Olsen's Tours and Training Blog

As we prepare for the 2012 season, we are being contacted by more and more persons wanting to experience the wonders of Australia’s desert regions. We welcome this rush of interest but it does present a challenge. Our convoys are always kept as small as we can make them and still have a viable business. Our Canning Stock Route Tour is over subscribed for 2012 and partly full for 2013! Our 8 day Simpson Desert Tag-Along has a few places left, but our Hay River Tag-Along (Northern Simpson Desert) has just one place left.

www.djolsen.com
ph 0747893289

We have completed some of our planning for our 2013 calendar –

Simpson Desert 8 Day Tag-Along- June 4 2013.
Hay River (Simpson Desert) Tag-Along – June 14 2013
Cape York 20 Day 4WD Adventure – June 17, 2013
Canning Stock Route and Gun Barrel Highway 23 Day Tag-Along – July 22 2013
Kimberley Explorer 21 day Tag-Along Tour – 20 August 2013

Our 2012 season is filling rapidly. we look forward to a busy 2013 season.

www.djolsen.com

We are in full preparation for a great year of touring, and it seems people are keen to get out and explore with us. Our 8 Day Simpson Desert Tag-Along is almost full, with just two places left.

We leave Alice Springs on 9the June before heading down the old Ghan railway line to Chamber’s Pillar, Lambert Centre, Mt Dare, Dalhousie Springs and across the desert to Birdsville. Some people are choosing to join this 8 day trip with our 10 day Hay River trip, to make 18 days of desert travel with a few nights stop over in Birdsville.

You can learn more at www.djolsen.com

Stay tuned, we are about to post up all the blog entries of our Hay River Trip 2011.

Hay River Trip 2012 almost fully booked. Grab a space now. www.djolsen.com

Once again I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. If you want to know about this part of the trip, you’ll just have to come and do a Simpson Desert Trip with us.

Simpson Desert 8 Day Tag-Along June 9 2012
One for the Girls Female Only Tag-Along June 7 2012

Our last camp in the Simpson

Group photo at the vermin fence

We are pleased to announce we are running an all-female Simpson Desert Tour in 2012. The tour will be lead by a woman and be only for women. Support will be as always of the highest quality. Our guide Wendy will not only ensure you travel safely, but that you have fun as well. C’mon girls, get your 4WD’s ready and join us in June 2012.

ph 07 47893289 for more details.

Overseas 61 747893289

www.djolsen.com

Cape York is the ultimate 4WD adventure location but not the location you would want to tour unassisted, especially if inexperienced with difficult terrain. A tag along tour is the safest way to see the cape. Our tour begins at our home base, Townsville. We take a leasurely tour west along the original bullock trail through Thorntons Gap exploring some amazing history as we go. Our first overnight stop is at the Undarra Lava tubes. In the morning we take a 2 hour tour of these incredible underground formations.

We then wind our way up towards the Atherton tablelands to tiny town of Mt Garnett. From Mt Garnett we detour north following the trail of the old mining railway line to tiny Lappa Junction where we visit Australia’a only BYO pub. We camp the night in the grounds of the Espanol Hotel.

Detouring back towards the coast, we visit Mareeba and the lovely township of Mt Molloy before heading bush again towards the Palmer River goldfields. We stop on the banks of the Palmer River. Our bush camp beside the stream is a quiet place to contemplate the hubub of activity that would have existed here 100 odd years ago.

From our overnight stop we travel a short distance to a mining ghost town called Maytown. Travelling northwards again we stop in at many of the historical sites in the goldfields, before finding our way along the notorious Laura coach road. This road of just 43 kilometres will take 7 hours to negotiate but the views are worth it. Some of the best 4WDing on the Cape is on this road.

Once at Laura, we travel first south to the amazing split roack art gallery, then north again to old Laura. We venture into Lakefield National Park, where we camp the night. From Lakefield we continue up the Cape to Bramwell Junction where the Telegraph track begins. Of course the telegraph track is one of the reasons 4WDers flock to the Cape, and you won’t be dissapointed. Still if your vehicle or you are not up to the considerable challenge of Gunshot creek, we can direct you via the bypass. There are several fantaatic swimming and camping sites along the track.

