the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert. They were certainly the first females to achieve this and were maybe the first ever to walk the entire distance.This extreme undertaking was to raise funds and awareness for the Heart

Foundation.

Their walk, covering 520 kms of extremely remote desert, took just 17 days. The walk was started at North Bore Old Andado in the Northern Territory and was finished at the eastern base of Big Red the highest Sand dune in the Simpson

Desert, just out of Birdsville in Queensland. Although there was a track it has been rarely used and was frequently hard to find. It was often almost as difficult for the three, four-wheel-drive vehicles and their support crew as for the walkers.

The Simpson Desert did its best to deter them with one day reaching a temperature of 52 degrees C, another 51 degrees, and more than half in the mid to high forties. In addition the sand storms that engulfed Sydney and Brisbane

As well as helping to make everyone aware of the need for research into heart disease during the walk they were able to more directly save the lives of three travellers who had taken a wrong turn and were completely lost. They could not

believe their eyes when they saw “two Sheilas” out for a walk and thought they must have travelled on to a property. Although they were competent four wheel drivers they had travelled east to west on the Madigan Line by mistake. The

hundreds of sand dunes which need to be crossed form a saw tooth pattern which makes for long steady climbs from west to east with very steep descents making the east to west passage extremely difficult. When we reached them we

had used about 70 litres of fuel each and they only had 50 litres in each of their two vehicles. What is more they had no HF radio or satellite phone, no GPS and no adequate map to guide them. They were a hundred or more kilometres north

of where they were expected to be and their chances of survival would have been slim if we had not met them to direct them to safety and to inform of their whereabouts through the Four Wheel Drive HF Radio Network. We heard

through the HF radio that they made it. At Madigan Camp 11 there is a visitors book in which they had written they were lost. (They actually told us they had written in a book at camp 10). We were pleased to be able to write that they had

been found. The previous entry was for May 2009 – not many people travel the track.

We effectively started from Mount Dare Hotel getting there via overnight stops at Woomera and Algebuckina. The drive from Mount Dare followed the Bins Track which entertained us with some sections of deep bull dust and quite a variety of

scenery. We looked over the Old Andado homestead then headed for Old Andado North Bore, start of the Madigan.

information bay for the park. It seemed from the map that you just followed the boundary fence. The ladies walking could, but they had to climb through a very substantial fence. After a lot of driving on scouting expeditions we found the way

on to the other side of the fence right back at the North Bore. At the next major way point, the East Bore, there were a number of ill-defined tracks including cattle tracks. We luckily selected the right one first time which first

goes through a gate then turns quite sharply NW. That track started to follow a fence line but the map shows a turn to the left and the walkers who were ahead found a gap in the fence with wheel tracks going in the right direction. We followed

We backtracked and found that by following the original fence past the break we came out on the other side of the obstructing fence. The track however was far from easy to follow and this was where we first found out the discrepancy between

the Magellan and Garmin GPSs. Having found Camp 1 marker it was a little easier to find the way to Camp 1A. There was only one detectable track. The track to Camp 2 was almost reasonable and it was great to get an early view

direction. We should have taken a track off to the right before reaching the twins.

From the Pivot we crossed the well vegetated Hale River Flood Plain with a few dunes and then hit the spinifex covered swales between dunes. This was where we really started to get used to travelling in 2nd or 3rd low stopping periodically to

control the side to side pendulum action and testing thoroughly springs and shocks. Maximum speed was not much greater than the walkers. A major milestone was reached when we came to and crossed the Colson

Track. This track is closed to the north of this point where it enters the Pmere Nyente Aboriginal Lands for which the Central Land Council will not issue entry permits. A couple of hours later we crossed another well made track going northsouth,

Camp 11 is on a claypan and has a visitors book in a protective steel box. We filled in details of our expedition and advised of the safety of the lost travellers - the previous entrants in the book. I attached a . I attached a cloth ORVC badge to join other

Camp 15 is at the intersection of the Hay River Track which we followed south to Camp 16 where the Madigan again turns off to the east. That section of the track follows the (dry) Hay River bed through beautiful trees and had a surface

which seemed like that of a super highway. It appears our lost souls got on to the Hay River Track after crossing Poeppel Lake on the QAA Line – not turning left towards the French Line. When they got to Camp15 they saw a track going

west and that is when their troubles started.

Our map advised that Queensland National Parks Service would not allow travellers through the Simpson Desert National Park on the Madigan Line (that is between Camps 17 and 19). This was not the information I had received

prior to leaving home so we checked through VKS and found that as long as we had permission from the owners of Adria Downs Station (which I had obtained) there was no problem.

The National Park was typical of the dune country we had experienced including the Moguls in the swales and soft sand caps on the dunes, but there were also some excellent views from the dunes.

