Day 11. Tuesday October 11th. 124KMS WEST OF DALHOUSIE to DALHOUSIE SPRINGS

Tuesday October 11^th – ABOUT 124KMS WEST OF DALHOUSIE to DALHOUSIE SPRINGS

Well today saw me up early to have another go at the blog, with work on the previous days news and some sorting of photos.

A really fantastic sunrise, with heaps of clouds of various shapes sizes and textures providing a canvas for colors ranging from greys, blues, through to pinks and purple, really a great site. Steve and Reve were up to view the sunrise.

This Sunrise on the clouds was amazing, kept changing for ages

The only tree in the campsite, was lit up progressively as the sun rose,
with the red of the dune behind.

and again, a bit less shadow on the trunk.

Steve getting the ideal shot.

 The usual morning rigamarole, with fire to light, rubbish to burn, breakies to eat, dishes to do and all the gear to pack up and put away.

Reve burning the rubbish.

Today would be our final day in the Simpson, with the dunes getting a bit smaller, though closer together. We also determined the plan for the trip home...sort of.

The next set of photos are a range of the flora we saw today.

another sort of lizard

great patterns

another flower

we were slowly getting further away from Birdsville...no sense rushing it.

 We stopped for lunch at Purni bore.

the pump cage? and pipe running out of it.

Given we had tackled the Simpson from West to East we were travelling over the dunes in the reverse direction to most people. The prevailing winds tend to blow and develop a lip at the top of the dunes, which we were approaching from the steeper side, which means picking the best line up the dune, following the track. Once at the very tip, though the wind has blown away tyre tracks and you have to sort of balance on top, with a windscreen full of sky, before tipping over to determine which way the track actually goes, a challenge for the lead vehicle, but great fun once you figure out how to do it.

We all took our turns as leads over the Simpson and got to appreciate most positions in the convoy from lead vehicle to tail end Charlie, which is pretty relaxing as you tend to amble along at the back and get to see what is going on with the front vehicles.

There is also a trend at the moment for more and more camper trailers to be towed through the Simpson, this is a problem as the pull and drag of the trailer tends to cause the vehicles to dig into the sand and create quite distinct‘scallops’ in the track. Coming down these from our directions causes a heap of what we call “woop de doos” where you can bounce along the downhill side of the dunes.

After a few too many ‘woop de doos’ poor old Ska developed a bit of a shocker leak, which although VERRRRY annoying, has not done the damage that was experienced last year.

So on we went with very little oil in our front right shock.

Spring Creek - A creek along the way...

Interesting cloud formation over Spring Creek

Looking up Spring Creek

 Our destination today was a much awaited Dalhousie Springs, where we planned to camp the night, finally cook that second roast and get rid of the wood John had been carrying since Leigh Creek AND have access to a campground with water and showers again, although the showers were cold, this is more than made up for by the HOT mound spring. This is basically a big dam filled with clear, clean and hot water, in which you can swim and generally loll about. So thats what we did, arrived at camp selected our spot, off for a magnificent swim in the very warm water, then back to camp for a drink or two, with boys on duty for roast and the girls setting up the tables etc for the ‘grand roast’ night.

The crew having been for a swim and washed our dirty clothes...all in one go.

back to camp for some drinks and nibblies.

Puffed up Crested Pigeon

Honeyeater

Boys working on the roast vegies

The meet is looking pretty damn good.

Meg offering a little help

Vegies in.

Sunsetting.

"Who's gonna make the gravy?" Good job Dad.

the "grand roast" a long table for everyone, with candles etc...
and lots of Mozzies, isn't that right Ro?

We saw our first Dingo in the campground along with a cute little mouse and heaps of Crested Pigeons and a honeyeater.The hot springs also play host to little fish – Dalhousie Goby which nibble at your legs (cleaning up the dirt and dust we reckon)

the Dingo passing through the campground, reckon he smelt the roast.

Anyway following swims and late roast we had a few more drinks  (cowboys, scotch) and chocolate until the wee small hour of a little after MIDNIGHT, this was a really late night.