![Blowout]()
Blowout
The 53km of French Line from the Colson
intersection to the Erabena
intersection took an incredibly long time, for no other reason than the dune run ups are quite bumpy (thanks to people who don't let down their tyres enough). We turned right (south) at the Erabena
intersection and took the 50km to the
Lone Gum Tree, which is an interesting sight in the desert because no one knows how or why this huge gum tree is here as it's native territory is the claysoils of flood prone areas. The tree is actually on the
Rig Road.
After visiting the tree we backtracked up the Erabena and turned right (east) onto the WAA Line. Of all the tracks we crossed on the Simpson the WAA was the most difficult at the time due to "blowouts", sections of track that have eroded by wind around an obstacle (like a
rock or hard soil) resulting in gaping great holes right where one of your wheels should go! This photo shows a blowout in the shade of the spinifex. Not that they caused us any concern but we did take the diversion tracks around some of the particularly bad ones. For anyone travelling from the east to the west then this would cause greater concern as you wouldn't see them (only on the western approach). The height of the dunes on the WAA however are considerably less than those on the French Line.
After 6 hours of driving today we finally made it to the
intersection of the WAA and Knolls Track. The entire
Simpson Desert is fairly easily navigable by GPS/compass/sun direction or
track markers. You'll notice however, that some idiots have "souvenired" many of the
track markers making it a little more challenging to
check your position. This particular
intersection was a bit conflicting with our calculations and since the
intersection was not marked we continued on, unsure that we were at the right one. Our Westprint map and SA Parks Pass booklet did not show any tracks continuing further east past the
intersection but here was a track. After a few kilometres we turned back and it wasn't until quite a few more kilometres along the Knolls Track that we found the first marker confirming we were on the right road. So, please if you go to the desert DON'T TAKE THE MARKERS.
We'd just about had it for the day after almost 8 hours driving but we wanted to get to the
Approdinna Attora Knolls - two gypsum outcrops that were once the highest peaks in the desert. The atmosphere in this area is quite different to other parts of the desert, with a
salt lake (Lake Tambyn) and a significant gidgee forest providing the first option of shady camping