Flinders Ranges & Lake Eyre 2018

Flinders Ranges and Lake Eyre

Sunday 1 July 2018

Well, whose idea was it to catch a flight to Adelaide at 0655; that means getting up at 0400 ?

We did it, rushed around getting all the last minute packing done and giving our dog, Maggie a hug and leaving her alone in the dark, until our kind neighbours would come to collect her later in the morning.

We broke the East Brighton to airport record, with no traffic, well, it was actually to the off airport parking – 35 minutes.

Inside the airport terminal we met up with our travelling partners Bev and Andrew Gelbart and proceeded to attempt to do a baggage drop. Ellly had a monster bag weighing close to 30 kg, it was the kitchen sink that was the final straw, and every time we sent it on its way, it kept coming back!

Finally we enlisted the help of a Jetstar staff girl who had the same trouble, and for the next 15 mins tried to convince this bag that it had to go! Success eventually.

Airborne finally ( still dark) for an uneventful flight apart from foul coffee.

On arrival we collected our Mitsubishi Pajero, giving us 4wd capability as well as plenty of luggage space ( remember the kitchen sink ).

Driving north and navigating by mobile phone ( doesn’t everybody?), we stopped at the town of Gawler for brunch and wandered through the local market to get some fruit and vegetables, which Elly would have brought from Melbourne had the kitchen sink not been so voluminous. Actually we were looking for a store or supermarket to stock up on a few things, but  being Sunday, nothing was open until 11:00 am! This was like stepping back into Melbourne 30 years ago.

On then to Clare Valley to the Jim Barry winery which Andrew had on his bucket list. Several tastings ensued followed by draining of the credit cards, as we paid well above Dan Murphy’s prices for the wines at the cellar door. Never mind, we are on holiday!

En route to Wilpena Pound, which was our first destination, we diverted to a town named Johnburgh, which was described as a ghost town. There were some old places there, including old stone houses which were falling down, but we did meet with a local resident who told us that 5 families live in the “town”. We saw lots of kangaroos and emus along the way as well as a fox who paused during his escape from us to give us a good hard check out, then ran off before Elly could photograph him. 

Johnburg

Finally arrived at Wilpena Pound just after sunset, with the temperature falling, however, heated bedrooms as well as fires in the dining rooms really made it a welcoming experience.

Monday 2 July 2018

We gave ourselves plenty of time to have breakfast and head for the Visitor’s Centre. The weather was clear, and it was so cold we had no hot water in the bathroom sink for some time. I thought we should report it, but then thought it may be frozen pipes, because it came on after an hour or so. I did see a notice at the Visitor’s Centre, asking people to be patient because some pipes were freezing. Aren’t I just the smartie pants?

Our plan for the day was to drive a fairly large loop, visiting, first of all, Brachina Gorge to the north of Wilpena Pound. The road started as bitumen but soon became unmade. The surroundings were just beautiful, with hills either side of us, covered in a variety of trees, but almost no undergrowth. I recall seeing a nearby hill, the upper half of which had a very attractive variety of trees, and gave the impression that it had been professionally landscaped, which, of course it hadn’t, as this was raw wild country with no fences. As we drove along the gorge, it was as though we were driving along a river with no water, which, of course, is exactly what we were doing.

Heading out from the gorge we again had the magnificent scenery all around us, as well as the wild life. There were hundreds of kangaroos, as well as emus. As we approached along the road, the emus would just run and run until they were out of sight; there was no question of hanging around to see whether we posed a threat – they were just out of there. The kangaroos, on the other hand, had mixed reactions. Some would bolt straight away, often right in front of the car, and others would just watch us as we passed, and stay put.

Next stop was at a small town, Parachilna, which basically had a railway line, now closed as it was used as a  transport for a copper mine which closed five years ago.

But what it did have was the Prairie Hotel which has been around since the eighteen hundreds, but has been brought to life by targeting travellers on the way to visit the Parachilna Gorge nearby. The owners have set up outside seating, renovated the accommodation, and successfully marketed their speciality: the Feral Mixed Grill and the Feral Antipasto, as well as their own beer.

Parachilna Pub

We stopped at the hotel and tried their beer. Bev and Andrew shared one of their meat pies and said it was awesome. Elly tried the Feral Antipasto, which featured goat’s cheese, camel salami, emu pate and kangaroo filet. It was great. This hotel is now featuring in all the tours that pass that way.

Driving on after our memorable lunch stop, we headed for Parachilna Gorge. We were a little anxious because Andrew had noted that we only had about 130km of fuel left, which may not have been enough to get us back home. The tour books we had said that fuel was available at Parachilna Gorge, so we were banking on that to be correct. We were also banking on the petrol station having diesel! They did.

