Simpson Desert on a budget

While the countless mega-buck four-wheel drives found all over Australia may suggest otherwise, tackling the Simpson Desert can still be achieved on a modest budget – even with a family in tow.

I recently proved that point on an east-west crossing with my wife and two young boys , and two other families. Here's how we prepared for one of Australia's iconic off-road drives, and what it cost…

The vehicle

You don't need a brand-new or even a late-model four-wheel drive for reliable remote-area travel, provided you know the vehicle in question is up to the job.

For our 11-year-old Toyota LandCruiser Prado – a four-cylinder turbo-diesel model with 150,000 kilometres on the clock – that meant giving it a major service before departure (roughly $900 at a Toyota dealer, including a new timing belt) and adding a few more accessories.

Purchased in mid-2017, it was a two-owner machine that had clearly been looked after and it came with a full factory service history.

For the Simpson Desert I'd recommend a dedicated four-wheel drive system with dual-range transfer case, plus off-road suspension with a lift kit for extra ground clearance. Yes, others have got away with less, and good luck to them – but especially when hauling kids through remote areas you want the best possible chance of success.

Vehicle set-up

The biggest cost was the 2007 Toyota LandCruiser Prado 120 Series D4D ($25,000).

The Prado came with a well-used set of BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres. I was thoroughly happy with these over trips to Mungo National Park (NSW) and also the Victorian High Country, but they were just about shot so I replaced them with new BFG ATs, including a spare, this time with the stiffer 'KO2' sidewalls (5 x BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2 265/65R17: $1595 fitted).

Oh, and I only carried the one spare. The recommended advice is two per vehicle, but I was doing this trip with a friend who also had a Prado with the same stud pattern and tyre size (and also just the one spare).

It's a personal choice but I needed the roof space; to help offset the risk I also carried an Aussie-made Tyrepliers kit with bead breaker, tyre levers and tread/sidewall patches (Tyrepliers tyre repair kit: $132 used).

In any event, there were three vehicles in our party – our Prado, a friend's 150 Series Prado and another friend's VW Amarok – and we didn't experience a single puncture over the entire trip.

An air compressor (Rough Country Air Bullet air compressor: $200) is required to reinflate tyres as conditions demand, and to reinflate any flats.

Accessories

I had outback exploration in mind when I bought my Prado and so it already came with a solid list of accessories: Old Man Emu off-road suspension and lift kit; UHF radio; rear LED work light; underbody protection; auxiliary battery; and a factory bullbar.

For me that's all mandatory gear on a trip like this, although my mate's Amarok got through with only the UHF radio and none of the others. Still, my other mate's Prado collected a large 'roo in outback SA – I know he was thankful for the protection afforded by his ARB bullbar.

To these items I'd previously added a set of driving lights (Narva Ultima 215 LED driving lights: $1500), which increase after-dark safety considerably. Then, in preparation for this trip specifically, I added a cargo barrier for enhanced occupant safety and increased rear storage capacity (Autosafe cargo barrier: $615 fitted), twin rated front recovery points and shackles for snatch-strap recoveries and towing (Front recovery points: $185 fitted), and a rear recovery hitch, which slots into the Prado's tow receiver (Ironman 4x4 rear recovery hitch and 4.75t shackle: $52 and 3.25t front recovery shackles: $40).

I also secured a steel roof basket to the Prado's existing sports rails and cross bars (Ridge Ryder roof basket, large: $320), and replaced the vehicle's auxiliary battery (which had died, but which powers the work light and the rear auxiliary power sockets – vital for powering my sons' iPads and DVD players!).

I had my concerns about the roof basket's universal mounting brackets, which didn't exactly seem over-engineered. But you know what? They did the job, although I had to re-tighten the nuts most nights.

Similarly, the Bushranger Rack Sack (large: $210) was at the cheaper end of the spectrum, but the supplied cargo net kept everything in place, and the contents – our tent and all our sleeping gear – remained dry and (largely) free of dust.

Rather than spend a motza on a 12-volt fridge/freezer, we opted for a quality cooler from Melbourne-based manufacturer, Techni Ice (Techni Ice cooler, 150lt: $250). This 150lt cooler is large and sturdy, and also makes for a decent seat around the campsite. With a heap of Techni Ice's freeze sheets, it kept everything cool for at least a week, while pre-preparing and vacuum-sealing meals was a big help too.

Other accessories included: Opposite Lock 8m/8t snatch strap ($85), Ridge Ryder 9t tow strap ($75), TRED recovery tracks, pair ($180), long-handled shovel ($30), Sand flag, mast and bullbar bracket ($140).

Vehicle spares

We took a range of spares with us, just in case. We didn't need any of them, but they're cheap insurance nonetheless:

Upper and lower radiator hoses: $52
Air filter: $40
Fuel filter: $39
Accessories belt: $29
Assorted fuses: $30
Spare headlamps: $60
Plus: Cable ties (assorted sizes); fencing wire; a tube of QuickSteel epoxy (combined total of around $30).

Tools

If travelling in a group not everyone needs to carry the same tools, but there should be at least one of the following: Ring/open-ended spanners; screw drivers; pliers; tin snips, claw hammer; jump-start leads; Solvol (to clean your hands after greasy jobs); work gloves. A small container of common automotive nuts, bolts and washers is handy, too.

