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In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance.
– Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands
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Madigan’s progress across the desert was slower than mine, but not much slower. Camels can traverse a landscape as brutal as the Simpson Desert at a steady rate of about 4km per hour. The LandCruiser only averaged double that through some sections, with photo stops, and never made much better than 20km in an hour.
His camps were largely equidistant from each other, but what interested me as I
journeyed further into the heart of the desert was the subtle changes I was experiencing in the landscape.
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Wattle bushes lined the track in full bloom. Wildflowers laced the ground in some valleys, changing colours and blooms with each new dune crest. Some troughs were featureless but for the spinifex, now in flower this far north, while others were rainbows of wildflowers if you looked close enough.
Nothing gives itself up in the desert very easily. The wildlife is so well camouflaged that you won’t see much move unless you’re up at night and persistent. She hides her secrets, the desert. You have to be looking if you’re going to find anything here.
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Perhaps that is why the desert is where men come to find meaning. It is a metaphor for the journey through life, the search that lives on.
The relationships between things out here seem simpler – the tendrils of the ecosystem less tangled than they are in a jungle. In the desert, on a surface level, you can count the disparate parts of the system on one hand it seems: eagle, camel, spinifex, termite, beetle. Unsurprisingly, this is a relatively new neighborhood for life. In geological terms, the desert has not been around that long, so the plants and animals that inhabit it are all relatively recent immigrants – they are still figuring out the rules of engagement through trial and error.
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This far north in the Simpson, the dunes remain brutal. The Colson Track, what looks to be my first relief from the endless climbing seems to be receding away into the horizon.
I spend another night in a stand of tall dead gidgee trees in the lee of the wind between 10m dunes. Their wan bare limbs reach up to the stars. The ground is getting redder as I travel further west. The wildflowers brighter and thicker. The northwestern Simpson Desert becomes gradually lusher, as deserts go, with every dune I cross now.
The last few Madigan camps are inconsequential, sometimes just a post in the ground. The desert slowly flattens, like a storm swell abating over a few hours, the waves losing punch and height, while the frequency increases. They are smaller, but more numerous.
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The lessons of the desert come slowly, they come around when you aren’t expecting them. As I doglegged down the Colson Track and out towards Madigan’s first two camps I felt the desert slipping away. Gibber plains began to wrestle with the smaller dunes for dominance of the eye. My old friend spinifex never gave up, but the flatness of the ground felt strange after the rolling swell of the dunes.
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Part of me was relieved. It had been an exhausting week crossing the desert, and soon there would be all of the trappings of civilization (that you can find in Alice Springs, at least). And yet I longed to return to the desert, to turn around, to slow down the slow accumulation of modern life that I knew was in front of me. I wanted the stars back, the endless spinifex mazes, the lizards and the silence and the incredible crayon reds and blues and greens of the desert.
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I had come here looking for something, and the desert had whispered her secrets to me. The desert doesn’t change you in ways you can feel. I knew its effects too well when I felt like I was leaving it, and I missed it. I missed the monotony, endlessness, the simplicity. I knew I was leaving the desert, but I also understood that the desert would never leave me.
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FAST FACTS
THE SIMPSON DESERT covers an area of approximately 176,500 km² across western Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Simpson is known as the world’s largest sand dune desert, and is home to the longest parallel sand dunes in the world, which are held in place by vegetation. It is located approximately 950km north of Port Augusta, and access is via the Stuart Highway, via Oodnadatta and Dalhousie Springs, or through Birdsville from the east.
CHARLES STURT is credited as the first European to see the Simpson Desert, after visiting the region between 1844-1846. Ted Colson was the first to cross it in its entirety, and Cecil Madigan led the first scientific expedition to cross the desert.
ACCESS to the Simpson Desert is limited by the fact that it is not crossed by any maintained roads. The most popular routes across the desert are via the French Line, the Rig Road and the QAA line. More difficult crossings, such as the Madigan Line, are also possible, and receive far less traffic.
A DESERT PARKS PASS is required for entry into the Simpson Desert Conservation Park and Regional Reserve, or to travel east of Mt Dare. The Desert Park Pass entitles 12 months of unlimited vehicle entry and camping fees to selected desert parks and costs $178. Passes can be purchased online at https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/booking
HIGH VISIBILITY SAFETY FLAGS must be mounted to the front of your vehicle when driving within the desert, as of March 2014. The desert is closed to visitors from 1 December through 15 March every year.
INNAMINCKA AND OODNADATTA provide access to the edge of the Simpson from the South Australian side, while Birdsville, Bedourie, Thargomindah and Windorah are the last outposts of civilization on the east. The Mt Dare Hotel is the last fuel stop when accessing the desert from the west.
THE END
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