A really cool rock formation Engravings on the Pillar - J Ross is an original the rest are vandals

Chambers Pillar

25th June, 2009
Today saw us leave Alice Springs to Chambers Pillar. This was to be the first leg of our trip across the Simpson Desert. Not to be. On the way we started hearing a rattling noise in the front passenger tyre casings. We traveled on, and took the tyre off at the Pillar to find that we had shattered the upper ball joint and have a ‘worrying’ click in the front CV, both need replacing ASAP.

Well, we were here now, not much to do about it but enjoy the night, because out of all the spares we are carrying, these aren’t one of them. However, once Steve had taken the jack out and took the tyre off, the men of camp surrounded us thicker than the flies. After much conjecture and another beer it was agreed that Steve was right. With the amount of punishing corrugations we are traveling (to the Pillar included), we were lucky to discover this so soon. The more we think about, we heard the same noise doing the Mereenie Loop, and had we paid more attention and trusted our knowledge this would have been fixed before we set off on this leg of our travels. The old adages of pay attention to noises and check your vehicle every day rings true – also we must trust our knowledge of our vehicle and not sweep things under the mud mat, so to speak.

Anyway, enough of that. Chambers Pillar was really great. We didn’t get “the fabulous sunset or sunrise photo” as it was overcast as anything. What I really noticed was that although we have felt this strong, cold wind every day that we’ve been away, this is the first time I’ve “heard” it. It breezed through the tree we were camping next to with a comforting eeriness (if that makes sense). We are remote, and it sounded good.

We climbed up the Pillar and checked out the carvings of the exploration party that named and discovered it and once again marveled at what could be going through these men’s minds to tackle such harsh land. Lucky for Australia that they did.

Another couple were camping there that had a young Aboriginal boy living with them through school terms. This kid was brilliant. He spends spare time with his native family/tribe and is well trained in gathering and indentifying bush tucker and what animal lives down each hole. Needless to say, Cam and Dan were enthralled and loved hiking and exploring with him. From our part, it was great to meet one of the 95% that everyone keeps talking about but we never saw. If we didn’t have to come back to Alice for repairs, we would have traveled with this family for another couple of nights. Oh well.

So, now we sit back at Alice Springs. The boys have given the jumping pillow another bashing and we wait for repairs to be done….