Alice Springs to Lyndhurst

we arrived in Alice Springs in the rain. It even would rain on in the next 3 days. A fact the locals enjoyed very much, which we in turn didn't like at all. This basically meant that any number of 4WD tracks would become closed. Thats what then happened. Our plans to cross the Simpson Desert literally fell in the water. So we had to cook up an alternative plan. We advanced our planned trip to Tasmania by 3 weeks. In order to get a look and feel for the Simpson Desert we decided to travel the old Andado track which would bring us from Alice Springs to Andado Station. From there we would then take the track to the Witjira Nationalpark and Mt. Dare Station and onwards to Dalhousie Springs onto the Oodnadatta Track towards Lyndhurst and the Strzelecki Track with Destination Melbourne to catch the ferry to Tasmania. we checked in Alice Springs if these roads were open and received a thumbs up.

The Old Andado track leads through some quiet diverse country after about 340 km to the new Andado Station. On the way we visited the Mac Clarke Reserve that features a rare species of tree. The Acacia Peuce (Waddy Tree). This type of Acacia grows as tall as 20m andactually has a fairly straight stemm for a change. The specialty of this tree is, that it can survive in codintions with less then 150 mm rainfall a year. Around 1000 of these trees are found in the Mac Clarke Reserve.In smaller numbers tehy also exist near Birdsville and another location in New South Wales. A pretty rare piece of wood indeed.

After staying the night over at Old Andado Station, we made our way towards Mt. Dare Station. A former cattle station that belongs to an aboriginal corporation these days which only caters to tourists these days. Mt. Dare is the last refueling stop before crossing the Simpson Desert. For the 85 km from Andado to Mt. Dare we took roughly 4 hours. Mainly due to the fact that the road was still flooded on many places. On a few occasons we had to explore on foot where we would drive best. Around 13.00 we arrived at Mt. Dare and found an astonished employee who didn't expect any guests today. The reason for that becoming instantly clear as he mentioned that all the roads in South Australia to Mt. Dare were closed. The border to the Northern Territory is only abou 15 km away. And the Northern Territory doesn't close roads. So we actually sneeked in through the back door. Today there was no hope of getting on. So we did the only sensible thing, we hit the bar. Bob mentioned that maybe tomorrow the roads would be opened up again. Later on in the afternoon, another party arrived. They were asking for assistance since they got bogged around 30km out of Mt. Dare in the morning and managed to free one vehicle so far. Bob went along with his winch to their rescue. These two parties weren't informed about the road closure either, since they were camping at Dalhousie Springs. By the way, if one is getting caught travelling on closed roads, fines of 1000 dollars per wheel will be applied.

Was we hoped, the road closure was lifted the next day and we were on our way to Dalhousie Springs. The road was in quiet good order with the exception of the odd mud hole. Basically these mud holes best are crossed by staying on the road and driving through them with enough momentum after one made sure that no holes or big rocks are hidden in these pools and that they are not too deep either. After such a crossing, the care usually can't be distinguished anymore from the mud pool. In some places, there are tracks leading around these mud holes. But these can obviously be soft as well, what one will not always recognise by walking over it.

At Dalhousie Springs we enjoyed a relaxing bath in the artesian springs. The water temperature ranges from 35 to 45 degrees depending on time of day and the season. From here as well the crossing of the Simpson Desert would start which unfortunately still was closed. That meant that we would head on towards Oodnadatta. Shortly before reaching oodnadatta, it was then our turn to get bogged. We tried to get around a pretty big pool and got bogged there. Luckily not too bad. The next our we spent with lifting our wheels out of the mud and putting stones under them. We eventually managed to free ourselves again.

From Oodnadatta we visited the Painted Desert, which features a long range of hills that look like they were painted in different colors. A quiet amazing sight. From there we headed to Coober Pedy, the australian Opal center where we replenished our stocks and then headed towards the Oodnadatta Track and on to Lake Eyre again. We did a little mud walk in Lake Eyre South and reached towards the evening Lyndhurst, the gateway for the Strzelecki track. Im südlichen Lake Eyre machten wir dann einen kleinen Mudwalk und erreichten gegen Abend dann Lyndhurst. Den Ausgangspunkt für den Strzelecki Track .