Simpson Desert

The Simpson Desert is a stunning landscape spanning across Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory in central Australia.

It is the fourth-largest desert in Australia, known for its dry, red sandy plains and dunes that attract many tourists. Underlying the desert is the Great Artesian Basin, which features natural springs like Dalhousie Springs and bores drilled along stock routes. The Simpson Desert is an erg that showcases the world's largest parallel sand dunes. These dunes range in height from 3 m in the west to approximately 30 m on the eastern side, with the tallest being Nappanerica or Big Red at 40 m. Access to the desert is possible from towns like Birdsville, Bedourie, Thargomindah, Windorah, Innamincka, and Oodnadatta, as there are no maintained roads across the region. The Simpson Desert is a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion, consisting of the Channel Country and the Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields bioregions. The region's flora is drought-resistant, with shrubs, grasses, and notable features like the Zygochloa paradoxa grass that holds the dunes together and the spinifex on the desert floor. The desert has an extremely hot, dry climate with minimal rainfall, averaging about 150 mm annually, mostly during the summer. Temperatures can reach up to 50°C, and sandstorms are common.

The channel country, located to the northeast of the desert proper, features low-lying areas with hills covered in mitch