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.
I took a short trip to the Dalhousie Ruins. This was the site of the original homestead, also built near some mound springs. The magnificent watering hole where we were camped wasn't discovered until well after the homestead precinct was established.
Evidence of attempts to farm this country wasn't hard to find. I have no idea what they hoped to grow here, but it must have been heartbreaking to see their crops fail, and the fragile soil blow away. Today salt tolerant samphire plants cling to existence in the damaged re-vegetation areas.
After two glorious nights camped at the Dalhousie Springs campground, it was time to commence our journey west, and get some red sand under the tyres. After checking out the (mostly) capped Purnie Bore, we continued to make our way into the desert.
With the rain falling before our crossing, the desert was literally blooming with flowers. They were out in all their glory, and there is no way we could capture their magnificence in a few photographs. It was a good thing then that a couple were picked for Mum by The Little Helper.
We planned on spending four nights in the desert. A large part of making the desert work for us, was ensuring we had plenty of good food for the crossing. We figured it was going to be around eight or nine nights between opportunities to shop for food (Coober Pedy to Birdsville). Before we left home, Jo and Kylie had cooked some delicious meals that we had then sealed with a cryovac machine and frozen in Kylie and Jimmy's second fridge. Thus in the desert we enjoyed gourmet delights such as apricot chicken and Rogan Josh curry.
We had a great time - and tried to make sure we had plenty of time out of the cars to explore.
But even with our attempts to keep the kids busy, they often had excess energy to burn. Camping near tall dunes gave them plenty of exercise, but they also created their own fun. I am not sure what they were looking for her, but the three of them were intent on digging a massive hole one night!
The landscape constantly changed as we travelled along, and we dropped in on possibly the most isolated Coolibah tree in Australia.
The further east we travelled, we started crossing salt lakes. There was plenty of evidence of people being bogged in these lakes, but thankfully we found them hard and dry (but we weren't game to get off the well worn tracks).
On rising after our third night in the desert, we rose to overcast skies and a very threatening sky. The first drops of rain started falling as we finished packing up. We were unsure how much rain was due to fall, or what impact it would have on the road ahead. We had plenty of food and water, but didn't really want to be marooned in the desert.
We were motivated to head as far west as we could - and we got wet checking out the survey post at Poeppel corner.
With none of us having crossed the desert before, we had no idea what was ahead of us. We knew Eyre Creek lay on our track, and with no idea of how much rain had fallen, we figured it would be best to have it behind us. We pushed on. The clay pans looked worse, the further east we headed. The family even wanted to check one out, before getting a few steps in and realising they were slowly sinking into the bottomless mire.
The clay around Eyre Creek was getting really slippery as we arrived, but there was no water in the creek. We decided to push on. And then down came the rain - just as we got to Big Red. It was also here that Jimmy got stuck, for the first and only time of the trip. We all stood around taking photos and offering advice... (Un)fortunately none of us quite caught Jimmy's reply...
With the rain now falling heavily, we figured it was safest to set up camp. We were glad we brought the tent, and found a spare tarpaulin to increase our under cover area. It was a long day, but we thought that the worst of it was behind us.
We were wrong.
The Simpson Desert is around 1100 parallel sand dunes - and the last one is the biggest. It is called Big Red. Whilst waiting for the roads to dry out, we promised the kids a play on the dune. And play they did. We had dropped in here back in dryer times (http://project2014australia.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/big-red-run-day-7-big-red-simpson.html) and the kids were so excited to come and explore the dune again.
We spent the whole day here, watching the water slowly recede from the swale. We figured that the roads should be dry enough to drive on the following morning. But as we went to bed that night, the rain came down again. In buckets.
The following morning we were faced with a decision. Stay or try to make Birdsville. We held off until lunch time, but conditions hadn't improved. On the plus side, it hadn't rained much either. We decided to pack up and head into town - after all it was a formed gravel road all the way from here to town.
It was some of the most exciting driving I have ever done. Where the water wasn't over the road, it was as slippery as an ice skating rink. Where it was, the sloppy mud and water sucked our power and threatened to bog us. The kids loved every second. Jimmy went first... and occasionally he would offer advice over the radio such as
"Keep the power up to it Phil"
or
"Don't get stuck here, because I don't think we could come back and get you".
We slid, slithered and skated the 39 kilometres into Birdsville - but we made it!
And yes - the beer at the pub was expensive, but worth every penny!
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