UHF antenna. Didn't move a mm.
- Oztent: not mine, but we have three Oztents in the group, I am impressed at the ease of putting up and packing.
- iPhone: great for taking quick photos, running MemoryMap with Hema maps, check weather maps when there was reception. MemoryMap is way better than the VMS maps I paid $180 for.
- Iridium sat phone. worked well, the external magnetic antenna sticked on the roof the whole time.
- GME 3540 UHF. Crystal clear, easy to use with the controller on the mike.
- Codan 9350 HF antenna: works well
- Gopro camera: Nice video, a bit of a hassle with the charging though
- SPOT satellite tracker: works very well
- RAM mounts: excellent, I had these for the SPOT and iPhone (windscreen mount), solid as rock. My cheap $20 mount broke within three days.
- Blackwidow drawers and cargo barrier: still fitting perfectly as new
- Blackwidow sandflag: didn't pop out like some others. I did put a cable tie to stop the ball bearing from moving.
- Brown Davis bash plate. Did its job, took some beating on the dunes, and save the car from a rock at Flinders Ranges.
- ARB suspension with the lift: Worked well.
- Geolander G012 tyres: worked well. I had a slow leak but that was picked up from the city (one nail and one screw).
- Mycube rooftop tent: nice tent, quick setup and pack up. It was a bit tight when new, but loosened up after a few days. Keep me dry and warm, and almost as comfortable as my bed at home.
- ARB fridge: didn't miss a beat. Kept my stuff frozen at -6
- Jetboil boiler: perfect for quick tea and coffee.
- Coles water bottle pack: quick and easy way to store water.
- Rear wheel carrier: I didn't have any, some others did. Worked well.
- Cryovac meat: worked well. I will have to invest in a Cryovac machine at the next Camping show.
- Tyre pressure monitor. I didn't have one but one other guy did, detected a leak 5 minutes from leaving the sealed road in Broken Hill, got it repaired at Copley, and another leak near the end of the trip. At $300+ per tyre, he already got his money back by saving these two tyres. Another group had a tyre blown-out during their trip, had to buy a brand new tyre for replacement.
- And the best would be the sandgrabber floor mats. Keep the dust out of the carpet for the entire trip. Shouldn't go to the Simpson without one


Things that did not go too well:

- ARB bullbar antenna mount for the Codan HF antenna: Broke just before crossing the desert.
- The Black Wxxx non-canvas tent: One of the other guys had it, and wasn't impressed with the wears and tears. The Oztent looked much easier to put up.
- Spare tyre inside the car: took up a lot of space.
- Warm clothing: I didn't pack enough. It went down to -4 at night early in the trip, before we got to the desert
- Extra battery: I brought one 12V 38AH battery for spare, this was not needed, and charging was a hassle
- Water Jerry Cans: I had these 10L and 20L from SCA and Rays, they all leaked at the tap connector.
- Warn winch controller: came loose at Birdsville, luckily was picked up in time before these massive non-fused live cables made contact with the body.
- ARB battery bracket: came loose but stayed tight after tightening the nuts.
- The butane gas burner did not work very well in cold weather. Could not even boil water
- Knoll track: good fun, but hard going, and caused most of the scratches on the paintwork.
- Lack of wide-angle lens for lanscape photos
- Soft rubbish bin. Get a reasonably tough type for your trip. Mine had holes in them leaking stuff everywhere
- MSA rear wheel bin: Too hard to secure on a Prado with factory rear wheel cover. had to use ropes and it still fell out twice.
- We came across a family with the camper and 4WD burned down to the ground just out of Marree, fortunately everyone got out in time. The fire started in camper, and they could not disconnect the trailer from the car in time.


Other notes:
- At Birdsville, the cost for the recovery truck to come and get you out of the desert is $300 per hour. The longest recovery they did was 27 hours! The most business for these guys though is tyre repair.
- Most expensive fuel was at Oodnadatta, $2.30 per L diesel.

It was an awesome trip, and I am looking forward to the next one!

[mkh Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mkh]

Good stuff. Got any pics to put up?

[derek11 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close derek11]

Thanks, lots of good info there. Be good to see some pics of your trip.

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

With the MSA rear wheel bin. How do you think it would go if the wheel cover was removed?


Steve.

[an000 Member Find all posts View Profile Close an000]

With the MSA rear wheel bin. How do you think it would go if the wheel cover was removed?


Steve.

I think it would be easier, but I would still put plenty of ropes around it.
I ended up putting mine in a plastic bag and kept it in the car for half of the trip.
The other version of bins where the top lid hangs on the tyre seemed to work fine.
One guy in the group had something similar to mine on his Prado 120, and said he had to take the spare tyre out to fit the bag in.

One more thing, the D4D Prado 150 used up 110L of diesel across the Simpson from Oodnadatta to Birdsville, that is about 725km. We had a shorty 150 with a modified chip, and had the same fuel consumption.

We did the crossing in 3 nights, but ideally it would be nicer to have one or two extra nights in the desert, allowing you to start the day late and finish early.

