Coober Pedy

We were camped by our creek bed and after a great barbeque meal we all collapsed.

Photos

Thought this one of Roland tucking into oysters demonstrated his delight. These were $7.50 per half dozen and they were fresh picked that morning. He tells us that in Switzerland oysters are equivalent to $10 EACH. The other photo is of the cliffs at the Head of the Bight. My photos of the whales are so insignificant that they are not worth posting.
Gail

Norseman

We were very  lucky this morning. There was a shower of rain at about 4am so when we woke at 7am and found it was not raining we set to and packed up the camp. Once most of it was stowed away we made jaffles for breakfast over the coals of the fire using the left over Chilli con Carne. Rich but delicious. We had only driven about 10kms on our way when we drove through a very heavy rainstorm that would have made packing up very difficult and miserable. There were self congratulations all around.
We drove through Madora Roadhouse because we don't like it but stopped at the top of the Pass for Maria to take a photo.  Fortunately the rain seemed to have passed so she could see the view. The sky was threatening for most of the morning with lots of rainbows much to Maria's delight. We stopped at Cocklebiddy because we thought a coffee  break was called for but drove the extra 70 kms to Caiguna to have lunch because the food there is home cooked and usually good. As usual there was a crock pot of soup on the table and this was what Bob and I chose. Roland had the most enormous hamburger.
Fortified we set off to tackle the 90 Mile Straight (146.4km) and then on to Ballidonia. When we arrived at Balladonia I asked Maria how she was coping with the long drive without diversions. She told me they had passed the time by her reading her diary aloud to Roland. I checked for mobile phone reception here and found that I could talk to Elise. Bought her up to date with out ETA tomorrow and asked her to book Martin's Nissan in for a service.
We made the last stretch into Norseman by a quarter to five and I rushed in to IGA to buy supplies in case they closed at five. Then Bob came in to tell me that it had been decided to stay in the pub for the night. This is a beautiful old building that has been maintained but not restored. The rooms are basic but comfortable enough and of course there are no ensuite bathrooms. Roland and Maria have a corner room with french doors opening onto the beautiful wide verandah. They were delighted with the novelty and we all stood outside to admire the view but it was too cold to stay out there for long. We enjoyed dinner in the bar where there were two fires burning and a surprisingly large crowd for a Monday night. Even though the town is suffering with the down turn in mining there were still quite a few workers coming in to eat.
Today we are driving home via Hyde as this is a shorter route and we have confirmed that the unsealed road across to Hyden is in good condition. Then it is sealed road all the way in to Brookton and home. So the journey ends.

100 kms West of Eucla

We had a fairly leisurely start this morning. We had slept well despite the road trains thundering through the night. They might have ceased at some stage but I wasn't awake to check. We were doing a bit of advanced preparation for the border patrol at Border Village. Bob made sure that all the surplus mud was brushed off the camper as we had been told that a dim view was taken of importing SA mud. Maria and Roland chopped and browned our remaining onions and some garlic ready for our Chilli Con Carne dinner tonight. I had parboilded the surplus potatoes and frozen them last night so we have some for dinner tomorrow night if we are off the road.
We then set off for the Head of the Bight to go whale spotting. This is another place Bob and I have passed by a number of times. We did not regret the detour. The 12 km access road is now sealed and we discovered that it is actually a national marine park. Something we had not realised before. When we arrived we were told there were whales in residence which was a great relief given that M&R were keen to see them. We discovered that there has been very extensive walkways and lookout points developed right to and along the cliff top giving excellant viewing. There were about 4 whales with calves and two were in close to the cliffs; probably within 100 metres. We  watched for quite some time as the two closest rolled around in the waves and waved their flippers in the air. We read that the cows roll onto their backs to stop their greedy calves from suckling.
We then moved on to the border and found that our preparations had paid off and we had an amiable but thorough border inspector woman and had no problems. We did have to give her the last of our precious Karri honey as we had not managed to finish it despite the best efforts of all of us. However we had expected this to be so.
From there we went down to the Old Telegraph Station where Bob  and I had not been for many years. We found that the sand level had increased in that time and there was a lot more vegetation around the area. It seems that the dunes in this spot have stabalised over time.
We then drove down the road until we found a Parking area which had extensive area and sheltering trees behind it. This is just past Munderabilla Roadhouse. I have the luxury of writing this while Maria prepares dinner. And now it is time to eat.