We were then on the return trip of our loop for the day, and it was in this area that we were told that you could see the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby, so, of course we were scrutinising every model of kangaroo  that we passed, until Elly and Bev both said that they could see a yellow band on a kangaroo’s ( must have been a rock wallaby) legs as it was staring at us from just off the road. I think I could see it, but then I’m colourblind, so what would I know? In fact a lot of the “kangaroos” we had been seeing were actually Euros, a slightly smaller breed, but still the basic kangaroo shape. We then proceeded southbound. 

The Flinders Ranges have their own “Great Wall of China”- it says so on the maps, and as we were driving, off to our left we could see a long ridge of hills running parallel to us. The top of this ridge was worn away by erosion, leaving a long line of what looked like battlements of a Great Wall!

Continuing on the way we called in to a lookout, called Stoke’s Hill lookout, which we had been told was a good place to watch the sun set over Wilpena Pound. It was an excellent place, and we had intended to have champagne and cheese, but we were too late to head back home to collect the goodies and go back out again. This meant that we had to watch other, more organised people have their wine and cheese while we just wandered around getting cold while Elly did her photographing. 

Back to the lodge for a glass of red and a short game of 500 before dinner.

Tuesday 3 July 2018

Sunrise

Sunrise on Wooded dam

This morning we had decided to get some exercise instead of sitting in the car all day. Even though we all are involved in the decision about where we will go, it seems that Bev has the situational awareness to remember how to find these tracks, and what direction we need to turn when any uncertainty presents itself.

We set off for a 3 hour walk along a forest path which was really beautiful, although marred in a couple of places by huge piles of dead trees, just to the left of the path; it appeared that they had just somehow been dumped there. A display nearby explained it: There had been a massive bushfire in the eighties, so horrendous and with such heat that the fire even burned tree roots underground to charcoal.

Large numbers of trees died completely, not just on the outside. Then came torrential rains, and the water sweeping down the gorge took many of these dead trees and just dumped them, tangled together, as they still are now. 

Surprisingly, even with almost no rain there was water flowing in the river, and we passed quite a large waterhole. 

Our first destination was the Hill’s homestead, which is a neat little sandstone building renovated in 1995. There is an outdoor display describing the tough conditions that the early settlers in the region had to put up with to run cattle, sheep and finally wheat in this rugged country whilst battling unreliable rainfall and many years of drought. The display was written by one of the daughters of the first pioneers to live there.

We then started climbing, as we headed for our next destination, the Wangarra lookouts, lower then upper. The walk was described as moderate, which it was, although with Bev’s knee, Elly’s possibly broken toe from a few weeks back, and my general ancientness we did a fair bit of huffing and puffing. Not Andrew though, he was his usual gazelle like self, leaping from rock to rock.

The views from the lookouts were excellent, looking out over Wilpena Pound in all its glory.

On our way back Elly had an excellent idea; we should go back home and pack a picnic with some wine, and try out some new folding chairs that we had bought. This we did, and then drove to a place called Rawnsley Lookout where we found a picnic table just off the road. The lookout itself was about 170 metres up the hill, it was private property but you could walk up there. Elly wasn’t too happy about our roadside spot, so we were thinking of gathering up our things and climbing the hill for our picnic. I noticed that there was a driveway up to the top but there were gates to stop us driving up. I checked the gates and found that they weren’t actually locked, just sitting loosely closed, so we opened them and drove through up to the lookout spot. There was no sign saying we couldn’t take the car so we weren’t trespassing were we? We set up our chairs  with the backs facing downhill so that Elly could take a group photo with the Ranges in the background. Andrew decided to try one of the chairs with a glass of wine in hand. The chair did a back flip as Andrew gave out a loud “woooo” sound and landed on his back, miraculously only spilling half his glass of wine. He wasn’t hurt so we had our picnic with some nice wine, what was left of it, while admiring the view.

Next on our schedule was the Sacred Canyon and Adnyamathanha (Local indigenous people) engravings. We went here fairly late in the day, but it was well worth it. A short walk took us to a complete change in environment. Suddenly there were stratiform rocks sitting vertically, along with other white massive rocks laying across our path, which we had to negotiate in order to gain access to the canyon, this was difficult climbing but amazing to see this total transformation within such a short distance.

We reached the end, as this rock formation just stopped, leaving us looking at familiar scenery of gum trees and other forest growth.

Along the way and also at the end of the canyon there were etchings or engravings, many just simple circles etched into the stone. We don’t have any information about these markings, but you can certainly understand why this was a special place for the original inhabitants here.

Time to go back home for a bit of a break, except for Elly, who immediately departed in the car to find a place for some night photography.

Surprised to see a faint aurora

Wednesday 4 July 2018

Today was Bev and Andrew’s birthday. Born on the same day but different years.

Bev had lost her glasses and we couldn’t find them anywhere. The only place she could think that she might have dropped them was at our illicit picnic spot the previous day, so we drove there, once again opening the crappy old gates and driving up to the lookout. Sure enough, we found the glasses. We headed back down to the entrance, but we had been nabbed! The owner was waiting for us at the gate to berate us about driving onto private property. Bev mumbled some excuse, but, basically he was pleasant enough and wished us a good day.

