Olsen's Tours and Training Blog

I am always a bit reluctant to leave Mt Dare. Many years ago, Justine and I contemplated buying/leasing the place and we still love it, but we have an adventure ahead of us so leave we must.

I remember many years ago, the first time ever that I drove from Mt Dare towards the dunes of the Simpson Desert, what an exciting adventure it was, crossing those amazing dissected gibber plateaus that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The great rugged stones threatening to puncture a tyre at every turn of the wheel, but the breathtaking scenery kept drawing the eye away from the job of dodging rocks- I feel the same every time I travel this track.

We headed out of the homestead area past what I remember used to be a gate, and onto the first creek, not too far from Mt Dare. This creek is always a good place to stop, though many people would never notice, as it has some very interesting flora. We stopped for quite a while exploring, while many convoys blasted past, keen to “do the Simpson” as though it was something to be conquered rather than savoured for it’s beauty. We had only a short way to go today, about 75k, but we intended to take all day to do it!

After enjoying the flora and even tasting some of it (bush tucker), we moved on to our next stop at a water tank where we enjoyed a cuppa and re-filled our tanks. The water at Mt Dare had not yet recovered from the flooding and was not the best to drink.

From our morning tea stop we continued over rugged gibber plains and through creeks to the claypans of the spring country near Dalhousie. A right turn to the south took us across plateaus with fantastic views of the springs right down to the ruins of Dalhousie homestead. The date palms had been removed since my last visit, in an effort to get the springs flowing again- a great idea. Unfortunately many people will complain about the change, but I think it is for the better.

Dalhousie Ruins

We spent a great deal of time exploring this area before heading further south to Dalhousie springs for a swim and a lunch stop. I remember many years ago camping with Justine at the springs, and being the only persons there- that would be impossible these days, as it has showers and toilets and shelters, and is a very popular camping spot. We came to savour the desert experience, which in our minds does not include crowds, so we intended to move on after lunch.

The swimming is always very enjoyable, the warm water seems do soothe all the aches and pains of days on the road.

After a lunch break, we were back on the track, which these days skirts around Spring Creek delta, on what used to be the wet weather bypass. It is a long way, and a sandy track with a few surprising bumps here and there. Pretty soon we were about to cross our first dune, pass the site of the Elka Seltzer bore and airstrip then arrive at our camp at Purni Bore.

It is a source of constant amazement and bewilderment that people who now travel out here do so much damage to the environment. Gathering firewood is to be banned in 2012 in Witjira NP- you can see why. For God’s sake people, if you want firewood, choose dead stuff laying on the ground. Don;t chop standing wood- even if it looks dead- it isn’t.  And DONT PUT CANS IN FIRES!!!!!

Fireplace as we found it

Come join us in 2012

8 Day Simpson Desert Adventure www.djolsen.com

All Female 8 Day Simpson Desert Adventure- with female guide.

Our normal practice is to wake at first light, get the fire started and boil the billies. This morning we awoke before first light to the sounds of Bruce’s radio.
Bruce who comes from Coolah likes to listen to the ABC every morning.

Once underway we paused at the monument for photographs before backtracking to Finke. At Finke, Jeff and Gowan decided to do a bit of sightseeing around the old railway station.

The road from Finke to Mount Dare is always an interesting drive with a variety if terrain including claypans and Coolibah lined creeks. I called Mt Dare on the radio to let them know we were coming and got the customary response from Jeff, telling us he would lock the gates. We stopped at windy Charlotte waters for morning tea and a look around the ruins of the old telegraph station.

There was the customary stop at the South Australian border for photographs before we set off across the gibberish plains again. Not long afterwards, the old Mt Dare windmill appeared on the horizon.

Mt Dare has always been a favorite place. The meals, hot showers and cold beers are always welcome.

As usual I woke to the first bird call and had two billies on the boil by the time the sky developed some colour. Everyone was up and about at sunrise enjoying the light display on the pillar.

Some elected to do a short walk amongst the dunes to take one last look at the fantastic rock formations.

We were underway again at 830 backtracking over the Charlotte Range and Hugh River to the Maryvale Store. We all took on a little fuel at quite a reasonable price before purchasing icecreams.

We had arranged for the Tijikaka art gallery to be open, where we enjoyed looking at some if the art objects created by these very creative people. We enjoyed chatting with an Arrente woman, who allowed me to practice some of my Pitinjitjara language skills while she taught me some Arrente words.

We then backtracked some more to Rodinga siding on the old Ghan railway line before setting off traveling along the bed if the old railway line for the better part of five hours.

Lunch was enjoyed at Bundoomba siding in the shade of the old cast iron water tank used to fill the steam locomotives that used to travel the track.

Pretty soon we found ourselves at the Finke river where everyone got their first taste of sand driving.

I think Paula was disappointed when I directed her to take an easier route up the southern bank, but we needed to stay on schedule, and the important lesson had been learned – deflate, deflate, then deflate some more. Paula would soon have plenty of sand driving practice.

We made our way through Finke then on to the Lambert Centre where we bush camped among the Mulga.

Once again I was disappointed to see campers had left cans in fire places. Hey people – aluminum and steel cans rarely if ever completely melt in camp fires. If you carry them in to a site, please carry them out!!!

It is always an exiting day when we depart Alice Springs for our 8 day tour of the Simpson. Today was twice as exciting because my Nissan decided to give some slight trouble, requiring a new brake caliper. Despite the mechanical issue, we departed on time and headed for the Old South Road.

When we started on the gravel, everybody was instructed about the footprint method of tyre management.

