Friday 24th April 2015 – Warm – cloudless sky

We have been on the road 9 months – This second half of the trip seems to be speeding up – and now we are in the final quarter.

This morning I woke to a beautiful sunrise – a typical outback photo if ever there was one – but as good as it was, I couldn’t be bothered getting out of bed for it.  Maybe tomorrow morning I will be more enthusiastic.  After our photos of the painted desert yesterday, we got up early and hit the road to get the best of the early morning light.  We were away around 7am and drove back to a marked trail.

Warning:  Lots more photos of the Painted Desert

 

The track into the start of the walk.  The walk was a loop and takes you to the top of several of these hills.

Our car is parked in the far distance, see if you can find it.  It looks like a shrub.  We walked out along this narrow ridge as well.

The walk back was down through this valley.  You can see some tracks on the hills from the kangaroos – we wondered why they would want to hop up and down these hills – they probably just enjoy the last of the days’ light overlooking the plains.  We have only see about three so they are probably the same ratio as the cattle to the land.

The flies were not up, so we had a very enjoyable time without being harassed.  How many photos can you take?  It was hard to stop as we kept seeing different colours and views.

Looking back up the valley.

Here’s breakfast waiting.  After breakfast we drove further back to the Outlook to see it also in the morning light.

Yesterday it was quite cloudy and we didn’t have strong light at sunset.

All we needed were a few cactus plants and a couple of cow pokes.

We came back to camp – it’s windy which is great for keeping the flies at bay and drying our washing.

Tomorrow we head down the road to Coober Pedy and have just realized that it is Anzac Day so restocking may be an issue.  Hopefully the supermarket opens after lunch or on Sunday or we will have to stay extra nights as there isn’t anywhere else to restock until we get to Boulia.  After lunch with the clothes dry, can’t go anywhere as we attach the clothes lines from the car to the camper :).  We decided to drive to the western boundary of Arckaringa Station through the Copper Hills.  It takes about half an hour from the homestead to the western boundary.

The western boundary station sign- no expense spared.

The dirt is extremely soft and fluffy, you can see how it has just blown away over the centuries.

 

 

 

The wind has intensified during the afternoon – hopefully it will be gone after sunset.  We plan to pack up early in the morning as we don’t want to do battle putting down the trailer.

Thursday 23rd April 2015 – overcast – it was much warmer overnight

We left William Creek around 9am and headed north to Oodnadatta and then down the Painted Desert Rd to Arckaringa Station where we are camped tonight.  We are now playing in the Simpson Desert.

Red – Today’s journey William Creek to Arckaringa Station (2 nights)

Yellow – is the remainder of the trip is down to Coober Pedy (to restock)  (possible 2 nights) and then to William Creek and back to Marree (overnight camp behind the pub :)   to start the Birdsville Track.

 

On our way back to William Creek, we will pass through Anna Creek Station which is the largest cattle station in the world.

Our morning tea stop was at Edward Creek – it has a tank and old windmill in the creek bed.  The view left is looking along the dry creek bed.  A couple of short billed Corella’s were using the windmill as a rest point, but soon moved on when four Wedgetail eagles began patrolling the area.  The Oodnadatta track follows the old Ghan and the overland telegraph line.  This was also the way that Stuart headed north on his exploration.

 

 

 

 

This is the Algebuckina and the Neale River and Ghan rail bridge (598 metres), the longest rail bridge in SA. The car wreck is a classic outback story, that I read about a number of years ago.  The owner finding the river in flood decided in his wisdom to use the rail bridge to get across the river, bad luck he met the train on it and didn’t fare too well.  I can’t remember if he was killed, I think so.

 

Our destination for lunch was Oodnadatta

I had often wondered why anyone would paint a roadhouse pink, but driving along the Oodnadatta Track all you see is pink, it is the colour of the rocks but not this girly pink.

Run down, ramshackle – it’s a refuelling stop and nothing more.   I guess it is famous for it’s name and that’s it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Museum wasn’t open of course, it is heritage listed but in need of a lot of work.

We’re off to the Painted Desert Road and to Arckaringa Station for a couple of nights and then on to Coober Pedy before we turn east again to revisit William Creek and Maree.  We have taken the long way to Coober Pedy via Oodnadatta, but the painted desert has been worth it.