We planned to have either a birthday lunch or dinner at Rawnsley Park Station, a short distance south of our Wilpena Pound resort, so we decided to drive there and look at the menu to decide whether lunch or dinner. The restaurant, The Woolshed, is a separate entity which looked very pleasant, with an outside deck area. We chatted with one of the owners of the restaurant, and decided to come to dinner in the evening rather than lunch. He was very pleasant, and told us that he had only been operating there for a few months. I noticed that there were muffins on display, and mentioned it to Elly, because I am fond of a good muffin. As we were about to leave, Elly said she would like to buy a muffin. This guy said, “Of course, but don’t pay.” He then proceeded to bag up 4 muffins and asked if we would like some coffee. The thought of some good coffee was too tempting, so we said yes, but we would buy the coffee.

We then sat outside on the deck and had coffee and muffins, which were all beautiful, and we only paid for the coffee. What a great public relations exercise that was – we came away most impressed.

After the coffee we went for a short walk up to a saddle in the nearby range , not too strenuous as Elly’s toe was giving her some pain after the previous day’s walk.

Next we drove to Moralana scenic drive, not too far away, and it certainly was scenic, with the rugged ranges on either side of us. Several stops were made to let the photographer off the leash.

From there we decided to drive to the town of Hawker to top up our supplies of sundries, because this area is not exactly loaded with supermarkets. Bev had heard that there was a gallery at Hawker, and, sure enough, it was there, right opposite the general store.

It is Jeff Morgan’s Panorama and Art Gallery. Jeff is an artist who has a conventional gallery selling his paintings of the Flinders Ranges, but he has also constructed a panorama feature. This is specially designed to house several enormous paintings, probably 5 metres in height and maybe 8 metres wide set back with actual stones and branches and even a tree with a magpie on a branch, all blending with the painting and coming forward to the point where you stand to view it.

Moving further along you come to the actual panorama, accessed by climbing stairs up to a viewing platform. The panorama is a 360 degrees painting of the Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound, about 5 metres high and 40 metres around. This is an amazing project and is one of only 60 panoramas worldwide officially recognised by the international body of panorama artists.

In the evening we arrived at The Woolshed a little early for our appointment, so we settled on a comfortable leather couch with pre dinner drinks. It had a lovely atmosphere and was quiet, even though it was full. Elly worked out that the Milky Way was exactly behind a windmill just outside, so while we had our drinks she snuck out and did some creative night photography, which looked great. Dinner at The Woolshed was fabulous and we were right by the fire. A really enjoyable evening, including birthday cakes for the birthday couple, so we were pleased that, on our return journey to Adelaide later on, we were booked into Rawnsley Park Station for the night, so we would sample The Woolshed again.

Thursday 5 July 2018

Our first destination this morning was Arkaroo Rock, a short drive south from the lodge and then a 2 hour return walk to the rock, which is a large concave monolith with quite a lot of old aboriginal drawings, depicting various animals and insects. This rock was used as a meeting place, which is also depicted in the drawings, with figures gathered in a circle. The whole open face of the rock is unfortunately fenced off from top to bottom to prevent idiots from scrawling their names all over it.

After the walk back, we made a decision to visit our friends at The Woolshed for some of their excellent coffee, since it wasn’t far away. This we did, and the coffee was still excellent. 

Next was a reasonably long drive up to a town called Blinman, to join a tour of the old copper mine there. Elly had bought an e-book of Harry Potter, which we had connected into the car’s audio system, so we listened to a couple of chapters on the way.

Bliman is a tiny town with a population of 18, one of whom, Cherie, was waiting for us outside the mine tour office. Blinman was named after a shepherd, who, in 1859, was sitting resting, because he had a wooden leg, and was, in fact called Pegleg; and he noticed, right on the surface, definite signs of copper, which, apparently shepherds knew enough to identify. He didn’t have the required 10 pounds to buy the rights, so he joined up with another man and pooled their resources to purchase the land.

They just sat on it for a couple of years, and then sold it for 7 thousand pounds. They were the only locals who made money from the mine, even though it ran for 40 years. Child labour was used, initially with the young ones on the top surface, but as they turned about 12 they went underground. They worked with basic tools, no machinery, and lighting their way with candles. The town has a local group which looks after the mine and conducts the tours, as well as having dug their own tunnels to make the mine safe for tourists. The amount of mining which was done by hand is vast, with cavernous sections viewable from the ends of tunnels we walked through.

Cherie was an excellent guide and knew her stuff.

After the tour we had a look through a very old cottage in the Main Street which has photos and artefacts from years gone by. It is rustic in the extreme, and brought home to all of us how lucky we are that we live in our times.

