Torrie 72's Simpson Trip

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

Gday. Well as they say 'all good things must come to an end' and our 4 week outback adventure came to a conclusion when we rolled back to a very wet and green home in the Adelaide hills on wednesday It was a fantastic trip. 4290 km up the western side of the Flinders, across the Simpson, around to Innaminca, Arkaroola, the eastern Flinders and home. We went the long way across the desert crossing 1360 dunes according to the others! Three vehicles: The olds in their 80 series, my mate and his family in their 60 series and my son and I in the 90 series.

We had a pretty smooth run with no major dramas. My mate got 4 flats with his BFG's, Dad 1 flat in his Coopers and I had none in the Silverstones This is despite what we all agreed was the worst road any of us had ever seen - the stretch from Dalhousie to Mt Dare, unbelievable! Came back from Mt Dare via Bloods Creek - much better.

I had a nasty thump develop in the left front on the last day in the desert and couldn't work out what it was until I had another long look at it in Birdsville. The washer on top of the strut assm. had punched over the nut holding it all together and the shock was able to slop up and down with every bump. I took the genuine toyota washers off the spare shocks I had and she was as good as new. Gotta love a cheap fix! Something to look out for though, the aftermarket washers are thinner than the originals and obviously weaker.

Whilst the others tented, my son and I swagged it and were warm as toast despite some -3 nights. The most I paid for ULP was $2.21 at Mt Dare and the 90 slurped 25L/100 across the Simpson. I was hoping for better but with the 33's, heaps of firewood, a zodiac and half of everyone else's gear on board it's about what I expected. Dad got 13.5 in the 80 series across the same stretch. Bastard. Next time he can carry his own gear.

We saw heaps of awesome things but some of my favourites were:



Catching dinner on the Cooper Creek at Cullymurra Waterhole



Watching the sunrise from on Lake Eyre at Halligan Bay.



The red sand and remoteness of the desert.

But my personal favourite moment was watching my 10 year old son Benji set an unofficial record as..




the youngest person to conquer Big Red! Twice. Up the third toughest climb. He loved it. Mind you he did get some practice the day before driving the entire Knolls track himself We got video of it too and if I can figure out how I'll post it.

If you haven't been out to Australia's red centre you just have to get there - it's beautiful.
Cheers, Ben.

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

YEAH GO BENJI!
$2.21 at Mt Dare... makes me feel better about $2.20 here

I've only done the Simpson once and that was back in 2000. Definitely an awesome trip.
Can't wait for more pics and video

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

What a fantastic trip to share with family. Brings back some memories for me too. Your dads 80 must be a diesel, my 80 series petrol drank 187.3 liters to cover 708.5 km between Oodnadatta and Birdsville which works out at 26.4L/100km. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Yep there is just something special about the central desert areas, fantastic country, and great for Benji to experience!

Surely after 4 weeks though you have more pics than that to share with us, I like pics

Cheers Andrew

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

I've got hundreds of pics. How do I insert them at a larger size than the thumbnail ones? I used the attach image button in my first post. It works obviously but they're pretty small - or is it better to just do the thumbnail size?

I'll post some more pics soon.
Cheers, Ben.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

If you click on the images you still get to see the full size. Personally I upload to postimage.org (see the sticky on uploading pics) which gives a slightly larger thumbnail, large enough that you can see if you want to look at the larger image.

I have a crap internet connection so threads where people post full size pics takes me ages to download, and often skip those threads, so personally I prefer the thumbnails, although sometimes the attached ones are a bit small.

Cheers Andrew

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

Here's some more pics from the trip.

We really enjoyed checking out the rockets and planes at Woomera and the museum there is surprisingly good.



Benji was keen to find his fortune in opal at Coober Pedy, this is the Old Timer's Mine.



Would you believe this is the Sunday school room of the underground church? I guess if the coffers are a bit light they can just dig another room and collect the opal!



This is Fogarty's Claypan. I just thought it was a cool spot.

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

Tyre changing - Pink Roadhouse Oodnadatta style. My mate Howie doesn't have the same sort of bad luck as the rest of us. His four flats all happened in front of tyre repair workshops or as he pulled into camp. Anyone else and it would have been in the middle of no-where.



This is the hot spring at Coward Spring, a great spot and a real oasis on the Oodnadatta track.



This is one of the bigger mound springs scattered all over the outback, Blanche Cup. If only our early explorers had known just how much water is actually out there. If you know where to look.



We had some pretty impressive sunrises in the desert.

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

The Eyre Creek crossing- dry as a bone much to my disappointment.



Unlike the lake on the Eastern side of Big Red which was teeming with aquatic birdlife.



All the rain this year has brought out an abundance of wildflowers including my favourite.



One of the best things was pulling up in the middle of nowhere when we spotted a nice place to camp and setting up for the night miles from anyone else. We found so many beaut spots to camp like this creek near Cordillo Downs. The silence was fantastic and the night skies so dark yet covered with stars.

[Torrie 72 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Torrie 72]

Everyone loved Dalhousie Springs. The water was a beautiful 36* and so clear. We had several dips at all hours of the day and night.



Some of the salt pans looked like they stretched out forever.



One of our later destinations was Arkaroola. I wasn't sure what to expect of the place but came away really impressed. It ended up being one of our favourite places. The property is privately owned which I think gives visitors more freedom to explore it's attractions without the restrictions sometimes put in place in National Parks. For example Benji and I went exploring down old gold and copper mines, went on the observatory tour and spent a whole day exploring the 4x4 tracks. The tracks can be quite challenging in places and take you to parts of the property others miss out on such as the Arkaroola Spring. This has to be one of the most picturesque spots we found with tall gums growing in the creekbed, almost sheer rock on both sides and the clearest deep waterhole I've ever seen.