NEW RELEASES - Munga-Thirri Surveys 3, 4, 5, 6

Munga-Thirri Survey 3
16 Day Survey - June 26 > July 11, 1 day flight/1 day 4WD/13 days trekking/1 day flight
Survey price: $9450
Departs from Brisbane and concludes in Brisbane. Total trek numbers are subject to flight availability
Munga-Thirri Survey 4
15 Day Survey - July 17 > July 31, 1 day flight & 4WD/13 days trekking/1 day flight
Survey price: $9060
Departs from Adelaide and concludes in Adelaide - includes flight over the Simpson Desert and flooded Eyre Creek
Munga-Thirri Survey 5
11 Day Survey - July 31 > August 10, 1 day flight and 4WD/9 days trekking/1 day flight
Survey price: $8160
Departs from Adelaide and concludes in Adelaide - includes flight over the Simpson Desert and flooded Eyre Creek
Munga-Thirri Survey 6
15 Day Survey - August 10 > 24, 1 day flight/1 day 4WD/12 days trekking/1 day flight
Survey price: $9060
Departs from Adelaide and concludes in Adelaide - includes flight over the Simpson Desert and flooded Eyre Creek
Survey Grade:
We resume our Songlines & Shared Stories program with two short surveys walking in the dune fields and swales of the eastern Simpson Desert, west of Birdsville in Queensland. The landscape consists of towering red/washed out white dunes and includes the now flooded floodplain of Eyre Creek which fringes much of the eastern side of the desert. We may pass through large stands of coolabah and gidgee (trees) interspersed with vast open sky country that is perfect for our benchmark studies and for desert bushwalking.
You walk alongside our team of 18 packcamels accompanied by 5 cameleers who are your crew for the duration of the survey.
Our cameleers are not 'tour guides', they are experienced and seasoned stockmen/women who are specialists in handling and working with camels, and have a wealth of experience in walking the desert and knowledge of its flora & fauna, and are respectful of our First Nations people who call the desert home.
Walking in this landscape is on firm sand and occasional claypans and gibber (small stones) flats. The eastern Simpson received some scattered soaking rain in mid April, so by the time these surveys begin there may be a profusion of yellow flowers such as poached-egg daisy & 'Yellowtop' covering the landscape, and supplying our camels with fresh feed.
June to August is ideal walking weather in Central Australia and over the course of a 5 to 6 hour walking day you would walk approximately between 8 to 10 kilometres. Our pace of travel is determined by the camels and their ability to negotiate the dunes or other landforms in the landscape. They carry all your personal gear, and all you have to carry is your day pack. We will of course be stopping as required depending on what we see as we walk along.
This is a very real, very Australian desert experience, and camels are the perfect cross-country vehicle and so we don't follow roads or tracks, and there is no vehicle back-up: we don't need it! Camps are chosen for the availability of camel feed, and we never camp in the same place twice. And in addition, as we are Australia's only scientific organisation that also specialises in remote desert travel, you won't 'bump into' any other groups of trekkers.

Eyre Creek in flood, eastern Simpson Desert, May 2023

What's included
Survey 3 - domestic and charter flights from Brisbane to Mount Isa and return
Surveys 4, 5, 6 - domestic and charter flights from Adelaide to Birdsville to Adelaide
4WD transfers to/from Birdsville to the eastern Simpson Desert
All camping equipment - swags, stools, tents. You bring your own sleeping bag and eating utensils
All meals, though we do not provide snacks
LOTS of space...
Survey RFDS Medical Chest, First Aid and emergency communications equipment
Crew of 4 to 5 cameleers and 2 to 3 scientists
Desert Silence!
Trekking with an environmentally aware responsible business
(A detailed Survey Information Guide is sent to you when you book)
What's not included
Pre and post airfares and accommodation. We can organise this for you
Meals in Mount Isa on return flight day (Survey 3)
What else is required?
Travel Insurance. We can advise on which policy is suitable
Where are we trekking?
In the shaded area of the map in the Simpson Desert, Queensland and South Australia. The Simpson is the world's largest parallel sand ridge desert
