An Epic Five Days Exploring the Spectacular Simpson Desert
In this adventure diary story we share our five days exploring the spectacular Simpson Desert in May 2021. We did a loop back to Birdsville as we stored our camper trailer (DOT373) at the Birdsville Caravan Park and because of track closures. Our five days exploring the Simpson Desert took us from Big Red, West along the QAA Line, then the French Line briefly to get us to The Knolls Track. This connected us to the WAA Line continuing West until we found and drove the Erabena Track. We found ourselves back on the French Line and then headed East back to Birdsville retracing our steps. This trip we missed the popular Dalhousie Springs and Mount Dare resupply, but no worries we will be back again.
An Epic Five Day Adventure
Big Red The Start of the Adventure
On Wednesday morning we prepared to head into the Simpson Desert. DOT373, our camper trailer, was stored at the Birdsville Caravan Park where we hoped our 180W Enerdrive solar panel would keep our fridge and freezer going. The wind was bitterly cold as we set off. Our first stop was at the base of Big Red – the daunting powder red dune that is considered the start or end of any Simpson Desert adventure. Peter let the tyres down to 15PSI in expectation of the track conditions ahead, thick sand, corrugations, and blowouts.
Getting up Big Red from the eastern side was a relatively simple exercise, the tracks up the western side are the more challenging. At the top Peter explored but despite the view I didn’t last too long due to the cold fresh breeze. When it came time to descend Peter confidently aimed Big Betty at the apparently 90 degree drop off at the dune edge prompting me to squeal in protest. Fortunately, he ignored me as the drop was not quite as vertical as it seemed from the top and we made it safely onto the QAA Line heading west and the start of five-days exploring the Simpson Desert.
QAA Line
The dunes along the QAA Line (on the Queensland side of the Simpson Desert) are the steepest. As you travel further west, the dunes get smaller and smaller until they eventually disappear. Throughout the trip the tracks up the dunes were only wide enough for one vehicle so use of UHF and sand flag were a necessity to avoid collisions on the dune crests. Some travellers tended to use the area channel as a bit of a chat line, allowing for some interesting eavesdropping! One group of older fellows in particular were greatly looking forward to their spicy chicken dinner!
Morning Routine
Our days in the desert followed a pattern of waking pretty early (before sunup and the flies), having a freshly ground coffee and eating a quick breakfast prior to the morning bush poop, packing up and heading out.
The bush poop required a longish walk depending on how many shrubs were around and a shovel to dig the hole (a minimum of 20cm depth – partly to reduce the risk of dingos digging up a tasty treat later!). Matches were also required to burn the paper prior to filling the hole back in again (this is recommended to any traveller to help the toilet paper breakdown quickly). I had a definite paranoia about burning the bush down which I attributed to an incident when I was a teenager. My family were camping in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. My mother had gone off to do her business and I was lounging in the front seat of our dilapidated Ute listening to my mix tapes (so cool). Glancing in the rear-view mirror I saw flames flickering through the waist high grass and heard a tiny cry of ‘fire!’. Leaping up I grabbed the washing up water and raced into the bush to fling it on the flames, closely followed by my father with our clean water. Fortunately, we managed to put the fire out and avert disaster however I was always sure to be extra careful with any toilet paper burning after that!
Slow Going
Anyhow after this we packed into Big Betty and would drive for around 7 to 8 hours a day. This was not simply driving though. It was ploughing up and down sand dunes, over rocky outcrops and shuddering over corrugations. The average distanced covered per day was 100 to 120km. In this way we covered a loop of over 450 km through the desert. We would stop occasionally to chat to those travelling in the opposite direction and for a short lunch break. Along the way there was plenty to look and stop for otherwise including enormous salt/clay pans, Poeppel Corner (where Queensland, the NT – allowing for some ‘see you in the NT’ jokes – and SA meet), lots of bird and plant life. Although we saw plenty of evidence of dingoes and camels in the form of droppings and tracks, we did not see the animals themselves. Probably scared away by the purr of Big Betty’s V8.
