Tues, 9th Oct, 2018 Bush camp in dry Eyre Creek, QAA Line, Qld to Bush camp, near Knolls Track turn off on French Line, Simpson Desert, SA (exploring)

Uncle Wal (Mum’s brother) is 91 today. He had a party with Pete and family on the weekend so I was able to send him a message via Facebook.

6.30 am 17 degrees, clear sky. Lots of birds tweeting.

Packed up. According to the Hema map I photographed in the Info Centre there is supposed to be information points along the way.

Climbed up out of the creek, no sign of the camels and continued west. Rutted track where people have driven through when it was wet.

Videoed crossing the first dune for today.

Another flood plain area with trees. Spotted two dead camels – they didn’t get used for camel pie! Another wide treed flood plain.

Up dunes in 2^nd and 1^st gear high range 4WD – no problems. Great views from the top.

Beside the track we spotted call sign markers (Q for the QAA Line) for travellers to use to say where they are when crossing the dunes and also handy for the tow truck to find the ones that break down.

Flat grey soil flood plains between the burnt orange dunes.

Near the start of the National Park we noticed spinifex.

We have been travelling through Adria Downs Station but didn’t see any of the organic cattle.

Into the Munga-Thirri National Park – largest National Park in Queensland.

The Vermin Proof Fence

Part of the rabbit barrier around Qld built at beginning of 1900s. It was difficult to maintain and soon fell into disrepair. It now marks the boundary between the Munga-Thirri National Park and Adria Downs Station.

Didn’t see any sign of the vermin proof fence.

Spotted some camel tracks over the dune.

Heard some static so called up on the UHF and got a response from some people heading our way. Only one vehicle and he popped over the top of the dune as we were starting up it. There were two spots at the top so he stopped and we came up and stopped too. Said hi on the UHF then he kept going. We thought he would stop for a chat!!

The spinifex has disappeared. Up and down more dunes, bumpier on the way down the west side.

Stopped for a cuppa by a nice big tree. I thought it might have been more barren out here but it has just as much foliage etc as the Great Sandy Desert. Nice breeze coming from the SW and there are a few birds flying around.

Continued on, lots of trees in the flat areas between the dunes and lots of corrugations on the flats too. Up and down – no animals in sight.

Nice long straight stretch. Took a couple of videos of the slow crawl up the east side and the wobbly ride down the west side.

Few choices of track here.

Dry clay pans appearing.

White ‘Gypcrete’ coming to the surface.

More clay pans and boggy spots from previous travellers.

Another group heading towards us. Interesting listening to them talk about how to approach the west side of the dunes – sounds challenging. We are finding the east side easy in comparison. We had read that it was easier W to E but I think with the volume of traffic this sees in that direction they have chopped up the dunes a lot so it is actually easier going E to W even though the dunes are steeper this side.

They had called from Call Point 21 so we pulled up after going past 20 and waited for them to pass while we had our lunch. They didn’t stop for a chat either!! Quite warm outside after being in the nice air conditioning.

Continued on – we can see where the others have had a few goes at getting up the dunes. Listened to them tackling a few more before they got out of range.

Stopped at the ‘Undies Off Tree’ so we could add a pair. Decided to use one of the pair Rebecca and Clive gave us when we first left. I was saving them for Mt Dare Hotel but it seems all the pubs have undies, bras or hats hanging off their rooves so it isn’t anything special any more. Kept the other pair in case we need them for our Desert Flag! The GPS co-ordinates for the tree are 25 52 10.8S 138 08 00.7E – maybe you can see it on Google Earth!

Steve found a few more that had blown off so he hooked them back on too.

Clouds coming from the west. Great view of a salt lake from the crest of a dune.

Wobbly ride down the west side.

Slow going at 17km/h as we crawl across lower dunes that are closer together.

Crested a high dune. Stopped at the top and I walked around to look back along the ridge to a large salt lake in the south. Good strong SE wind up here.

Last dune of Qld.

Into NT though there is no sign or fence, just the National Park ones for those going east.

Selfie time.

Continued west over the next dune for a view of another long salt lake which we will cross soon. It starts in NT and runs down the border and ends in SA below Qld. It doesn’t have a name so I will call it 3 State Lake.

Across the lake – shimmering mirage as we look south. Lots of old boggy strips from the early travellers. Some were seriously bogged.

Across the lake to some signs. Hay River Track heads north.

We turned left and headed south on the K1 Track which runs down the Qld/NT border back into Qld then meets the SA border which you can see on this map.

The Mt Dare sign has nearly been stickered over.

Driving along the edge of the lake with a big sand ridge beside us. The track is quite corrugated in parts but people have made new tracks as the lake dries up. I reckon all the lakes in the desert should be called ‘seasonal’ lakes as it must be confusing for overseas tourists to see lakes listed in the middle of our deserts.

Running down the side of the lake on the Qld/NT border.

Now we are back in Qld for a bit.

Islands in the lake.

Reached the Simpson Desert sign which marks the boundary for Qld and SA. No fence or sign again. Farewell to Qld for a while. Will turn the clocks back ½ hour when we pull up. Not going to worry about day light saving time in SA as it won’t worry us.