50 kms East of Nullabor Roadhouse

Yesterday as we were leaving the Bauer Peninsula we realised how much new housing there is at Streaky Bay. It is a beautiful bay with a compact  and useful business area only 7 hours from Adelaide and 1 hour south east of Ceduna. It looks as if it has been discovered as a retirement mecca especially because of the fishing. We drove into Ceduna and made it to the bakery just before 12md in order to buy their second last loaf of fresh bread to go with our oysters. The men filled up with diesel while Maria and I went to the visitor centre to post the blogs that I had forgotten in Port Augusta.
We then rejoined the Ere Hway for a while but decided to digress again. Bob and I have noticed the turn off to Fowlers Bay each time we have driven across and commented that it would be nice to explore one day. Since Maria and Roland were interested we decided this was the day. Fowlers Bay is smaller than Streaky and not so attractively located. There are magnificent white sand hills backing one side of the bay but the community is hemmed in by fairly extensive salt pans. However it has the distinction of having the oldest settlementin this region. It was origionally a whaling port and was notorious with the early explorers for the remains of whale carcasses littering the bay. It was taken up as sheep grazing holdings and became the easten most port  in SA.  There was a Police post with one constable. At one time the mail between Fowlers Bay ( brought by ship) and Eucla was delivered by an Anoriginal man on foot.It said so on the story boards by the waterfront. This was also a major resource place for Eyre in his explorations. Well worth a visit but we decided not to stay. We had eaten our oysters for lunch as planned at Penong and they were delicious. Maria even tackled some Kilpatrick which the Oyster Bar chef had prepared and grilled for her and packed in a polystyrene box. Roland was in heaven.
We flashed through Nundroo having stopped at this unattractive roadhouse before and made camp at the back of a parking bay well on the way to Nullabor Roadhouse. We used a track to locate ourselves about 400 metres back from the road and had delicious BBQed King George Whiting dinner.
The road trains were increadibly noisy in the otherwise silent countryside but  I slept well regardless.

Port Augusta

We checked in to the Shoreside Caravan Park and because the sky was black as we arrived with rain all around we opted for a 2 bedroom cabin. The cabin was one of their older ones but everything worked and we would probably stay here again. The facilities were excellant and Maria and I did our washing after dinner with no competition and good commercial driers. Meanwhile Maria and Roland were cooking pumpkin soup because we still had Lorraine's pumpkin and we didn't want to lose it at the border. We had gone to a pub for dinner which Bob and I had found on our previous trip. Maria and I had seafood since we were back on the coast and it was delicious.
Next morning the priority was to register our absentee vote, go to the library to clear up our emails and shop in that order. M&R went searching for a camera battery but were unsuccessful so Perth seems to be their next hope. Meenwhile their IPad is taking some great photos. Somehow I seem to have forgotten to post my blogs while at the library so it will have to be the Visitor's Centre at Ceduna.
We then shopped for supplies and set off for Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula 100 kms short of Ceduna. We were travelling through the SA wheat lands and they have had goods rains since the beginning of June. We  drove through 100's of kms of vivid green paddocks. Bob and I realised that we have never been here at this time of year before and we now understand how the communities are sustained. Previously it has looked dry and dusty and a pretty hard struggle.
We diverged from the the East/west highway at Poochera after discovering there the one roadhouse along the way that serves a decent coffee. I was also admiring some hand made kangeroo skin plaited belts but since we had already purchased kangaroo skin golf gloves at Oolooroo I resisted.
Streaky Bay is delightful and the Caravan Park is also very well run. We opted for a 2 bedroom cabin again and found it was a very compact but well designed Jayco right on the edge of the beach much to M&R's delight. The CP has a cafe on site so we had fish and chips for dinner in our cabin.
This morning we drove the scenic route around the nearby Bauer Peninsula stopping at one of the beaches and the Blowholes.  Then back in Streaky Bay we purchased fresh King George Whiting fillets for dinner. Where ever that turns out to be. The plan is for a brief stop in Ceduna for fresh bread and oysters for lunch and hopefully I can post all these blogs before we go offline again for a while.

