TLC - Hay River
(Northern Simpson Desert)

5 vehicles met in Hay NSW to travel in convoy to Birdsville in SW QLD via Walkers Crossing.

The real 4WDing now started as we headed outback into the Northern Simpson Desert via the Hay River. This great trip took us through some harsh country to Batten Hill camp in NT, some 500kms away. At the end of this section of our trip we experienced a bush tucker tour laid on by the traditional owners of Atnetye Lands NT, on the Hay River. Note: When running, the Hay River empties into the Northern Simpson Desert.

To get to the Hay River, we left Birdsville and took on the challenge of BIG RED before heading out to Poeppel Corner to check out where 3 States (Qld, NT & SA) all join. From here we used our GPS to guide us to the southern point of the Hay River where it empties into the desert.

Whilst travelling along the Hay River, we passed through 2 of Madigan's camps. Madigan explored the Northern Simpson from west to east back in 1939.

After experiencing some great camping at Batten Hill, we detoured south off the Plenty Hwy and travelled through the East Macdonnell ranges via station tracks which have been unused for the past 20 years. This section also took us across the Tropic of Capricorn where we built our own cairn.

After a few days break in Alice Springs, we followed the western side of the Simpson Desert to take in the sites at 'Old Andado'. The last part of our trip followed the Oodnadatta Track and parts of the northern Flinders Ranges.