Arkaroola

We knew that Roland and Maria were returning to Marree on Thursday so we packed up the camper in the morning and checked out of our room. Our host Ralph at the Oasis Caravan Park was kind enough to allow us to park our camper near the camp kitchen and we built a fire there to make the cloudy drisseling day more comfortable. Then donning our umbrellas we set off to walk from one road condition report at the north end of town to the other at the southern end to check on what rumour said and to get some exercise. This entailed about a 3 km walk and confirmed that the road from Birdsville was open to 4 WD and the road to the south was closed. This meant that Maria and Roland could get through from Birdsville but then we couldn't leave to go south.  We believed that the reason the southern road was closed was that a young man in a 4WD had left the sealed road from Lyndhurst in a bit of a hurry and rolled his cruiser. We spoke to people who had helped the poor damaged vehicle back onto it's wheels and they were very clear that his inexperience was a contributing  factor even though the road was slippery. This seemed to be the reason that this southern access to/from Marree was closed since the minor rainfall had been the same for both exits to the town.
Later on we spoke to the Oasis Caravan Park / Roadhouse owner who knew nothing of this and said he had put a flea in the ear of the Dept of Transport staff because of course it was holding up his supply trucks and customers. Hence we were fairly confident that the road would be reopened by 4pm. We spent the rest of the day chatting to fellow park occupants who were also delayed, pestering the roadhouse staff to check if the overdue fresh produce truck had arrived and visiting the local photograph studio.
Maria and Roland arrived at about 4pm and we informed them that we were moving on straight away to the ghost town of Farina which was just 40 kms down the road. They took this in good part because that they probably realised that after 5 days in Marree we were desperate for a change of scene. We had only recently heard of Farina when friends of ours from Walpole told us they were going there to help with the restoration work. We arrived at about 5-30pm having stopped on the way to scavenge wood for a fire. We found that there was a well organised though rustic camp ground and soon set up in a comfortable corner just far enough away from a camp with 8 vocal youngsters. The next morning we enquired of the rubbish collecting team as to whether Frank and Lorraine Cooper were still in residence. Shortly after Frank arrived to say  hello and told us Lorraine was at work in the underground bakery where they cooked all sorts of delicious goodies. This was enough for us to head out but we did visit the Anzac memorial and the cemetary first. Farina had once had a population of 500 and boasted two hotels. Because most of the buildings had been stone construction it was feasible to restore them to a condition that showed a good representation of what the town had been like. We found Lorraine just finishing her shift in the bakery with all the bread delivered to the cafe marquee. She showed us around this amazing bakery with a huge bread oven. We then went and chatted to Frank who was helping to excavate all the stones of the tumble down Police Station prior to a stonemason arriving to supervise reconstruction of the walls. Naturally we had to support the hard working team by buying some of the bakery products before we left.
We then set off for Arkaroola which is a privately owned Conserveration Park. It is located in extremely rugged terrain. They offer bush camping as well as the usual caravan park faciities and we chose the former so that we could have a fire. Bob and Roland are very good firewood gatherers and we were soon comfortably set up. It was a shock this morning however to wake up to - 2 C with ice over everything which had been left out overnight. We spent the day out exploring the area which involved some significant 4WDing. Maria and Roland tackled an "extreme 4WD" track and had some fun but Bob and I took the low road which still required slow and careful driving. We all ended up at the Paraluna Springs which were promoted as hot springs. Maria and I took our bathers envisaging a swim. Sadly when we arrived we discovered that the springs were "hot" in more than one sense of the word. There was a sign telling us that they are a heath hazard because the agent which makes the water warm is radon gas and it is effectively radioactive.
We came home having seen many Yellow footed Rock wallaby's and some beautiful creek beds with some interesting vegetation in amongst very rugged red stone bluffs. There was a collaborative effort to prepare a chicken curry cooked in the camp oven and it was delicious.