Wilpenna Pound day 2,3 and 4

After we had such a lovely day when we arrived we booked in to the Wilpenna Pound camping area for 2 nights. The next day we drove 50 kms to the NE area of the Park to walk in Wirrealpa Gorge. It was beautiful weather and we had packed our lunch so we strolled down the creek bed towards the Gorge. This was after Maria had surprised some young German tourists by quizzing them about their holiday in their own language. This Gorge was not as steep sided as the ones we saw the previous day but had the same interesting geological strata as we had seen earlier. We discovered later that we had completely missed the walking trail along the top of the creek bed which would have taken us to the Gorge proper much faster. As it was we walked along the waterway dodging the deepest pools and muddy tracts. It was very pleasant and interesting but after we had walked for 1 & 1/2 hours we thought we were only just on the verge of the Gorge and it was time to back track for lunch. We had our picnic lunch and then drove out of the access road and turned left instead of right continuing for 5 kms. This took us out of the park boundary so we could collect firewood. It is forbidden to collect wood in the Park because of all the little critters that we would make homeless. The previous evening we had nearly frozen without a fire so we were determined to have wood for fires for the rest of our stay. Satisfactorly loaded we headed for home and an early shower. Maria cooked dinner which was an additional bonus for me.
We had already decided that with the weather holding at sunny and a comfortable camp established we would stay an extra night. This allowed us to go walking into Wilpenna Pound itself and up to one of the lookouts. I think we had all expected the Pound walls to be like the rugged colourful walls the we had seen on the previous days. Instead it was a shallow valley surrounded by rounded hills. Most significant was that the hills did completely encircle the valley with only one pass providing access. This was an area of ceremonial significance to the Aboriginal people and which they have reclaimed after failed attempts at farming and grazing by early settlers. The settlers story was written up on well designed story boards and their struggle to succeed was tragic. The setlement was abandoned after years of competing with drought, floods, fire and the Depression.
The view from the upper rampart was worth the climb. Only 100 metres but it was very steep. We then had a picnic lunch beside the very well restored stone farmhouse before going for a gentle stroll across the valley floor. There ensued a subtle struggle to photograph the joey in the pouch of one of the many fairly tame Euros in the area. Mother finally got fed up with the attention and told junior to pull his head in before moving just out of camera range. We have been amazed at the number of Euros and Kangaroos grazing on the grass that has prolifereated after the rain. They are wherever you turn.
It is luxurious to come back to camp after a pleasant day and stroll over for a shower. The crowd is building up here so our canny old travellers strategy of showering late afternoon ensures we have the bathroom to ourselves and plenty of hot water. The facilities here are very good but there is nothing like a tour coach of young people to make the shower room  soggy.
Today we woke to the dreaded sound of rain pattering on the roof. When it did not intensify we sprang into action to pack up and were relieved when the shower moved on without really wetting us very much. We have introduced Maria and Roland to jaffles for breakfast and they make an easy messless breakfast when we are packing up to move on. Much to our surprise the clouds cleared away and we had a beauriful morning to travel south. We took a slight detour by driving along the Moralana Scenic Road which was well worthwhile. Similar countryside but different enough to be interesting in it's own right. A short side trip to Black Gorge saw us standing in the turn around debating whether to risk a walk but the clouds which were rapidly building and looked very black decided against. Just as we were about to get back into the vehicles we saw a Scarlet Capped Robin flitting around chasing insects close to where we were standing. He had a brilliant red cap and breast, not dissimilar to our Robin Red Breast though a bit smaller.
We then headed to Peterborough where we thought we might spend the night. However the day became darker and wetter the further south we went. After a quick tour of the internal areas of the Steam Rail Museum we high tailed it north to Port Augusta. We are in a comfortable two bedroom cabin in a caravan park and there is promise of  finer weather tomorrow. What's more we have found we can absentee vote tomorrow Friday which means we don't have to hang around Port Augusta until Saturday. So we will be on the road again.

Wilpenna Pound, FRNP

We had sunny but cold weather yesterday. Before we set off from Blinman Maria and I did some laundry at the towns only option; the hotel laundry. Meanwhile the men hosed yet another load of mud off the vehicles. This is especially useful for the camper as we are getting covered in red mud each time we set up otherwise. I have adopted a hint from Maria and bought some gardening gloves to wear when we are setting up and breaking camp. Just the same my hands are cracked and dry. I really feel for the early pioneers who didn't have the luxury of hand lotion though I suppose they had lanolin in the sheep country.
We drove into the Park from the north and headed for Branchina Gorge. Along the way there is interesting information about the different geological eras and the type of rocks that were formed. The whys and wherefores. The Gorge itself was stunnning and the cameras were getting a workout. We saw a Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby. He tried  to hide when I was pointing him out to M&R but then got impatient and dived out from behind the sreening bush and made a dash for more  substantial cover. There are kangaroos and euros everywhere there is new grass and that is over a lot of the country. About 3pm we decided to look for camping and stopped at a couple of advertised stations. The first was booked out and the second one had no one home. It is the beginning of the SA school holidays! With some trepedation we went  on to the Wilpenna Pound resort and found it was not overcrowded. We set ourselves up comfortably, cooked our lamb chops in the camp kitchen and went early to bed because it was bloody cold and we hadn't collected firewood in our anxiety to find somewhere to stay. That is the priortity for today along with finding some more beautiful scenery.

