After packing and securing our load ready for sand dune country, we left the metropolis of Oodnadatta heading towards Pedirka's Track (a short cut) to Dalhousie Springs approximately three hours to the north and the true start of the Simpson Desert.
Pedirka Track goes through pastoral lease land, which for us was very green due to the heavy rain and floods a few months prior. The Old Ghan railway also came through here, so more ruins to explore, including the Dalhousie Homestead which was once regarded as the most isolated of all the South Australian settlements. It was established by an Irish surveyor who constructed the first 800 km of the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1880s. The settlement and surrounding land has a colourful history of various people trying to make a living here but eventually was abandoned in 1925, but beneath the date palm tree's it made a very comfortable lunch stop for us as we wondered around and read the storyboards explaining the history, life and challenging times for early settlers.
Dalhousie Springs (once used by