French Line – Simpson Desert Track – Day 2

Wednesday 30th June 2021
After the most amazing nights sleep we woke for a beautiful sunrise but I watched it from the tent today. We didn’t hear any animal life during the night, even the dingoes were quiet last night. The overnight low temperature was minus 0.6°C. The cold keeps the flies and mosquitoes away but the flies were back by 8.30am.

We took off just after 9am for another long day of driving. It was very slow and bumpy and the dunes got sandier and softer as the day progressed. Our fuel consumption was 10.5 litres per 100km and 1066km range when we started out and by the end of the day it was 11.2 and we were under 1000km range. The fuel efficiency has dropped significantly today with the difficulty of the terrain. There were forks in the tracks on the steeper dunes, allowing you to choose whether you went around the peak of the dune or straight over the top. It was another day of varied vegetation but we only saw minimal wildlife again. We are really lucky our bodies have good suspensions we were bounced along continuously today. I drove for about 80mins today and only drove 24km. When Shona and I started the drive the track immediately got more difficult with much softer sand and steeper hills with very steep declines. The most interesting time as you drive is when you go up the sand dune and perch on the top with no idea what awaits you over the other side, which direction you go or how steep the decline will be. It is quite fun driving but takes a lot of concentration. In one instance I had to keep my revs up enough to get up the hill only to have to do more than a U turn at the top and I couldn’t complete the turn in the space available and ended up just running straight over a bush. Ooppsss! Well David said at least I didn’t put more scratches on the car. We are having a competition who did the least scratches or most severe bumps. Today I think DB was the bumpiest and scratchiest driver. Mind you he did drive for about 5.5hrs to my 1.5hours. It takes a lot of concentration driving, but it is quite fun.

We are still enjoying the drive even though we still only managed about 100km in 7 hours today. We are now half way across the desert. We enjoyed another night by the fire and can’t believe it is only 3° as we go to bed. We have been so warm in front of the fire.

Distance travelled on the Simpson Desert Track today – 109km

: Well it was a little chilly last night. A balmy minus 0.6°C. Eeekkkk!!

: Some type of sand goanna tracks we found this morning..

: Heading along the French Line on the Simpson Desert track. It was very sandy today.

: As we pull off the track to let some west bound 4WDers through..

: A little stop along the way – Liz and I.

: A beetles footprints in the sand..

: ..the beetle itself.

: Scotty coming down the track..

: ..followed by David..

: ..notice how the colour of the sand and vegetation changes throughout all the photos..

: ..it is so different all the time..

: ..sometimes there is a fork in the track. One wauy is easier than the other..

: ..as we continue along the track..

: ..oops – more flag troubvle. The bumpy road manages to unscrew the flag..

: ..this little burrs are nasty if you get them in your foot.

: Some more diversity in the track….a little stop for lkunch..

: A little stop for lunch..

: ..I love the windswept sand on the dune.

: DB found a very tiny locust. Only he can see things this little.

: Up another hill..

: ..some were easier than others.

: Our camp and fire for the night. Thank goodness for the abundant supply of wood in the desert. It definitely made for a warmer night as the temperature was freezing. We sat around the fire until at least 10pm.

: Yoga at sunset for the girls.