Blinman , Flinders Ranges

Would you believe after one sunny day it rained on us again last night. Bob and I woke to the pitter patter of raindrops at about 2am. It continued to rain until after we had breakfast and packed up. We all huddled under the annexe off the side of Martin and Lorraine's vehicle to eat our left over chicken curry on toast. I then had time to very quickly publish yesterdays blog. We set off from Arkaroola and drove back to the North /South Highway because I wanted to shop at Leigh Creek. Unfortunately Leigh Creek is a mining town (brown coal) with no interest in serving tourists. It was Sunday so the Foodland was closed. The only place open was the service station and I did manage to buy tomatoes and some packaged ham slices there. The only other thing in the towns favour was that it had a mobile service so I could interrupt Elise and Ingrid's screen printing workshop that was Ingrid's present to Elise for her birthday. They excused themselves to phone me back so Elise could check on our return date and thank us for her birthday presents as she had celebrated yesterday for convenience and so they could go bushwalking.
We left Leigh Creek and went down to Parachilna where we shortly later detoured to go to Glass Gorge the first of the attractions in this area. We are not sure where the name comes from but it was certainly a pretty drive with the country looking almost Alpine. There were native pines all along the way and barren hillsides reminiscent of areas where there is a snow line higher than the tree line. Maria and Roland commented on the similarity to Switzerland. The Glass Gorge itself was lovely. It is a slate valley and the gorge floor was littered with eroded slate. There were many different colours of slate. We think we also managed to identify some fossils within the surface of some pieces. Roland would have liked to put some in his suitcase.
Tonight we opted out of camping and are in a two bedroom apartment in Blinman which will give us ready access to  the Flinders Ranges National  Park tomorrow. Blinman is the highest town in South Australia and so we are expecting a cold night again. Our unit has reverse cycle airconditioning so we are quite comfortable which is a pleasant touch of luxury. Thankfully the weather forcast for tomorrow is for fine weather. We are looking forward to doing some walking in the gorges.

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.

Bob,s say

Hi.
I am so very thankful Gail could carry me for the 3 days weve been here. Today at last I am alive and nearly ready to get going again albeit slowly. So sick .... no beer ....no wine for 3 days ,,,,,,,,, Now at last I can be of help but even so have still a bit to go.However they say the rain may now stop or at least ease up so we can keep going to nice places espec in the Flinders Rangers. We are waiting for the swiss contact to see where we get to next. Never thought getting a bit crook would flatten me but this did. Now up and on
Bob

Day 4 in Marree

Bob is much much better and we are looking forward to moving on. Day two we waved Maria and Roland off then moved into the unit they had vacated. Bob slept most of the day but went for a long walk around town to stretch him (and me) after so much lying around. Yesterday we took a drive out to Herrgott Springs, an artesian spring that is about 4 kms from town. This was the original name for the settlement but it was changed to Marree in the 1915 mood of anti German sentiment.  We have done some domestic chores so all is laundered. Yesterday and today we have tidied up the camper a bit more. Bob has attached the second new Anderson plug to the electrics for the cruiser. They keep getting damaged with the rough roads. He declined to pay the local mechanic $45 for it and then we found them at the store for $21 so he was well pleased. I have scraped more mud out of the mud guards and from every conceivable crevice around both cruiser and camper. Last night we walked down to the hotel for dinner and were amazed to see locals sitting outside in the cold drinking their beers. They told us we needed a name tag to get inside. When we opened the door we understood what they meant. The bar was jam packed with a few locals and a bus load of seniors. One woman  kindly informed us that they were due to go into dinner in 10 minutes. We squeezed through and went to enquire about dinner. We were informed we had to find a table and report back with the number. We were relieved when the barmaid told us there were several dining rooms. Sure enough the pub is in the grand old style with lots of space going back behind the bar. It has been nicely restored and we had no trouble finding a table. We were in the Tom Kruse  Room which is set up as a museum to the legendary mail man who drove the Birdville Track from 1936-40 before there was any track until 1975. There was a video playing about his exploits and we could have done without the repetition, repetition, reptition. The meal was very nice and they must have a well organised kitchen because it was served promptly despite the bus load of tourists.
We have heard that Maria and Roland were going out driving the dunes today and will head back tomorrow.
Bob wants to have a say so over and out.