Just Us & a Million Flies
What we did see a lot of though were flies. Words cannot adequately describe the fly situation. When Peter had done a desert trip in July the previous year there were hardly any however in May we were inundated. They had been annoying at some of our outback stops but in the desert they were unbelievable. The little buggers were up and about by 8am or so – hence our early wake ups – and persisted until 6.30pm in the evening. Throughout the day they would descend in a swarm as soon as you left the vehicle. Every single one of them wanted to get to know your ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth intimately. I went through stages of fighting them off furiously then numb acceptance. The fly net was my best friend – Peter braved them without one for the most part.
Sensational Sunrises & Sunsets
Making up for the bloody flies though, we’re the sensational sunrises and sunsets. For the most part we hiked up dunes to view them. In the barren, dusty environment the sky lit up in breathtaking reds, pinks, and oranges. For a few moments you could even forget about the flies!
Good Cooking & Quick Setup
After sunset we would settle down by the campfire for a beer or glass of wine. Dinners varied – Peter did a slow cooked beef curry in the camp oven and a couple of barbecues over charcoal on our folding fire pit (or braais as we might say!). I contributed a pasta dish.
The nights also provided a chance to admire the stars far from any city lights. The Milky Way glowed overhead, and a few shooting stars were spotted. I was even treated to a brief meteor shower early one morning. Before bed there would be a chilly baby wipe bath (DOT373 and her shower being left far behind back in Birdsville). One night I carefully performed my naked ablutions only to realise afterward that the GoPro had been on the entire time as Peter was doing a time lapse of the fire and stars! As we had only Big Betty and ourselves, we were using our trusty Oz Tent – a perfect choice for desert and touring adventures as it can be set up in less than a minute. Combined with our self-inflating Black Wolf mattresses we and the serenity we were guaranteed some good night’s sleep.
Back to Birdsville
All up we spent 4 nights in the desert. Peter would have been keen to spend a 5th (or even the rest of his life) but I was keen on a hot shower. On the way out we had to conquer Big Red – a much more exciting prospect from the Western side. We initially went up one of the more sedate tracks and then made an ascent of the more hair-raising tracks – luckily, we made it in a shower of sand! We then did it once more to experience the thrill one last time.
Up the Western Side of Big Red
The desert done, we headed back into Birdsville and were reunited with DOT373 and a nice cold fridge after all. The 180W solar panel had done its job. We then had an afternoon of showers, laundry, a repack of DOT373, and then a big Sunday roast dinner at the Birdsville Hotel. The barman was even nice enough to provide a new frosty glass for my wine refill – after we told him we were accustomed to warm plastic cups he insisted that frosty glasses were what one came to the pub for after the desert. Sipping on my icy beverage as we watched another stunning sunset over the Birdsville airstrip I couldn’t agree more!
The thoughts of Shayne
Our Route
In this five-day adventure exploring the Simpson Desert we did a slightly different route to the usual Simpson Desert crossing. Instead, we chose to do a loop back to Birdsville where we had stored our camper trailer DOT373. Our trip started on the usual route taking the QAA Line to Poeppel Corner. We then took the popular French Line until we found the intersection to The Knolls Track. Here we took The Knolls Track to take us to the less popular WAA Line. From the WAA Line we continued West until we came to the next intersection being the Erabena Track. We chose to take the Erabena Track heading North back to the French Line. Once we reached the French Line we headed back East towards Birdsville along the French and QAA Lines. Although we drove the French and QAA Lines twice, they both feel different when travelling in different directions due to the changes in the dunes and tracks from the prevailing winds. This was a great route to loop back to Birdsville. If we had more time, we would have done this slightly differently going via Dalhousie Springs and Mount Dare. We travelled 541kms and used 104 litres of fuel in this five-day exploring the Simpson Desert adventure.
We hope you have enjoyed our five-day exploring the Simpson Desert trip diary from May 2021. To read more stories about the Simpson Desert and Outback Australia you can read them here. To keep up to date on our future stories join the 4WD Adventurer Community. For more regular updates follow us on Instagram.