We couldn’t leave Blinman without calling in for a beer at the Blinman Pub, in fact, there is a sign up at the pub suggesting that it is “un-Australian to pass the Blinman Hotel and not come in for a beer.

Wedgetail eagles at the roadside

Another couple of chapters of Harry Potter and we were back at the lodge. Elly wanted to go straight out to photograph the sunset, so Bev volunteered to go with her. They were back in just a few minutes, having found that the car had a flat tyre. This required instant action, since we were running out of daylight and didn’t want to have to be using our time up the next morning. So it was out with the manual, to find out how to access the tool kit and the spare wheel. We located the tool kit, and Andrew set about positioning the jack, whilst I was undoing bolts to free the spare. We had the torch in use by this stage, and one kind gentleman from the room next door added his torch, so we had enough to bumble on and finally had it done, with the “guilty” tyre banished to the rear mount.

Friday 6 July 2018

The closest tyre repair establishment was in Hawker, which was in the opposite direction to our next destination, which was Marree, however, as luck and Mr Google would have it, it would be quicker to go via Hawker, to get on the main road to Marree, so that is what we did. We had breakfast in a little cafe in Hawker whilst the tyre man fixed the tyre, although the damage was near the tyre wall in an area which flexes a lot, so he patched it up from the inside, and kept it as the spare, indicating that if we had to use it, we may only get a limited distance out of it before the parch worked loose. So we decided that we wouldn’t get any more punctures! Or to paraphrase Andrew, we would be a “puncture free zone.”

Back on the road again with Harry Potter. 

Soaring eagles seen from road

We came to Leigh Creek, a relatively new town which had been rebuilt, because the coal mine which was adjacent to it had been extended under the original town, hence the new town in a different position. Andrew was talking to a cyclist who had been north to Oodnadatta and was heading south towards Adelaide. He was in no rush, and told Andrew that he just “hangs around” until the wind direction favours him, then he jumps on his bike and off he goes!

We arrived at Marree and checked in to the hotel, which appeared to be the most substantial building in town, standing pretty much by itself, the classic double story brick structure with upstairs balcony, and lots of patrons both outside in groups at the front of the pub, or in the bar.

When we checked in, we were told that there was only a booking for one night instead of the two we had booked. The people at booking.com had stuffed up. The impression we got was that if you find yourself in Marree without accommodation booked, then the night of the Marree Camel Racing Cup is not the night to try it! The hotel was fully booked, but the owner/publican, Maz, was very nice and said she would do her best to come up with something the next morning. Our rooms were very basic, with communal showers and toilets, but clean and spacious. Off we went to check out the racetrack before sunset.

Back to the hotel we took a bottle of wine and glasses up to the balcony where there was a table and a few chairs, but no people, unlike the area underneath the balcony at ground level. Walking along the balcony wasn’t a secure feeling as the floorboards sagged and you felt as though you just might fall through and land on somebody’s table below. We survived and had a very pleasant time watching the sun go down.

We had to queue to pay for our dinner, and then it was a help yourself buffet roast. The whole place was packed, but everyone was friendly and cheerful, including the staff who were from various overseas countries, Ireland, the Netherlands etc. The pub was full of character, with displays and photographs of the Cameleers, the Ghan, Lake Eyre, Donald Campbell’s land speed record and Tom Kruse, the Birdsville Track mailman. Just across from the pub there were a couple of old Diesel engines from the old Ghan.

Among the characters was the pub dog Bundy who would occasionally let you pat him, but with no enthusiasm. He wandered around doing his own thing, but obviously partied on late into the night, because I saw him next morning sleeping it off in the sun, and if he got too warm he would rouse himself and wander across to lie under a car for shade.

Saturday 7 July 2018

Is was the morning of the Marree Cup, the famous camel race day which is renowned far and wide. Maz had managed to find rooms for us at a motel just down the road; fairly basic, but at least had ensuites, so we moved our bags down there.

Then it was off to the races. $40 per person entry fee and then we headed for the action. There were lots of camels tethered to the fence on the opposite side of the track, looking bored and uninterested. Just then a race started, so we watched the camels thundering towards us, one deciding that it would be a good idea to turn about 80 degrees to the right, but was quickly brought back under control. The jockeys, a couple of them female, were dressed in their colours and looked the part, although the camels had their numbers spray painted, it appeared so anyway, on their necks. There were bookmakers there, a bar, and food outlets as well.

During the day, between the camel races, they held various other races: children’s, ladies, men and even pet dog races! To add to this there were several Tug-O- War events with men’s, women’s and mixed. The children had Fashions in the Field, and were all showered with lollies tossed from the finish line tower box.

In the evening there were several camp fires burning with people standing around keeping warm and having a beer or three, and near one camp fire there was musical entertainment on stage, so you could sit down with a beer or three, keep warm and be entertained. I was stuffed, so Elly took me back to the motel. She then returned to the racetrack to rejoin Bev and Andrew sitting around the campfire chatting to people and listening to a couple of very good country bands who had won golden guitar awards at Tamworth. They enjoyed themselves till late in the night. 

