Simpson Desert Trip, Australia – In Progress

Today I am meeting up with a man who I have never met. I will be taking his Land Rover and driving it nearly 3000km across five of Australia’s seven states from Melbourne, across the Simpson Desert to Alice Springs for him. Sounds odd doesn’t it?

Lets back track a little. I got talking to Callum some time before our trip last year via email as he himself had done a similar route in his Land Rover 110. We exchanged emails for some time and then it all went quiet since we arrived. Out of nowhere Callum was looking for someone to drive his other Land Rover (a Defender 90) as a support vehicle for him and three of his two wheeled buddies across the Simpson (more affectionately known as ‘Simmo’). I managed to secure the time off work and so the preparation began, which turned out to be very little on my part.

Leaving Melbourne we will be heading north to Broken Hill to meet up with the other guys coming across from Sydney, then onto Innamincka, across the Corillo Downs Plain and finally Birdsville. From Birdsville we will head out west across the Simpson’s steepest and biggest sand dunes toward Poeppel’s Corner before turning North onto the remote Hay River Track. Traversing 600km through the Simpson’s most remote areas we will follow the faint line of the Hay River until we will finally reach Jervois before taking the road toward Alice Springs.

All being well I will catch my flight back to Melbourne on the 26th July. Stay tuned on Facebook for desert sunsets, starry night skies, red sand dunes  and more importantly to see if I make my flight!