June 29, 2003
Revised Itinerary -- The Southern Lobe
Now that I've had my epiphany, it's time to sort out the exact details of our revised route, based in part on Vic Widman's recommendations and my personal experiences and research. I'll break it into two pieces, the Southern Lobe and the Eastern Lobe.
Southern Lobe
Route:
Starting from Alice Springs.
default route
Day 1: Alice Springs to Finke (Apatula) to Old Andado [Old Andado]
Day 2: Explore Simpson Desert around Old Andado [Old Andado]
Day 3: Old Andando Track back to Alice Springs [Alice Springs]
alternate route
Day 1: Alice Springs to Finke (Apatula) to Old Andado [Old Andado]
Day 2: Explore Simpson Desert around Old Andado [Old Andado]
Day 3: Old Andado to Mount Dare [Mount Dare]
Day 4: Explore Witjira/French Line [Mount Dare]
Day 5: Rejoin the Old Andando Track back to Alice Springs [Alice Springs]
Discussion:
The problem with the lobe is that the few (non-camping) accomodations available are at awkward locations. Finke, an Aboriginal community, has no accomodations for people. The three next nearest locations are Kulgera (148 km west), Old Andado Homestead (122km east), and Mount Dare ( 176km southeast)
Kulgera is the easiest to get to, but once there, then what? You have to take the stinky, boring Stuart Highway back to Alice Springs. It's a tedious, rubbish drive. There's nothing to see along the way. Furthermore, the area surrounding Kulgera is Anangu Pitjantjatjara Land -- a giant Aboriginal area where all roads and tracks are off limits to the public. So we couldn't even use Kulgera as a follow-on exploration base.
Mount Dare is at the tip of the Witjira National Park, full of hot springs and assorted ruins. This park is the western terminus of the infamous 'French Line' road that crosses 1100 sand dunes across the Simpson Desert. There would be plenty of stuff to see around here. The problem is that it's notionally 176km away, but I didn't take this leg when I was there in June. Figure a good trip along the Finke race route is going to be a very full day. This could easily be another 3-4 hour drive at night. I don't think it's a good idea. I'd rather make a push to along a track I already know. Which, unfortunately, resolves me to suggest we drive east to Old Andando Station.
This tiny little station is the easternmost dwelling on the western edge of the Simpson Desert. It's ostensibly a guest compound for tourists, but frankly, proprietor Molly Dare, historically heroic, is also monumentally ferocious. It's the best I can come up with though. It's sanely reachable from Finke, and it will serve as a reasonable base of exploration. (We can spend a day picking around the homestead and the surrounding Simpson Desert). Finally, the drive back to Alice is scenic and varied.
This lobe turns is a three day trip only (only? only!). It would be possible for us to add on a few days and more things to see. We'd leave Old Andando and head south to Mount Dare. Use Mount Dare as a base of exploration for one or two days to see Witjira National Park and the Simpson Desert. When we leave, we just push the whole way back up to Alice Springs in a single day. I drove from Finke to Alice Springs via Old Andado in one day (a farther trip) so it would be possible. Plus, all the roads would be familiar.
My Arbitrary Decision
We'll do the the extended-cut version of this trip. The Finke Race Track, two nights at Molly Clark's Lockdown, two nights at Mount Dare, and then a haul back to Alice. After a few days r&r in Alice, it'll be off for a three or four day trip around the Eastern Lobe.
I'll schedule some dates and make the bookings.