Day 13
Thursday 17th July
Distance travelled 109kmWe hung around camp until lunchtime as Martyn was waiting to see if the rear door lock he had on order was in…it was 1pm before we could ring Sutton Motors to find out, as their delivery truck came in at 12.30pm. So…we packed up, showered and the blokes went out for fuel and filled up with water. We had lunch then headed out to Sutton Motors, and with everyone on the job, fitted the door lock in their carpark, before setting out for Rainbow Valley.
The run out to Rainbow Valley was good…the Stuart Hwy all bitumen but the road out to the valley corrugated. We stopped to collect a heap of firewood to take in with us. We set up camp, then went for a walk up onto the escarpment. What a view!! Right out across the plain & across the hills.
We came down, grabbed a beer and went out to the sunset area to watch the sun set on the hills. It was great.
Rainbow Valley was really a spectacular spot. One of the nicest and most picturesque places we’ve been to.
Friday 18th July
Distance travelled 109kmAfter breakfast and packing up we all set out across the claypan for a walk. We walked across a couple of sand dunes and came back across another claypan back into camp, had a coffee, and set out for Kulgera. It was nice to cruise down the bitumen and a steady 80km in no hurry. We stopped at a rest area for lunch and while we were there a group of 5 cyclists came in. We had passed them on the Stuart Highway yesterday, and again today. They were Germans and all of them were 60+ and doing 100k per day…pretty admirable I reckon.
We arrived in Kulgera at about 2.15pm and fuelled up, before settling in at the pub to wait for the last of our traveling companions, Shorty & Graham. They arrived at about 4.15pm, minus Shorty’spassenger, who had got sick en route and on medical advise had caught the bus home from Coobar Pedy. After a beer, some chat, Shorty and Graham fuelled up and we set off down the Finke road, to camp about 20km out of Kulgera in a creekbed.
Saturday 19th July
Distance travelled 250kmThe day started with Graham announcing that he and Linda were not going to do the Madigan Line with us, but that they would travel with us as far as Finke. We packed up and set out along the road to Finke. The road was good and we made good time. We stopped to help a couple who had got a flat tyre and then found their compressor had died. They had been waiting since 3pm the day before for someone with a compressor to come along and help. We pumped up their tyres and chatted and then set out on our way. We had a tight time schedule as we needed to be in Finke before noon to get fuel (the shop stops giving out fuel at noon). We stopped in at the Lambert Centre and hoisted the Land Rover flag.
While we were there the wind kicked up and we could see a dust storm coming in. We drove on in to Finke and by the time we got there it was blowing a gale, and the dust was really kicking up. On the way in there were patches where we could not even see the road.
After we left Finke the dust was really bad…it was so bad we decided not to even have any lunch as there was just nowhere we could get out of the wind. I had started driving and was quite enjoying the excitement of it all. I just decided to continue to drive all day. We had stopped along the way for some reason, and discovered that one of the sidesteps on Vince’s LR had come astray, so the tools came out to remove it and it was stowed on the roofrack.
We drove on towards Andado. Along the way the visibility was down to almost zero. There were patches where the road just disappeared and there was no choice but to stand on the anchors and come to a stop until it cleared enough to see where the road was. I was out in front and finding it hard enough but those behind also had the road dust we were sending up to contend with. We met another couple travelling in the opposite direction, luckily we had been chatting on UHF and they had heard us, so called us to find out where we were. By the time we had established our positions we had them in view just 100m ahead. Luckily we had not come upon each other a few minutes before as at that point we would never have seen them. I had barely missed going off the road on one corner and Shorty, who was following, had suddenly found himself off the road and in the table drain.
When we got to Andado, we went into the homestead and dropped in a bottle of red wine by way of thanks for letting us cross their property. Further on at Old Andado, the couple (volunteer caretakers, John and Liz) looking after the homestead took us in and made us tea. It was really welcome after having had no lunch. They were really nice people. John was a Land Rover fan and his first words after we pulled up were that at least we had good taste in 4WD’s. Molly Clarke’s grand daughter Melissa, and her hubby Paul were there also, firing up the old wood stove in the kitchen to cook a pork roast for dinner. I think we all secretly wished we were staying!! We had a look around the historic homestead…there was dust swirling in everywhere and in preparation all the beds had been covered in tarps, but it didn’t stop the dust settling in a thick layer on everything else.
