|
|
Walking the SimpsonWhat does one say when people ask you where you have been recently walking? The reply, the Simpson Desert is often met with Oh yeah!! - translation, pull the other leg as well! The question is usually asked again about where you have really been walking and when the second reply is the Simpson Desert, you are either met with a face like you're an alien from another planet, or an incredulous interest. Walking the Simpson Desert is one of the walks to do in your lifetime. It is hard, often lonely, requires mental toughness and a will to keep going when all your body wants to do is stop. It is not the type of walk to be taken lightly. It requires a reliable support company or person to provide the logistics needed, including transport, water and food supplies and good communication technology. The Simpson is remote - there are no shops which sell supplies, except on the extreme edges, no phones, no immediate medical assistance and no reliable water supplies. The vehicle tracks through the desert are rough, requiring reliable 4WD's and experienced drivers, and if a breakdown should occur requiring recovery, a minimum of around $5 000 is needed before you are even considered being seen to. It is a minimum of 400 km to walk across the Desert depending on the route taken, and requires a walker to go up and down 1100 sand dunes. The terrain can be rock hard through clay pans, stony through gibber sections and soft through the sandy dunes. Often when you think there is a reasonable crust on the sand, your weight breaks through and you are back to dreaming of harder ground. When you are on hard ground and your feet are hurting, you dream about soft sand. So, why do it?? Walking a desert is the best way to see it, smell it, hear it, touch it and even taste it - the latter unavoidable with all the sand and flies! Starting off for me as a misunderstood environment, it eventually ate into my psyche, my being; until even though I really wanted to finish walking it at the end, has stayed with me long after. Even now whilst writing this article, I have this constant yearning to go back, relive, rediscover and to get to know the Simpson even more intimately than for the 3 weeks I lived and walked in it. As I crossed it from west to east, the scenery was stunning, always offering surprises. Full of its own cycles and a life that I had absolutely no real perception of, the Simpson became my teacher. The longer I walked, the more comfortable I became, not only with the obvious physical stresses but with the familiarity and dawning of innate understandings that only immersion could bring in this amazing environment. Walking the Simpson DesertThe following is a description of the walk I completed with a group of fellow walkers from east to west in June/July, 2007. I kept a daily journal to notate the trip. My access point was Alice Springs. From there, I travelled to the beginning of the walk at Dalhousie Springs via Mt Dare. The end point was the Big Red sand dune about 32 km west of Birdsville. I followed what is known as the French Line, in an easterly direction to Poeppel Corner, the state boundary of the 3 states of SA, NT and QLD. I then headed north to pick up the QAA line, before once again heading in an easterly direction to the Big Red sand dune. The walk was 18 days long and covered a distance of 400 km. Our group could probably have done it in 16 days, but the 18 days allowed for exploration and 2 shorter walking days. The final day was a short 6 km to enable optional early morning lighting for the photographers amongst us on the Big Red sand dune. Whilst basically following the vehicle track, I did not always walk on it, walking slightly to the north or south of it. Support VehiclesOur group walked with support vehicles meeting us along the track at various points. The vehicles carried most of our supplies and gear, so that during the day we only had to carry water, food, clothing (stripped off after the cold mornings), camera gear, first aid kit for running foot repairs and any required emergency items. Walking without vehicle support is possible. Lucas Trihey has recently walked the geographical centre of the Simpson from east to west pulling a 140 kg cart with all supplies for 17 days. He had a vehicle drive across the French Line so that support was within reasonable distance for emergencies if he needed it, which he didn't. This is not recommended for the average person. Several companies now will organise all logistics for you, or you can arrange supplies to be dropped off with various 4WD tag-a-long companies who will leave supplies via GPS registered sites along the main vehicular access points. Remember that total independence is required for this type of walk and it can be potentially fatal walking in the desert. Having enough