So I arrived in OZ last week, now in Alice Springs.
For those who never heard about me (normal not famous like Margot Robbie), 6 years ago, in 2018, I crossed Tassie in the winter alone and unressupplied (*) in food or gas, always slept in my tent and didn't use any roads except those official ones that are part of a trail (like the Penguin Cradle Trail). You can read the thousands of posts here: https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27288
(*) Not 100% fully unsupported as I wanted as after a packraft incident I lost camera, sunglasses and headlight: bought a *&%$#! headlight+glasses at the Lake St Clair visitor site.
So no comment here about Tasmania, let's only focus on my 3rd crossing of the Simpson Desert on foot.
WEBSITE / OBJECTIVE / MAP / TRACKING:
Follow the expedition (and the past ones of 2008 and 2016) here: https://simpson-desert-trek.blogspot.com/
--> On the objective page, you can see a googledrive file with the brochure,
My Garmin Inreach tracking is still the same link: https://eur-share.inreach.garmin.com/louphi
All my social media, email, CV etc... (an Instagram Follow appreciated): https://sleek.bio/lonckelph
(MORE UNDER THE PHOTOS)
WHY NOW / WHY the SIMPSON DESERT / WHY
* I did 2 previous treks to the Simpson Desert:
2008 - First lenght unsupported - 600km as the crow flies in 36 days (800km walking distance estimated as I had to do many back and forth... total weight cart at the start: 215kg min) Water at the start: +80 L
I went from the Plenty Highway to the Northern West shore of Lake Eyre via the GeoCenter. This was the first N-S crossing but a half success as I wanted to visit also Poeppel corner and end in William Creek. I had to abort as time pressure to get my flight back to Sydney/Belgium and even with time I don't think I'd have made it.
2016 - West-East crossing WITHOUT a cart. Started with a 60kg pack including 40L water. Made 280 km as the crow flies in 12,5 days (estimated 300km including zigzags etc...) from Old Andado to Ppeppel corner (yeah finally visited it) via the GeoCenter (2nd visit). Ranger Don Rowlands picked me up in Poeppel and drove me to Birdsville. I had my flight the next morning but only supplies to go another full day so I could have done 13 full days and around 330 km as the crow flies. I got also slower after 2 days of rain. Yes the rain slowed me down (wet shoes/socks+sand= friction = slow as need to manage it)
2024. Well I can stay 90 days in the country. My plan after the Simpson is to visit PNG (or if not NZ) then come back untel december or extend to January 2025.
The expedition is with cart, the same as in 2008, a bit reinforced, new wheels (black, yellow not made anymore):
A double crossing on foot, with a resupply (food/water) in Birdsville.
LEG1: same plans as in 2016: Old Andado-GeoCenter-Poeppel-Birdsville (via Big Red, highest dune) - 430 km / 20 days / 85L / 160 kg cart (weight cart included=31kg or so)
LEG2: Birdsville to Alice Springs via GeoSurveys Hill, Allambie Station and Santa Teresa. - 630 km / 40 days / 165 L / 250-260 kg cart starting the return journey from Birdsville.
I consider a success reaching unsupported Allambie Station as it means I'd have a double crossing between "civilisation" Old Andado-Birdsville-Allambie.
Cherry on the cake is reaching Santa Teresa. Cherry with double cream and belgian dark chocolate is reaching Alice Springs.
The maps are on my site + the inreach map has the points and safey exits I will probably go to (yellow crosses)
Why 2024?
Well it seems I'm going every 8 years to the Simpson. A bit of sand after many expeditions with rocks.
I want to film with better quality than 2008, hopefully make a great doco and perhaps a book about all those crossings.
The scientist I worked with in 2008 and 2016 (Tassie) on cognitive science lost her husband during covid then got a serious head injury after a bad fall while running. She' s not 100% and still recoveing and working 50% so she has time end 2024 to finally compile all data of all those expeditions and published a paper.
I've worked hard until April 2024 and made enough money to avoid bankruptcy (almost no work for 3 years during the pandemic, like 1400 EURO invoiced for the entire year 2020)
Time to go back to OZ also because I'm getting old (some grey hair, losing hair too)... oh and "homeless" in Belgium. Had no rent for the past 1 year living here and there. My parents hosted me back too but they are too far from Brussels where I work in Privacy/Data Protection as freelance consultant. So on a personal level, I hope this expedition will lead to later monetize my stories (book/film/conferences) in OZ and Belgium/France.
I'm in Alice. Managing some media and will buy soon food, count the calories etc...
Everything to be publicly shared for anyone to see how to prepare this massive +1000km expedition.
Oh D+ according https://gpx.studio/ is +11000m (all those dunes to climb) and D- is 10600m. With the potential weeks of back and forth moving the heavy load...I might be over 2*Everest D+ and D- ... hauling my little CamWheel cart (Camel-on-Wheels)
Feel free to follow here, on social media, tell your friends, the media... (I went to ABC Alice Springs, person seemed interested but not yet emailing back or returning my calls)
PS: I opened this a few months ago as I wanna complete the State8 after the expedition. https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=41532
It's getting hard/impossible to get a permit. We'll see if the elders reconsider their position.
