Simpson, Madigan and other places
Just back from a 2 week jaunt up to the Simpson.
Left home and four days later arrived at Mt Dare. Left Mt Dare to cross the Simpson via Madigan Line.
Took us 5 days.
Night 1 we camped at Camp 1A. Night 2, just east of Camp 7. Night 3, between Camps 13 & 14. Night 4 after Camp 22 just at the foot of the last westerly dune of the QAA line.
Great trip, we did it solo, a real adventure. I went overkill with everything as we had to be self sufficient. Carried 260L of fuel, 80 litres of water and 2 spares. We used 125L on the Madigan crossing which was 730kms in length, we went to camps 17-22 with permission of property owners. Worked out to be around 17.3L/100kms which I reckon was excellent.
Not a single problem with anything which I put down to all the prep work I did before we left, we did run low on bread though.
The Madigan track is very rough, average speed was around 15-20kms/hour. It looks like most people do it west-east which is the easier way, as dunes on the east side are quite steep. They also have nasty twists in them at the tops & the bottoms so run ups can be pretty awkward.
Lots & lots & lots of dug out areas where you can see wheels had spun and dug out large holes. Lots of people blame this on people with trailers. My immediate impression was that alot of them were caused by people not turning off their traction control.
I know for a fact the only time I get stuck is when I forget to turn Bog Assist, sorry, Traction Control off, not a problem in low range, but some of the track you can do in high range & that is when I did get stuck.
We went through 12 days after the last people who signed the visitor books on the track. We saw no one from Mt Dare until the top of Big Red while enjoying the view post ascent, I turned and saw this guy walking up the dune from behind me.
The roads into Mt Dare after the Oodnadatta track are atrocious, I don't think I've driven on anything as bad ever. If you're familiar with the rough roads around Innamincka & Cordillo Downs, think of that but 3 times worse. Bumps, rocks, corrugations, more rocks, more corrugations.
The remoteness, isolation, quiet and rawness of the desert is beautiful and alarming. On the 4th day I said to my wife, I probably wouldn't do this track again as it is so very rough, but within 1 day of being home, I was already wondering when I could return.
These Patrols must be bloody tough as our truck got served up a real beating, but not a single thing seems to have suffered, except the rear tyres which have been a bit cut up.
Post Big Red we spent a day in Birdsville as we were stuffed. Next day we travelled to Bedourie for a look see as I hadn't been there before. After that we went on towards Windorah, but ended up turning south before that and started our trip towards Cordilla Downs, I'd not seen the wool shed, Innamincka and home.
Figures:
5047 kms 14 days.
Fuel at Mt Dare $2.50.8
VB Can at Birdsville $8.00
Punctures 0
Headaches 5
Crappy sunrises 0
