Simpson Desert - Day 13, French Line to QAA Line 29/06/2017
This morning we were greeted by beautiful clear skies, although it didn't rain overnight everything was covered in a very heavy dew and it took longer than I would have liked to get the awnings and Roof Top tent to an acceptable level of dryness to pack up. The plan for today was to get through the rest of the chopped up French Line have lunch at Poeppel Corner and then move onto the QAA Line to find somewhere to camp.
We had been warned about the state of the French Line which is why we dropped down onto the WAA Line and the warnings were all spot on, it was very slow going with lots of twisty dune climbs that were full of scallops and holes from where 4wds have been bogged or bouncing up the dunes in an attempt to get over them. We had our tyre pressures down around 18 PSI and I found that the slow and steady approach worked best for us, using 2nd gear low range to crawl up and down the dunes. I only had to back down a few dunes for a second attempt and on most occasions it was because of lack of attention or incorrect gear choice.
After 40km of the French Line we crossed Lake Poeppel and visited the corner post for the obligatory photo and signing of the visitor book. We had a quick lunch and then moved onto the QAA line which was in much better condition and far better to drive on. The landscape changes here with the dunes moving further apart with much bigger swales in between but with this the dunes get bigger too. The climbs and descents are still badly scalloped with massive holes but our technique of slow and steady served us well. Around 5pm we started looking for a campsite and we managed to find as nice spot amongst some trees to shelter us from the strong southerly winds.
Distance Travelled - 82km.
We had been warned about the state of the French Line which is why we dropped down onto the WAA Line and the warnings were all spot on, it was very slow going with lots of twisty dune climbs that were full of scallops and holes from where 4wds have been bogged or bouncing up the dunes in an attempt to get over them. We had our tyre pressures down around 18 PSI and I found that the slow and steady approach worked best for us, using 2nd gear low range to crawl up and down the dunes. I only had to back down a few dunes for a second attempt and on most occasions it was because of lack of attention or incorrect gear choice.
After 40km of the French Line we crossed Lake Poeppel and visited the corner post for the obligatory photo and signing of the visitor book. We had a quick lunch and then moved onto the QAA line which was in much better condition and far better to drive on. The landscape changes here with the dunes moving further apart with much bigger swales in between but with this the dunes get bigger too. The climbs and descents are still badly scalloped with massive holes but our technique of slow and steady served us well. Around 5pm we started looking for a campsite and we managed to find as nice spot amongst some trees to shelter us from the strong southerly winds.
Distance Travelled - 82km.
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