TRIP REPORTS
Sandy Blight Junction
31 March – 17 April 2019
Participants
Neil Phillips (trip leader)
Arthur Day
Rod Chapple
Trevor Chapple
Peter Dodson
Janelle Dodson
Rod Phillips
Catherine Phillips
This trip was designed in three parts: first, a 2-night
shakedown to central Victoria in February to ensure all
our vehicles, equipment and minds were in good shape.
Second, the main focus, was a traverse of the Sandy
Blight Junction Road along the NT—WA border, and
finally a north—south crossing of the Simpson Desert
via the Hay River Track. With the flooding of Townsville
and inland Queensland early in the year followed by
Cyclone Trevor flooding the north end of the Hay River
and beyond, we knew that flexibility with our plans was
vital. We were monitoring each pulse of water flowing
down the Queensland rivers and just before we
departed, the height of the Georgina River rose over 6
metres in 12 hours. Birdsville looked like it was going to
have an extended period of isolation and the Plenty
Highway was one of many closed roads. By the time we
travelled, the weather reports were referring to the two
surges of river flow as Event A and Event B.
Member
No.
1744
T1518
1814
T1517
T1516
T1516
1913
1913
Vehicle Details
Patrol
Patrol
Pajero
Pajero
Discovery
Discovery
Prado
Prado
The Sandy Blight Junction Road was immune from both
these rain events being much farther west in a remote
part of NT and WA. The road itself was made by Len
Beadell in 1960 and runs north from Docker River to
Kintore and connects roads leading into WA and east to
Alice Springs. It is not difficult 4-wheel driving and does
not stretch water or fuel supplies. However, it is isolated
and has a mix of vegetation and landforms with some
excellent camping sites. Water, although not critical,
was scarce with one waterhole that we left for animals
and one working pump connected to a well.
The sand dunes of central Australia are renowned for
their parallel nature stretching tens to hundreds of
kilometres but near Davenport Range we found a lone
dune with a 60 o bend. N Phillips