We set out again towards Madigan’s Camp 1…the wind still howling. John had advised us that the area around Camp 1 would be our best hope of finding a sheltered position for the night. We stopped in at the Mac Clarke Reserve (Acacia Peuce Reserve) to look at the acacia trees and pushed on…finding the track to Camp 1 was a bit of a challenge, we were all tired, thoroughly sick of the difficult conditions, and probably not thinking entirely clearly…it was also after 6pm so we decided to backtrack to East Bore and the nearby Casurina Swamp for the night. We found a good spot near the bore, so stopped there rather than go the extra distance out to the swamp.
We had expected a cold dinner and crap night but when we got out of the LR’s the wind had dropped. We set up camp, had a cuppa and Vince went down to the bore for water and we all had a shower, which was very welcome after having been coated in dust all day ( literally…due to the defender’s great dust seal capabilities, and the fact that the wind was driving in on the left hand side, the passenger had a good thick layer of red dust all down the left hand side, while I, in the drivers seat, had a lesser layer all down my right hand side). The sun had set without us even knowing it, and the moon was well up in the sky before we even saw it. The moon (which was full) had an orange coloured halo of dust around it.
Everyone kept asking me what the funny smell was. I couldn’t smell it…all I could smell was the dust and the small strongly perfumed white flowers growing all over the area. When the wind stopped later though, I could smell what they meant. We had unknowingly camped just 100m from about 15 dead cows. Luckily just before bed time the wind changed direction, so the smell was no longer a problem, but it was a brisk little wind and I spent the night getting covered in sand in the swag!!
Sunday 20th July
Distance travelled 55kmWe set out back to the break in the fence we had come through to get to the bore…this time we stayed on this side of the fence, and were able to find the track across to Camp 1. We had a waypoint for camp 1 but could not find it. We stopped at the approximate point and while the blokes aired down the tyres, I took the binoculars and hand held UHF and walked back over a couple of dunes. Through the binoculars I could see something that looked like a star picket so went looking for it … I found it as I was setting out back to the LR. It was a tent pole with a tin can on top. In the can was a piece of paper with a few names written on it of people that had found the point. I had no pen so wasn’t able to add our names. I walked back to the LR’s and no-one seemed to want to go back to the post, so we kept on going. I am certain that it was Camp 1. We continued along to Camp 1A, which was alongside a station track. Confusingly, Camp 1A is marked with the Camp 1 marker. We took a group pic as this was the very beginning of the Madigan Line for us.
That is me on the far left
We carried on past Camp2 to the Twins. Stopping to look at an old tractor along the way….
We climbed the Twins and signed the book which was in a biscuit tin in the cairn. The cairn was placed in 1962 to commemorate the Madigan Expidition and has 3 plaques on it, showing the route he took, and who the members of the expedition were.
We camped early so we were able to have a relax, build up a large fire for coals and bake bread (Vince and Amanda made bread) and I made an apricot beef casserole for all of us for dinner. We had it with Amanda’s bread and it was very nice. Jan made some nice scones for supper and we stayed up later than usual.
Monday 21st July
Distance travelled 45kmBecause we had no permission to traverse the aboriginal land on which camps 3, 4 & 5 are located, we set out for Camp 6 through what is known as the pivot ( a narrow pint where 2 areas of aboriginal land meet). The first part of the track was in the swales, across claypans with some rapid track changes and switchbacks, but then we got onto the dunes and it was low range travel all the way. I drove until lunch and crossed about 72 dunes. The going was pretty slow…average speed 6-7km/hr. We staked the rear passenger tyre (the one we had repaired in Alice Springs), so had to change that on the track.
We crossed a couple of well made tracks today which were not on any of the maps and most likely oil/gas exploration/drilling tracks ( there are crews drilling in the area). When we got to the Colson Track we stopped and one of our tyres was down, so we tried to find the leak, but couldn’t, so pumped it up and carried on knowing we would be stopping to camp before long. It was windy again so we found a spot behind some shrubs to camp. First job was repairing the flat tyres we got today…the second one was a quick plug job but the staked tyre was patched and a tube put in. It was put back on the Land Rover and it is a case of wait and see if the repairs will hold out.
