AG Outdoor | 91some gear so there was easy access to cameras
and lenses. We also divided up the supplies more
evenly between the three vehicles.
We fi nally got away and made a good pace to
Andado and then on to our fi rst camp together at
Old Andado homestead. If you haven’t been here
before, make sure you take your time to have a
poke around Molly Clark’s incredible homestead.
It’s been preserved like she only walked out the
door for a run into town and back, and is a real step
back in time.
With a decent start the following morning, we
made for Madigan’s Camp 1. There was a little con-
fusion near Mac Clark Conservation Reserve. After
checking the maps we had a look at the stand of
Acacia Peuce trees, also known as Waddy Wood
- one of the rarest trees in the world. The trees are
around 500 years old and have been fenced off so
that cattle don’t damage them. They only grow in
two other places in Australia – at Boulia and
Birdsville.
Camp 1 is immediately north of the Mac Clark
Conservation Reserve and we decided to save
some time and head straight to Camp 1A to the
north-east. After Camp 2, we pulled up for lunch
and then climbed a hill near the junction of the
Hale and Todd Rivers where, on June 5, 1939, Cecil
Madigan erected a cairn with the names of his
party on a note left in a tobacco tin. It was at this
point we suff ered our one and only puncture on
the entire trip, which we quickly plugged and were
on our way again.
We were unable to visit Camps 3, 4 and 5,
because they are located on Aboriginal Land and
permission to traverse it is rarely given. From Camp
2 we pushed due west across sand dunes and
when we reached the Colson Track we veered
north and aimed for Camp 6.
By this stage our progress was slowing due to
the rough conditions and our speed had dropped
to between 10-25km/h. As the sun neared the
horizon we decided to make camp in a shelteredout there: road trippin’
valley between the dunes and Syd cooked up a
top chicken stir-fry. We were fortunate to be travel-
ling under clear skies and with a full moon there
was no need for torches when nature called.
It didn’t take us long to reach Camp 6 in the
morning and, after a couple of happy snaps we
crawled towards Camp 7. The Madigan Line was
living up to its reputation as the toughest Simpson
crossing and I was glad to be driving the Defender
with its long-travel coils front and rear. The Cruiser
and the Patrol were doing it easy, albeit at a slightly
slower pace than the Defender.THE LIVING HEART
In stark contrast to Cecil Madigan’s book title Cross-
ing the Dead Heart, the Simpson Desert is teeming
with life. Michael spotted a huge bull camel to our
left and then saw its harem of seven female camels
to our right. We were right in the middle and the
bull wasn’t happy about it. As it started charging
towards us, huge lips fl ailing in the breeze, Michael
grabbed his camera and leapt out of the Defender
to capture the action. He ran to head off the bull
and was moving so fast that there was a small dust
cloud left in his wake.
Later on we stopped atop a dune for lunch with
a spectacular view and Michael asked me if I would
have pointed the Defender at the bull if it wentThe Madigan Line was living up to its reputation as the
toughest Simpson crossing and I was glad to be driving the
Defender with its long-travel coils front and rear.
COURTESY HEMA MAPS