Along the Margins of the Simpson Desert

From the busy, tree-lined streets of Alice Springs, out past the airport where surplus airliners are stored in the dry desert air, we took the road to the Indigenous community of Santa Teresa.

From there we joined the Binns Track, a 4wd trail named after a famous NT ranger. When we stopped to deflate the tyres, Gen discovered a macabre, disturbing sight of 5 cows lying dead in a circle, as if shot in a sacrificial ceremony.

We rattĺed and bumped onwards for several hours at no more than 50kph over corrugations, sand ruts and rocky sections, past carpets of silver-green grass dotted with trees, to camp at the foot of the beautiful Arookara range. The sunset delivered a show of serried clouds in dramatic splendour.

In the morning, rain clouds thankfully didn’t deliver, but the 4wd decided to make worrying grinding sounds when turned near full lock. The temporary solution was to avoid near full lock turns!

We drove through a series of gated, station paddocks, then encountered bone jarring, deep, rutted sections churned and dried from heavy rain 3 weeks before.

Flocks of finches swerved before us; scores of budgerigars jinked and swooped in colourful, aerobatic displays.

The track then climbed to higher, firmer terrain before running between parallel rows of grassy sand dunes, then crossing barren plains of shiny gibber.

From there we had more sand dunes to drive between until we reached Old Andado Homestead, perched on a rise, around noon.

The homestead's owner, Molly Clarke, was a pioneer who lived here from the 1950s until 2006. Molly's 5 grandchildren and volunteers now keep the property as an extraordinary, very remote outback museum that has retained all its rugged atmosphere and authenticity as if Molly had just popped out for an hour.

Molly's grave is a charming, simple affair, resting in the red dirt behind the homestead.

We marvel at the peaceful scene. Flocks of finches chirping in the garden, metal sheets clanking in the moaning wind; then the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, breezeway, full of useful 1950s and 1960s gadgets, knick knacks ànd personal items showing the resourceful woman Molly was.

The next morning treated us to a stunning sunrise.

So pleased we came to stay here overnight. Well done Molly, we can feel your spirit!

From Old Andado Homestead we set out early across glinting plains of gibber stones before disappearing between parallel sand dunes, up and over, winding along until we twisted and turned onto the Finke river flood plain for a run through river sand between good tree cover.

The road conditions varied from corrugations and rocky surfaces to deep ruts, dried out now, but testament to how sticky things get when the rain comes down.

On the way, we encounter a roll cloud or morning glory cloud dramatically arcing across the sky.

We reach Mt Dare, the most isolated pub in South Australia.

A delightful beer garden overlooked a bore pond where galahs, budgies and finches flocked to drink.

We decided to celebrate Gen's birthday two days early at the bar with an excellent Scotch fillet steak and a bottle of our own Barossa Shiraz Bin 555. 

Mt. Dare has a rough, tough, convivial atmosphere of Aussie cameraderie. It is at a crossroads for dusty, dirty, thirsty adventurers who enjoy a yarn and a few tales of daring on the Outback roads.

Together with a band of motorbike adventurers who had just completed navigation of the Simpson Desert, we watched riveting, old film footage from Youtube of the 1939 camel expedition with Cecil Madigan across the Simpson Desert. It didn't matter if the film had turned magenta or if it was the wrong format for the screen, it was mesmerising.

I'd overheard one motorbiker in the shower saying  how he'd taken a tumble earlier on the notorious Madigan Line, knocked his wrist and ankle, but managed to bend his righthand handlebar which meant it aligned again with its left counterpart!

Also at the bar, I get talking to a caravan couple. The wife shows me photos of her husband's back which has hundreds of ferocious midge bites from Dalhousie Springs which we were intending to visit next.

However, the forecast rain sent us scuttling back next day via excellent dirt roads to Kulgera on the Stuart Highway.

What a fun excursion to the fringes of the Simpson Desert!

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Simpson Desert, Binns Track, Northern Territory, Old Andado Homestead, Mt Dare, Mount Dare, Birthday