water is the main problem to solve. Temperatures are often extreme. Only walk in the coldest of months of June or July. Even in June we had days which reached 30°C and nights which fell below 0°C. Simpson Desert - HEMA Maps, 2nd edition, 1:250 000 . Text and notes by Ron and Viv Moon. This map is readily available from speciality map shops - http://www.hemamaps.com/ Simpson Desert - Westprint Maps: ISBN 9781875608232 - http://www.westprint.com.au/ Small internet page views of the Simpson Desert http://www.travelnt.com/en/advice/maps/simpson-desert.htm] Track Notes - Simpson Desert WalkDay 1 (18 June) - Alice Springs to Mt Dare Station and Witjira National Park Day 3 (20 June) - Lowther Creek - Spring Creek Delta - 23 km Day 4 (21June) - Alka Seltza Claypan - Dakota Dunefield - Freeth Junction - 26 km Day 5 (22 June) - Freeth Junction - Purni Bore - 18 km Day 6 (23 June) - Wonga Junction - 26 km Day 7 (24 June) - No major geographic point - 23 km Day 8 (25 June) - Passing the Colson Track - 25 km Day 9 (26 June) - No major geographic point - 25 km Day 10 (27 June) - passing the Erebena Track - 13 km Day 11 (28 June) - No major geographic point - 25 km Day 12 (29 June) - Lake Tamblyn and the salt lakes - 25 km Day 13 (30 June) - Poeppel Corner reached - 21 km Day 14 (1 July) - The long salt lake and turnoff to Birdsville - 25 km Day 15 (2 July) - The steep dunes - 23 km Day 16 (3 July) - Where's the spinifex? - 25 km Day 17 (4 July) - Leaving the National Park and the greenery of Eyre Creek- 36 km Day 18 (5 July) - Walking in Alton Station- 12 km Day 19 (6 July) - Champagne on Big Red - Birdsville Showers 6.5 km Day 1 (18 June) - Alice Springs to Mt Dare Station and Witjira National Park Today it took us most of the day to drive from Alice Springs to Mt Dare Station in Witjira National Park. We camped overnight at Mt Dare. There is a pub, a camping area with very basic toilets and showers and some mechanical supplies/support available. We had to get a tyre repaired here which was destroyed on the way out.
Day 2 - Dalhousie Springs to Lowther Creek km Day 1 - Alice Springs to Mt Dare Station and Witjira National Park - 12 km Today we had to drive another few hours from Mt Dare to Dalhousie Springs to start our walk, so today's distance was relatively short to get our bodies into the swing of things. We left Dalhousie at about midday. The area around Dalhousie consisted of gibber stones, mesas, claypans and dry river beds. But Dalhousie Springs itself is quite an incredible sight, when all around is dry desert! All of a sudden you come to a beautiful lush waterhole with steam rising above it. Dalhousie is part of a chain of mound springs that have formed along the rim of the Great Artesian Basin, on which the desert basically sits. This artesian water leaks through to the surface at a temperature of around 38°C. A small jetty has been built by S.A National Parks to allow access to the water, so that even in a cold winter, swimming in the springs is like getting into a warm bath. It's quite deep in the middle of the main pool (up to 14m). There are small native fish which live in the water, are harmless and unique to this environment. You can sometimes feel the little guys nibbling at your hairs or toes.
The vegetation around the area is also really interesting, including samphires and tea trees. As the water seeps to the surface, the minerals from within the earth mix with the clay and sand to form mounds around the springs. These springs leave small pools, (sometimes only seepages) of permanent water, around which plants and animals have become specially adapted. One of these groups of plants are the Chenopods. Samphires which belong to this family can live in the highly saline soil around the springs. Other plants include tea-trees around the main pool. You will also see a few date palms, the origins of which are unclear. Some say they have been scattered by Afghan cameleers in earlier times while others say they were specifically planted. I have also heard that dingoes will eat the dates in lean times, spreading the plants. Birds were prolific here including spoonbills, singing honeyeaters and masked woodswallows. The Springs are well worth exploring not only for a swim, but also for the bird and plant life. SA National Parks have installed a modern amenities block with cold showers. You would need a gas stove at this location as collection of wood here is not permitted. Two of the most common plants seen along this part of the track were the mulga wattle which flowers at this time of the year and the saltbush with a great name - pop saltbush (which also belongs to the Chenopods like the samphires described above). There was also occasional ruby saltbush around which has a different kind of leaf to pop saltbush, but had little edible red berries.
