Big Red Board

Sunday 25 August 2013

Leaving Finke I headed out into the Simpson Desert stopping to refuel body and truck at Mt Dare.

The road out to Mt Dare was a bit rough towards the end but not too bad.
I had lunch and refueled.


I headed out towards Dalhousie Springs passing a stand of Red Mulga, these are only growing along stony watercourses in the Simpson Desert and around Innamincka.




I called in to a small camping area which had a good supply of water but no fires were allowed.


I continued on, the road was very rough with some huge bumps so I had to stop a few times to put things back in their place after not being able to slow down in time.

When I arrived I headed down to the water, A couple of young women were sitting on the stairs giggling madly but they scarpered when they heard me coming so I had the place to myself.


After a nice swim in the hot water of the springs I sat on the steps for a soak and hundreds of little fish started nibbling at my skin, It was quite nice until they swam up the leg of my board shorts!
I think I know why the women were giggling as they were also wearing board shorts.

When I headed towards Purnie Bore the road was pretty rough with the midday glare making it hard to see the bumps due to no shadows.
I passed some salty waterholes and brilliant wildflowers along the way.




I stopped for a look at Purnie Bore and wandered out to the water outflow where the pool there was ringed by thousands of dead dragonflies floating in the hot water.

I started getting into some larger bare sand dunes.


I drove on to the Rig Road and found myself a dead tree to camp beside so I didn't have far to go for wood.

My Blowtorch wouldn’t work as it had run out of gas so I had to resort to my survival skills to get the fire going.

I selected a large bare area of sand with a small bush of Spinifex in the centre then place some small twigs on it then some bigger sticks then finally some larger logs …then lit the Spinifex with my lighter!

As I went to grab my billy I found I had blown a cordial but luckily I keep the liquids and the campfire billies in a large square plastic box so the liquid remained trapped in the box and it was pretty easy to clean out.

Monday 26th August.

Any thoughts of a smooth ride along the Rig Road were soon dispelled when I turned East as the run up to each dune was littered with wombat holes and I had to drop the revs right down and crawl over in first gear swaying from side to side unmercifully.


One of the late Adam Plates outback signs.


Even the sections between dunes was a mixture of undulations and dips so second gear was pretty much the highest for the day.

I did find that if the dips were not too bad I could power up the dunes in second to avoid the side to side motion at the expense of my gear getting thrown around in the back.

I resigned myself to a slow day and put some music on, Jeff Wayne's “war of the worlds” seemed somehow appropriate as I battled the barren red terrain.


I passed a grave site of a bloke who loved the outback and is now resting there.


The clay capping on the dunes has severely eroded leaving huge ruts and gullies so most had a track running beside the road.

I hit the WAA line and conditions worsened getting even rougher as the dunes got steeper.

I crossed the vast white expanse of a salt lake then not long after turned North on to the Knolls track and stopped for a look at the Approdinna Attora Knolls, a couple of low hills made of Gypsum.








Interesting drawing at the Knolls.

I turned East on to the French Line where the afternoon sun was making the sand even softer so with the run ups chewed up by traffic it was often easier to take the steeper original line over the dune but you had to watch out for the drop offs of the soft windblown sand on the top.


I crossed several more salt lakes and eventually pulled up at Poeppel Corner for a few pics.


Heading North West I took the back track up to the start of the QAA line and made camp beside some wood.


When I was ready to hit the swag I spread the campfires embers out thinly so they would cool off quicker, works much better than covering them with sand which can leave them hot for days.

Tuesday 27th August.

When I woke and packed my gear I checked to make sure the embers were dead cold and headed off.


It was hard work driving into the sun as I headed due east and across the big salt lake beside the K1 line.


It was even harder to see when climbing the dunes, I just had to guess I was going in the right direction until I dropped off the other side and could see again.

Most of the dunes were chopped up even more than usual as they got larger.


I passed a couple of groups going the other way and one car and camper going my way but basically had the place to myself most of the way to the dry crossing of Eyre Creek.


I crossed the dry creek bed and drove on to Big Red where I dropped back to second and gave her a bootfull until I lost momentum then snatched first and just managed to make it over the top, I checked the pressures as I pumped the tyres up after a rest and a drink and found they had heated up to 22 PSI so she did better than I thought.


A quick drive into Birdsville saw me having a Camel Pie for lunch before checking in at the Caravan Park for a much needed shower and clothes washing.
The waters of the Diamantina looked pretty good as the sun got low on the horizon.


I headed over to the Pub for Dinner then once back at the Caravan Park the mossies attacked with a vengeance so I left the park and drove back out to Big Red to enjoy a quiet night camped on top of the dune.

When the moon rose I took a few pics before going back to sleep mossie free.

Wednesday 28th August.

I woke to an awesome sunrise and got some great pics from the top of Big Red looking over Big Red Lake.






Got a few pics of my Ute on Big Red.

After the sunrise pics I drove back to Birdsville then took the Birdsville Inside Track as it had been closed every other time I had been out that way.
Just on the outskirts of town is a new plaque.


The track was not sign posted at all but was in great condition, it is a lot lower than the surrounding flood plain so no wonder it is closed so often.


The Border Crossing is done without any fanfare, just a grid with no signs at all.


The Alton Downs H.S. sign has fallen down and points the wrong way, the homestead is on the track to the left but the inside track keeps to the right.


Along the way I passed some weathered sand cliffs beside a dried up waterhole.




A short time later a Dingo took off at full pelt along the road in front of me, as I passed him on the left to try and get a pic he leapt to the side and disappeared in to the same coloured grass as him, great camouflage !

The track crossed the seemingly endless gibber plains and eventually came to a T intersection with nary a sign on this end either.




I turned left up the Birdsville Outside Track and drove about 60 Km up to the Walkers Crossing Track and turned east.


This track was just a couple of faded wheel tracks last time I drove it so I was a bit surprised to find a graded road where I could cruise on 70 to 80 Kmh most of the way.
The signs were a bit faded though.


I spotted a couple of birds of prey in a dead tree on some mudflats so quietly snuck up on them to get a pic and got a lot closer than I thought before the flew away.


On the walk back to the car I spotted some mussel shells in the dirt indicating this area was a swamp at some time.

Unexpectedly out of a cloud up dust came a forklift roaring past with a front end loader bucket tied to the forks … the things you see out bush.

I spotted the remains of a large trailer similar to what Tom Kruse towed, maybe it was one of his?