Hay River Track

From Poeppel Corner, we drove the salt lake due North to join the Hay River Track. From there, up and over dozens of sand dunes we glided, then dropped into the swales with occasional trees. The first day or so we met one or two other travellers, after that none. This was November, the very end of the season before all access to the Simmo is closed until March due to huge temperatures, exceeding the 42C we experienced.

Curious sand piles piqued our interest. These are created by Sand Turd Beetles or earth-boring dung beetles from the Bolboceratidae family.

Our final campsite in a super position alongside the dry, sandy bed of the Hay River, was Dingo Well, a water source restored for a dingo conservation project.

A night with Robert in a rooftop tent at Camp 16: Noises wake me up. Smack! Smack! Psitt! Psitt! (Insect spray). There's a squadron of mosquitoes in here! Psitt! Bang! FARK!! Banged my head against the strut. Smack! Had enough, going to sleep in the car. Robert feeling his way down the ladder in the dark. Bang! Kaboom!! Is he dead? Broken leg? No, banged my head again, torchlight in between my teeth crashed to the ground. Car door slamming. Goodnight.

Our final twist in the Track was Batton Hill, a scene straight from a Neville Shute novel: Apocalypse Aussie style, abandoned buildings, not a soul been here for days, as dust whips round what was once a campsite with trashed facilities, doors hanging off defunct toilets, forgotten water taps, and uninviting spots to park up for the cool of the night. 

We shot through to the famed, the dreaded, 70kms of legendary corrugations, the reputed worst in Oz, which surprisingly responded with barely a judder to 20psi dropped tyre pressures and keeping speed between 65-70kph.
Well, as the phrase goes: your mileage may vary.

The Simpson Desert takes this lust for life as a tumbleweed traveller up another big notch in Australia. Fabulous scenery, just us out there, curious camels, heat and flies - no pleasure without pain. Sunset and sunrise on a grand scale, an impression of being embedded in a vast tapestry of nature in very remote wilderness. Just wonderful moments in the desert as the sands of life slip away. Make every moment count!

Exiting the Simpson Desert, we access the Plenty Highway which is like lovely, graded, soft as a baby's bottom. Such a change. We fuel up and spend the night at the green oasis of Tobermorey Station.

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Simpson Desert, Hay River Road, Hay River Track, Desert Crossing, Dung Beetles, Dingo Well, Tobermorey