We also saw the first of several species of gecko. With their satiny soft skin, it's a surprise to see what you think are such fragile creatures living in a desert environment.They are obviously not as fragile as we think!
Day 3 - Lowther Creek - Spring Creek Delta - 23 km The evening at Lowther Creek was pleasant, but we could see a change coming in the developing cloud. The next morning a cool change came in and it was a very cold day walking through the Spring Creek Delta. This delta was very muddy and it was obvious where previous vehicles had become bogged in the mud. This is an area where any rain at all affects the ability to get a vehicle through. Salt crystals were evident everywhere. Our camp site, just on the eastern edge of the delta was freezing. There was ice on the top of our swags and most of our liquids including water, cordials and milk froze overnight.
We saw quite a few different species of gecko on the walk. Day 4 (21June) - Alka Seltza Claypan - Dakota Dunefield - Freeth Junction - 26 km Today would have to have been one of the most desolate days of the whole trip, vegetation wise. We crossed a couple of claypans, the largest one being the Alka Seltza Claypan, next to the Dakota Dunefield. We crossed Freeth Junction and celebrated that night with a singalong and a baked damper in the fire with an equinox party - the shortest day as well as the first 50 km walked And, it was really cold again! Frost developed on the top of my down sleeping bag due to condensation from the moisture and heat coming from my body. Tonight I was really tired!
Day 5 (22 June) - Freeth Junction - Purni Bore - 18 km This morning we walked into Purni Bore, which is truly a green oasis in the desert. This bore was drilled as a stratigraphic well by the French Petroleum Company in 1963, which was kept open as a water supply. Coming up from inside the earth at a temperature of 85°C, the volume of water was flowing at a rate that was affecting the water level at Dalhousie Springs, so the bore was capped in 1987. An artificial wetland has been created by this bore with amazing bright green reeds and accompanying birdlife. The green bulrushes, growing here, offer a real respite to the eye, as well as providing a refuge for waterbirds. A very basic campsite has been established by National Parks with cold showers and a pit toilet. There is also a walking track around the wetland. One of the disadvantages of this wetland is the the attraction of the water to feral animals such as camels, foxes and cats. We saw 3 dingoes on the outskirts of the camping area and 2 camels. This area needs at least a whole day to explore, including an early morning and evening so that a variety of wildlife can be viewed.
Around Purni Bore, you get 2 extremes - ducks and lush green reeds and just a short distance away, a plover strolls on arid ground. The area is really worth exploring. Day 6 (23 June) - Wonga Junction - 26 km Today was the day a number of us started to feel the affects of the cumulative walking on our feet - blisters and sore shins. In addition, it was very hot in the afternoon; today 28-30°C! This was hard coming from a winter temperature of 15°C. However we reached Wonga Junction and passed the 100 km mark! Saw occasional emu bushes. These bushes have delightful flowers on the, Most of the ones in the sandier country were of a purple or mauve colour.
Emu bushes come in lots of different colours. The purple variety were the most commonly seen in the desert. Day 7 (24 June) - No major geographic point - 23 km Day 8 (25 June) - Passing the Colson Track - 25 km We walked pass the Colson Track today to pass the 150 km mark. Ted Colson was the first European to cross the Simpson Desert. I wrote in my journal about how quiet it was at night in the desert. There were not the night noises I would hear at home - crickets, cicadas, flying foxes or owls. Even the wind through the trees was missing as background noise as any vegetation was extremely sparse. However, tonight we heard the most beautiful 4 note descending scale from (what I was later to discover ), a chiming wedgebill. As the dark blanket of evening progressed, this was the most exquisite of calls in the darkness. We heard it again just on dusk.
Some of the more interesting insects found as we crossed the desert Day 9 (26 June) - No major geographic point - 25 km Most of today was walking through very soft sand over large dunes with hardly a firm surface to be found anywhere. Day 10 (27 June) - passing the Erebeena Track - 13 km A slightly shorter walking day today, which enabled us to have a miniature bath and get some essential 'smalls' washed. I discovered my wide-mouthed, 1 litre drinking bottle was great for washing socks and undies in, using the smallest amount of water to get them clean. It was just like mixing a milkshake or better still a cocktail. Today I also discovered a poor little dragon which I think had been run over and an enormous grasshopper. A number of weevils, grasshoppers and assorted little critters were seen on most days. It was always a bit of a puzzle working out which animal left which track in the sand???