Tuesday 22nd July
Distance travelled 57kmToday as we drove, it was lumpy and bumpy and we rocked and rolled. We came across another of the rig roads where we stopped for morning smoko.
Once we got to camp 6 the track improved, so we wonder if most people do camps 3,4 & 5 in the aboriginal area anyway…it certainly seems so.
The wind has been cold and blowing all day and there are not very many protected places to camp so we are stopped in a swale with a few small shrubs and the wind continues to blow fairly coldly. We got another flat today…the staked rear tyre we repaired yesterday went flat again. The blokes pulled the tyre off the rim and couldn’t get the spare tyre to seal again on the rim, so decided to leave it and see what happens…hopefully we won’t get another flat tyre.
Wednesday 23rd July
Distance travelled 63kmIt was quite cold this morning and the wind was biting. We left camp at 9am and set out to Madigan’s Camp 8. When we got to Camp 8 we then had to find the track out to Geosurvey’s Hill. We found a well defined track heading off into the gidgee scrub, so followed it. It was running along the base of the dunes but on occasion went up onto the dunes and we lost sight of it. Amanda and I got out and walked along in front to see if we could find the track and at one stage we walked quite a way…it was very nice. We spotted a couple of camels on a dune and Vince took off across country to see if he could shoot one. The rest of us stopped for lunch while he was off…he took a few shots but missed and it seems his sights on the rifle are out, so he left it and stopped for lunch while he waited for us to catch up. And so we set out again. We were out in front and after a while we lost the track and were forging our own track. It got very tiring and frustrating, especially as the closer we got to Geosurveys Hill, the rougher the ground got. We were crashing and banging over Spinifex moguls and trying to avoid mulga stakes. Not far from Geosurvey’s Hill we saw a mob of 11 camels. They ran ahead of us for quite a few kilometres.
Very close to the hill Vince staked a tyre on the Red terror, so we had to stop. The tyre was changed and the staked one repaired as soon as we made camp. Once we got to the hill, we climbed up and signed our names in the visitor book.
According to the book there has only been 2 people here this year (one a bloke who walked across the desert alone and unaided…the couple at Old Andado told us about him as he had called in there also). Today the traction control and anti-locking brake system lights lit up on the dash and have not gone out…
Thursday 24th July
Distance travelled 53kmIt was cold this morning and there was frost on the swags and vehicle bonnets. We set out from camp and went up back up Geosurveys Hill and took some more photos before setting off towards camp 9. Vince got stuck on the 2nd dune and Marytn snatched him backwards.
As we expected the track disappeared after the first couple of dunes so we just bashed our way across the dunes and swales. We did find the track on and off during the day which made things easier but kept losing it as it was quite faint.
The going was much, much rougher today and we travelled much slower and used much more fuel. We calculate we used 40litres of fuel to do the 100km round trip to the hill. It’s a once in a lifetime thing…we wouldn’t be thinking of doing it again in a hurry. One of the last dunes we crossed was very high and steep on the eastern side, but the swale below was reasonably flat and so we decided to follow the swale knowing that eventually we would cross the Madigan Line. Once we did, and got to camp 9 we had a quiet little celebration at having achieved a run that not many people do. The relative smoothness of the Madigan Line track was very welcome after all the crashing and bashing and crunch and grind of the cross country stuff. Back on the Madigan Line and the swales were very sparsely vegetated. It was getting late, so rather than pushing on in the hope of finding some trees for shelter, we pulled up in a pleasant inter-dune area.
Friday 25th July
Distance travelled 26km
What a fabulous start to the day. We were all going about our business, eating brekkie, packing up etc etc when Amanda alerted us to the fact that 4 camels were heading our way. The camels were nonchalantly wandering across the top of the dune we were camped against. They were unaware of us for some time, but then the lead camel stopped and sniffed the air, and started to make noises as if warning the others. They all stood stock still watching us for some time…while we all stood stock still watching them. They didn’t come any closer then but wandered down the back of the dune and out of sight.
