Simpson Desert Tour 4WD 6 days

100% dirt touring, don't miss out, book early

Welcome to our Simpson Desert Tour page

If you have ever wanted to travel across the Simpson Desert with the longest parallel sand dunes in the world in comfortable 4×4 vehicles, then here is your chance with our Simpson Desert tour.

Come travel with us in one of our two Toyota LandCruisers passenger vehicles and our 6×6 support vehicle.

We have been crossing the Simpson Desert for over 10 years with our tours gaining a lot of experience while having a lot of fun doing it when things are working well!

It is definitely one of the number one journeys to do in Australia if not the world. If you are a four-wheel drive enthusiast or an adventurer, this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip you will not forget.

This tour is located in one of the most remote areas of the world at the same time surrounded by the unique beauty of the desert and her elements.

Honestly you will have a great time, please look at our pictures of people enjoying themselves.

Simpson Desert Tour description in brief

6-day tour.

This Simpson Desert tour is not for the faint hearted; it is an exciting and exhilarating crossing of one of the remote parts of Australia and quite unique. The roads and sand dunes can get very rough, so if you have neck or back problems then this tour is probably not for you.

The tour starts from Alice Springs and runs down the Finke service track road passing through the Aboriginal community of Finke and Mt Dare Station. Over the coming days we head east cross the mighty Simpson Desert We visit far gone abandoned cattle stations and ponder what life was actually like for these early settlers. We visit beautiful places like Dalhousie Hot Springs to enjoy a sock and a swim with the water temperature of 39c. 
The tour will take 3 days to cross the largest parallel sand dune system in the world the mighty Simpson Desert to finally arrive in the most famous outback town in Australia, Birdsville. You will get to enjoy a great evening and meal at the famous Birdsville Hotel. You will fly out the next day to Brisbane; this is a brilliant way to have a bird’s eye view of the changing landscape from the air of the deep red sands of central Australia to the lush green east coast of Australia. This flight is also the local mail run which stops at various townships along the way.

 

The tours general route on Google Map (approximate route only).
This route can change due to road or weather conditions.

So come on let’s do it and have some fun!!

Cheers Eddy

Simpson Desert Tour Highlights

  • Old Ghan train line history
  • Mt Dare
  • Dalhousie Ruins
  • Swimming at Dalhousie Hot Springs (39-degree water temp)
  • Simpson Desert 1100 sand dunes to cross (officially! but who counts them anyway!)
  • French Line
  • Poeppels Corner (intersection of South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory borders)
  • QAA Line
  • Famous Birdsville Hotel
  • Remote desert tracks
  • Desert camping and brilliant stars to see…
  • Flight from Birdsville to Brisbane

Simpson Desert tour info

The Simpson Desert consists of a sea of parallel red sand dunes covering an area of 170,000 sq. km (as large as England and Wales).

It lies across the corners of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Rainfall is low, on average 125 mm per year. Temperatures exceed 50 degrees in summer and can fall below zero centigrade in winter.

What is included

  • Birdsville to Brisbane flight
  • Birdsville hotel accommodation (Single room)
  • Your seat in our 4×4 vehicle
  • Desert parks pass
  • Mt Dare Station dinner
  • Camping gear
  • Meals on tour

What is not included

  • Alcohol, hotel coffees
  • Meals in Birdsville

Accommodation

  • We provide all camping equipment (one tent and mattress per person) for the million and one stars a night hotel
  • Birdsville Hotel

Vehicles

  • We use Landcruiser for our passenger vehicles and our support vehicle is an all-purpose built 6×6 Landcruiser

Self drive

  • If you would like to drive one of our vehicles this is possible with two or more places booked
  • You will be driving in our guided tour group
  • Hold a valid motor vehicle license 
  • You need to sign our rental agreement

Food

  • “Rough As Guts Outback Restaurant” will cater for this tour in parts and some outback hotel meals along the way.

Alcohol 

  • Beer and UDL drinks will be transported in our support vehicle for the tour
  • We do not transport any glass bottles

Prior to departure

  • We require full payment 6 weeks prior from tour departure.

What you need to bring

  • Personal luggage bag size try to keep it small as you don’t need the kitchen sink. Remember you are flying in/out on a small plane!
  • Sleeping bag, blow up pillow
  • Fly nets are able to be purchased at Mt Dare Station
  • Warm jumper for nights, woollen head warmer (beanie)
  • Casual clothing, foot wear (Joggers) swim ware, USB stick, camera
  • Sun glasses, hat, sun screen, toiletries, LED light
  • Spending money e.g.: alcohol, souvenir
  • Small camel back able to carry small items must also have water bladder

Simpson Desert Average Conditions

Month Temp  Rain fall Road traffic Flies
April 16-29 C 9mm Low High
May 11-24 C 11mm Moderate Moderate
June 5-23 C 10mm Moderate Low
July 5-23 C 10mm Moderate Low
Aug 9-24 C 6.3mm Low Moderate
Sep 10-28 C 9mm Low Moderate

Simpson Desert 6 day 4wd tour itinerary 900KM

Riders team meeting at 4pm day before departure at the Diplomat Motel for the next day’s travel plan. So basically it is the same itinerary as the motorcycle tour but you will be in a 4wd.