Alan says Great Christmas card if only the star of the three wise men was there.

Sunday 8 July 2018

 Left Marree to take the Oodnadatta Track up to William Creek. Along the way we stopped at a large field of metal sculptures, the first of which catches the eye because it is 2 aeroplanes standing vertically on their tails with their wings overlapping. As you enter the field and walk through you come upon a large number of sculptures all made from bits and pieces of machinery, some quite obvious as to their meaning and others more obscure. In the distance; we didn’t quite get that far, was an enormous dog. Interesting stopover on a long road.

Small salt lake enroute

Old Ghan rail line

Eventually we caught our first glimpse of the large salt pan of Lake Eyre South, off to our right.

Southern Lake Eyre

We decided to do something a bit different, so we pulled off the road about 50 metres and set up our chairs for a picnic in the middle of nowhere. It was a very pleasant thing to do, and I’m sure the people in the cars flying past creating clouds of dust either thought we were lunatics, or actually thought it looked like fun and thought they should do it as well.

Next stop was Coward Springs which was on the old Ghan line. There is an Engineer’s Cottage remaining, with historical photos of the times, as well as a spa pool, which flows quite strongly, and is fenced off, probably for child safety. You can open the child proof gate and go inside and sit on bench seats provided, or even go for a dip.

We arrived at William Creek, population 12, about 4:00pm and checked in at the hotel, an ancient looking place, but with lots of character – apparently it was used in the filming of “The Last Cab to Darwin.” Elly wanted to go to book a flight over the lake, and fortunately the booking office was right next to the pub, as was the airport, so Bev and Elly went to arrange that whilst Andrew and I found our actual accommodation which was a 2 bedroom house about 1 minute drive across the road from the pub next to the camping ground, and very nice it was too. We booked in for a 7:00pm dinner at the pub because that is the only place you can go!

Elly was focussed on the sunset which we could see just a short way from the house, so she set up her camera, and I did the “lacky” bit for about an hour. It was a very good sunset though, I must say.

We turned up at 7:00pm for dinner and were told that it might be another half hour or so before we could sit down. The bartender who gave us that news we though was somewhat lacking in charm, however we waited and eventually were seated next to a roaring fire which was actually roaring a bit too much. The food was nice and the room was full of character; we did see a sign asking people not to write on the walls, but it seems that they didn’t ask them not to write on the ceiling either.

A very gregarious gentleman was doing some order taking and fire looking after as well as chatting and laughing with the diners. It turns out that he, Trevor, owns the hotel, the camping

ground, the flight company and most other things in William Creek. He gave the whole room a history of his history, as it were, and it was most interesting.

After dinner, Elly spent quite some time chatting with Trevor, whilst Bev, Andrew and I were talking to Michelle, the recently appointed marketing person who actually lives in Elsternwick and comes to William Creek for a couple of weeks every few months.

It turns out that Gary, the charmless bartender, who was also waiting tables, turned out to be quite nice, as he joined us for a chat before we left for the night.

Monday 9 July 2018

William Creek Pub

Dining Room

Pub

Today we were scheduled to drive a short distance back from William Creek to a turn off to Halligan Bay, which is the closest access point to Lake Eyre. It is 60 km and it took us an hour and a half, plus stops for Elly’s photo opportunities. The road was mostly extremely corrugated and sometimes only very corrugated. On arrival there are toilets and a picnic table at the car park. From there you can walk down to the lake, right up to where the salt crust starts. Andrew started before us, and when we caught up to him he was chatting and laughing with a couple, as if he had known them for years. Actually he had; this was Fred who used to work with Andrew at Cadbury years ago! It turns out that they were staying in William Creek and had actually been in the restaurant the previous night at the same time as we were.

As we walked down towards the lake the ground was quite slippery, and footprints were being made as we stepped. The closer we came to the salt line the softer the ground became; there was obviously moisture just below the surface mud. Bev and Elly walked quite a distance out, whilst Andrew and I stopped before too much mud clung to our shoes. Andrew was worried that it might be dangerous and called for them to come back. They ignored him of course. There were some heavy footprints just near us, a few centimetres deep, along with a pair of thongs which obviously had stuck in the mud and come off the wearer. Eventually both the women returned, substantially taller than they had been without the mud stuck to their shoes.

Rough road south of William Creek

Sandy dunes near Lake Eyre

Lake Eyre

Salt patterns on Lake Eyre

Lone man walking on the salt plains

After the shoe cleaning ceremony we brought our picnic things down to some rocks which were between the car park and the salt, and had lunch.

Then back to William Creek via another bay, ABC Bay, named after a film crew who did a documentary there some time ago. Not much there, and further away from the salt pan, so we didn’t stay. Another 90 minute drive and we were back at our house.