Once packed up we set out towards Madigan’s Camp 10 with Martyn in the lead. We stopped at Camp 10 for smoko and then I took the lead out to Camp 11. There is something about being in the lead. The track ahead is smooth and only animal tracks can be seen, no tyre tracks. It’s as if you are forging the road ahead, and of course you get to see first hand the camel, dingo, wallaby and various small animal, bird & lizard tracks, or even the birds and animals themselves before anyone else. Along the way there was one dune that stopped me dead and I then had a first for me…reversing down the dune to take a second go. Over we went with no trouble the second time round. As we had hoped we arrived at Madigan’s claypan at lunchtime. We had decided that if it was a nice spot we would make an early camp and do some of the little jobs that needed doing and also have the “Black Tie” dinner. Well….the claypan was perfect. There were gidgee trees, perfect for cooking the roast and bread. There was shade. It was quiet and it was clean (although in this spot we did see a few pieces of paper and drink cans left by other travellers…the only place we were to see rubbish on the whole of the Madigan Line)…and there were birds flitting about and twittering. Very picturesque indeed!!
So we had lunch in the sun first, then set up camp. After lunch various things happened…we cooked bread, Vince changed a tyre and repaired Jan’s boot which had lost its sole. Out came the 12v drill and poprivet gun and mounted the plaque Vince had had made onto a backing plate ready to be erected on a star picket when we got to Camp 16. We used a little of our precious water and had a wash, the first since our shower at East Bore, having made do with baby wipes since then, and changed our socks, and shirts (pure luxury). There was reading, knitting and photo taking going on, poring over maps…I tell you, it was all happening!!
We had been carrying black jackets from Brisbane for Jan, Vince and Shorty because they are much harder to get from the op shops in Sydney, so they came out and were passed on. We had a piece of pork, a lump of marinated beef and a heap of veg cooking slowly in the coals. We dragged out the lace tablecloths, champagne flutes and candles and set the table ready. The bubbly was cracked open and the red wine flowing. We cut up the roasts and had it resting by the fire while we changed into the good clobber and then we dished it up and enjoyed a very, very nice meal, in great company under the stars in the middle of the desert. What could be better?
During the night, a boobook owl kept attacking the dune flags…from that point on they were only ever referred to as "owl attractors".
This day would have to have been one of the highlights of the trip for us all.
Saturday 26th July
Distance travelled 60kmThe sun was coming up earlier now…it was up by 7am this morning. We were a bit slower getting moving as we had all the washing up from the roast last night. Even so, we were away by 9.30am which was pretty good. We drove on out to Camp 12, and stopped for the usual photo. Camp 12 was in a claypan, and the starpicket with the marker on it was somewhat bent as if someone had run into it.
We then carried on, and along the way saw a camel on the dune tops. As we got closer we saw a baby camel stand up and it was a mother and calf…the calf was quite small. It was great to see them. We let Vince know and he went ahead while we waited but they had disappeared by the time he got over the dune. I was quietly pleased as I would not really have liked him to shoot the baby even though it would be the best camel meat. Just before lunch we saw another camel on a dune and again, Vince went ahead. He got out and stalked it and got a shoot in…Jan said he had downed the camel (over the UHF). Martyn drove the Red Terror out across the dune so Vince could cut some meat off and come back. We decided to have lunch there, so by the time all was done we had been stopped for about 1.5hrs. I drove after lunch again and led out, the track was very indistinct at times and over one dune I lost the track. But all in all it was not a bad drive really although the track got much worse after Camp 12.
The terrain was much rougher and we were hoping to stop sooner but there was a campsite listed on the maps…so we set out for that and stopped at about 5pm. We stopped on a large flat area that looks like it could be a roadworks gravel dump!! Although the dune closest to us was lovely.
Vince cooked lamb pasta sauce for dinner which was very nice. We went for a walk along the dune top before it got dark…there are lots of cat prints on the dune top.
