Simpson Desert - Day 12, WAA Line to French Line 28/06/2017
After a pretty restless night Anna and I got up a little earlier than usual and started packing up, the rain had stopped a few hours earlier and we wanted to get our gear packed up before it got wetter. Unfortunately the next lot of rain arrived while we were packing up the Roof Top Tent and I wasn't happy being up on the roof in the rain packing up a wet tent.
Once we were in the warm dry car we set off for the day, after the next couple of dunes we soon realised that we had chosen a very good campsite for the previous night. The next few swales must have had more clay in them as there was heaps of standing water in between the dunes, what a fluke.
Today's driving was slow going averaging between 15 and 20km per hour, the track wasn't difficult and we are yet to get bogged but the dunes are quite badly rutted and scalloped. We hadn't originally planned to drive the WAA line but after speaking to other travellers and Dave at the Mount Dare Hotel we chose this way as its apparently in much better condition than the French Line.
After lunch somewhere on the side of the track we came to the end of the WAA line and turned north on the Knolls Track on the way to re-join the French line. Just before the intersection of the Knolls Track and the French Line we came to Attora Knolls and it was a good opportunity to get out of the car and stretch the legs. From the top of the Knoll you get beautiful views out over the desert.
We turned east onto the French Line and were immediately greeted by a convoy of 12 vehicles heading west which was more cars than we had seen in total since leaving Dalhousie Springs. Aside from the weather we enjoyed the WAA Line, it was different from the Rig Road and you can definitely tell its the least used track which suits us just fine.
Distance Travelled - 103km.
Once we were in the warm dry car we set off for the day, after the next couple of dunes we soon realised that we had chosen a very good campsite for the previous night. The next few swales must have had more clay in them as there was heaps of standing water in between the dunes, what a fluke.
Today's driving was slow going averaging between 15 and 20km per hour, the track wasn't difficult and we are yet to get bogged but the dunes are quite badly rutted and scalloped. We hadn't originally planned to drive the WAA line but after speaking to other travellers and Dave at the Mount Dare Hotel we chose this way as its apparently in much better condition than the French Line.
After lunch somewhere on the side of the track we came to the end of the WAA line and turned north on the Knolls Track on the way to re-join the French line. Just before the intersection of the Knolls Track and the French Line we came to Attora Knolls and it was a good opportunity to get out of the car and stretch the legs. From the top of the Knoll you get beautiful views out over the desert.
We turned east onto the French Line and were immediately greeted by a convoy of 12 vehicles heading west which was more cars than we had seen in total since leaving Dalhousie Springs. Aside from the weather we enjoyed the WAA Line, it was different from the Rig Road and you can definitely tell its the least used track which suits us just fine.
Distance Travelled - 103km.
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