At Camp 19 we had left the Park and were on Adria Downs Station and here we experienced a real novelty when we hit the Mulligan Flood Plains with water lying about. In the lead I decided that I would be able to make it across some

shallow water. I was wrong – I made the mistake of following sone wheel tracks and became bogged in knee deep water and mud. No problem, I decided , I’d winch myself out. There was even a nice deep pit spare wheel size directly in

front made for the job. To cut a long story short the bolt which locates the lug on the winch cable to the drum had disappeared so the winch drum rotated but the cable stayed where it was. Steve winched me out backwards and we found

a way around the water, fixing up my winch during the lunch break when we were high and dry. There were a number of wide swales with quite lush vegetation and we relied on the walkers’ assessment of how firm the track was

for the rest of the morning.

We never found Camp 20. There was a lot of water and all our GPSs indicated that Camp 20 was somewhere in the water. This created another problem in that we needed to use Camp 20 as a marker to find the rest of the track. There

were a lot of tracks but none of them seemed to be going in the right direction and in the end we decided to take a relatively well defined track that was going south, the direction we needed to go. The only problem was that it tended

towards the west and we were fairly sure that we were on the wrong side of Eyre Creek. David’s GPS was showing us that we were travelling parallel to but to the west of the Madigan Track with Eyre Creek in between. At last the

Ladies walking ahead radioed that the track had taken a sharp left turn and they were heading directly towards Camp 21. As we caught up we found the track was going east and we crossed a couple of dunes. Then ahead was

some really lush vegetation with flowers growing higher than the roof of the cars. The exuberance was quickly quelled when we suddenly came to Eyre Creek; at that point a couple of hundred metres across, steep muddy

banks, almost certainly deep and clearly no place to cross.

After scouting around for a way through we came to the conclusion that we would either have to go back to the vicinity of Camp 20 (25 kms) and have another go at finding the right track or look for a crossing to the south. We

had seen a bit of a track going south just before we got into the dense vegetation and we were aware that to our south we would ultimately intersect the Eyre Creek Flood Diversion Track from the QAA line –

obviously that must be able to get across Eyre Creek. After a conference we decided to make use of Steve’s satellite phone and ring the Birdsville Police for advice. The Policeman got in touch with the Ranger and rang us

back recommending that we go back 2kms to a track going south – following that would get us to a section near Annandale Homestead ruins where it was possible to cross. The track barely 500m in was probably the

right one but having sought advice we felt we should take it but there was no track 2kms in, or for that matter up to 4 kms, so at the 2kms point we headed south across a daisy covered swale with only the likely intersection

of the flood diversion track as a guide. We eventually came to a fence and found a break in it and Steve went ahead to our assumed way point. At this time over the UHF came a call for travellers on the Madigan. The

Policeman and the Aboriginal Ranger from Birdsville had come out to guide us across Eyre Creek.

We had to back track towards Annandale and suddenly there ahead of us was the Police 4WD on top of a dune. They were aware that we were well prepared and not in trouble but I’m sure it made a pleasant break

 for both the Policeman and the Ranger to get out in the bush. Anyway after friendly exchanges they told us to follow them. The Ranger suggested going round the dune, the Policeman was driving and decided to go over the dune

getting himself well and truly bogged. After we had snatched him off we went round the dune followed them across country till we got to the Madigan Track. We went back up the track to Camp 21. The ladies had

walked there with only the Creek in the way and although they had spent some time in the vehicles getting to that point on the right side of Eyre Creek, had walked more than 30 kms beforehand that day. We had a

magnificent camp on the shore of Eyre Creek including a swim in the Creek.

The next day the ladies set out walking south on the right track although about 15 kms out we came to an intersection where we turned left. We were letting the walkers go ahead for 30 minutes so Steve drove up the

right hand track and very soon came to the point he had reached prior to the call from the Police. We were so nearly at the point of solving our own problem!

After that the track was well defined and well maintained as a station track. There were some interesting dunes still to cross and the weather decided to add an extra dimension. We had become accustomed to high temperatures

but a couple of days away from finishing, at lunch the wind started to really increase and with it came a spectacular sand storm. We had visibility down to about 10 metres but still the ladies kept walking. We afterwards saw TV

coverage as the sand that had gone through us deposited first on Sydney and Brisbane and then Auckland. That night we made a barrier of our vehicles and pitched the tents behind them. The wind did drop that night but

started all over the next day just as bad.

It was an emotional finish at Big Red where we were joined by some other drivers just out to conquer the dune. It was also an excellent way for the support crews to wind down “playing” on Big Red. All the drivers conquered

the dune including Wendy who was determined to do so on this trip having nearly made it on the last time I had led them out there on my Mystery Tour. This was probably one of the toughest but most satisfying FWD trips and

supporting roles I have had and I would like very much to thank Steve, Wendy and David for their huge contribution as well as congratulating Gill and Donna for their unbeleivable acheivement.

Keith Plastow.