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| 13-24 May 2009 12 Days Adelaide - Alice Springs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If youare are a passenger in our vehicles:
$3800.00 AUD per person If you tagalong in either your vehicle or a vehicle that you hire: $2000.00 AUD per person |
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| Click Here to book a place on this expedition |
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Words cannot describe the beauty of Lake Eyre – vast, surreal, it is a place that has attracted great Australian artists like Storier, Olsen and Williams to return over and over again. This expedition takes in the wilds of the Tirari Desert and the Lower Cooper from a base at Etadunna Station on the Birdsville Track. We then head north across the Warburton River into the Simpson Desert. Leaving Poeppels Corner we take the path less travelled northward along abandoned oil exploration roads to Kilpatha Native Well and Beachcomber Oil Well. From here we cross sand dunes to the terminus of the Hay River, soaked up by the sands of the Simpson. As we head north the pink sandy bed of the Hay River becomes more obvious, with stunning stands of River Red Gums. We visit the blazed tree where Cecil Madigan made his Camp 16 during his 1939 expedition and continue north to spectacular Lake Caroline. Our final camp on the Hay includes a drive out to view sunset on the awe inspiring and remote Goyder’s Pillar. We then travel via the Plenty Highway to end in Alice Springs. |
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| Itinerary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Day
1 The convoy departs Adelaide and travels north to Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf. After refuelling we continue north up the Stuart Highway to Woomera. We visit the Rocket Park and tour the town before continuing to camp at Lake Mary. L D C M P |
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Day 2 After inspecting the modern mining town of Roxby Downs we travel to the Opal mining town of Andamooka, which still has a frontier feel to it. The historic old town is wonderful, with its incredible pioneer cottages. With a permit from Mulgaria Station, we travel on station tracks out to the northernmost tip of Lake Torrens. B L D C M P |
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Day
3 |
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| Day 4 We head to the former site of the Bethesda Lutheran Mission at Killalpaninna, and explore the ruins hearing about the extraordinary clash of cultures that occurred here during the fifty years the Lutherans administered to the Dieri people. We take private station tracks west via Lake Florence and Georgia Bore into the heart of the Tirari Desert to our base camp for exploring the lower Cooper. B L D C |
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| Day
5 A full day spent exploring this remarkable area, where the white bed of the Cooper cuts through the sand hills of the Tirari Desert. Deposited in the river bed are tertiary fossils including tortoise shells, fish bones and other relics of a time when the climate was very different. There are also spectacular gypseous outcrops, saline water holes and endless stunning landscapes B L D C |
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| Day 6 We return to the Birdsville Track and turn north, shortly crossing the Cooper. We travel through Mulka Station, which records Australia's lowest average rainfall. At Mungerannie there is the chance for a shower. We continue north on to Clifton Hills Station, the largest on the Birdsville Track. We turn off onto the K1 Line - an oil exploration road that marks the start of our south-north crossing of the Simpson Desert. B L D C S P |
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| Day 7 We visit Poeppel Corner, the tri state border between Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia. From here we are on the road less travelled. Our track crosses Lake Poeppel and winds through valleys lined with Gidgee Trees as we make our way north to Kilpatha Native Well. Whilst the well was destroyed by oil exploration parties hoping to tap into its aquifer, the area is an archaeological site of immense significance, and holds clues to how the Wangkangurru people lived in one of the harshest environments on the continent. There are the remains of a wiltja that we know was constructed over 100 years ago, as the Wangkangurru left the Simpson Desert in 1901. We continue north to the site of the Beachcomber Well and commence an eastward section over the sandhills. B L D C |
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| Day8 The dunes are becoming a deeper red the further north we travel -largest dunes of our crossing are encountered on this section. As the track winds northward we start to see the odd stunted coolabah, evidence that we are coming closer the southernmost section of the Hay River. We visit Camp 16, where in 1939 Cecil T Madigan blazed a tree to signify his camp during his historic crossing of the Simpson Desert. B L D C |
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| Day 9 The track winds northward along the riverbed of the Hay, past spectacular stands of majestic River Red Gums. The river bed is now becoming more defined the further north we travel. We detour to visit spectacular Lake Caroline, a vast red claypan B L D C |
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Day 10
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| Day 11 We depart Atnetye Aborignal Lands and visit Jervois Station, owned by the Broad family who also have Etadunna. There is a small shop here, and the chance to have a shower. We continue on along the Plenty Highway for our final camp. B L D S C |
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| Day 12 We travel west to meet the Stuart Highway. Southward we cross the Tropic of Capricorn and the highway's highest point above sea level before arriving in Alice Springs hotels mid morning and the end of an incredible adventure B P M |
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| Code: B=Breakfast L=Lunch D=Dinner C=Camping Accommodation S=Shower or Swim M=Cell Phone Reception P=Public Telephone |
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| Further Information and Resources | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Download Here a printable itinerary Passengers Download Here a triplist to see what you need to bring (.pdf 443k) Self Drive participants download here a triplist to see what you need to bring (501k) |
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Suggested Further Reading Bonython E. (1985) Where the Seasons Come and Go. Illawong |
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Program Includes: Program Excludes: Self Drive Participants: Self-drive participants are required to assist by carrying up to three cartons or packages of food for common use and a Jerry can, with water, for use in the kitchen. |
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