Destinations > Making Hay

Issue: December 2008

Words by Shane Gerrish and John Daniels

The thrill of adventure that comes from travelling untracked terrain is still there for the taking. Shane Gerrish and John Daniels took up that challenge in the Simpson Desert.

Like so many great ideas, the beginnings of this trek were conceived around a campfire. Overlander 4WD Forum regulars Shane 'Big Red' Gerrish and John 'Oneputt' Daniels had driven the Hay River Track in the northern part of the Simpson Desert a couple of years before and both were impressed by the country north of the shot line, up to the start of the dry Hay River bed. Shane casually mentioned how good it would be to actually follow the valley south from where the obvious signs of the Hay River finished, to where it would theoretically dissect the QAA line.
The plan was set to travel northwards up the existing Hay River Track to where it drops into the Hay River Valley then turn in a south-south east direction to follow the valley until it encounters the QAA line.
Permission to travel over the uncharted and trackless terrain was approved by Queensland National Parks after giving full details of the trip including start and finish co-ordinates although these were only approximate due to a lack of detailed maps of the area.

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Shane and John were hoping to find signs of a route taken by nomadic Aboriginals and photographically document any evidence of it as well as the local flora and fauna. Finding the route would not be easy, using the last signs of the ancient dry bed of the Hay River as the starting point.
Shane was driving his competition and touring equipped GU Patrol tray back and John was in his well set up 80-Series Toyota. As with any Outback expedition, the usual pre-trip inspections were carried out on both vehicles with extra attention being taken due to the remote, untracked area to be covered. This saw Shane having some chassis cracks in the Patrol plated and fitting new shocks and tyres, while John just gave the 80-Series a full service, re-stocked his usual spares and fitted a new fridge slide.
The duo took a casual few days to travel from Brisbane to Innamincka via northern NSW, Cameron Corner and many of the usual Outback landmarks found in this area. After a resupply and shower at Innamincka they headed up the track to take in the Coongie Lakes that were full after recent rain.
"The morning sun brought out the birds along the north branch of Cooper Creek so we took the opportunity to grab a few pics before packing up and heading off to Coongie Lakes," said Shane. "We took the right hand turn to the lake side drive and headed out to find out what we could see. As we crossed over the top of the dune we were stunned to see such a large body of water in the middle of a desert.

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