We ran out of graded road and met up with the road party.  The road was rougher for a few kilometres, but then smoothed out again.  It like a dirt highway, so still calling it a track is a bit over the top.  Easily driven with a 2wd, the only exception it is dry weather only.

 

 

This definitely was the highlight of the day!   The Painted Desert !

There is no green grass out here, the green is rock.  It is the strangest thing seeing all of this greenery only to see that it is rock and not grass. It is eroded to fine particles. These are the Arckaringa Hills.  These are classic “bad lands”, with mesas, buttes, tent hills and cliffs which have formed by erosion from a ancient land surface.  Coal, Opal and Jasper are some of the minerals found here.  It is also home to the largest lizard in Australia – Perentie  with an average length of 2.1 metres and body girth of .5 metre – I am sure we notice it if we come across it.  We have seen a couple of goanna which match this description and at that size they get a lot of respect!

 

The sky just cleared in time for sunset and gave some sunshine on the hills.  

We set up camp at sunset and cooked dinner after the flies went to bed.  Arckaringa Cattle Station has two thousand cattle and is two thousand square kilometres so that’s one cow to a square kilometre.  No wonder we can’t see many cattle around.  The cattle we saw on Alandale Station along the Oodnadatta Track were in prime condition – that was incredible given the land they graze on.

It is easy to see how people become complacent and find themselves in real trouble out here.  It’s easy driving in the dry cooler months of winter and with a reliable vehicle, but breakdown at the wrong time of year without sufficient water and the game changes.  If it rains then the roads are impassable and the creeks flood quickly.  This is not the place to travel to in Summer.  There is a memorial to a young backpacker who bogged at Lake Eyre December1997 and tried to walk back to William Creek.   She died with sufficient water but totally under-estimated her water needs at that time of year in soaring temperatures. They rescued her boyfriend a it only took them 10 minutes to get the truck out.  inexperience and panic created a situation whereby one of them died.

Wednesday 22nd April 2015 – Cool, fine sunny

Farina to William Creek via Marree

It has been a long time since I have seen a house sparrow that I was surprised to find them in the camp ground at Farina, obviously a left over from the old township.

A plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Stuart’s exploration of the centre.

 

 

 

 

 

There was no sign to say what motivated this sculpture.  It was very well done with a few simple rocks.

Below the rail line at Marree

See if you can find the grasshopper in this photo.

 

 

 

 

 

The famous Marree Hotel – it is really nicely fitted out inside and has a large photographic museum to Tom Kruse – Mailman of the Outback.

One of the mail trucks on display at the outdoor museum.

The Marree railway platform – highly unlikely you would ever get wet.

The Lake Eyre Yacht Club.  They even have a jetty to tie your boat up to.

All roads are open.  There is still some water lying around after last weeks rain.

We stopped at this abandoned railway siding for lunch.

The view south looking down the old Ghan railway line.

We are definitely back in the desert.

In the middle of no where, we came across this sculpture park.  These statues reminded me of the robots from “Total Recall”.  Very life like.

A view of Lake Eyre South – from a viewing point.  Lake Eyre South is much smaller than Lake Eyre North.  I had only ever heard it referred to as Lake Eyre and nothing about there being a North and South Lake -

I could see what looked like islands or maybe mirages.

Lots of signs about not driving past this point, but by the tyre marks several people have tried to drive on the lake.

The Oodnadatta Track – we have been lucky again and the grader has just been through. Lovely smooth road.

We will be coming back this way from William Creek to Marree so will be able to stop off a few more places like Coward Springs on our way back.

William Creek Caravan Park – very basic indeed – won’t be camping there on our way back through.  Large flocks of noisy Corella’s.  I am surprised that they allow them to nest there as they would be a real danger to their aircraft with all the take off and landings for Lake Eyre.  A sausage roll at $7.50 – that’s almost as good as the $24 hamburger in WA.  The one hour flight was $285 and was just over Lake Eyre – it didn’t interest me to look at white salt for an hour.  If you wanted to see the Painted Hills you had to take the two hour flight at $425.