92 | AG Outdoor
for him. I said, “No way mate, I would’ve wound up
the windows and watched!” I reckon that camel
was about twice as big as the Defender.
We made it to Camp 7 early in the afternoon
and from there it was only a short drive to Camp 8.
Around 30 minutes later we found a great camp-
ing spot with plenty of fi rewood.
At the beginning of the trip Michael’s mission
statement was to capture some images of the
elusive Thorny Devil. While the rest of us collected
wood for the fi re he disappeared over the horizon
with a camera slung over his shoulder. Around 90
minutes later he strolled back into camp having
succeeded in his mission. He proudly proclaimed:
“See, it’s not The Dead Heart!”
While we saw more camels than anything else,
we also spotted a couple of dingos, plenty of bee-
tles, bugs, ants and birdlife. And thanks to the
recent rains there was a carpet of yellow and white
fl owers covering hundreds of square kilometres of
the desert.
Although the Madigan Line had been a rough
and bumpy journey up until this point, Dave
Owen’s notes suggested there was worse to come.
Sure enough, the drive to Camps 9 and 10 the
following day was slow and laborious and then,
although it was just a little over a kilometre away,
the drive to Camp 11 took us half an hour. As well
as the hundreds of sand dunes along the Madigan
Line, there are thousands of sand moguls to be
negotiated. The larger moguls can push suspen-
sion systems beyond their travel limits and,
occasionally, a wheel or two will be lifted well clear
of the desert surface.A HARD SLOG
Despite the diffi culties of the trip so far, we knew
that Madigan and his camel train had it a lot
tougher than we did. From Andado Bore to Camp
8, Madigan and his party had averaged 19km per
day, whereas we had averaged 75km per day overthe same country. But the slow going is soon for-
gotten when you have the time to enjoy the sur-
roundings. This part of the Simpson Desert is one
of the most beautiful places on earth; the vivid red
sand defi es description and the wildfl owers add a
spectacular and colourful contrast to the expansive
vistas. The weather conditions couldn’t have been
better – clear skies and a comfortable 23°C – and
we were absorbing all of the sights and smells with
air conditioning off and windows down.
Driving conditions didn’t improve between
Camps 11 and 12 and, by the time we reached
Camp 13 it was already 4.20pm. We pushed on
towards Camp 14 but we knew we would be
beaten by the setting sun, so we looked for some-
where suitable to set up camp.
Up until this point we had followed Madigan’sWe saw no other travellers between Old Andado and
Hay River. Where else in the world can you get away
from it all like that?
The marker at Poeppel Corner as
corrected by Lawrence Wells.Molly Clark’s well preserved
Old Andado homestead.out there: road trippin’
Large numbers of feral camels were spotted by
the team during the expedition. These animals
cause huge damage to the landscape.