Marree Day 2

The flight over Lake Eyre yesterday was fantastic and I only felt a little bit guilty about leaving Bob on the ground. The fact that the nurse had said he was not well enough to fly and he certainly looked too sick eased my concience. We paid for the 2 hour flight right up over the North Lake in a "hang the expense we will only do this once mood" and it was well worth it. The South Lake and the southern part of the North Lake have water in them from the rainfall over the past five weeks but the northern part of the main lake have floodwaters coming in from the Cooper Creek, the Warburton River and a couple of others with names I can't remember just now. So it was up in this northern area that we saw quite a few black swans and flocks of pelicans. Maria couldn't get over the fact that the area of the lake system is larger than Switzerland. We flew 150 kms up the length of the lake and it is 65 kms wide. The pilot was very informative telling us  the names of the inlets and rivers as we flew over them. We flew in at 2500 metres but he dropped down to 500 metres when we were over the area most likely to see birdlife. Then we came home at 3500 metres to get a broader perspective and also to avoid  another plane in the area  I suspect. He also took us over a very beautiful creek system adjacent to the lake on the bordering station which he said was his favourite area. It was beautiful with the system forming a delta of meandering creeks. Lush and green among red sand dunes.
We cooked dinner in the camp kitchen of the caravan park with Maria and Roland doing the honours.  It is a well set up kitchen and we took our own table and chairs over to get the corner most protected from the wicked little wind that blows around here.
This morning we encouraged Maria and Roland to go on to Birdsville without us. Although the antibiotics are starting to work for Bob he is not well enough to drive on sealed roads let alone these ones. Tomorrow if he is well enough we may follow but I think we will be waiting here for them to come back in three days to give hime a chance to really get over this infection. Innaminka is completely flood bound so that part of the plan must be abandoned anyway. From here we will go down to the Flinders Ranges National Park.
The weather is cloudy here so it is no hardship for Bob to curl up under a blanket and sleep. Today we will move into the "donger" that Maria and Roland had and he will be more comfortable still. Besides it means we can plug in the Engel and recharge all the batteries. That is the update for today. I  will probably walk down to the Telcentre to chat and compare notes while Bob sleeps.

Another Muddy Day

After a leisurely breakfast and repacking the vehicles we established that the road to our next destination was open again. We had considered staying in Coober Pedy another day but Maria and Roland were keen to move on and the history of the past five weeks in this area was that we could risk another lot of rain if we delayed. Most unusually the roads in the area have been closed for a couple of days in each of the previous five weeks due to this exceptionally wet season. William  Creek the roadhouse we were heading for has had 13 inches compared to it' s usual 4 inches.
While topping up our water supply we watched a stream of eager beavers who seemed to have just heard the road was open head off out of town. We were content to go slowly and it was to our advantage as they established tracks through the muddy patches which we could follow and which limited the difficulty of getting through and the load of mud we took on. Even so all our hard work yesterdey to clean up the Cruiser and the camper was undone very soon. This was no where near as bad as yesterday though. The first part of the road out to William Creek was the wettest and the latter part presented no real challenge as it was mostly over higher ground. Amazingly we met two parties of motorcyclists. Three were going into CP and two were going our way. We spoke to the two at William Creek while we were eating our icecreams. They had actually started at William Creek that morning hoping to make CP but they only had semi off road bikes and the tyres just weren't managing the conditions so they would be staying in William Creek for another night.
We set off again and the road wasn't too bad once we were down the road a bit. We were back on the Oodnadatta track and soon began seeing evidence of the old Ghan railway. We went into the old telegraph station at Strangeways which was quite facinating. It had been quite a settlement and there are substantial ruins. This had included a Police Station, a Chappel and staff quarters. There was the later addition of dry stone wall stock yards when it became part of Anna Plains Station. The telegraph station had been built within a cluster of mound springs. This is where a fracture in the underlying rock allows artesian water to be pushed out to the surface. However the heavy mineralisation of the water deposits sediments which build up around the pool over time forming a mound. They were at least six feet above the surrounding landscape. The ones which were still active had a very pretty green crown of vegetation and we found signs that a small animal had been digging into the top of one to get to the water.
Our next stop was the Beresford Siding where we found almost intact ruins of the staff quarters , and a huge water tower and loading facility.
It had obviously been used as a camp site but was quite clean. As it was that time of day we set ourselves up for a very comfortable camp. We are well back from the road and there was planty of wood for a fire so while Maria cooked dinner I made some bread in the camp oven. The loaf looks
good but the proof will come at lunch time today.

