It is a major technical and logistical challenge to drive a vehicle across the Simpson Desert given its remote location and 1,100 parallel sand dunes.  But first you have to get there and for four of us that means driving from Sydney to Adelaide where we will meet the other 13 members of our group who will fly in and pick up their hired vehicles.  But of course we weren’t going to follow the best and easiest roads to Adelaide – we had bigger plans and some unexpected adventures waiting for us.

On our way we experienced one of those coincidences that defies belief.  After many months of research Julie and I had recently decided to buy a very specialised camper for some future travel plans.  The company that makes them is in California and recently shipped two campers to Australia for the first time.  And unbelievably, at a fuel station in a small Victorian town we saw one.  Its owners, Neil and Helen, were a little surprised to hear our story but were very generous in giving us a rare and unexpected chance to see what we had just ordered in California.  It’s a small world after all!

After our previous night at Murray Sunset National Park in north-western Victoria we entered nearby Hattah Kalkyne National Park, famous for the Murray River wetlands and vast tracks of Mallee scrub and River Red gums.  Feeling the need to stretch our legs a bit we walked the 7km return walk up Mt. Warepil to enjoy the lookout over the Mallee and the beautiful gums.  But the joy of the walk was the amazing large ant holes dug in the soft red sand and the sharp porcupine grass that covered the dunes.  Unique and strange flora and fauna survive in these harsh lands.

We camped that night with views of Mournpall Lake around a warm fire with a full moon under the huge branches of the awesome River Red gums that lined the lake.  These magnificent huge bulky gums have gnarly old trunks, large burls appending all parts, branches spreading in all directions, a very badass tree with huge attitude.  We loved them.

The next morning, cold and drizzly, we headed north back into New South Wales to Mungo National Park, famous for the discovery of the oldest human bodies – Mungo Man and Mungo Woman – in Australia at 26,000 years old and also containing evidence of human existence 45,000 years ago. This place had always been on our list and we had finally made it.

But the 80 km drive into the park was on a slippery muddy track and while we were there it continued to rain.  It looked like another cold, wet and miserable night, not inspiring for another night of camping.  But we now had the added risk of the road closing due to the rain or it being impassable for our mighty box trailer.  So with regret we left Mungo and drove the very slippery track back to civilisation.  There were some hairy moments with the fully loaded trailer on that slick and deeply muddy track.

We continued our slow and exploratory drive west towards Adelaide, stopping at the town of Wentworth where the mighty Darling and Murray Rivers merge, eventually camping on the banks of the Murray River in another national park just inside South Australia.  It was a beautiful still night, smoke lazily streaming from the fire, pelicans feeding in the river, the kites and cormorants flying overhead, a beautiful red-glow sunset on the opposite bank.  It is these special moments that keep us exploring the beautiful Australian bush.

From there we followed the Murray south across vast open plains with storm clouds visible all around us.  Eventually we dropped down to the river, crossing at Walker Flat via a nifty cable ferry, and began to make our way across the Adelaide Hills into Adelaide.

But the storm clouds moved in on us and by the time we reached the picturesque town of Mt. Pleasant it was anything but – rain was sleeting down, roads were flooded, cars carefully negotiating the narrow and winding roads that are usually filled with the people of Adelaide enjoying a weekend escape amongst the sandstone buildings, wineries, antiques and galleries.  But on this day it was very grim indeed.

In heavy rain we finally made Adelaide and camped at a pleasant campground, if somewhat soggy and muddy from the recent deluge.  By this time the four of us were a bit sodden by this climatic adversity and we sought refuge in a nearby pub for well-earned refreshments.  It was a cold and damp night – later we found out this was the coldest day in Adelaide for four years.

Over the next two days we ran chores, explored Adelaide, visited long lost friends and caught up on a few maintenance issues (like new brake pads for the hardworking Landcruiser).  That Saturday was the big day – when people would fly in from Sydney and California, pick up their hired four wheel drive vehicles and prepare for the big expedition across the Simpson Desert.

And as the day evolved everything fell into place better than expected, everyone arrived on schedule, the vehicles were in order, shopping was done and plans were put in place to launch this expedition the next day.  We were all particularly careful to be carrying enough of what we called The Big Three – that is, fuel, water and beer.  And to make it even better, blue skies had amazingly appeared and we stayed dry and warm that first night together camping on the outskirts of Adelaide.  Who could have imagined what lay in store for us in the two weeks to follow?