Further along we turned onto the French Line and climbed a dune again as we headed west. Met another car coming down some lower dunes. We pulled over and he passed us. Steve asked if he was along, which he replied he was – foreign accent. They kept going too.

Over a couple of dunes and Lake Poeppel comes into view.

At the intersection we turned north-west to head up to Poeppel Corner, the intersection of Qld, NT & SA.

Poeppel Corner

Augustus Poeppel (pronounced Peppel) started the Qld-SA border survey in 1878. Timber from waddi trees north of Birdsville and coolibahs from Eyre Creek were used for mile posts. The position of the first corner peg was in Lake Poeppel, about 1km west of the present position, but when the party returned to Adelaide in 1881, they checked their equipment and found that the chain measure was worn and the survey inaccurate.

Larry Wells was engaged to re-survey the border from a point near Birdsville. He started in January 1884 and relocated the corner peg in February, close to the present position. Wells then went on to survey the NT-Qld border, drawing water from a number of native (mikiri) wells. Although Charles Winnecki and David Lindsay were both near the corner during the early 1880s, Ted Colson was the next white man to see the corner peg. He found it as he was returning to his home at Bloods Creek after crossing the desert to Birdsville in 1936. The original peg was removed by Reg Sprigg during his survey of the Simpson Desert during the 1960s, and replaced with the present concrete post.

Interesting that the plaque at the Info Centre in Birdsville said Poeppel himself went back to resurvey the line. Maybe that is why the plaque is at the Info Centre not here!

Read the information provided.

Steve checked out all the stickers.

Walked along the board walk to the replica of the original peg that Poeppel installed which was put in here in 1989. Steve is a Qld boy through and through.

We took photo of a bit of us in each state with the 1968 plaque.

Selfie time again.

We have seen these Bench Marks along the Canning Stock Route. It was situated further back into SA. I had looked it up when I was in Cairns but forgot to write down the info about the difference with them and survey markers.

Originally Poeppel had placed the peg in the middle of Lake Poeppel.

The board walk has three paths, one leading into each state. ‘Pat’ is in SA.

Tried to get into the Visitors’ book but the metal box was stuck shut.

Steve put on the kettle while I turned the clocks back. Was 3.10 but now it is 2.40pm.

I read some information off the SA National Parks brochure. Interesting comment about the dunes being easier to traverse west to east because of the gentler upsweep of the dunes. Unfortunately after all that traffic it has become a bumpy upsweep and the east to west is better even if it is steeper. We haven’t had to bounce up any with speed like we did on the Canning Stock Route.

I saw the Eyrean Grasswren scoot out from a bush and back again when we were coming over a dune.

Back to the turn off and onto the French Line.

French Line

Dr Reg Sprigg was the first man to explore for oil in the Cooper Basin and as an extension of that search he was engaged to survey the first line across the Simpson Desert. The first motorised crossing of the desert, and the first crossing since Madigan, was undertaken by Reg, his wife and children in 1962. On that occasion Sprigg was leader and navigator of an investigatory expedition by his company, Geosurveys of Australia Pty Ltd. Dr Sprigg also undertook the first north-south 4WD traverse 2 years later. The French Petroleum Company was subsequently asked to undertake the geological survey, due to their good record in other parts of the world. This line is a result of that work.

Across Lake Poeppel – looking north then south.

Up a dune on the other side then up and down little dunes.

At the crest of a bigger one, I like the wind swept look.

From here we have a nice view of Lake Thomas and the straight French Line ahead of us.

Zoomed in further along the line.

It is a slow crawl along over the little sand dunes as it is quite wobbly and we are rocked back and forwards as we travel along.

Another wobble down to the north end of Lake Thomas – looking south then north.

Further along we spotted a painted 44 gallon drum then a Bench Mark by the track as we headed up a bigger dune.

Continued rolling over smaller ones again. Took a long video through these lower dunes until we reached the next dry lake.

Across that lake and up again. Steve having some fun on some of the bigger dunes as he is finding it easy to crawl up them and then we have the wobbly ride down the other side.

Another wind swept dune. The sky is all clear so hopefully we won’t see any storms again.

Up and down more dunes then over another dry lake. Seeing lots of animal tracks, dingos, lizards and snakes but haven’t spotted anything alive yet.

Up and down – no flat spots between these smaller dunes to park for the night so kept going. Different dune country to the east side of the Simpson.

Across another ‘lake’. More up and down and wobbling slowly along between 5 and 15kph.

The sun is dropping so we found a place to camp for the night off the track. Quite windy so we put up the shade cloth to break the wind for the kitchen. I found some holes and droppings so I think there might have been some rabbits around here.

Our route for today. We are not too far away from the turn off into Knolls Track.

Steve got the fire going as the sun started to set. Lovely sunset. A jet flew overhead heading south.

Still windy after sunset but we had the fire behind the truck and the shower is protected so we can enjoy our shower tonight. 8pm it was 30 degrees but the breeze made it feel cooler. More planes passing over us.

Still very windy at 10pm. Lightning flashing in the north. Closed the bed door to keep out the wind.