5 Star accommodation in the eco lodge at William Creek

Tuesday 10 July 2018

Flight booking office

Airport fire truck

Elly had booked a charter flight for us, scheduled to depart at 8:00am. This was because she had seen some quite amazing photographs of Lake Eyre taken by some professional photographers who photoshopped them to appear more like paintings than photographs, and she wanted to try something similar.

As it turned out, the pilot who was going to take us, Maz, was the same pilot who had taken the others, so he knew what Elly was after. After some delays due to cold temperatures and ice issues with the aircraft we departed, with Elly in a seat adjacent to a door which could slide open during flight to allow more scope for photos, Bev in the copilot’s seat, and Andrew and myself in the economy seats. The aircraft was actually capable of carrying a few more people, but we had it to ourselves.

The surrounding landscape is stunning and I am always amazed at how the Indigenous Aboriginals could capture the colours and perspectives in their art as seen from the air. (Note from Elly- I took 1300 photos on that flight and so I have selected just a few to put in the blog. I hope to show more of them on my website at a later date when I have had time to edit them). Hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them

Firstly Maz took us south to the Painted Hills, an area of stunning beauty with pinnacles of browns and reds and pale beige all swirling in layers. We did a few passes for photos and then landed on the adjacent runway to have a short walk to the hills and pinnacles. We were walking on stones and larger rocks which haven’t been disturbed for thousands of years. This area is all a part of the Anna Creek Station which stretches as far as the eye can see, 25 thousand square kilometres in area, about the same size as Belgium. Trevor’s aeroplanes have been given permission to fly into the area and land, but great care has to be taken to avoid disturbing the ancient landscape.

Pinacles as seen from the air

We then took off and headed for the shores of Lake Eyre, and on arrival we could see a relatively small area which actually had water in it. This created a fascinating display of images, which Elly, almost hanging out of the doorway, was attempting to sample with her camera. There were, of course, vast areas of the lake which had no water, only salt, but also with interesting colours and variations.

Maz was very good, emulating some of the flight he had done with the other photographers previously and complying with Ellys wishes and instructions. Elly would have stayed circling the area for ever if it was possible, but time in the air costs money, so we had to be realistic and so we set course back to William Creek. Once again the weather, which had been perfect, if slightly cool, was treating us to another cloudless day.

We set out in the afternoon to see an old unused railway bridge used by the Ghan 100 km north on the Oonadatta track. Unspectacular but sunset on return was pretty and Elly dragged us out for milky way photos.

Old ruins

Old Ghan railway bridge

Sunset on the Oonadatta Track

Wednesday 11 July 2018

Elly and Bev had chatted up Trevor, the aforementioned big cheese of Williams Creek, and he had offered that we could drive out to the Anna Creek station. The situation was that if there was someone available, he or she would show us around, however, if everyone was out working, we could just drive through and have a look around.

It turns out that nobody was home, so we drove gently through the property. The main house is made of stone, and looked very nice, although not as ostentatious as one may think for a family which owns land the size of Belgium. There were other buildings, some of which were workshops and garages for farm machinery, as well as some which were probably other family accommodation. The whole place was deserted, except for a gentle dog who strolled out to check us out and say hello. Not much of a watchdog, but a lovely middle aged dog who was happy to give us some time and then wander back into his shady spot.

Anna Creek Station homestead

We decided that everyone was out, and so we drove back to the hotel to check out and head back to Marree. Williams Creek had been a great adventure and we were very glad to have visited.

On the way back we stopped at Bereford, which had been a Station on the Ghan line, and there were still remnants there including a water tower which had been used to top up the steam engines, and the remains of the station, long left to gradually deteriorate.

Bereford Station

Pink water tanks

Further down the road, past Coward Springs which we had explored on the way to William Creek, was the Mound Spring, so we turned off to check it out. This was quite amazing, as water from the Great Artesian Basin had found a few spots where it could come up from under the ground. Over time, deposits of salt and minerals had been left behind, producing mounds from which water seeped. Eventually the mounds grew through deposits of soil and sand and now, particularly with the one which we were looking at due to the fact that they have built a walkway to it, have become somewhat upside down. You leave the desert floor and actually have to climb up to the top of this mound, to find a pool with water flowing into it with bubbles coming up from the pool floor. It is called “ The Bubbles”. A bit hard to visualise, but usually you would find the water coming from the lowest point of the desert, not the highest. There was a map at the entrance explaining why the Oodnadatta Track was positioned the way it is; because these springs are scattered along that track. Apparently the Mound Spring was very important to Stuart as he made his passages from South to North across Australia.

Mound Springs

Old bridge and unused rail tracks

We arrived back at Marree and checked into the hotel. I was pleased to see the hotel dog, Bundy, was still at his station out the front, so I gave him a pat and an ear scratch, which he tolerated.

