Simpson Desert

But the centre of Australia, and I'm glad you're going to talk to Mount Dare because the centre of Australia is getting smashed by storms all this week.

They've had a couple of really big storms go through Alice Springs and then, of course, that spread across the Simpson Desert.

The Simpson Desert has been shut again because of the flooding and you're going to get all the lowdown on that from the good folk at Mount Dare.

But, you know, it's quite unusual at this time of the year.

This is normally a pretty stable time of the year.

And, of course, just remember, our listeners, that the Simpson Desert actually closes at the end of November.

So it's closed for access from the 1st of December through to the 15th of March.

And that's mainly because of the heat.

There were people camping everywhere.

The Simpson Desert had only not long opened up.

I think a week or a couple of weeks prior to us arriving there, there were people all over the place.

Since we've left...

But make sure when your outback travels, you put Mount Dare on the list.

You certainly will not regret popping in there.

Even if you don't cross the Simpsons, come in from Colgar and go back out that way or duck back down through Dalhousie, down to Oodnadatta.

It's a fantastic run through there.

And take them into the boardrooms, take them into the places where big decisions are being made and connect to the hearts, not just the minds of these people who are making the decisions.

Because I think it's often, you know, an Indigenous community member said to me in Australia one day when I was running across the Simpson Desert, he said, Mina, decisions would be better if leaders could understand that things are different on the land.

And he's right.

We owe it to these people who are living on the front lines to take their stories and make sure that those stories are heard by those decision makers, because decisions are better when they understand the real true consequences of their actions.

Now, for those of you who have never been to Birdsville, it's in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

It is this tiny town in far southwest Queensland right on the edge of the Simpson Desert and it's one of those places where you can drive for hours and hours and see absolutely nothing.

Then once a year thousands of people descend on this place for the races.

They come in four-wheel drives, caravans, they fly in and for the weekend they camp, they drink and they punt.