Travelling The Madigan Line Through Simpson Desert

In this episode, the crew get competitive on the dunes travelling the Madigan Line across the Simpson Desert. We push north on the Madigan Line. As this area is a lot more remote than the French Line, the tracks that we are travelling along are in much better condition. In this episode below, we travel along the Madigan Line through camp 6 to camp 9 and stop off at some pretty spectacular sand dunes for a bit of four-wheel driving.

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Cecil Madigan – The Madigan Line

This Madigan Line track that is so well known is all thanks to a man named Cecil Madigan. Who originally rode 19 camels to forge the path that we still use today. Before moving to the desert to begin his life in the outback, Cecil was part of the Mawson expedition to Antarctica where they voyaged to the ice land to learn about its geological consequences.

Cecil’s Camp 6

We pick up camp 6 on the Madigan Line as our first stop. The Madigan line expedition would normally cover around 25km a day along the Madigan Line where they would normally set up camp for the night.

During our trip, we plan to travel along the Madigan line until we turn right on the Hay River road at camp 15. Which should give you some indication as to how much of this place we get to experience. Here we set up camp for the evening, get a group photo and relax a bit.

Sand Dunes

As we plan to take off for another day on the track we head West where we spot one of the bigger dunes we’ve seen on the trip. What better excuse than to do some proper four-wheel driving. Mark Gracies, Mr Gray does the due with ease however, with a little too much hesitation heading over the other side, he gets himself stuck in the soft sand at the top. Luckily, Gary is able to come to the rescue with a new pair of ARB Tred Pro to get him out of the bind.

Cecil’s Camp 9

And within minutes we’re off again. Heading East as the sun starts to wain and throw shadows on the red dunes, we look for our next site to camp at for the evening. We decide to pitch our set-up at Camp 9 on the Line, and it really is a spectacular place. Set between 2 glorious dunes, we set up our campsite and wait for the full moon to appear in the sky and light out camp area.

For more ARB Red Centre Specials or to Catch up on all the stories from our ARB Central Australia Adventure so far, you can find them here.