Coober Pedy 2

After starting this yesterday evening I couldn't relax into writing the story as I usually do so I slept on it in 4 star luxury in the Desert Cave Motel after a good dinner. Yesterday morning I woke up hot in the camper and shortly heard the patter of raindrops on the roof. Bob woke too and we listened for a while hoping it wouldn't get heavier. Then there was a roll of thunder and it was action stations. Calling to Maria and Roland to pack we were dismantled and on the road in 15  minutes.The first 100 kms were easy enough driving through the dark watching the sheet lightning across the horizon. 50 kms out of CP we came onto roadworks where they were creating drains and mounding up the centre of the road. 30 kms out we found the wet surface where the rain had started . We could see the lights of CP but it took us an hour to make it into town. At times we were only managing 5 kms /hour and Bob was struggling to hold us on the road. Maria and Roland were also having difficulty but stayed just ahead of us in case we didn't make it. When we finally reached the sealed road we had to stop and scrape some of the mud off with a spade before going into town. This was when we realised that the mud was so thick around and behind the trailer wheels that the wheels had stopped turning. While we were there the rep from SA Main Roads came out and after a chat said he would phone Port Augusta Office and tell them to close the road. The local Telstra worker also stopped and after similar discussion said he would go back and drive up the Hway to Marla instead of proceeding. Thus we watched in amazement as a couple of seniors in a Qld 4WD went straight past us and onto the dirt. They vanished over the rise but we listened in some amusement as we heard the changing engine notes and eventual sound of their return. They stopped and the woman said plaintively "we were sliding all over the road". I just  said  "I would have thought seeing us might have given you a clue" and I walked away back to scraping mud.
The MRD man said CP had had 20 mls of rain but others around town maintained it was much more.
We went on into town and were eventually directed to the Desert Cave for breakfast by a fellow tourist. It was as good as he said and after phoning one other motel which was fully booked decided to hang the expense and check in here.
We spent the next 3 hours removing the wheels from the trailer to scrape the thick gooey clay out from there and the rest of the car and camper. Fortunately the town does have a public wash down area. We had to shovel the mud off their bitumen into a nearby garden. We spent the rest of the day being tourists, visiting a lookout and underground mine and then doing our laundry. There was a good cafe/restaurant across the road and we were served enormous meals at a reasonable price. It was early to bed as were were all a bit tired after our early start and vigorous activity.

Oodnadatta

As we left our camping spot this morning we discovered that we had been camped on the banks of Agnes Creek. This morning the weather was weird, cloudy and thick mist which didn't clear until we were well down the road at 10am. It was a straight forward run from there to Marla Roadhouse. When we arrived Maria and I went searching for the Post Office. This proved to be the receptionist of the motel part of the business. It was 1030am and she said she hadn't actually opened for business but since we had stamps already we could just post them into the mail box outside. At this stage Maria was standing staring at the traditional red post box very suspiciously. Her concern was that there were only blank spaces where the usual collection time should have been displayed. I told her that the "post mistress"  had assured me that this was where they should go. I didn't add that I hadn't thought to ask how often the box was cleared. Maria was also expecting a community of some description. Instead there is just an enormous roadhouse, motel complex. This is the busiest roadhouse we have seen, even more than Ularu. From Marla we left the highway to head East to Oodnadatta. We had heard various reports about the condition of the road and there were some pretty big bog patches but we could go around them quite easily. The countryside had huge expanses of gibber plains but they have obviously had good rains and where things could grow they were looking green and healthy. We saw a few other vehicles but the road was pretty quiet.
We stopped for lunch by one of the creeks and then mosied on into Oodnadatta. As we approached the town there were interestng mesa hills with various coloured soil. Here we visited the famous "Pink Roadhouse" which is very pink including having a pink Volvo parked out the front. We checked out the caravan park and decided that we would much rather  "bush camp" somewhere down the road. The local Police man pulled up just then so we asked about the road to Coober Pedy and whether there were camping spots along the road. He told us the road was OK and there was plenty of camping adjacent to the creeks but to be careful because the ground around some of them would still be a bit soft. Read boggy. After a beer at the pub and a chat with the barman who told us the number of tourists was down because there had been a lot of rain we shook the mud off our mudgards and set off.
We stopped not far out of town at Newey's Creek where there is a lovely permanent waterhole. Then headed down the road with the plan to drive for about half an hour and then look for somewhere to camp. This didn't look too promising initially as there are huge explanses of red gibber plains. We came across a vehicle parked on the side of the road just past an expansive pool of water. As we got closer the woman waved frantically indicating we should stop. We then realised that her two companions were busy retrieving plastic boards for extracting the vehicle from a bog beside the road. The poor things had decided to go around the water not realising that they were driving into the creek and were immediately up to their axles in mud. They recommended that we go straight through the middle of the water but in 4WD and we had no trouble. They were tourists from NSW and they will be a while getting the mud off themselves let alone their vehicle?
We found a suitable camping spot not long after and set up for the night. This is the first evening that we sat around in shirt sleeves until after the sun went down. We are further south tonight and the cloud and heavy mist of this morning is behind us. Hopefully the weather will stay clear. Coober Pedy tomorrow.