Sunday 27th July
Distance travelled 73km
We packed up and set out before 9am. Shorty was keen to get away from the area as it was at Camp 14 that his clutch/gearbox went in 2006. We covered the 1km or so the camp 14 and in a show of defiance the blokes did a bare bottomed pose at the camp marker. We were able to pick out the site of our camp after the breakdown as we passed just after camp 14. The track down to Camp 15 was not too bad and at that point we were in familiar territory on the Hay River track. We travelled along to Camp 16…it is absolutely spectacular scenery along the Hay River Track and we were able to go back to high range for that section. At camp 16 we stopped for smoko and put our names in the book. We then put the plaque on a star-picket and set it in the ground.
Once we left camp 16, the track was pristine again with no sign of anyone having been along it. The track was bumpy but not too bad and the dunes were not too difficult. We stopped on the NT/Qld border. It was after Camp 17, in the Queensland Simpson Desert National Park, that the dunes got a lot higher and we had a couple that required a bit more effort. Vince got hung up on a couple, both we and Shorty and Martyn had to have a couple of goes at a couple of dunes, but there was nothing too difficult.
At camp that evening, which was at Mudloo Well, Vince got the vacu-packer out and we divided the camel meat into 6 packages and sealed it up. One pack each to take home and 2 packs to make camel curry.
Monday 28th July
Distance travelled 71kmBefore we set out this morning we went looking for Mudloo Well. We did not find it and suspect that it might be a silted up aboriginal well. Even Cecil Madigan didn’t find it in 1939. We did though, find an area that we thought could have been where it may have been located. Mudloo Flat is a very pretty gidgee swale.
We set out and stopped at Camp 18 for a photo and then pulled up a short time later in the gidgee for morning tea. All the swales after camp 18 had gidgee stands and some of them were really long swales and very pretty with all the little yellow and white flowers.
We came down into one swale and there was a large bull camel in the track. He took off with Shorty following and he was travelling faster than Shorty and the rest of us…he cut along the next dune and we then lost him. Along this section of track we saw a dragon asleep beside th track. We got out to take his photo and he was fast asleep. It was not until I shook him by the tail that he woke up.
As we were travelling along a voice came over the UHF…it was a bunch of NP Rangers out doing wildlife studies. The Head Ranger at Birdsville, Don, stopped to talk to us while he waited for the others to catch up. We had got permission from the National Parks to enter this normally closed area before we left home, so there was no problem with us being there. The other rangers arrived and we said g’day and one of the rangers took photos of our vehicles (we can only assume the photos were so they had our rego numbers, and could check out who we were if needed). We were only one dune away from Camp 19 and the park border, so we carried on and stopped there for lunch. Once out of the park we were then on Adria Downs, and traveling in and out of the old vermin proof fencing
The track was smoother and faster, and we soon made it to Kuddaree Waterhole. We located camp 20, keeping in mind David Brooks (the owner of Adria Downs Station) request to avoid the northern side of the waterhole which has aboriginal significance. We turned south and found a spot to camp on the southern side of the waterhole. We set up camp, had showers (very welcome after 10 days without…how nice it was to wash hair!!), threw the yabby traps in the water and Vince put out some fishing lines. We I went for a walk up on the sand dune…the view over the waterhole was great.
Tuesday 29th July
Distance travelled 56kmThe day started with a beautiful sunrise over Kudderie waterhole. It was brisk when we got up but once the sun came up it was great
We had a cooked breakfast this morning so were not away as early as usual…not a problem, we didn’t have a big day planned. One of the yabby traps had disappeared… Vince spotted the rope sitting on the water and was able to cast his fishing line out and snag the rope and pull it back in. We drove down to Camp 20, had a look and took off a bit further. On the way back through the claypan we saw a flock of about 20 brolgas flying ahead of us. We also ran into a couple of small mobs of very fat cattle. We stopped for smoko at a sand dune so that Vince could collect some red sand for his neighbour (who keeps native lizards). We then set out for Annandale ruins. Not much left of the old homestead…basically just the chimney stack and a few old bits of iron. There is an old steam engine that is fairly complete, but a lot of it has been buried by sand drifts, and some fabulous old stockyards carpeted with yellow daisies
We had lunch down on the waterhole and then set out for our nights camp at Dickerie Waterhole. We found the Dickerie Bore first. It is a tank with solar powered pump, and there were heaps of finches around it.