Day 11 (28 June) - No major geographic point - 25 km Tonight, there was the most beautiful moon shining down under the Southern Cross.It was the type of moon that was warm, a moon that could have been featured in a fairy tale and certainly a moon that wishes were made under.This moon accentuated the dunes and spread its subtle, romantic light everywhere. The full moon was now our constant companion. We had been walking for days now and even the large shrubs had disappeared. It was country of spinifex, cane grass and low growing sparse vegetation in ground that was even sandier, if such a thing existed, than before. So, today, the effect of walking over a dune and suddenly seeing green gidgee forest was rather overwhelming. The green gidgee band in the swale really took my breath away. Passed the 220 km mark today!
We had a fantastic moon which cast an amazing light on the salt lakes Day 12 (29 June) - Lake Tamblyn and the salt lakes - 25 km Left before sunrise this morning. As the light increased after an hour or so of walking, I came down from a slightly higher elevation to the first of several salt lakes for the day - Lake Tamblyn. Although this lake is named on the map, many of the lakes are not. The crystallised salt, the orange of the dunes and the early blue of a new morning were picture perfect as I walked past. I felt a feeling of violation when I discovered tyre tracks in a section, other than where most vehicles were crossing. It was as if the pristine lake had been raped. There was a small plaque dedicated to the explorer David Lindsay, not far off the track. The other amazing sight was that of several fungi in the sand. This area was very rich and varied in plant life compared to where we had been. It is well worth spening a little extra time in this area. At the end of the day, we camped beside a beautiful salt lake. Emu, kangaroo and camel tracks were preserved in the mud. Another magnificent 'moon' evening. We are 21 km short of Poeppel Corner.
Lake Tamblyn was a beautiful salt lake with quite a rich and varied plant life surrounding it. Day 13 (30 June) - Poeppel Corner reached - 21 km We crossed another 4 salt lakes today. Each salt lake had steep ascents to the dunes leaving each 'lake valley'. None of these lakes were named on the map. We were back into extremely arid, dry country with very few plants and asmaller variety. We arrived at Lake Poeppel in the early afternoon and set up camp near the plaques, signage boards and posts which firstly commemorate Augustus Poeppel and then the geographic borders of NT, SA and QLD. Augustus Poeppel, was a surveyor with the South Australian Survey Department who conducted a survey along the 26th parallel. It was he, who had marked the border of the 3 states in the middle of Lake Poeppel. What makes Poeppel Corner more infamous was the later knowledge that his surveyor's chain had stretched. As a consequence the border post had to be moved 300 m to the eastern bank of Lake Poeppel.
The author at Poeppel Corner and cane grass on one of the dunes. We were running short of water by this stage and our logistics leader had a 10 hour return drive into Birdsville. At even a conservative rate of 4 litres of water a day for drinking, cooking and cleaning teeth etc, for 10 people; 40 litres x 18 days is a lot of water! We had used more than we probably should have. By this stage we were all pretty smelly, sweaty and sandy. Thank goodness for baby wipes!
After Poeppel Corner we had to walk besides this enormously long salt lake. To the right, one of the steeper dunes, heralding, we Day 14 (1 July) - The long salt lake and runoff to Birdsville - 25 km Today we headed north along the K1 line along an enormous, long lake. It was a hard slog along the road track, running adjacent to the lake. Rock hard from the impact of vehicles, our feet and legs, now used to the softer conditions found the 'concrete hardness' quite painful at times. Walking on the lake's surface was also hard, due to the soft crust which crunched under our weight. Eventually I walked on the eastern side of the lake for a while before crossing back over later in the morning. Vehicles were more commonly seen in this area as 4WDers drove to Poeppel's as an overnight run from Birdsville. By about 10 am a strong wind storm was blowing dust and grit everywhere. After about 18 km along the lake, walking in the Northern Territory, we crossed it again to turn in an easterly direction to pick up the QAA Line and enter Queensland. Day 15 (2 July) - The steep dunes - 23 km Lots of steep dunes today, with some extended swales in between. Found a scorpion and had to be 'very careful' photographing it. The days have been very warm, and even tonight I was able to get away with one jacket over my T-shirt. Even slept with my sleeping bag just over the top of me, rather than being cocooned. It was even warm enough to have my head out of the swag to watch the nightly show of satellites, the Milky Way, falling stars, (which were numerous and quite spectacular) and the full moon. The other nightly entertainment are the wolf spiders. Walking around with a torch, the spiders' eyes reflect the light back like little 'fairy lights', made more so, because there are so are many of them.