Relic train at Maree

Thursday 12 July 2018

Maree Pub

Maree Optus tower

Marree Relics

Leaving Marree once more, this time towards Arkaroola. Because Mr Google told us it would take 7 hours, and because we thought it would be interesting to see and support an Aboriginal community, we planned to overnight at a place called Iga Warta, which is about 70km before Arkarula. Mr Google has no idea! It took us 2 hours to drive to Iga Warta.

We weren’t quite sure of what we were in for as we drove up to a building which had fairy lights strung across a veranda and what looked like a mish mash of tables, chairs, a heater and various other items on the walls as well as power cables hanging from the veranda ceiling. Seated on the veranda was an indigenous gentleman who brought out his booking diary and told us that for no extra cost to us he would give us the Safari tents. We weren’t quite sure what that meant. He said that we should sit down and have a cup of coffee and then set ourselves up in the tents.

Iga Warta

Terrence Coulthard

Terrence and his wife

His name is Terrence Coulthard, and it was he who set up Iga Warta 20 years ago. There were various members of his family there when we arrived, from his wife down to his grandchildren, although his brothers were away, his sister is married and living in Port Augusta and one of his daughters is in Canada. Iga is the name of a native orange, which is about the same size as a regular orange, but greener in colour and with no flesh inside, but seeds, more like a passion fruit. Warta is the name of the fruit bearing tree. We were talking about various things, including goats being a pest, when Elly said, as a joke, that we should throw a goat on the barbecue for dinner. Terrance immediately said that this would be a good idea and that he would arrange it!

The Safari tents were a version of “Glamping” – tents that are permanently erected, with a front porch, and inside, a double and a single bed, ensuite toilet and shower, fridge and TV. That was all OK except that it was a bit gloomy and dark due to the windows, which were insect netting, having Velcro edges with a flap which would close over the window. This was simply fixed by pulling back the Velcro flap and letting the light in.

There were various tours that you could do from Iga  Warta, but Terrence recommended that we do the Ochre Tour, so we decided on that one. This involved driving us, along with Terrence’s grand children, his niece, a group of four other people and a lady from the U.K. who was working at Iga Warta, out to an ochre pit not far away. Terrence then gave a talk about indigenous culture, the value of loving your family, and the harmonious connection between people and the earth. As he spoke he collected ochre from the pit and painted it on our faces. The ochre was of different colours, each having a meaning, and basically were of the same colours as the Aboriginal flag.

Sacred site of Ochre hills

Terrence and his daughter

Terrences’ Grandkids

In the afternoon Terrence had offered to take us to some land he had bought, which had been a station, with a homestead which was in a neglected state, but which he intended to restore, and have it as a research establishment and/or a conservation area. 

On the way we found some actual Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies. Since our last contact with, what we now feel were not actual YFRWs, we had learned some identifying features, importantly, a striped tail, which is more prominent than the actual yellow feet.

Euro Wallaby

Arriving at the homestead, Terrence gave us a guided tour. The place is enormous, but in need of a lot of work, some of which has already been done. He has a husband and wife team staying in their caravan on the property, helping with the project. They are touring around the country with no time constraints, and are living on the property rent free in return for contributing with the project. As Adrian, the husband, showed us a native quandong tree, Andrew said he would take photo of the fruit to show our friend Louis. Adrian asked if we meant Louis Glowinski and it turned out that he had worked with Louis on some local government work in Sunshine years ago and he had a copy of Louis book about fruit trees! Small world!

Terrence is a very impressive man and is very positive about the future of his endeavours. He is a descendant of Andy Coulthard who was the leader of the local aboriginal tribe in the surrounding areas.

When we returned to Iga Warta, Terrence noted that the goat was not on the barbecue, and it turned out that his offsider whose job it was to find a feral goat hadn’t been able to find one, so he shot a kangaroo instead, and that was now on the barbecue instead!

We dined on the deck, watching an AFL match on the deck TV, and tried to eat the toughest piece of meat we had ever eaten!

Friday 13 July 2018

A relatively short drive with some more Harry Potter, found us arriving at Arkaroola, which is quite a large complex with various levels of accommodation, surrounded by some magnificent scenery. After checking in we headed off in our 4wd along a track towards a water hole which was our destination which looked achievable for us following a mud map from the reception area. Andrew drove with great skill, and after exploring a couple of river beds and encountering a few Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies, we managed to find the water hole, which did actually have water in it. The downside was that the water looked pretty brown and unhealthy, and not only that, there were several dead wallabies around the edge of the water hole, with the attendant stink, so we decided not to stay.

River bed with huge gum trees

Dried river bed

Yellow footed rock wallaby

Water hole

Arkaroola has 2 telescopes mounted in observation domes, and they conduct stargazing excursions. After dinner we boarded a bus which took us up to one of the telescopes, and we spent the next 90 minutes inside the dome listening to our guide, who was a knowledgeable chap, describing the many things we were to see. The telescope was quite a sophisticated one, computer controlled and coupled to the internet, apparently when you feed in the position you want to focus on, the telescope points at that object, then compares what it sees with an iPad real time image, and if it is happy that it is looking at the same thing, then it locks on and tracks it.

