4WD TRAVEL GUIDE – THE MADIGAN LINE – CROSSING THE NORTHERN SIMPSON

Description

THE MADIGAN LINE

The Madigan Line – 4WD Travel Guides DVD follows the route taken by Cecil Madigan’s exploratory crossing of the Simpson Desert in 1939.  The Madigan Line is one of the last true adventures left in Australia. It is a trackless route through the Simpson Desert, following in the footsteps of one of Australia’s least-celebrated explorers.  A journey of self-discovery, of endless rolling blood-red dunes, of solitude and beauty. Unlike the southern tracks across the Simpson, which are all in South Australia, Madigan’s crossing was mostly in the Northern Territory.  Only a handful of 4×4 adventurers travel this way each year.

Vic Widman of Great Divide Tours assembled a convoy of travelers at Mt Dare to follow in the footsteps of Cecil Madigan’s expedition. After advice from Mt Dare’s owner, the group headed north to Old Andado for the beginning of their adventure.

The Madigan Line formally begins at Mac Clark Conservation Reserve, which protects a stand of Acacia peuce, an endangered wattle. These slow-growing trees are very long-lived but only produce seed after rare good rains