Oodanadatta Track

Arriving at Marla we fuelled up bought lunch and set off on the Oodnadatta track for William Creek and a flight over Lake Eyre.

Dirt all the way so dust and corrugations were what we were expecting.

What we got was a really good dirt road as good as going to the farm from Morawa Jean. There were some bad spots but on the whole it was fine.

The countryside is very different, some like Barnong and Yalgoo some open plains, some with nothing but small stones as far as the eye can see.

 Found a very small pretty plant

 Air con is leaking dust in to the truck so cover up time.

 We camped at Kathleen Creek on the Oodanatta track the first night

I`m not playing with fire!!!

There are lots of hills and ranges lots of pictures taken. There are more cattle and wild life here in South Australia than we have seen on the whole trip so far.

We followed the old Ghan Railway Line from Oodanadatta Pink Roadhouse to William Creek, stopping at some of the old sidings and stations and railway bridges on the way. The ruins are looking very sad now, but were very solidly built in there day, a lot of history here!!!

The ruins of Dutton station

 The longest rail bridge in Australia

 Warrina there is a lot of history here

At William Creek town, it looks like the pub is the main spot. We were told talk to the pub and they would let us park behind the pub instead of paying $25 a night in the caravan park, but no the pub has taken over the caravan park and now this is the only place you can park.

What we think happened is the pub undercut the caravan park until it went broke and closed, then the pub stepped in and bought the caravan park themselves, which is very run down the showers leave a lot to be desired and need renewing, the water is hard and not fit to drink no lather with soap.

It is the only place to stay so travellers don’t have much choice.

 

Julian, Tim & I took a flight over the Lake unfortunately there was only about 3 to 4 inches of water so not as spectacular as we thought it would be, for our first flight it was great, no motion sickness though have to admit we did take something just in case.

It was very enjoyable being able to see the country from a different angle. If it ever fills with water again think we will make the effort to come back- if were not too old!!!!

 Animal tracks on the lake

 Creeks in the distance

 Part of the lake

 A bit of water

 An old truck body

 Julian with his coffee

 Julian and Porta house behind us in the review mirror

Coober Pedy is our next stop for Julian to do a tour while the rest of us do some cleaning.

That`s it for this one  we are almost on the homeward stretch of the journey so not sure if there will be another blog.

We are all feeling a bit tired from all the travelling need to stop and have a break, though it has definately been an experience we are glad to done.

Red dust, dirt and corrugations we hope to avoid for awhile, looking forward green grass.

Bye for now from us all.

Merreenie Loop Road

Graham, Desma, Julian, Tim & I went the other way to Alice springs via Merreenie Loop road another 153 KS of dirt road coming in at the western end of the MacDonnell ranges which where fantastic.. Well worth the dirt, dust and corrugation’s to see it all, with the dogs and National Parks there were places we were unable to go but we still had a fantastic time with lots of laughter, high jinks and fun.

 Ochre Pit

 Saga of the shower tent

 

We met up with Errol and company at Heritage Caravan Park for a couple of day where they left us and headed North to continue their trip.

Monday 6^th after packing up then fueling up we headed for Henbury Meterorite craters on our way south. WOW they are worth the dirt road to see, amazing how the dirt has been displaced by the impact.

It was lunch time by the time we had finished the walk around the top so we made good use of the tables and seat to eat before heading back to the highway and further south.

Stopping at the roadhouses to buy stickers for us all.