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Day 1
Sunday 22nd April 2012Myself and Tryhard rolled into Birdsville with the bikes on the trailer at 1.30pm after a 2000km drive, one flat tyre caused by a shard of roo bone after running over a carcass and a car with a bashed in front end from hitting a medium size roo head on.
We planned to spend the night in the camp ground and get away before dawn. After sitting around for five minutes we decided to go then and there. At 2.30pm we left Birdsville and headed for the Simpson Desert.
Entering the desert
It took a bit of time to get my sand legs in the chopped up detour around the lake before big red.
Tryhard and the lake before Big Red
After the first dune there was no looking back
Between the dunes
I don’t think we could have had better conditions. It was a bit cool with cloud cover and the sand was firm.
Riding along, it was about time we crossed Eyre Creek so I stopped to look at the gps which showed we had crossed already. Tryhard told me over the Bluetooth we just went through it. I hadn’t even noticed it. No water, just a bit of a dip and some different coloured sand.
Clay pan in the distance and green desert
We were at Peoppels Corner about 6pm
The camp was setup in the dunes on the start of the French Line where we fuelled the bikes after 178km. My DR650 took 14lt and the KTM690 took 12lt. It was a good first day or half day.
The whipping trees growing close to the edge of the track were unavoidable sometimes and the hand guards got a good workout.
That night we heard a dingo howl that seemed to be standing directly outside our tents and a pack of them howling in the distance. Earlier in the day I rode over a dune to find one laying on the track in front of me and it bolted just in time. A cheeky fox came within five feet of me at the camp site also.
Day 2
Poeppels Corner to Mt DareA little while after dawn we had broken camp and were riding
“The hills of death” section was next, which is between Poeppels and Knolls Track on the French Line
Dunes in this section were great to hook into. The track would turn right along the face of the dune and then have a sharp left at the top with a deep rut left by the 4wds. We both got into it railing the ruts, foot over the front wheel ( I don’t know why), pannier dragging on the high rut wall, laughing and saying how good it was. Sorry, no photos, having too much fun.
We stopped for a couple of minutes at each intersection along the French Line to take it all in and have a breather.
Tryhard fuelling
There was more of this stuff
From the Rig Road turn off the track is clay topped with some wash outs.
There was no traffic until just before Purnie Bore where we came across a 4wd tour of 6 vehicles covered in mud.
Tryhard asked them if they had left any mud for us, which I heard over the helmet Bluetooth and was laughing my head off. They replied it should be dry by the time you get there!Don’t think so
The KTM faired better in the ‘mud stopping wheels moving’ department than the DR650. I had to dig the mud out twice to get going. It was like glue and stuck to everything but when the tyres broke through that layer it was slippery as. Both bikes were on their side at one stage.
Got to Dalhousie, had some lunch and the ranger come over and looked at our desert passes.
We went down to the spring for a swim and while I was reading the tourist sign near the steps, Tryhard had gone in. I turned around and asked him how the water was and he said “Good…..you know I’m naked”. “Right….. I’ll meet you back at the bikes”. Bit too much of a Wild Hog (the movie) moment for me.
More mud to Mt Dare
We congratulated ourselves with a few drinks in the bar, fuelled the bikes and parked them in the our garage for the night
Birdsville to Mt Dare was 515km on GPS. The DR650 took 38lt of fuel and 690 took 36lt all up.
After checking over the bikes, getting cleaned up and settling into our brand new cabin it was time for food and an few drinks
We were the only ones for dinner and Karen (hopefully I get the managers names right) grilled us great steaks. We chatted to Jeff and Karen over drinks until closing. They were hoping for a good season this year. I hope they get it.
It was a very satisfying day realising we had just crossed the Simpson Desert.
Day 3
Mt Dare – Finke – Alice SpringsThere were a million stars out when we got up to go and it was looking like a fine sunny day. Brilliant
The garage in the morning
All the roads were open so they don’t seem to be too worried about a bit of water over them.
Coming out of Mt Dare
On the way to Finke
Entering Finke. I don’t think much of the sign on the left. No porn or alcohol. Wouldn’t like to live here
A head start for the race would have been good. Being a month away we carried on
On the way down the road we jumped on and off the race track a few times to see what it was like. Whoops and Whoops and more whoops. We get the picture, with open sections later on.
The main road Finke to Alice
Arrived at Alice about lunch time realizing it was halfway through our programmed day 2 on an eight or nine day ride and we were already at Alice. I was expecting three days to Mt Dare, a day to Alice then a rest day in Alice which would have made it day 5. Where to go from here.
It was always intended to work out where to go from here depending on how we had travelled. The Hay River Track was decided on, so off we went to find a permit to cross the traditional owners land.
When we arrived at the office of 4wd Direct they were out training to return a 4pm.
Heavitree Gap camp ground was a good place to set up and kill some time with some grocery shopping and a pub only a walk away
Normally it takes a month to get a permit but we thought we would chance it. They were the most helpful people ever. The permit was is our hands within half an hour.
They rang Batton Hill to let them know we were coming on bikes. Lindsay, the traditional owner, isn’t that happy with the bike riders because of accidents and mechanicals I think.
Joel is the boss and after telling him what we wanted to do he said he had some waypoints for the GPS and invited us to his place that night to load them on. He also explained the Hay River track to detail, washouts, pushing through scrub, tight right turns before the dunes.
There was a full class of 4wd training going on and he was off to do the Canning Stock route the next week with a tour. Good luck to him. He has a great setup and workshop there, too.
We got back to camp after getting lost in the suburbs at night….scary, had a good feed at the pub and got some sleep for what was looking like a great next day.
lotsa wrote:Trailboss wrote:Cant wait till next year :woohoo: Heard from a mate yesterday that is about o do the crossing. He had been talking to a bloke that had just ridden the Simpson (last week) on 950s, ol mate had told him they had done the crossing at least half a dozen times over the years. He said the wet sand had made it the easiest crossing he had ever done. It was the fastest crossing they had ever done and used near 8 litres less fuel than before. Boulder was saying last night that they were hoping the sand stayed a little damp so it would be easier to get used to the big bikes which makes sense.Nice pics
TB
It was easy for us. Only the first time though. Boulder and Fish won’t have a problem under any conditions I reckon. Did your mate’s bloke go down the Hay River Track. I’d like a comparison on that. Different riding for me that one. RR tomorrow.
After seeing Boulder and Fish attacking those dunes on the way to Big Red I reckon your right :woohoo:
Top RR Lotsa
looks like you and Joe had a ball !!!Nick
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