The Simpson Desert - 2016

It was an exciting moment filling up with fuel at Mount Dare.  This is the last fuel stop before entering the Simpson Desert.  We really were not sure what to expect as this was our first crossing - and all of us were looking forward to the next six or seven nights.  We filled the fuel tanks to the brim, bought our Desert Passes and enjoyed a last ice cream.  It wasn't long and we were on the road to our first camp - Dalhousie Springs.

Dalhousie Springs is an oasis on the western edge of the desert.  The artesian water is a delightful 39 degrees, and we spend the best part of a full day lolling about in this paradise.  The three boys delighted in playing the in water, jumping out and enjoying the novelty of cooling in the breeze before warming up again in the water.  

On the Oodnadatta Track, Painted Desert and beyond

After a long day on the road, we camped overnight at Wearing Gorge in the Flinders Ranges.  Having received good rain in the previous few weeks, the landscape became more green and lush the further west we pushed.  The next morning we had a leg stretch at Blinman, before proceeding down the Parachilna Gorge.

The grass was so green in places it almost hurt our eyes to look at it!

On our previous visit, we had promised the boys a meal at the Prairie Hotel.  Unfortunately it was closed - and perhaps that was a good thing...  (See here: http://project2014australia.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/wilpena-pound-and-rawnsley-park.html).

Sadly with any highly anticipated activity, we were a bit disappointed with the Prairie Hotel, Parachilna.  It had been renovated without taste in a way which had destroyed all former character. There was no bar, save a glimpse at what could have been, now filled not with taps, but a till. The walls were covered in expensive art for sale, with only the occasional piece eliciting pleasure. And the meals were something else again.  Trying to be inner city chic, the meals would have been more fitting in inner city Hipsterville.  Sorry Prairie Hotel Parachilna, we won't be back.

On the road to Silverton

After living on the road for twelve months back in 2014, some people would think our travelling would be done.  Others, perhaps wiser, would know that it has barely begun.  For the past few months we have been planning a trip to the Simpson Desert, and on Saturday 6th August 2016, we set off.  Looking back on that 2014 trip, it is easy to see how much these beautiful boys have grown.

This was to be a trip without our camper trailer 'Matilda'.  We were not sure how going with just swags (and an emergency tent) would go.  We figured we would be alright, unless it rained... and in a few short weeks we would test the limits of our wet weather capability.  We were also travelling with friends Kylie, Jim and their boy, The Little Fossicker.

Our first night was on the banks of the Murray River at Euston.  Jo had made special onesy outfits for the cold nights - and the kids loved them.  There was no complaints from any of the swag dwellers, so we pressed on.

We traced the Murrumbidgee River from home, and later followed the Murray stopping at Wentworth to see the confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers.  We would be crossing the Darling River again in a few weeks some 1,970 kilometres by river north at Bourke.