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Long Way Across for Childhood Cancer

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Day 12 Dalhousie Springs to the Simpson Desert Rig Road

The day we got to play in the sand :-)

Up early as there was some ruckus in the camp last night. Matt the “A” snorer lived up his usual hillbilly country music and Stones green ginger wine bender all night and then let rip with one of the best snoring sessions ever! Tony dragged his swag yet again out of the impact zone and in the process offered his spanking new Lows menswear leather urban look thongs and work pants to the local Dingo. Tony thought these “don’t feed the Dingo” signs made a great towel dryer and it wasn’t until the morning he realised why these were here.

As we broke camp so did the other 14 cars from the tag along tour. This made for some passing up until they had a problem with their lead vehicle and we were heading East and into the Simpson. The road out of Dalhousie was a cracker, fast flowing with the added danger of huge bulldust holes. You can actually see them on Google Earth and once you hit one, you know exactly what to look for the next time.

The Simpson starts about 70ms from Dalhousie and this is where the fun begins. We stopped at all the land marks, Freeth Junction, Purnie Bore and then we entered the Simpson. This is what we have planned for over the last 2 years. Perfect clear days, perfect weather and a full tank of petrol……..

We were loving the dunes, they start off small and gradually get bigger. Shaymo was feeling the heat and didn’t tell us that the fall at the petrol bowser yesterday really hurt his ankle and he was struggling a little in the soft sand. After about 50kms of epic dunes we hit the intersection of the French Line and the Rig Road. A perfect time for some ice cold oranges from the fridges and some lunch to refuel for the rest of the day. We are taking the longer route around the rig road to spend some more time in the desert and also see the Lone Gum Tree.

Travelling along the rig road was a little disappointing as you actually travel parallel with the dunes and not over them. It’s still an awesome ride, but you tend to ride at a quicker pace and the day goes too fast.

Next quick stop was at Lynnie Junction and then onto an abandoned oil well in the middle of the biggest clay pan. We only had 40kms to go to get to camp and Shaymos ankle was killing him. We rounded the bend to face the dunes once again and the mighty Tenere seized any and every opportunity to unload the rider. Shaymo was beating himself up, cursing only like an Irish man can and blurted out “I love her to bits, but she is trying to kill me” “Give me a minute will you lads?” “She take anymore Captain”

I think Shaymo was more concerned about the grilling he will cop on the interview bench tonight than how sore his ankle was. The sand was really deep and heavy going at the end of the day and we camped in the middle of two big sand dunes.

As this was one of our early set up times we had ample time to take a wash in 600mls of bore water each and have a good walk around the dunes and the absorb the picturesque scenery. Troy took some great photos while Stat once again was on dinner duties and he didn’t disappoint once more.

Casualties for the day:

Stat, Wishes he fixed the bikes stand before shipping his bike

Troy, Radiator still leaking, might be terminal?

Scott, Only thing to report was he had crusty boogers

Robbo, Loving the Simpson

Shaymo, Ankle needs to be pinned, 8 low speed lay downs, major cursing

Tony, Wondering why the bikes won’t slow down a little?

Matt, Wishes he had a 400EXC

Boys "A Dingo Stole My Thong" Tonys first words