Road to the Simpson 20-06-13

It rained almost all night last night.  Michael and I woke at 5:40 and decided to stay up.  All in all we had a good night's sleep.  Since one cannot collect wood or light fires in Witjira national park, we collected a couple of nights needs.  The wood is dense and dry, it should burn well.

We had to pack up a wet tent, always unpleasant, we put the fly into a large garbage bag and will dry it out later if possible.

We stop to put our sand flags on our bullbars

We arrive at Mount Dare (9:40 ish) for a coffee, fuel (this is the last place before Birdsville some 560kms away) and loo stop.  The hotel here is great. The pastoral property of Mt Dare station was purchased by the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife in 1984. It covered 7770 square km (aren't these properties huge, it's mind boggling), it was acquired to protect and rehabilitate Dalhousie Springs.
Mt Dare Hotel lease is 400 square km, now owned and operated as a tourist destination.
We ask about the track condition in the Simpson and are told that all of the tracks are very rough and will not get better.  It seems that trailers have been towed across and chopped up the approaches to the sand dunes.  I really wonder about some people, they think themselves a law unto themselves.  It is clearly stated in the desert pass that trailers should not be taken through the Simpson, but these selfish people think only of themselves.  Apparently there is a move to stop them from entering the desert, a good move.  The dunes will become unassailable if the deterioration continues.

The road is now very rough, rocky, corrugated, sandy, bull dust and constantly changing., we don't like the rocks, we worry about the tyres after our experience last year.


We take another side trip to the ruins of  historic Dalhousie.  On the way we went up to a lookout and Tony draws my attention to our bullbar.  One of the "driving lights" is hanging by it's cables, the mounting has sheared right off.  We wonder if it was weakened in the accident Michael had before we left since we have not really travelled far over rough roads.  We have to cut the cables to remove the light.  SIGH.

On the road to Dalhousie we see a pure white Dingo.  Unfortunately he was quite a distance from the track by the time Michael and I could stop.  It is the white spot in the photo below.  I think Tony may have a better photo.

  
DALHOUSIE RUINS
Heading west from Dalhousie Springs, just 12km is the Dalhousie Ruins on the Pedirka track.

You are standing at the ruins; the hills roll around you for as far as the eye can see, the 100 year old Date Palms (although many have been removed since they were destroying the water holes) that surround you are rustling gently in the breeze, the cattle pens that stand adjacent to the old stone buildings are slowly becoming more weather beaten as the years pass.

Here you’ll see the remains of the residence/homestead, the stockman’s quarters and the blacksmiths building and over in the far corner is a lonely un-named grave, slightly built up with rock and stone bearing a single cross with no name.

The first lease of Dalhousie was in 1872, it was re-sold numerous times and eventually being abandoned in 1925 when cattle were being rationalised, a new homestead was constructed and called Mt Dare in 1933.  It was taken over in 1984 by the Department for Environment and Heritage and was dedicated as ‘Witjira National Park.’ 
 
 We arrived at Dalhousie Springs in time for a quick swim before lunch.  Michael hung the tent fly over a fence to  dry and off for a swim.

 Dalhousie Springs are collection of over 60 natural artesian springs located in Witjira National Park on the western fringe of the Simpson Desert.  Spring water temperatures range from 38 to 43 degrees C. The water is highly mineralised but drinkable (barely). Dalhousie Springs are a popular starting point for crossing the Simpson Desert eastwards to Birdsville in Queensland (around 600 kilometres).
In 1915, the total flow rate of the Dalhousie Springs complex was over 23,000 litres/second, but drilling had reduced this to 17,360 litres/second by 2000.
There are a number of unique species of fish that live in the waters around Dalhousie Springs, such as the Dalhousie catfish (Neosilurus gloveri), the Dalhousie hardyhead (Craterocephalus dalhousiensis) and the Dalhousie goby (Chlamydogobius gloveri). 
 These hot, fresh water springs are very unique and are an outlet from the Great Artesian Basin. It is the largest known springs and the main spring offers a nice soothing swim for travellers after a hard day’s drive. Another novelty of this place are the Dalhousie hardyhead, small fish that live in the springs. They will swarm around you as you swim and nibble at your feet eating away at the dead skin, a treatment you pay through the nose for at top range beauty salons! It certainly tickles but you soon get used to it. I didn't mind having my heels nibbled at, but I didn't like it as much when they started on my stomach, quite a few sharp little nips.  Have a close look at Michael's chest in the photo on the right.  Hehe

Since the late 1990s, new camping facilities have provided a nice area to camp and relax within the Witjira National Park. It is a very popular spot, particularly with those venturing in from the Simpson Desert passing through Pedirka and Mt Dare. A ranger, located at the springs (channel 10) can provide helpful advice and a Desert Pass.