Camping/sleeping

You can spend tens of thousands on an off-road camper trailer – or $500 on a decent tent. It's easier getting across the desert without a camper, and you can be just as cosy in a good tent with self-inflating mattresses and quality sleeping bags.

Winter lows can drop to zero or even below, so make sure your sleeping bags are up to the job (or that you have additional blankets). And don't forget the sand pegs to secure your tent!

We spent about $1000 on topping up our camping/sleeping items.

Odds 'n' ends

Here are some other essentials we took along:

A Desert Parks Pass (SA Desert Parks Pass: $160) is mandatory and grants entry to (and camping in) over nine million hectares of SA deserts; it's valid for 12 months and covers stays of up to 21 days in the one location.

It comes with a couple of maps but we also carried Hema's Great Desert Tracks (Simpson Desert) paper map in addition to a Hema Navigator HN7 GPS (borrowed from a mate).

Toilets are a personal thing and while I would have been happy with my shovel and a sense of adventure, that wasn't going to wash with my wife. We took along a Porta Potti (Thetford Porta Potti Qube 145 toilet: $145) – a chemical loo – that we set up in a pop-up ensuite tent ($27).

It worked a treat for the whole family for the four days we spent in the desert; we later emptied it at the RV dump point in Coober Pedy. It's on the bulky side, however – for future trips of this length I'd take a folding toilet seat and bags to free up some more storage space.

Oh, and fly nets (3 x hat fly nets: $18) to go over my wife's and kids' hats were priceless, saving all our sanity for a pittance…

Other odds 'n ends included:
USB plugs: $15
Uniden UH750 hand-held radio: $200
2 x hand-held radios (for the kids): $50
MSA rear rubbish bag: $130
Plus: Firewood (2 x 20kg, $30), kindling, 4kg LPG gas cylinder, two-burner gas cooker, and sat-phone (borrowed, but available for hire at Birdsville Roadhouse and Mount Dare Station).

Fuel

Of course, you can't get far without fuel and prices in the outback are dearer than they are in the city – but perhaps not by as much as you might think. The dearest we saw was $1.84 per litre (diesel), at the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta – about 30 cents per litre dearer than in Melbourne, at that time. Pricey? Yes – but a lot cheaper than the $3 a litre I saw in the Kimberley, WA, a couple of months back.

The 120 Series Prado has two long-range tanks with a very-healthy total capacity of 180 litres. We also took a spare 20lt jerry but never needed it. Of course, vehicles with smaller fuel tanks will need to carry the extra, so factor that into your storage needs.

As a general rule, average fuel consumption will double in the Simpson. We achieved 12.5L/100km on sealed roads, fully loaded, but this jumped to nearly 26L/100km in the desert itself.

But we still had plenty in reserve by the time we rolled into the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta. Those with a shorter range (and tackling a westerly crossing) will most likely head to Mount Dare Station after Dalhousie Springs, which has fuel supplies.

All up, we spent $1300 on fuel over 5100km.

Food and water

We had one large food box to complement our Techni Ice cooler, and if anything we took far more food than we needed. Having said that, and as with water, you do need to have a few days in reserve in case you end up stranded.

We saved a fortune by taking our own food and booze, and our 4kg LPG cylinder was ample for our cooking needs for the total of two weeks that we were away.

There are all sort of equations to determine water needs (just ask Russell Coight!), but our family of four took 80lt of fresh water and came home with half of it. That's over a four-day/three-night crossing in winter, when nothing went wrong.

Want a shower? Then factor that in too – in the desert we dreamed about luxuriating in the hot springs at Dalhousie instead…

Packing

The downside of camping versus a camper trailer is that you have to carry your tent and all your sleeping gear in the vehicle, which eats up a lot of space.

We carried most of ours on the roof basket, with some rubber floor mats on the bottom that protected the roof bag from tearing on the basket's mounting brackets, while giving us a 'front door step' on which we could remove our hiking boots (helps keep dust and prickles out of the tent).

Packing the rear cargo space is one giant game of Tetris – all I can recommend is that you pack the heavy stuff low and jam doonas, pillows and clothes on top. This helps prevent the lot from becoming airborne over sharper dune crests. Have a trial run before you actually set off, and tick off your inventory list as you go.

Our eight and 10-year-old boys were segregated by a large food box and a box of cooking utensils, both of which were strapped to the cargo barrier. This created a cosy 'cubby-hole' for both, and prevented the usual back-seat bickering quite nicely!

Summing up

This article isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of items and what they cost – it's more the musings of one bloke who crossed the Simpson and what it cost him. The grand total of the items listed here is pushing $35k – or a shade under $10,000 after excluding the purchase price of the vehicle.

If your tyres are already good and you already have (or don't feel you need) driving lights then boom – there's another three grand you won't need to find.

Best of all, after doing this trip I now have a four-wheel drive that's ready for just about anything, so the costs associated with any future adventures will be modest indeed.

The bottom line? With some careful preparation and a dependable vehicle, a Simpson Desert adventure still falls within the scope of a wide range of family budgets. And the family memories? Priceless…