Day one 330km
Depart Alice Springs at 8:30am
An easy run down the Maryvale Rd for Smoko at Rodinga ruins.
The 4wd’s will do a small section of the Finke desert race track to let you know how really rough and brutal the track actually is just after Rodinga.
After Bundooma water tower everyone will regroup back on the Finke Service Rd, from here on the road to Finke can get quite rough and is a real car breaker.
Lunch hopefully will be at the Finke Start/Finish tower baring any mishap.
After lunch hopefully an easy run into Mt Dare Station with a couple pioneering points of interest along the way to have a look at.
Dinner will be at Mt Dare in the restaurant.
There are bush showers and toilets at Mt Dare Station.

Day two 180Km
Easy day on the bike.
We leave Mt Dare Station via Blood Ck with pioneering points of interest along way until we arrive at Dalhousie Hot Springs where you’ll get to go for a beautiful swim with a water temperature of 39c (great with a cold drink). We are not going to talk it up but this place is a truly a jewel in the Outback.
After your swim we will have lunch and continue another 60km to reach Purnie Bore which will get us onto the French Line. It is here on this section that you will start to encounter your first real bits of sand and sand dunes.  The entrance into the western side of the Simpson Desert eases you into the sand dunes as they gradually increase the further we head into the desert.
Camp will be at Purnie Bore which does have a toilet and shower with hot water. This is the last shower and civilised toilet until we reach the township of Birdsville.

Day three 120km
The next 3 days you are going to experience the best of the best the Simpson Desert has to offer as we be travelling on the French Line and QAA Lines.
The day starts off with easy travelling until the rig Rd turn off from Purnie Bore, there after  you will we encounter the first real sand dunes of the tour and the going becomes a lot slower and harder but the Toyota 4wd will handle it with no problem. Our aim for lunch will be the Colson Track turn off. There are lots of wild camels in the Simpson Desert but very rarely do you actually get to see a live one but hopefully we might have some luck!
After lunch our aim for the evening camp will be close to Erabena turn off or somewhere close.

Day four 100km
It is going to be a lot slower traveling today on the French Line as there are way more dunes with a lot more lumps and bumps so we will be averaging about 20-30km per hour. We are truly in no man’s land and you really don’t want to have any mechanical issuers in this particular section.
Our aim for lunch will be Knolls turn off.
The Sand Dunes of death awaits us after lunch it is not a terribly long section, it only last about 4km but you are going to know about it. The sand dunes are much closer together, they have double and triple peaks and the sand seems to be much softer with a slight colour change.
Our goal for the afternoon is Poeppels Corner where the three states intersect, Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory and this means that the hardest stuff is over for the time being.
We’ll take our happy snaps around Peoppels marker and we will do a couple more kilometres to make camp and for a well-earned drink with a good dinner and a big fire!

Day five 160km
The days travelling will not be so tough and slow as the country will open up on the QAA Line which will take us all the way to Birdsville. Nobody knows what “QAA” stands for. My guess it is just a grid reference from the French oil company mapping plan.
The first 20km will be a little bit tight as the sand dunes are still relatively close together but you will soon find that the dunes will gain larger gaps between sand dune peaks so we are able to travel a lot quicker on the track. You will enjoy the landscape as you are able to see more of the parallel sand dune system as the dunes become much higher giving you are bird’s eye view.
The sand dunes will gradually become bigger in size as you get closer to Birdsville.
We will have one final test called “Big Red” as this is the largest sand dune in the Simpson Desert and we really need bragging rights to say we have made it up to the top.
We will stay and have a play on Big Red before heading off to Birdsville, back to the big smoke for a nice cold beer at the Birdsville Hotel.

Day six
You will fly out from Birdsville to Brisbane in the morning, the flight its self is an all-day affair stopping at various small towns along the way. You won’t arrive in Brisbane til later on in the afternoon but it is an excellent chance to have a bird’s eye view from red centres changing scenery to the lush green east coast of Australia.

Tour summary
Travelling inside our 4wd you are going to be bounced around a fair bit but this is an awesome tip over the largest desert parallel sand dune system in world. It is a good way of experiencing the remote beautiful red centre and wild life. You will not forget this tour in a hurry.
If you are expecting 5 star service then this tour is not for you!

If the Simpson Desert is closed due to an act of god
If the Simpson Desert park is closed for some reason and we cannot make the crossing, we will take the alternate route of Uluru Desert Express Tour 1450km 6 day tour.
On this tours end you will be flying out of Uluru, it will by your responsibility to book your own flight out of Uluru.
We will reimburse you the cost of the original flight from Birdsville to Brisbane at a later date.