Day 6 - Simpson Desert - Poeppel Corner - South Australia

Day 6 - We woke up in the morning and watched the sunrise before starting our trek towards and through the dunes of the Simpson Desert on the QAA Line. The Simpson is the driest region of Australia and it is a dunal desert - a sea of parallel red sand ridges around 300-500 kilometres long covering a total area of 170,000 square kilometres.

We reached Poeppel Corner the junction in which South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory meet. It took us eight hours to cover 200 kilometres before we set up our next camp in the middle of the desert.

Sunrise from a dune looking over our camp near Big Red.

Looking down on our camp site.

A wind storm actually picked up the night before knocking our tent right on us. The main pole and a few picks came out. Good times.

Sunrise in the desert.

Looking over the vast desert.

Larry and Natalie fixing a pole to the Land Cruiser. The pole along with UHF radio gives oncoming traffic the heads up as you travel over the huge dunes.

Looks good enough.

Entering the official border of the Simpson Desert.

This motorcycle most have broken down and then been stripped probably both by the weather and by passer-by's.

Heading up a dune. It may not look like much but pictures are deceiving.

You would have to pick up you speed and enjoy the bumpy ride up each dune. Pictures were even fun to take!

A bit of a sandstorm in the distance.

There are salt lakes throughout the desert.

Poeppel Corner the junction in which South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory meet.

Augustus Poeppel, a surveyor for South Australia reached the meeting place of three states in 1880. This is a repelica of the original coolabah tree trunk marker. Originally it was place in Poeppel Lake which was 15 chains and 75 links (274m) west of its present location, as Poeppel's survey chain had lengthened one inch (2.5cm) from wear and heat. He had dragged the peg 92km by camel across salt lakes and sand hills from the Mulligan River area.

In 1883-84, Larry Wells resurveyd the border and re-located it to where it is today. This conrete pipe represents the intersection of the 26th Parallel with the 138th Meridian. From this point, the South Australia/Northern Territory border ran east across the Simpson Desert and the Queensland/Northern Territory border ran due north to the Gulf of Carpenteria.

Stuck in the sand.

Mick doing his good deed of the day by pulling out his couple's vehicle.

Looking at were we just came from.

Our camp site for night two from a dune in the Simpson. We literally slept in the middle of nowhere. There is a beautiful stillness and silence to the desert.

Our camp site

We sat, had a drink and watched the sunset.