Second gear high range was what I had on most of the time on the dunes, including Big Red. Center Diff lock was on, with traction control sometime off, sometime on.

Tyre pressure was 20psi front, 21psi rear.
Before the desert on dirt tracks tyre pressure was 30psi front, 31psi rear (down from normal 38psi)

Will upload the photos as soon as I have a chance. Been cleaning the car, because of the rain and vegetation there was surprisingly little dust. The most mud I picked up was from a water hole at Coopers Creek, the hole looked pretty harmless, I went in slowly and next thing I knew the whole car was covered in mud. So watch out for that hole!

The Birdsville track was like a highway compared to others. Watch out for others going too fast in the opposite direction, we have 2 broken windscreens in the group because of this. I slowed right down or even stopped when there was an oncoming car.

Also bring your coins for washing in $1, most of the machines at caravan parks do not take $2 coins. Bring some pegs as well for drying clothes on the lines.

The desert UHF channel is channel 10. If you go in a group, it is handy to have a second radio (handheld) to scan other channels, as some groups are on a different channel with only the leader on 10. On large group they will have quite a spread from the first to last car.

[Drj Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drj]

Great report really informative which is what this forum is all about plan on heading to the Simpson next year so will keep an eye out for the photos

[vscorsa Member Find all posts View Profile Close vscorsa]

Great info, thanks an000. We hit the Simmo in about 5 weeks so all information is awesome.

You mention Hema maps with Memory Map, did you get the Hema maps and how easy was it to setup them up with MemoryMap?

Cheers

Dave

[an000 Member Find all posts View Profile Close an000]

Great info, thanks an000. We hit the Simmo in about 5 weeks so all information is awesome.

You mention Hema maps with Memory Map, did you get the Hema maps and how easy was it to setup them up with MemoryMap?

Cheers

Dave

Hi Dave,

After you purchase the Memory Map Apps on the iPhone (about $7), you can download the Hema Great Desert track on their web site:
http://memory-map.com.au/digital-map...-4x4-maps.html

You can then unzip the file and transfer that to the iphone/ipad using iTunes:
http://memory-map.com.au/faqs/questi...from+zip+files

You can then purchase the maps on their web site. Need to create an userid. Login and go to "Buy licenses". Select which license you want.

You will get a license key, which can be used to active the map on the mobile device.

I bought the Mobile license for USD $39.99, which you can use on two mobile devices.
You can try it out for free for 10 days

When you use Memory Map, make sure you put the phone on full time charge, and enable "Logging". This will keep a nice red line on your track!

Have fun!

[vscorsa Member Find all posts View Profile Close vscorsa]

Cool thanks, will do.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Also just back - great trip. For the Petrol heads,my V6 auto used 141 litres from Ooodndatta to Birdsville-19.79 l/100k. A manual 120 D4D on the same trip used 114.Neil

[Pete67 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pete67]

An000,

How did you find the traffic in the desert?

We headed up the oonadatta track last week and it was like a main hwy!!

With the Nissan business on this week no power at oonadatta so we couldn't fuel, no fuel at mt Dare,and no food or beer in Birdsville!,
we went through to Marla turned left and did the Painted desert, Googs track, and Gawler ranges instead.

Will try next year out of school hols time!!

[an000 Member Find all posts View Profile Close an000]

An000,

How did you find the traffic in the desert?

We headed up the oonadatta track last week and it was like a main hwy!!

With the Nissan business on this week no power at oonadatta so we couldn't fuel, no fuel at mt Dare,and no food or beer in Birdsville!,
we went through to Marla turned left and did the Painted desert, Googs track, and Gawler ranges instead.

Will try next year out of school hols time!!

Hi Pete,

Traffic wasn't too bad when we were there in the first week of the month, a few cars over taking us going the same direction, and a few convoys going the opposite direction (East to West)
We did see one car roaring across the desert at 9pm one night when we were around the camp fire. He must have been in a rush

Birdsville was busy on the day when we got there, but quite empty the next day. It must have been in waves!

Regards
Andy

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

We did see one car roaring across the desert at 9pm one night when we were around the camp fire. He must have been in a rush

I thought fires were banned on the Simpson due to the amount of wood being taken out of the area.


Steve

[Pete67 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pete67]

Hi Pete,

Traffic wasn't too bad when we were there in the first week of the month, a few cars over taking us going the same direction, and a few convoys going the opposite direction (East to West)
We did see one car roaring across the desert at 9pm one night when we were around the camp fire. He must have been in a rush

Birdsville was busy on the day when we got there, but quite empty the next day. It must have been in waves!

Regards
Andy

Cheers Andy,

Seems you went at the right time.

Glad to hear you had a great trip!

[Peterpilot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Peterpilot]

I thought fires were banned on the Simpson due to the amount of wood being taken out of the area.


Steve

I understood that if you wanted a camp fire, you needed to bring your own wood because it's illegal to gather firewood within the National Park.