Wed, 10th Oct, 2018 Bush camp, French Line near Knolls Track turn off to Bush camp, French Line near Colsons Track turn off, Simpson Desert, SA (exploring)

7am the wind is back but at least there aren’t many flies. Dark clouds coming over from the west.

Packed up and continued along the French Line, across another salt pan then back into the wobbly low dunes.

More gypcrete coming to the surface.

Dark cloud ahead of us.

Lots of ‘tumbleweeds’ along the track.

Still wobbling through the low dunes.

Met a car of young chaps who stopped for a chat. Steve commented about the track heading east and they said it has been so chopped up so far. We said ‘yes we got the better track this time’.

The track continues.

Spinifex returns on the flats.

That dark cloud went south thank goodness. Crossed over a few bigger dunes.

Spotted a one and half metre snake on the track so we stopped but didn’t get out of course. It wasn’t worried about us, just kept on picking up ants and bugs then turned into the grass but came back out again and wiggled its way away from the track. Took a video of it – it was fascinating to watch how it moved along.

Turned off onto Knolls Track. Stopped and checked out the plaque for David Lindsay. Someone made a rock cairn balance on the tree branch.

Followed the rutted out and bumpy track due to the gypcrete lumps. There are lots of detour tracks to choose from. Lake Tamblyn appears first.

Lake Tamblyn

This was named by Ted Colson during his crossing of the Simpson Desert in 1936. The lake was named after John Tamblyn, a friend of Colson’s who worked for the SA Education Department.

Onto Approdinna Attora Knolls. Read the info sign beside the fence around the first one.

Continued along past the second one then turned into the car park. Lots of gypsum lying on the ground in the car park making it very sparkly.

Six information boards to read as we head up the path to the Knoll.

The information in the National Park brochure said they appear, almost ghost-like, from amongst the red sand dunes. Well I don’t think that really fits. To me they looked like mounds of gypcrete as the shiny gypsum seems to be mainly on the flat around the mounds – but I am no scientist!!

Nice view from the top though over truck and around to Lake Tamblyn.

I walked to the northern end of the knoll to photograph the other one then across the land to the east.

No shiny gypsum up here.

Someone has a home in there.

Back to the bottom and we checked out the shiny gypsum on the flats. Steve found a big piece that shone in the sunlight and broke in half easily on one of the layers.

Had a cuppa in the car park. Nice breeze blowing so it doesn’t feel hot.

Went back out to the French Line and continued along to the northern end of Lake Tamblyn. There are islands in the middle which we just drive over. Lots of tracks and circles done by other travellers.

Another lake further along with more doughnuts on it.

Continued rolling over the lower dunes which are covered in dry grass clumps and green bushes. No big trees in this section.

Over a bigger dune and we spotted the broken Range Rover we heard about in Birdsville. They are trying to get parts so they can get it going again. Not a nice experience for them. They have a broken window and had put a sign on the window to let travellers know they were ok.

Up another big dune then back to the low rolly polly ones.

Over a few big dunes then across a wide flood plain with bigger trees again.

Every 5km there is a white post with FRN and a number which is the distance from Dalhousie Springs – this one is 201.

Just rolling along slowly in 1^st and 2^nd gear doing between 10 and 15kph.

Sky all clear now. Bigger dune with two tracks so bored Steve decided to take the straight left one. I took a video. At the top there was an eaten away hole on the right so he stopped quickly before we fell into it. Backed up a little and turned away from the hole with a few more herbs and we were fine to continue. If we had done that on the CSR dunes we would have been stuck as the sand seemed a lot softer at the top of those dunes. His ‘I didn’t have a 2^nd go at a dune’ record is still standing for this trip so far. We noticed lots of back up on the western side by other travellers.

First gear is revving too much and second gear doesn’t quite have it for all the wobbly bits so he put it into low 4WD and is using 3^rd gear most of the time now with 2^nd for the steeper climbs.

Got a photo of one of the eaten out holes on the top of another dune – doesn’t look as bad as the other one was. The grass holds the sand but the wind has whipped the rest of the sand from the bottom of it and you come up and lean straight into the hole. I don’t like that feeling!

Nice view from the crest of a dune of more smaller dunes then a big one in the distance.

Stopped to check out the wrecked camper trailer – another sad holiday story. Looks like it will be an ornament of the desert now as they aren’t coming back to retrieve it. They were heading west too but it looks like the chassis snapped behind the suspension arms which ripped the bolts out of the front and the camper slide backwards. Bit of a mess. They obviously took what they could. I closed the big doors to stop more of their rubbish flying around the dunes as some has already done.

I walked up the dune to take a photo of our truck and the track we have been over. Looks quite green further south – just all the green bushes.

Continued on and found an open area to have lunch. Parked by a shrubby bush to give us some wind protection as it is blowing well at the moment. No flies here either so we enjoyed eating our lunch. 29 degrees in the shade.

More up and down the lower dunes with no big trees in sight. No animals either other than the tracks they have left.

Wide flat section between two bigger dunes where there is a Bench Mark with a tap and water sign. I was intrigued and turned it on – of course no water!! Where’s the hidden camera.

Saw a little grasswren run across the track to a bush – they are so cute.

Videoed the climb down one of the bigger dunes as it was quite bumpy and then across the wide flat section and then up the other dune. Steve happier now we have left the little dunes behind.

Up and down more bigger dunes. As we crossed one flat section it was covered in yellow blossomed trees. Only spot we have seen them so far.

Came to a Y choice track so Steve took the right one – it was 20 metres high according to our Hema. 55m elevation at the bottom and up to 75m at the top. We then went onto a plateau for a while going over smaller dunes then we wobbled our way down the west side to then climb up another bigger dune.

Across the intersection of Erabena Track. 8km to the north is an old field according to the map – not sure if it is still functioning but the track is in good condition. The Rig Track had base put down on the top of the dunes so machinery could traverse them easily when the oil exploring was going on.

Up and down more big dunes. Steeper this side but not chopped up like the west side due to all the traffic it gets – so we have a bumpy ride down.

Another nice dune photo.

A small goanna ran across the track but didn’t stay around for a photo.

Still bigger dunes and flatter sections between them. Spotted some camel dung on the track and footprints but still haven’t seen any camels other than the 3 that visited us that night in Eyre Creek.

The dunes are getting higher – one was 22 metres but most are between 12 and 16 metres. Steve having fun climbing the bigger dunes and ‘Pat’ is doing it with ease.

Stopped for a cuppa between two dunes and Steve found a pair of magnifying glasses on the track – still in good nick too. Still quite windy. Thermometer says it is 34 degrees in the sun.

Continued on up and down the bigger dunes. Some are a bit bumpier going up and a few have angled approaches now rather than straight up and over. Some people have made their own tracks.

Got excited when a little wren flew along the track in front of us – no much life out here so it is nice to see something flying about.

The track continues – very rutted descent.

More steep ascents and angled ones but we are all good. Noticed the people ahead of us have had a couple of back-ups to get up these ones. Plenty of backing up on the west side approaches.

Crested one dune and we are at the highest point so far – 90 metres above sea level.

Nearing the Colson Track turn off so found a spot to camp for the night.

Our route for today.

A few more flies here which was annoying while I was writing my blog.

Walked up the dune beside us for a photo of camp.

Light breeze but not as bad as last night so haven’t need to put up the awning and wind break.

The wind stopped completely so we had our showers in case the wind started up again. So lovely under the stars.

No noises at all out here – not even animals scurrying around, except for the bugs that are buzzing around our light as we played cards since the wind never returned.

Quite cool by the time we went to bed. So eerily quiet.