The old poles of the Overland Telegraph line marked our way southward to Ewaninga where the most amazing petroglyphs tell the stories of the old people.

From Ewaninga the spectacular colours of the landscape had everyone busy taking photographs. The desert oak lined sand ridges are beautiful.

We continued past Tijikala and on to the Chamber’s Pillar road. We crossed the ancient Hugh River where the 1870 construction crew gathered timber for the telegraph poles.

We gathered firewood before cresting the Charlotte Range where we were greeted by a spectacular view of Chambers Pillar about 8 kilometers away.

We continued over the sand ridges calling ahead on the radio until we reached our campsite at the foot of Chamber’s Pillar.

The camp here is one of the most picturesque we visit. The air is so clear that the light falling on the pillar and Castle Rock is and between the desert oaks has to be seen to be believed.

This part of the trip is always a long day but a great drive. It begins with a crossing if the Normanby River where I am amazed to see people standing knee deep in the water despite crocodile warning signs.

One feature of this road is a very heavy duty log bridge. A less likable feature is the bulldust created by the
Cook Shire Council’s efforts to improve the road. I wish they would leave it ealone.

We lunched at Wakooka before tackling the more interesting parts of the track which included a difficult climb out of
Sandy creek. We had to deflate tytes to climb out. Due to the repaired tie rod, we towed the Mazda up this bank.

Continuing over a range of different track surfaces we finally made it to good gravel road and to the Lions Den Hotel

This morning we towed Andrew’s Nissan in to Coen, and then returned for Wendy’s cruiser. Tests showed Wendy’s starter motor had failed. Thanks to Toyota’s ridiculous positioning of the starter, Wendy’s car had to be trucked south.

The rest of us headed south under our own steam, stopping at Musgrave for lunch.

From Musgrave we headed to Lakefield National Park, pausing at the billabong at Breeza outstation. Our challenge to raise funds for RFDS was to guess the number of mango trees at Breeza.

Kalpower crossing was our campsite for the night.

This morning the Disco started and drove on to the ferry no problems. We asked Ted and Juanita to drive in front of us all the way to Bamaga just in case they had further problems. We had not gone more than five kilometers when they stopped quickly saying they heard a loud woosh of air. We quickly determined that an intercooler hose had blown off, and soon had them underway again.

The next few days were spent exploring the cape, Thursday Island, and other places. Some people went fishing, and we all traveled as a group to the tip for a photo and celebratory drink.

We arrived at Loyalty beach to an wonderful ovation from all of the rest of the crew who were obviously pleased to see the Disco going again.

Nolan’s Brook turned out to be the biggest challenge of the trip, as it usually is. This year due to increased traffic it was more difficult than ever.

Ted’s Disco decided to misbehave, with all sorts of electrical issues which we could see was going to take us some so we sent the rest of the group on to the Jardine with just enough time to catch the last ferry. We did as much as we could to solve the electrical issues with the Disco, then towed it to the Jardine camp ground where it decided finally to operate properly.

We camped at the Jardine with Ted and Juanita while the rest of the crew camped at Loyalty Beach.

We enjoyed our time at the Dalhunty immensely. Yesterday Ted welded the tie rod adjuster for Craig’s Mazda at Bramwell Junction, so Craig had continued with us on the OTL witout any delay. We arranged via VKS737 to have a new tie rod adjuster ordered by Cape York Spares and Repairs with the hope that it would be at Bamaga when we arrived. I checked in via HF radio this morning to see how things were going, but there was no news.

We progressed along the OTL without incident, but the excitement was growing as we approached the notorious Gunshot Creek.

On arrival at Gunshot, we found the western entry to be the best choice, but once again the idiot brigade had been there with their logs. Once again with just a few shovels, we improved the entry point sufficiently to allow our vehicles access without risk of damage. A couple still required a small tow through the boggiest section, but we all managed to get through quite safely.

Sam creek proved to be our next challenge when Chris’ Disco II, sans centre diff lock got the front diff stuck on a rock in Sam Creek. Sam Creek is usually not a problem but the Landrover engineers who decided to leave the diff lock selector off the Disco II clearly had never been to Cape York.

After extracting the Disco we camped at Sam Creek.

We got away from the camp , crossed the Picturesque Archer River and soon we were travelling at a good pace on the PDR. We stopped for morning tea at Moreton Telegraph Station under the mango trees on the banks of the Wenlock River. We had been scheduled to stop the previous night at Moreton but were behind schedule. By lunch time we were at Bramwell Junction, ready to tackle the Overland Telegraph Line.

The first challenge on the OTL is Palm Creek, a rough and steep, descent into mud then water. As usual the idiot brigade had cut sections of logs and dropped them into the mud holes to provide high spots for the wheels thus improving clearance. After more than 30 years of off-road driving, I can tell you that such foolishness creates more hazards than it avoids and destroys vehicles. In fact, the next idiot I see putting logs in a mud hole, I’ll belt him over the head with the log- that’s a promise.

We removed every log we could see and in just a few minutes with six people manning shovels, we made the track passable yet still challenging for our group. So please people use crowbars and shovels to move earth, don’ t use logs. In order to drive home the point further, our second car “found” a log on the ascent and broke a tie-rod adjuster, thus rendering the steering useless. So please no more logs in mud holes.

The next creek crossing of significance was Ducie Ck which was a meter deep. We all managed to cross it without any incidents and after a few hours of great 4wding we found ourselves at our camp on the Dalhunty river.

The Dalhunty has esturine crocodiles, but safe swimming can be enjoyed above the falls I’m the shallows.