Back in 1983, the South Australian Moke Club (SAMC) took 9 Mokes, with 18 bods across the Simpson Desert, this was the first ever successful crossing by Moke of this Desert. The expedition was lead by Greg 'Bwana' Rinder, a name that probably doesn't mean much to many here (though mab01uk will know). Simpson 'guru' Denis Bartel helped the Bwana pull it all together.
Since first reading about this adventure in Post Magazine, for me this has been some 33 year in the 'dreaming' and 3 years of solid planning and preparation. You know, it just doesn't seem to matter how much time you take / think you need for getting ready for these trips, it's never enough and it always comes down to the last few weeks!
I have become good friends with Bwana and many others who took part in this adventure and they have been no end of help and support in helping us prepare for 'the big one'.
The Desert Rats;-
'Shorty' and his mate (ie he going Lone Arranger style - no, that's not a typo)
'Cyclops' and 'Kev the Donkey'
'Tractor Man & Son'
'Spider and 4XMOKE'
The Simpson Desert - so what is it?
Well, it's the largest Sand Ridge Desert in the World, it crosses in to 3 of our 7 States.
How big is it?
I could rattle off some numbers but to put in to some kind of comparable reference for at least some of our readers, it's roughly 2/3s the size of the entire UK (17 500 sqkm vs 24 500 sqkm). And that's only the Simpson Desert, we also have 2 other major deserts to cross as well as the more mundane bits getting out there and (hopefully!) back again.
Here's a crude over-lay map I managed to put together and yes, they are on the same scale;-
Just thinking about that for a moment, it actually gives me butterflies.
The route we'll be taking will take us over some 1176 sand dunes, no, that's not a typo,(one thousand, one hundred and seventy six) - give or take a couple! These will range in size from around 1 metre to around 20 metres +.
Remote
Very remote. Human Population of the Desert is zero. It's a fairly inhospitable place, and is closed over the summer months when temps regularly go in to the 50's daily.
For us, crossing the Desert, we will have around 750 km (470 miles) between petrol fills, actually, between any kind of civilization at all!
Should we need outside help, that's generally 2 to 3 days away by land vehicle, when all the cards are stack the right way. By air, it's not often possible, other than an Air Drop.
All other trips I've ever undertaken, I've always had a good feeling for as to whether it would be all 'Mokeable' and they have been, however this one is very different and they are no guarantee's of success at all.
Crossing the Desert has a 'ratchet' effect in that, because of the prevailing winds, the only hope we have of crossing is from the West, however the further East we travel, the bigger the dunes get. If we find ourselves say 2/3's the way across and the dunes impassable, a retreat is not an option. We'd also be out of fuel to even try that.
I'm also fairly sure that this will also be the last time ever that Mokes will be able to cross the Desert, as the tracks are not maintained (nor have they been since the early 60's when they went in) and are being claimed back by the Desert itself as well as generally stuffed up well and truly by the 4WDers who have no idea. Some do, most don't.
There's been around half a dozen crossing attempts by Moke that I am aware of, the first known attempt was in 1970 and in the words of one of the participants 'we failed miserably'. The last known attempt was in 1995. The only successful crossing by Moke, was in 1983 by the South Australian Moke Club when they took 9 Mokes and 18 Bods across the Desert, however, while the crossing was successful, they didn't actually reach all the goals that they had set for themselves, but I see nothing to be ashamed of in that.
None the less, I have been in awe of these guys who did that back then. Gutsy stuff.
Here's a link to a few slides from that trip;-
https://mokespider.w...son-desert-1983
We're off on this one in a few weeks,,,,
