Part 5 of 8 - My Epic Simpson Desert (Munga Thirri) Crossing - Mt Dare Hotel | Car Trouble in the middle of no where with night approaching!

Total days – 13

Route – Adelaide | Coober Pedy | Arckaringa | Oodnadatta | Dalhousie | Mt Dare | Simpson Desert | Birdsville | Adelaide.

Total Distance – 3180km (1975mi)

If you missed the first four parts of this eight-part series, please use the links at the bottom of this post to read all the posts from this amazing trip through Outback Australia.

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Mt DARE HOTEL

Mt Dare was once a cattle station, which just like Dalhousie is now part of the Witjira National Park. Not much to see, however, a visit to the iconic outback pub – Mt Dare Hotel is a must. Outback pubs are iconic watering holes for modern day travellers as they were a long time ago for travellers of the time. Located only 70km (44mi) from Dalhousie springs, we made the pilgrimage, all in the name of savouring a beer and a pasty (pastry) whilst meeting and making new friends with like-minded fellow travellers.

Mt Dare Hotel is lone pub located in the middle of nowhere on the western edge of the Simpson Desert in South Australia. 10km (6mi) south of the (state of) Northern Territory border. It is ideally located for those travelling through the outback to Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Simpson Desert or Dalhousie Springs. The nearest town is about 700km away.

In 2002 the old station kitchen was turned into the pub, however, in 2004 the pub was moved to an old machinery shed, where Mt Dare Hotel is today. So you could say the pub came into existence in 2002. Though only 15 years in age, the shed in which the pub has been built along with the rest of the buildings making up the pub property is a lot older, full of history.

The current owners of the Mt Dare hotel are Graham and Sandra Scott who with their family run the pub. It is an all family affair and the personal attention they provide to all those visiting the pub is quite a welcome experience to all travellers​.

As I sat in this iconic pub, my mind cast back to the days when it must have been a thriving cattle station homestead. As the saying goes, if only the walls could talk. With my thoughts wondering, I had to ask Graham where the name Mount Dare came from. Not having seen any mountains in the region, my curiosity got the better of me. Graham was not quite sure how the name came about. He, however, felt the area was named after a well-respected gentleman who lived in the area a long time ago. Fact or folklore I am yet to find out. The mystery kind of added to the charm of this iconic hotel for me.

Apart from refreshments for us humans, Mt Dare Hotel also has fuel supply available along with fresh clean water. So after filling up our vehicles’ tanks we bid farewell to the hosts at the hotel and made our way back to another night of camping at Dalhousie.

Filling up our water tanks at Mt Dare Hotel

The idea was to get back to our camp before darkness set in, but this was not to be as we had to make running repairs to one of our vehicles. An aftermarket fitment (driver's side custom side step) had worked itself loose. It was quite clear the person who did the installation did not quite tighten​ bolts​ and the vibrations from the corrugations worked the bots loose. If this wasn't bad enough one of the bolts had rubbed against the hot water line going to the back of the Land Cruiser's cabin creating a leak. Since this was the hot water supply to the cabin's back heater, we blocked off the broken pipe. We spent a better part of two hours attending to this. Working under the vehicle in the dark was not all that easy. Thankfully we had lots of LED lights. A good reminder to regularly check your vehicle when travelling​ in the outback, rather than waiting for something to go wrong, as it was the case with us here.

Eventually, we got back to camp at Dalhousie, had dinner and then back into the warm spring pool in the dead of the night. Life could not get any better.

Part 6 to be posted soon - Into​ The Simpson | Big Sky Country.

Follow me on this epic overlanding trip.

Live life to the fullest, it's too short to procrastinate​!
Duncan Udawatta

#tinyplanet #teamaustralia #overlanding

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PART 1 - An Underground City | SiFi Movie sets | Dynamite From The Local Supermarket.
https://steemit.com/travel/@overlandjournals/my-epic-simpson-desert-munga-thirri-crossing-part-1-of-8-an-underground-city-dynamite-from-the-local-supermarket-sifi-movie-sets

PART 2 - The Breakaways | Longest Dog Fence In The World.
https://steemit.com/travel/@overlandjournals/part-2-of-8-my-epic-simpson-desert-munga-thirri-crossing-longest-dog-fence-in-the-world-or-kanku-breakaways-conservation-park

PART 3 - A 80 Million Year Old Painted Desert.
https://steemit.com/travel/@overlandjournals/part-3-of-8-my-epic-simpson-desert-munga-thirri-crossing-an-80-million-year-old-painted-desert

PART 4 - Hot Water On Tap In The Middle Of The Outback.
https://steemit.com/travel/@overlandjournals/part-4-of-8-my-epic-simpson-desert-munga-thirri-crossing-dalhousie-springs-or-hot-water-on-tap-in-the-middle-of-the-outback