b'good meal at the pub, sharing information sharingparticular dune that had had so many recoveries on information on where we had been and where weit that the sand was extremely loose and deep, and are going. Next morning everyone lined up in frontthe time of day did not help. Most of the dunes had of the Birdsville Pub for a photo opportunity, as theboth a steep climb and a less steep bypass climb pub is on a corner, guess what? We photographedall of the recoveries on this hill were on the bypass the fleet on both sides. Brian left us this morning totrack.go to Queensland to join up with his family. It was now my turn at this dune I gave it a fair Then it was out to Big Red, which was given itsdinkum go but the deep sand was not to be climbed name from a particular sand dune that marks aover, I reversed back down to the bottom ( Stuart symbolic edge of the Simpson Desert and standswas at the top wondering how he was going to get approximately 40 metres high, when we arrived, wethis 4.5 ton plus Silverado over the top) as he had stopped to air down the tyres and happened to beonly just been able to recover the heavy Grand opposite where the final clean-up was happeningCherokees Stuart looked down and saw me driving after The Big Bash event. A couple of workersstraight up the steep side and over the top, he circulated though us to see where we were from andcouldnt believe it! On this leg of the trip everyone where we were going, one guy suggested to me thatat some point needed some assistance except the it would be a waste of time me trying to get my bigGladiator Rubicon with all of its built-in technology heavy THING up the steep side as he had many trieswho also had some difficulty but did conquer every before he got his Landcruiser over and it was muchdune and the Silverado. This was a real fun leg of the lighter than my big THING. Being tail-end Charlietrip.I was last one up the easy side and sitting on topBefore leaving the QAA line we crossed many looking down and seeing the other Jeeps way downlarge semi dried saltpans, luckily for us they had the bottom, it wasnt hard to realiseyes, this hilldried enough after the big Queensland floods and does have some height attached to it. Alan lined upthe premade tracks had allowed us to pass across and gave it a fair crack, but only made it up threethem without getting bogged.quarters, reversed down and off he flew making itDeparting the QAA line, we arrived at the Eyre over the top to a big applause from everyonewellcreek which is a tributary of the Warburton River done Alan. I looked at the hill we were using whichwhich flows from the western southwest corner of was the steepest track and thought, what the heck IQueensland into the north-eastern corner of South am here now, I must give it a go, thinking about whatAustralia we decided it was time for a well-earned the guy said on the other side of the hillI lined thebreak and cuppa enjoying the scenery looking down big THING up and took off, the big THING flew overthe huge mainly dried upriver bed which only a few that hill without hardly dropping a rev or speedIweeks earlier was under flood and impassable.wish that guy was here to see it. I turned aroundThe next leg of our trip was Poeppels corner, at the top and went back down and asked to Stuartwhich is the corner of the state boundaries of to video it while I did it again. I thought at the timeAustralia where the state of Queensland meets (what was all the fuss about Big Red) (maybe 6.6South Australia and the Northern Territory.litre 400 hp plus and 1340 Nn torque with a littleThis was a real buzz with all of us standing determination may have had something of an input. around the marker post verbally talking to each Well with Big Red behind us travelling along theother across 2 States and 1 Territory. A great photo QAA line going east to west not the norm of west toopportunity. After leaving Poeppels Corner we east taking on the dunes on the steepest side givingdrove to Approdinna Attora Knowles which is a us a bigger driving challenge. Heading across themountain within the Simpson Desert Conservation sand dunes as the day got hotter, the sand becamePark in Northeast South Australia with an altitude looser and deeper requiring more power to driveof 31 metres above sea level. This is a great tourist through it making the steep dunes at times quiteattraction mountain.challenging. We then visited Lake Tamblyn known for its Stuart with his Gladiator being up front was thetourism and fishing, then onto Rig RoadFrench recovery vehicle and they were becoming moreline, which is also known as the Shot line, this common as the dunes heated up, there were anamed after the French petroleum company who couple of dunes where almost everyone neededput the line in 1964. This line is one of Australias assistance to conquer the dune, there was one ingreat touring tracks and can be one of the most 26 TRACKWATCH|March 2023'