100 kms short of Marla

Yesterday was bitumen all the way. We used our overnight stay in Ularu to sort domestic details such as washing and shopping. The caravan park was very noisy thanks to some young bloods on an "Red Centre" car rally. All in a good cause but an early morning alarm of air horns was not our ideal of a dawn chorus. Never the less it had Bob up .showering and using the washing machine early so it wasn't all bad.
The drive out to the Stuart Highway was very pretty and again green thanks to the good rains. The traffic was light but steady. The only entertainment was the sight of 20 seater buses pulled over onto the shoulder with their young and obviously international passengers out scavenging for fire wood. It seems that the tour operators have special dispensation to have camp fires in their area of the park.
We also came across a badly damaged small car on the side of the road which had it's front completely smashed up. Just past it was a dead cow, the other victim of the confrontation. Apart from that there has been very little road kill along the way. Our itinerary goal was Marla (traditional name Marla Bore) but as the day wore on with the thought that the "Red Centre" boys were ahead of us we started looking for an alternative. So here we are camped on the bank of a dry river bed with a few other like minded campers scattered around. It has obviously been a traditional over night stop because the station owner has left a large area before erecting a fence about a kilometre in from the road. It is clean, peaceful and beautiful with the river gums providing just enough firewood for our own determined scavenging.
Today Oodnadatta is only about 300 kms on so hopefully we will be early enough to claim an attractive camping spot again.

65kms past Warburton

Today we left out Pines campsite by 8-30am having packed up and had breakfast due to Bob's diligence in building up the fire and making the first round of tea and coffee by 6am. The first stop was Tjukyrlia Roadhouse where we bought fuel and had a coffee. The couple operating the roadhouse for the Aboriginal Community were friendly people who brought us up to speed with all the local events. Last weekend they had 60 mls of rain which was about the 3rd descent fall they have had in recent weeks. It explained the couple of wrecks we saw either side of the roadhouse. This is a lake area so the road is vulnerable to flooding. There were still damp patches but in the main the road was good due to significant upgrading since we drove across it the last time.
They warned us that Warburton was not a choice stop over as even the fenced caravan park was being subjected to frequent episodes of theft from tourists.
We also had a chat to a man who was cycling  (push bike) with a mate from Perth to Alice Springs. We had seen the wheel tracks as we were approaching the roadhouse and assumed that they were probably Japanese. Hence we were surprised to find that they were Aussies and at least in their 60's. They ride about 100 kms per day on the sealed road and manage about 80 kms on this unsealed road, except when there is a head wind as there was today. They left Perth a month ago. They were having a break at the roadhouse to effect some repairs to a gear cable.
I forgot to mention our own damage yesterday. While we were driving through the road works there was a pretty loud bang but we didn't notice anything for a while. Then we saw that a stone must have deflected up off the camper and broken one of our rear windows. It is now wearing some very piraticle gaffer tape to ensure that it doesn't disintergrate on us.
We have seen bush turkeys, dingos and 9 dead camels on the road today. The camels came to grief at the hands of someone with a gun which was a rather sad sight.
We managed to drive into Warburton 15 minutes before they were due to close at 3pm given that it was Sunday. This was just time enough to fill up with diesal and have a quick shower. We were on the road again and searching for a campsite promptly because we really need to have found somewhere by 4-30 since the sun goes down at 5-30 out here. We were lucky to find a nice private borrow pit with swimming pool thanks to the recent rain. Soon had the fire going and sat around sipping Italian champagne because it is Maria and Rolands 29th wedding anniversary.
Life on the road is tough!

Warakuna to Ulura

After a comfortable night in our borrow pit we set off for Warakuna at 8 -30am, our usual starting time. Along the way we came across another push bike rider but didn't stop for a chat as our dust was blowing right across the poor man. Maria and Roland were leading so that they had the opportunity to spot any animals along the way. We saw them stopped in the road about 100 kms short of Warakuna and then saw lots of flashing lights. When we caught up we discovered that the men were being breath tested- way out in  the never never. I couldn't help it I cracked up laughing and thanked the young cop for providing us with entertainment. They said they were from Warakuna and after taking down our details warned us that although the road beyond Docker River was open it had signficant patches of water from the recent heavy rains and there were areas where the trucks had churned up the road. We realised when we thought about it that there were two young cops in one vehicle and an older cop in a following vehicle who did not join in the conversation and must have been showing the new blokes the ropes. 100 metres down the road Roland and Maria radioed the there was a camel off to the left. They told us later that it had been on the road and the police had stopped to photograph it before they drove up. Later on we saw a dingo as well so it was quite a day. At Warakuna Maria and Roland bought a very nice small dot painting from the gallery at the road house at a very reasonable price. It was at this stop we realised the our leisurely day of 460 kms had become less so because we had just lost an hour and a half by going on to Central Time.
We high tailed it to Docker River taking note of the new  camp ground set out attractively under the desert oaks at the fringe of the community. From here on our progress slowed as there was a lot of water pools on the road, some of them quite deep. Most of them had dry tracks around them where we went up the sloping verge of the road. A couple of times there was no option but to pick the driest option and hope for the best. Since we were constantly taking the best route and that wasn't necessarily on the left hand side Bob was sailing along on what seemed the smoothest route and quite frequently on the wrong side of the road. We received a radio call from Maria saying they were following a crazy European driver who was driving on the wrong side of the road! Bob ignored her teasing initially but I noticed that as the road had mostly dried out he did go back to the LHS.
Not long after we saw Kata Jura (The Olgas) for the first time and stopped for photos as we got closer. Then 50 kms forther on we could see Uluru.
We were arriving at sunset so took some good photos but just when we arrived at a good viewing spot for Uluru there was some thin cloud across the sunset which dimmed the light a bit. When we made our way to the caravan park we were in time to get into the overflow area only as this is definately tourist season. We are comfortable enough though with very near neighbours.We are making good use of the facilities and if there is WiFi here I can publish all my blogs. And now Goodnight.

