Big Red Board

Kimberly 2018 Trip Report.



Friday 13th July:
After a hectic couple of weeks leading up to the start of my Holidays I couldn’t wait any longer and as soon as I finished work I headed straight west out past Ipswich before hitting the KFC at Toowoomba West … 40 minutes later I exited the drive through and headed to Bowenville … so much for “fast Food”
I made it to Bowenville Reserve by a bit after dark and was lucky enough to get a camp spot right beside Oakey Creek, it wasn’t long before I had a coffee in hand and settled down to relax.



The temp was getting low so I jumped in my swag and tried to read a bit but by 7PM I was sound asleep.
As dawn approached I checked the temp and found it sitting on - 4.8 so elected to stay in bed until the sun was well and truly up and the temp was up around 7.

Sat 14th July
I jumped out of the swag at around 8am and made a coffee before settling down to wait for Jeff and Brett to turn up.



By 10 AM we were under way and our trip had really started in Ernest.
We had a fairly easy run stopping in Dalby for parts, St George for fuel and lunch, then found a spot on a side road with plenty of wood just west of Cunnanulla to camp for the night … was awesome to sit around a roaring campfire and seeing the stars so clear and bright.
Jeff tried out his new sat phone and Brett was trying out his new James Baroud “EVO” Roof Top tent.

Sunday 15th July
I was up and had the fire going by sunup then checked the temp … a relatively balmy -1.5 so the fire had more attraction than the road and we finally got moving around 9AM.



We cruised along to Cunnamulla where the Caltex was having payment problems and half the people left without fuel, Jeff and Brett both topped up but I was too impatient and decided to keep going.



We stopped at Thargominda where a new food van had just started up over the weekend so we grabbed a burger for lunch then hit the road again.
Wood was getting scarce and we knew Innamincka would have none so we found a good supply at a creek crossing about 70 kms beforehand and loaded up the roofrack.
Cooper Creek was jam packed with campers and the store had a big line up so we headed down to the common and jagged a nice spot beside the water and put the firewood to good use.

Monday 16th July
Another leisurely start to the day as we were dreading the line up for fuel as well as getting out of our nice warm beds but when we rocked up to the shop we had three diesel bowsers clear so no waiting at all … awesome start to the day!

We couldn’t see any road closed signs or notices so we headed out the “Fifteen Mile Track” towards the “Walkers Crossing Track” but after 13 Kms we came upon a road closed sign so we turned around and headed back to Innamincka.
We checked at the Rangers headquarters, the info boards around town etc with no luck and finally asked the girls at the shop who advised us that both the Walkers Crossing Track and Warburton Track were both closed so we had no choice but to head up the Cordillo Downs Track to Birdsville and head into the Simpson via Big Red … hopefully all the Big Red Bash crowds are gone.

We had an uneventful trip to Cordillo Downs where we stopped for lunch and to check out the old Shearing Shed , it had deteriorated quite badly since the last time I went through although the road was just as rough as ever.











Our next stop was at the old Cadelga Ruins where we took a few pics then made a beeline to Birdsville.

Along the way we came across a Prado half way around a corner with the front right suspension ripped out of it and no one around.







Once we hit Queensland the road improved and we made good time to the Birdsville with plenty of time to refuel and have a much appreciated shower before Brett and I headed up to the Birdsville Pub for Dinner.

Ferrit and his Dad just happened to be in the pub at the same time so we had a bit of a catch up before heading back to the Cars to sleep.

Tuesday 17th July
The bakery had sold out of pies or anything with meat in it [supposedly sold 8000 pies in one day] so once we were packed we headed straight to Big Red to fit our flags and air down.
We drove up the top to get the obligatory pics then dropped down the steepest track and started our Simpson Desert adventure.

















Spotted a Dingo slinking by.

A silver Dual Cab patrol was in front of us doing a good pace so we followed him for a few hours before his jerry cans came loose so we then were back to a party of three.
Just before the Hay Valley my Ute started making a funny noise but then I hit another big dip bottomed out again and the noise disappeared .
I had a good look around the engine bay and vehicle but couldn’t see anything except several crushed and broken chip packets where my spare alternator had landed on them.
Driving along the K1 line I slammed through a dip, bottomed out and the weird noise was back very load this time so while it was still making the noise I checked it out and found the Braced Diff Housing I had fitted before the trip had slammed into the sump and a conrod was hitting the sump.





Not much we could do so kept driving to Poeppel Corner but the noise kept going this time so after a few pics at the corner I grabbed the hammer and gave the sump a few judicious hits on the side … hey presto, no noise 







I was very cautious of dips on the next section but still managed to bottom out and the noise is faintly back.

We ran out of time to make it to the Knolls so stopped on the French Line when we found a spot with some wood and soon had the fire going to warm our cans on.

Wednesday 18th July
I was up before dawn to watch the sky colour with a nice little fire going, a great way to start a day!
Somewhere about 9 ish we hit the road again and suffered through the constant non stop bouncing along the French line until we turned off onto the Knolls Track and paid a visit to the Knolls … I managed to get quite close to a black coloured eagle perched in a small tree on top of one of the mounds … didn’t get a good look at its tail but don’t think it was a Wedge Tail.















We drove on down to the Rig Road then had a look at the Lone Gum Tree before finding an early camp several Kms later, we had only done about 120 Kms but wanted to find a bare claypan for Brett to take some night pics of the Roof Topper but mainly somewhere with plenty of wood so we could do a Lamb Roast in the Camp Oven … Bloody delicious it was too!

Thursday 19th July
The fire welcomed in the morning as we watched the sun rise over the desert dune behind camp but the one thing that was noticeable was the complete lack of any noise at all … no birds, no lizards, nothing moving except us.
I had a wander through the dunes and could see what looked like old cat prints but they were faint and blurred .. maybe the cats have decimated the native wildlife in the area.
We hit the tracks again and made our way back along the Rig Road to the French Line where traffic increased enormously.
Stopping in at Purnie Bore there was only a small puddle of water and the flow was miniscule so the reeds were all dead and the puddle well used by Camels, Cattle and Dingoes going by the tracks on the muddy edge.
We continued on to Dalhousie Springs where I panelbeated the sump back out again then hit the springs for a nice warm soak … awesome!
We headed back to the cars and set up camp, pumped the tyres back up a bit and cooked dinner before going to bed to get away from the voracious Mossies.

Friday 20th July
Just before sunup I circumnavigated the springs trying to find a good spot for photos but without any luck so headed back to the car after getting what shots I could.

















After a coffee I walked over to Rainbow Serpent Spring for a look then met the boys in the water for a nice warm soak.