We met a man at Dalhousie Springs who told us of a caravan that had parted company from it's vehicle on the Oodnadatta track.  The owner did not have any means of communication to call for help until our kind Samaritan came along with his sat phone.  It is really important that someone in your party should have a sat phone since mobile phones have no  coverage out here.

Purnie Bore was drilled by the French Petroleum Company in its exploration for oil in 1963. When only water was discovered it was left flowing at 18 litres per second (1.5 million litres per day). The water temperature is near boiling as it leaves the bore head and cools as it flows to create an artificial wetland.

In 1987 the Bore was capped to control the flow, reducing it considerably to approximately 5 litres per second, (432,000 litres per Day) for environmental reasons. This still maintains the wetland that many animals and birds are reliant on such as Birds, Camels, Donkeys, and Dingoes etc.

Since we can't have a fire in the Witjira national Park, we decide to move on past Purnie Bore into the Simpson Desert.

Our planned route is to go along the French Line to the Rig Road, down the Rig Road to the WAA Line, down the WAA Line to Knoll's Track, up Knoll's track to the French Line, along the French Line to the QAA Line then on to Birdsville. 

We set up camp about 10 km into the Simpson Desert.

Road to Mt Dare. 19-06-13

We started out this morning to mizzling rain which kept up all day.  The clouds are low and threatening, the weather doesn't bode well.

We had planned to  go to Santa Teresa to have a look at a church there, but Tony had heard from Peter Conroy and Helen that this was not a good place to be, so we bypassed it.

The track now has some deep sand (signs of things to come) and the vegetation has dense small shrubs, then open country.

 We decide to have a look at the Acacia Peuce trees (Waddi). A rare tree found in three widely
separated localities around the edges of the Simpson Desert a very rare and endangered species.  Dead Waddi Trees can remain intact, storing carbon and providing habitat, for at least 200 years. The timber is so dense it has been known to have damaged axes and saws and when dry is almost impossible to drill.

The Waddi trees are 11 kms off our track but it seems that we should make the effort to see such amazing trees. It is so sad when we see them, there is a large conservation park, but the trees are sparse, although there are a few juvenile trees.  They are quite interesting trees and the trip was worth it.

 
Took another sidetrack to Old Andado  Station which is on the very western edge of the Simpson Desert. Old Andado is 102 kilometres north of the Mt Dare Hotel and approximately 2 ¼ hours drive, depending on the track conditions. After passing through the Northern Territory Border gate and entering Andado cattle station, you will drive for a while in amongst a windy tree-lined narrow track; this is the Finke river flood plain, the scenery changes suddenly as you leave this forest like area before coming out into sand dune country with very few trees. The landscape will quickly change from one extreme to the other. Comprising of about 10,800 square kilometers, Andado Station is the largest privately owned cattle station in Australia. The areas cover parts of the Simpson Desert and the Finke River flood plains. It is one of the most southern stations to run Brahman cattle.This historical site, now holds a heritage listing. In the most inhospitable conditions with desert temperatures rising to more than 50 degrees Celsius (in a house made mostly of galvanized iron) they prospered…for around 50 years.
The station ran cattle, sheep and horses. Inside the homestead and old out building structures original personal belongings can be seen and appreciated.  Unfortunately some scum have stolen a salt and pepper shaker set, there are signs asking for its return. 

You can camp at the station which has good but rugged facilities. The station homestead is set down between two red sand hills that run further than the eye can see.

We had hoped to get to Mount Dare today, but unfortunately we had to stop about 40 kms short as it was getting late.  Tony found a small track and good clearing about 100 metres off the road.  We were able to have a small fire (first time on the trip) which was comforting, but the weather was not wonderful (still mizzling and cold) so we retired to the tent at 7:30, lights out at 8:30.