As we got closer to Birdsville the dunes got bigger. Some of the sand patterns , contrasted fantastically with the sky. Day 16 (3 July) - Where's the spinifex? - 25 km Today was hot and windy. Very little in the variety of plant of plant life - even the welcome spinifex had disappeared. Really looking forward to Eyre Creek. Day 17 (4 July) - Eyre Creek - 36 km Our walk today for everyone was 26 km. Still walking through sand dunes, but they are fewer and farther between. We reached the boundary of the National Park, the end of the Queensland Section of the Simpson Desert National Park and began walking through Alton Downs Station. I had a little chuckle to myself at the station's signage - 'organic beef property'. Nothing is sprayed out here as the stations are hundreds of kilometres in size and the carrying capacity is so low. At the boundary were the remains of a vermin or dingo proof fence. Just before joining my walking colleagues at the main camp, I walked down into the first of many overflow channels, which flow after rain and saw the first eucalypts I had seen in almost 3 weeks! It had quite an impact on me. Galahs and corellas, hundreds of them, provided the background music. Another colleague and myself decided that we would push on another 10 km after dinner so that we would be at Eyre Creek at dawn and have extra time to explore the area. We had our gear dumped ahead of us and walked on the road track in the dark. We managed to see our first live dunnart, even though we had been walking over their tracks the whole trip! The smell of the greenery was quite amazing as we came into the gullies of all the overflows. It was very pleasant walking out of the heat. The 36 km was the furthest I had ever walked in one day. Day 18 (5 July) - Walking in Alton Station - 12 km This morning the cacophony of the birds woke me well before sunrise. Walked down to Eyre Creek and its tributaries. Having water in the Creek made a special and richer environment than what we had been walking in. Trees along the banks provided homes and food for varied and noisy bird species. At the first creek crossing we had to follow a vehicular diversion so we didn't have to get into the muddy water. The second vehicular detour was 6 km, marked with a pink arrow on a log (innovative street signs.) We managed to find a place downstream to cross, albeit a little muddy. Walking along the creek bank was a little like skating at times, as the mud was very slippery! Although this was galah and corella kingdom, the area was also rich in herons, kingfishers, crested pigeons, willywagtails, ducks and other small birds which were too quick to identify. This was birdwatcher's heaven! We continued exploring until the rest of the team caught up. We should have spent more time here than we did! Because we had walked the extra 10 km the night before, we only had another 12.5 km to do today. We made camp 6 km short of the "Big Red' sand dune, the highest dune in the area. This would enable us to arrive at 'Big Red' when the morning light was at its best. Eyre Creek is truly worth camping at to explore. Mosquitoes were not a problem!
Day 19 (6 July) - Champagne on Big Red - Birdsville Showers - 6km I left the next morning at 6.30 am, it was still dark and I needed to use my head torch for the first 20 minutes or so. It didn't take long to walk the last 6 km. We had kept a couple of bottles of champagne for when we climbed up to the top of 'Big Red'. It was a beautiful sight from the top and the light was superb! We had arrived before any of the 4WDers from Birdsville who consider this dune to be one of the uultimate challenges in 4WD driving, had arrived. After enjoying the 'moment of arrival' after 400 km, we left our sore feet and blisters, flies, and hard-earned sweat to wash the desert sand off us in the 'alien' world of Birdsville. Although the showers were magnificent, the Sinpson is sorely missed, then and even more so now. Go, whenever you can and experience the true majesty of one of Australia's most amazing and unique environments.
© 2007 - Sharon Fulcher - WalksAustralia.com |
