Originally Posted by
AK83
First of all I love the desert, so I'm biased with places I recommend:
Intro desert trip, easy to do for 'ya.
Melb-> Ouyen -> Underbool to Pink Lakes(more specifically at Lake Crosbie, and camp there).
Note that 'Pink Lakes' is a lake system area, not a lake in itself!
Nice camp ground(at Lk Crosbie), quite a few sites.
If all taken up, just move on and find a site elsewhere as a backup plan.
My preference for alternatives in the Murray Sunset NP up there would be Mopoke, and if I had too, there are a few at Clay Lake.
Problem is: if you drive from Crosbie to Mopoke and the camp area at Mopoke Hut is also full, the drive to Clay is backtracking(I hate back tracking! :D)
Drive from Crosbie to Mopoke probably 30-ish mins, the track will turn to soft sand, and best to let air out of tyres.
FWIW tho, I'm pretty lazy and I didn't (running 38psi) and had no problems with both diffs being open. Only on the way back I had trouble with the very last dune where I followed the ruts and didn't make it, reversed had another go on a new line .. made it up no worries. But remember this was with tyres at high pressure. You have rear diff locker which will help a lot!
From Mopoke keep heading north along the sandy tracks up to Rocket Lake. again just soft sand, easy-ish to do.
Now you're nearly at Mildura, and two options to think about.
1: straight up to Mildura(and beyond) or 2. east from Rocket to the Murray estuaries at Hattah - Kylkyne.
H-K NP is a nice place, haven't really checked it out much tho, but I think I've been to Lake Mournpall(need to check my old GPS tracks .. but close enough) nice place to camp!
3. Menindee Lakes area too. North of Mildura look for Pooncarie road. This takes you further up into Menindee. Lots of sandy tracks, nice big lake, but just entering the NP costs money(get it at the entrances), and camping also costs $s too. I reckon worth the cost. Lots of sandy tracks to drive around on.
4. another highly recommended thing to do is Broken Hill for a day. Check out the Painted Desert(hill top art installation .. awesome at sunset) AND Silverton too. Both worth the time.
The other thing I'd recommend is as well whilst up that way is the Mutawintji NP(Historic site) .. aboriginal rock art area. When we went to Mutawintji, a sand storm had just begun, so we actually missed out on the rock art.
We waited for a good 2-3hrs, but in the end decided to leave(stayed the night in a motel in BH, with a spa! [thumbsupbig])
5. Lake Mungo(as already mentioned). One of my favourite places up that way. I'm a photography geek, and this place is highly photogenic. Old Woolshed and the walks around the lakes are nice.
ps. Little Desert NP is south of the Western Hwy(Nhill). Big Desert is a wilderness area, and is adjacent to the Wyperfield NP(basically the same area type.
Murray Sunset is further north again just south of Mildura.
Do you have a mapping/GPS device or software?
