The trip began with a drive West, through NSW and Broken Hill, and into South Australia. There were 6 cars in the convoy meeting in different parts of the countryside, with the final car joining us in  Wilpena Pound, S.A. Wilpena Pound is an amazing, scenic area in the Flinders Rangers and well worth the visit if you have time, with some great history, hikes, scenery and 4 wheel driving. We drove North then through South Australia and along the Oodnadatta Track, learning about the history of inland South Australian exploration and the original, now defunct Ghan Railway which was a huge feat of engineering in the mid 1850’s.

This route took us to the border of the Northern territory, where we loaded the fuel tanks and headed into the desert, for 4 days crossing the Simpson. The tracks were beautiful and the sand dunes were endless, with surprisingly plenty of greenery around after early season rains. Camping was cold with ice on the tents overnight!

We finished the Simpson desert with a customary run up ‘Big Red’ the largest sand dune at the end of the desert, and a short run into Birdsville, QLD.

The trip home meandered through QLD outback towns, checking out some great pubs and for the kids, a visit to the dinosaur museum.

A visit to Bourke (Mount Oxley) and Dubbo on  the way home rounded out a very memorable few weeks on the road.

Simon can be reached on 0404 444033 – Email : simon@rivierasydney.com.au