It had some pretty lush growth around it…bullrushes mostly, and a lot of burr bushes. We found the waterhole but it was dry and pretty uninviting looking so we decided to go back to the waterhole at the Annandale Ruins to camp. It’s a nice spot. We decided as we were stopped early to do camel curry for tea, so the first thing we did was to get the fire going. Vince cut the camel and onions ready for when the coals were ready to go. Once we got the curry on, we went for a walk. We returned to camp and went and sat on the waters edge and had a beer. The sun went down in an orange blaze and we sat by the fire until dinner was ready. Amanda had made herb and garlic pull-apart bread to go with the curry which was all absolutely scrumptious.
Wednesday 30th JulyWe continued down the track along Eyre Creek to Madigan’s Camp 22. As we were on a private station track we backtracked to the main track to make our way out to the QAA line. We stopped for smoko near a dune where Shorty put on his reflective yellow jacket and demonstrated the correct way to sleep on the road!! (If you have seen Imparja TV, you may have seen an educational section narrated by a large aboriginal man named “Disco Dave”. He gives such advice as “Never sleep on the road” and “at night wear yellow or white”. We finally saw it on the TV at Noccundra Pub, but it had been a source of amusement all throughout our trip).
Once we hit the QAA line it was back into low range for the dunes. One of the first dunes we tackled was very soft and after failing to get over Vince took the chicken track and the rest followed but I had to give it a try and made it over…but only just!! Further on we came up against a group of Land Rovers with a film crew. They turned out to be blokes from Land Rover, doing a 60th Anniversary trip from Birdsville to Broome, out on the QAA line doing some filming...they took film of me and Amanda both driving our Defenders over a dune. This was basically the end of the sand dunes for us and this was Amanda’s very first sand dune. Both she and Jan decided at the end of the trip they had better get a dune under their belts. I had been driving 50/50 and now have about 400 dune crossing to my name. I guess that makes me somewhat of an experienced desert driver
Anyway...here are the links to the 60th Anniversary video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZUP0yszguE&feature=relatedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKu_aJHJXF8We spent the evening in Birdsville pub with the Land Rover blokes later, and we were explaining a problem we had in our Defender (the TC and ABS lights came on out on the drive across to Geosurveys Hill, and stayed on). The blokes said bring it in tomorrow and we'll take a look. So the next day we rocked up at the pub and while the landie techs played with the Defender, the 9 of us all got to take their RR Vogue out for a drive. What fun that was... anyway, the techs spend about 1 1/2hrs with our Defender and the computer and finally got the lights out and the TC and ABS fully functional again. Are we the only people to have a fault diagnosed and righted by the Land Rover techs at Birdsville?
Great thing was, all day there were 10-13 Land Rovers parked outside the Birdsville pub. The blokes were expecting the Managing Director of LRA on a flight at lunch time and asked us if we would leave our vehicles parked outside the pub to put on a good show for him when he arrived So, we left them there while we went to the working museum and the Inland Mission Museum at the old hospital, and had a pie at the bakery etc etc.
It was best fun to hear incoming traffic on UHF complaining that they couldn't take photos of their vehicles outside the pub "because its wall to wall land rovers"
As we were leaving the pub, we decided to place one of our small stickers on one of the vehicles, so chose one of the G4 D3's.....
Wonder how long it took for them to find it? (We were told later by one of the Land Rovers blokes that it was there for the entire trip)
We did hear that all the LR Promo vehicles, including the Freelander, had made the drive over Big Red. When we ourselves reached Big Red, we decided we had punished our vehicles enough in the desert already so took the "chicken Track" across. This meant no need to let MORE air out of tyres, and the chicken track in itself was no walk in the park, but of course, no barrier to our mighty Defenders
Another very unusual sight for us was water over the road at Birdsville. It was flowing reasonably fast too, and a result of the 70mm dumping Birdsville received about 6 weeks ago. It certainly took us by surprise, but the road underneath was firm and presented no problems.
While we were driving into Birdsville we were passed by a group of Peugots doing a Redex Bash 50th Anniversary run . There were about 30 cars in the group and I believe they were headed out to Big Red to have a play. Didn't hear if they made it over though, or even if they attempted it but a few were sure to have given it a bash I reckon.
Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:41 am