The Beginning

Well it began when we left Walpole on Fri 3rd June. We loaded up the camper with everything we thought we would need except the perishables. This took us some time so we arrived at about 6pm. Fortunately for us it was Greg's flex day and he cooked dinner for all. On Saturday we looked after Eleanor and Hannah while Elise and Greg did some last minute shopping for their 8 days I  Melbourne.Then we "hung out" while they finished their packing. I took Obi for a bath at the vet's and we went to Vic Park to have dinner with Ingrid and Mario.
On Sunday morning Elise and I went to visit Jean, my aunt before we took them to the airport for their flight in the afternoon.All very family and pedestrian so far. On Monday at 1pm we collected our Swiss friends Maria and Roland from the airport with the quickest exit through customs for them that we have ever witnessed. The plane landed at 1245, we arrived at 1pm and Maria and Roland walked out at 1-05pm.
It was a quiet preparation day on Tuesday. Maria and Roland went to visit a friend in Fremantle. Bob and I did some last minute shopping. The fun began on Wed. Our friends Martin and Lorraine are loaning their Nissan to Maria  and Roland for the trip as it was impossible to hire one. M&L set off on Wed morning to drive the Nissan to Perth  and to join us for dinner at a local restaurant. As a surprise thank you to M&L Maria and Roland had booked an exclusive room at Observation City, now known as Rendezvous Hotel Scarborough. We were all looking forward to the day. At lunchtime Martin phoned to say that the water pump on the Nissan had imploded 50 kms north of Walpole and they still had to work out how to get it back to town and where to purchase and have fitted a new water pump.
Several phone calls later it was established that the local mechanic couldn't do the job for at least two days and the only water pump Martin could track down that was sure to fit was in Brunswick Junction. Martin had no way to get said pump from Brunswick to Walpole. The Nissan was now in Martin's shed and said he planned to do the work himself. It was decided that Bob and Roland would set off immediately, collect the water pump from Brunswick and take it down to Walpole. This they did arriving at 9-30pm. Our house sitter Elizabeth had a couple of extra guests that night. Lorraine cooked the men breakfast the next morning and then they set to to remove the bl---y big radiator etc and install the new pump. This was done with considerable brute strength and I understand that Roland learnt some colourful new words that morning. After Lorraine fed everyone again Bob and Roland headed back to Perth with Roland driving and Bob recuperating in the passenger seat.They arrived at 7pm on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile Maria and I had negotiated a change of date for Martin and Lorraine's night at the Rendezvous and adjusted the reservation at the restaurant. In the end there were just four of us for dinner instead of eight. Events were not over yet as my phone rang just as we were getting into the car to go to dinner. It was Sue, Elise's friend who was going to look after
Obi for us until Elise and Greg arrive home. She told me her mother had had a bad fall and broken her leg requiring surgery and hospitalisation. Consequently Sue was booking a flight home to Queensland in order to look after her father and spend time with her mother. Fortunately Ingrid and Mario nobly offered to step into the breach and have him with them. Then on Thurs when Maria and I were going to do some shopping for the unplanned extra dinner in Perth I discovered that I hadn't closed the rear door of the family Mazda properly and the battery was flat. Jumper leads are wonderful things especially when they are provided by a very competent oldest daughter.
So this morning we set off  just one day and one hour later than planned. We had a trouble free run up to Kalgoorlie and are staying in a comfortable motel for our first night as we arrived after dark and the weather looks a bit dodgy. Fortunately our plans had allowed for a few "spare" days in case of emergency.
Tomorrow the real adventure begins.