We saw lots of things; galaxies not visible to the naked eye, as well as our planets, Jupiter with its moons, Mars, and Saturn with its rings clearly visible. It is surprising that so many seemingly insignificant things can affect the image, such as, where we were all standing inside the dome; even on a cold night such as this, we had to open the side door because our combined body heat was causing distortion.

It was a good fun night and a busy day.

Saturday 14 July 2018

Two things to do today. First was the Acacia Ridge walk. We were taken by car about 6 km from the village, and from there we picked up the Acacia walk. The first few kilometres were climbing, and the higher we climbed, the more spectacular was the view, and when we reached the summit we had 360 degree view of the ancient geology which was around us. Some areas were several million years old, while others were more than a billion years. When I thought about the previous evening, looking at stars whose light had taken more than a million years to reach my eyes, and then looking at this ancient landscape, it almost felt that we had been looking back in time, which, in fact, we were.

We were back in time (pardon the pun) to join an excursion in the back of one of two 4wd trucks which departed at 1:00pm for about 5 hours. Our driver and guide, Steve, was very relaxed and very knowledgeable about the countryside, the flora, fauna and history of the area. The tracks we were using were about as difficult as any 4wd could handle, rock strewn and rough and incredibly steep (Andrew checked the gradients on his phone app and got a reading of up to 23 degrees gradient). It was seriously difficult to hang on when we were driving, because, not only did we have severe changes from nose down to nose to the sky, but we also had extreme rolling motion as one side would drop into a hole while the other side remained at road level. All this time we generally had a sheer drop on one side with not a lot of space to avoid going over the edge. We had a couple of stops; one being the Coulthard lookout, presumably named after Terrence’s grandfather.

We finally reached our highest point where the drivers laid out tea and coffee and lamingtons. The scenery was breathtaking, sheer vertical drops all around us, and spectacular mountain views in all directions, particularly impressive because the sun was lowering and shining directly on the sheer rock faces, giving a yellowing effect to the whole scene.

4 wheel drive need to negotiate this hill

By the time we returned, the sun had set and it was practically dark. Elly could not resist going out after dinner to photography the night skies which are the darkest and clear skies 300 days per year.

panorama of the milky way

Sunday 15 July 2018

This was our farewell to Arkaroola. We planned to drive back to Rawnsley Park via Chambers Gorge which we had heard was very nice. We had visited Rawnsley Park previously on our trip, not to stay there, but to visit the Woolshed restaurant. This time we were to dine at The Woolshed and also to stay overnight.

After setting out from Arkaroola, Andrew, armed with several maps as well as Google, was doing his best to navigate us to Chambers Gorge using all his available resources which all seemed to contradict each other. After the first intersection involving a turn, we had proceeded for about 15 km when he decided that it didn’t look right, so he turned us around to backtrack to the intersection. We then turned onto what looked as though it was a road, but turned out to be the front driveway to a homestead, so we did another backtrack, stirring up a couple of wallabies on the way.

Back to the “main” road, we were thinking that we had missed the turnoff to Chambers Gorge, when suddenly we got a “fix” from a side road signpost, which indicated that we had only just found ourselves on the map, and all our previous moves hadn’t been on the map at all. We now knew to expect a turn to Chambers Gorge shortly, although Google said it would be to the left and Andrew said it would be to the right. Then he realised that he had the map upside down! Actually his navigation is usually pretty good.

We found the gorge and parked there on our own, and walked along the dry river over a very stoney surface, mostly sedimentary rocks broken into small pieces, while straight ahead a sheer rock wall awaited us. We spent some time wandering around the area which was really peaceful and beautiful, so much so that we decided we would have ourselves a picnic. We scavenged all our dwindling picnic supplies and set up our fold up chairs, this time with no acrobatics. A couple of cars had driven up but it still felt as if we had the place to ourselves. 

Chambers Gorge

multi coloured slate on the floor of the gorge

magnificent papaer bark gum tree

Last picnic

Onwards with more Potted Harry towards Rawnsley Park, where we went straight to the restaurant, bypassing reception in favour of some excellent Woolshed coffee. Sitting on the deck outside the restaurant, Bev noticed two men communicating in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Bev started chatting to them, found out that they were from Adelaide, and that the Deaf man was actually friends with a Deaf student she had taught over 30 years ago and also knows the family of a student Bev interprets for now. It is indeed a small world!

Monday 16 July 2018

Today was a fairly straightforward drive south, stopping for a break at the town of Quorn, then finishing off the las of our picnic supplies alongside the water at Port Augusta as a dolphin loped by. Then on to Adelaide, where we checked into our hotel. Bev and Andrew had arranged to meet up with friends, but Elly and I decided on a slow wind down and to work on the blog photos.

Home tomorrow after a great trip.