We set off from Mt Dare with some trepidation and a little excitement. We had talked about this trip since we visited Alice in 2010 and we knew it was going to be tricky but Vinnie had done a lot of research and planned the route carefully. We had heard that the dunes had been chopped up by people towing trailers but we had no idea how difficult it would be to cross the dunes. There is so much to tell that I need to do it in point form.

We had many challenges:

• The temperatures were between 35-41C, incredibly hot for this time of the year
• We had car problems - the battery overheated, we had another flat and we lost the power steering (very tricky when negotiating bends on the top of dunes)
• The battery not working meant that the fridge wasn't getting the charge it needed, the high temperatures didn't help!
• The tent collapsed, fortunately Steve had a temporary solution so we had somewhere to sleep
• The sand was hot which meant the dunes were softer and harder to cross
• We had to be snatched (towed) up four dunes
• Everything that wasn't bolted down got damaged because of the huge ruts and corrogations.

The night sky was brilliant and our bush camps were pretty special. We know we could not have done it without the help from our friends - Steve snatched both vehicles over the dunes a number of times.

We limped into Birdsville traumatised but happy we had survived. We did enjoy the races and Dave & Leonie's company. Fortunately we had lent them a tent for camping at Birdsville so we now had a tent to continue on the journey - yes, we almost pulled the pin. We learned heaps about desert travel and we are thinking very seriously about future desert transport!!