Checked daily from official sources

Simpson Desert access today

Last checked:

Open

Via the Eyre Creek bypass. The old QAA ford is still reported impassable. Summer close 1 December to 15 March.

Mt Dare Hotel (1st of September 2026) — not a parks alert — reports the Eyre Creek bypass open and the QAA line crossing still impassable.

A missing park alert is not the same as an open QAA ford. Check both states the morning you leave.

Queensland

No current QLD Parks Munga-Thirri alert. Queensland Parks currently lists 148 park alerts. Munga-Thirri is not on that list.

QLDTraffic Central West as at 10:00pm 17 September 2026: no closures listed for the district. TMR does not certify remote park tracks or creek fords.

The QAA Line camping page is live. The standard summer closure listed there is 1 December to 15 March. A live booking page is not a ranger telling you the park is open.

South Australia

Desert Parks Bulletin No. 877, updated 1st September 2026.

SA Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert NP is open; Witjira NP is listed open.

Open in this bulletin

  • Colson TrackOpen
  • Poeppels CornerOpen
  • PAR 13 Halligan Bay PointOpen
  • PAR 8 PedirkaOpen
  • Witjira National ParkOpen
  • Dalhousie CampgroundOpen
  • Three O'Clock Creek CampgroundOpen
  • Dalhousie Campground to Purni BoreOpen

Closed in this bulletin

  • Pedirka Track (on park)Closed
  • Bloods Creek Ruin to Federal Waterhole TrackClosed
  • Dalhousie airstripClosed
  • PAR 2 Level Post BayClosed
  • PAR 3 Nuccaleena MineClosed
  • PAR 9 WarraweenaClosed
  • PAR 15 K1 Warburton CrossingClosed
  • PAR 16 Walkers CrossingClosed

Innamincka Regional Reserve and Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park remain listed closed due to flooding. That is not the Simpson crossing itself, but it matters if you are routing via the Strzelecki.

A Desert Parks Pass is mandatory to enter the SA Munga-Thirri – Simpson Desert National Park. The bulletin lists the Pink Roadhouse (Oodnadatta) and Mt Dare Hotel as pass agents.

Older wording still on the SA bulletin

Bulletin 877 (1st September 2026) still contains a sentence that Queensland was closed at the time of publishing. That is the bulletin's wording from 1st September 2026. It is not today's Queensland Parks alert list.

Official sources

Machine-readable copy of this check: /simpson-desert-access.json

Crossing the Simpson

The full guide is at simpsondesertguide.com.au

Permits, fuel, dune technique, and what a bypass actually costs you in time and diesel. 250+ pages from 20+ crossings — not a status page.

Get the Simpson Desert Travel Guide

More about the guide on AllOffRoad