Once north of the Jardine River, we head first for Bamaga and then on to the tip of Cape York. The walk along frangiapani beach and over the rocks to the tip is worth the trip alone.

The scenic route to our camp provides just a little more 4wd action prior to our three night stop over at Punsand bay. Our campsite  is along a fantastic stretch of beach where we can kick back and relax, go fishing, take a tour to Thursday Island or  Sesia or do whatever takes your fancy.

For some tourists, the trip to the tip is the highlight, but for us, we continue the adventure all the way back down the Cape again. We detour into Captain Billy Landing then take the frenchman’s track into Iron Range national park and to Chili beach. Once back at Lakefield you can go barramundi fishing at Kalpower crossing before we take another exciting 4wd track via Starke and Wakooka to the coast at Starke River.

From Starke River we wind our way towards Cooktown and the Endeavour Falls.  Our base at the Endeavour Falls Park allows us to meet our host Willie Gordon who will take us on one of the best aboriginal rock art tours in the country. From Cooktown we slip southwars again camping at the Lions Den Hotel before heading down the Bloomfield track and weather permitting, the CREB track. We travel through the village of Dainteee and the small township of Mossman to our final destination Cairns.

Cape York 4WD Adventure www.djolsen.com

15 Aug 2011

Once again I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. If you want to know about this part of the trip, you’ll just have to come and to a Simpson Desert Trip with us.

Simpson Desert 8 Day Tag-Along June 9 2012
One for the Girls Female Only Tag-Along June 7 2012

Our last camp in the Simpson

Group photo at the vermin fence

I am not going to write any text about these two days of travel. I’ll let the photos speak for me.

Another great evening

Our cars parked at the base of the Knolls

Gidgea Tree- Lindsay Junction

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Lake views

Standing in three states

Apporodina Attora Knolls

Come join us in the Simpson Desert in 2012

One for the Girls- 8 Day Simpson Desert
8 Day Simpson Desert

Last night at Purni bore was quite interesting. We were overun by marsupial mice and native rats that had a field day tap dancing on my swag! This year has been a one in a hundred year wet season, and the mice are doing very well. These creatures are not your household mice, but marsupial mice- some of them are quite cute with rear legs for hopping like a kangaroo.

We set off from Purni bore not long after breakfast, and after cleaning up the rubbish left behind by others. Our intention as always was to travel along part of the French Line then detour down to the WAA Line. We usually camp somewhere along the WAA.

At the end of the WAA line there are a number of large “lakes”- claypans really, that are usually dry. This year we knew would be different. Driving across these claypans is very treacherous. It is far better to skirt around the dry shore all the way around the northern end. The lakes fall very very slightly southwards and therefore driest at the northern end. Sometimes it is possible to cross in the northern part of a lake where it is drier, but this should only be attempted by those who know this country very well. It is far batter to skirt all the way around the lake.

We deflated our tyres to the 350mm long footprint required (pressure is irrelevant as long as there is enough to hold the tyre on the rim), at the normal place, before heading into the looser sand dunes. We boiled the billy for our morning tea break at the same time. There was much discussion about tyre deflation over a cup of tea.

The French line was not too powdery, but when we got to the WAA line, it was badly overgrown and washed away by the huge rains experienced earlier in the year. This made for very interesting driving. It was slow, about 10 kph – but why rush when you are in the desert to enjoy it.

When we got to the clay pans, we found them very wet, with large areas of deep blue indicating water in the southern regions. we detoured north a very long way to a point where I have crossed before. The crossing point was very wide, about 2 kilometres in total with a dry island in the middle. The claypan was wetter than in previous years, but all but one car made it across without trouble. The other required the max tracks to back up and have another go. The girls had a ball getting the Patrol muddy.

Our camp site was a lovely swale I used many times before. Another exciting day drew to an end around the campfire after an truly amazing sunset.

Come along on our “Girls Only Simpson Desert Adventure June 7 2012”

WAA Line with more vegetation on it than I have ever seen

We skirted this lake for ages then found a place to cross- still wet though

Girls can do it!

The girls car