Simpson Desert Trip July 2010 (2nd Attempt)

[Dave]

Cool! As I said during the trip, if it is possible to burn photos to disk and send them for handing around at a club meeting...

I have filled a disk with the best of my photos and burned 8 copies. I'll hand them round next weekend so every 'vehicle' can have a copy.

Dave

[Dave]

We were not alone...

Family spends three nights trapped in ute

SMH

A family of four spent three nights stranded in their ute after ignoring warning signs and following their GPS navigation system onto a closed dirt road in the NSW far north-west.
Police said the family of four, including two teenage boys, were travelling with their dog across Australia, between Brisbane and Perth.
They followed their GPS navigation system onto the popular and picturesque Darling River Road but ignored numerous signs indicating the road was closed due to heavy rainfall.

The family's ute and trailer eventually became bogged about 40 kilometres north-east of the town of Wilcannia.
The family called police but were forced to wait three nights before emergency services could reach them.
Police said rescuers braved "extremely difficult and treacherous" road conditions to rescue the family and their dog, finally reaching them about 8pm yesterday.
The Darling River Road is a 700km route along mostly dirt roads that traces the Darling River through the NSW outback between the towns of Bourke and Wentworth.
It is a popular trail among travellers but is known to become dangerous in wet conditions.
An information website maintained by the Central Darling Shire and updated the day before the family became bogged shows the road between Tilpa and Wilcannia is closed.
The Shire council also operates a 24-hour road condition telephone hotline.
Most tourism information websites warn that "4WDs are recommended because rain can transform the road surface into a mudbath in a matter of hours".
Police warned travellers to abide by road closures, take extra care on the road during periods of bad weather and use common sense when using in-car navigation devices.

[sbadman]

Cool! As I said during the trip, if it is possible to burn photos to disk and send them for handing around at a club meeting...

I have filled a disk with the best of my photos and burned 8 copies. I'll hand them round next weekend so every 'vehicle' can have a copy.

Dave

Don't forget a copy for Mr Editor to go with the report from Mr Jaffas

[glend]

What happened with the Trip Report?

BTW - all the northern SA tracks are completely closed again due to yet another major rain event, including the William Creek side stranding of over 100 people. SA Roads have all the tracks that we used closed including the Birdsville track and the ferry service.

http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/quick...oads/area1.asp

Here is a link to the story about the William Creek stranding:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...22/2990141.htm

So much for the dry season!

[Dave]

Wow, I still think we did well. If we had gone later it could (would) have been worse. Thanks for the update Glen, I had stopped looking.

I hope Jaffas has sent his 3 part epic off to the magazine, but I have not heard from him in a few weeks. Scott may know more...

Dave

PS See what you mean, didnt make the magazine that arrived Tuesday...