Simpson Desert Adventure

with Sharon Archer

We're back after an excellent adventure crossing the Simpson Desert.  The trip was amazing and we have so many photos.   I thought I'd jump right into the desert section of our trip and share some of the pictures in the "album"!

Just to set the scene here are some quick Simpson Desert bytes...

• it's a parallel-dune desert - one of the largest with around 1100 sand dunes
• some of the dunes are more than 200 km long
• the dunes run NNE - SSW
• the highest is "Big Red" at 40 metres (we by-passed this)
• it's a desert so very low annual rainfall - averaging 150mm per year
• Birdsville to Dalhousie Springs - about 500km (we travelled on the French Line to Knoll's Track and then dropped down to the Rig Road

So to the pictures...

Here we are at the first dune - very aptly named "Nemesis"!

A long, long, looooong road!

The GPS stayed with us and this looks like we're about to drive into a lake - we're actually about to descend onto the clay pan below!

Down on to one of the clay pans between dunes.

Here we are on one of the larger clay pans.

 

Stopped for lunch.  And looking particularly fetching, don't you think?  ;)

Pepe with the TVan

Sand and sky!  Love it!

And another one because I can't resist!

The Max Trax got a good work out on the trip.

Red dust!

More red dust!

And one last picture for the road!

That's a flick through a few pages of pictures from our Simpson Desert adventure!

What's the most unusual place you've been to for a holiday or perhaps that you'd like to go to for a holiday?

Food, Glorious Food!

with Sharon Archer

We're heading off to isolated parts later this year and the issue of feeding us is taking up my brain space!  We need to carry enough food and water (and diesel and other goodies) to last for three weeks.

That's 21 days... 21 breakfasts, 21 lunches, 21 dinners... 63 whole meals... for two people so really it's 126!  Eek, I'm scaring myself!  LOL

We're going to travel across the Simpson Desert and back.  There are no corner shops, no supermarkets, no handy service stations.  There will be... should be... diesel available at Birdsville and Dalhousie Springs on either side of the desert.

So, at the moment, I'm experimenting.

Some things are a success...

Homemade muesli - a big tick!

Chocolate and oats and muesli - another big tick!

And some things are just not worth the effort!

Dried bananas - MK 1!  Burnt offerings!

Dried bananas - MK 2!  Yummy but probably not worth the effort...

I want minimum mess - we won't have enough water to do big clean ups.  I want easy and quick because we'll be travelling each day and sometimes, after a long difficult day, I know the last thing I'll want to think about is cooking a meal!

I've got some dehydrated mince, tins of salmon and other goodies.  Will be preparing some precooked goodies for the fridge and vacuum sealing them.

I'm going to try out a damper in the Thermal Cooker and will be trying out a flat bread we can make on the road in the next couple of days. 

So I'm throwing the floor open... any suggestions for quick, easy and minimal mess food?

PS I couldn't resist a few gratuitous photographs from our weekend away in the Big Desert National Park... apologies to anyone who has already seen them!

Middle of nowhere!

Filling the worst of the ruts!

Glorious full moon on our first night camping

Sunrise on our third morning... even the old rhyme about sailors being beware couldn't dim the magnificent sight!