Marree to Williams Creek

Wow!! What a day. Planned on stopping in Coward springs, a perfect distance for one day with the kids, from Marree. First part of the Oodnodatta track here we come! We drove along at around 60 kph comfortably looking at all the old Ghan railway ruins, water towers and one man towns. Sleepers from the old railway lie all along the road and would probably only be good for firewood now but many have been collected over the years to use in projects and buildings. There are literally thousands of them. I was reading information about the track and saw that tyres should be 25 psi maximum so asked Luuk what our tyres were at. They were 37 psi so we stopped and let out a fair bit of air. No flats or blown out tyres so it must have worked. Other cars reported already changing 2 tyres on the stretch we did and they were off road cars and caravans.

Amazing one man towns such as Curdimurka, which was an old railway station, has been done up as a house and Alberrie Creek where the family look like they have built a zoo of animals out of old water tanks, barrels, cars and other paraphernalia lying about.

We stopped at the Lake Eyre lookout which was interesting reading. 2010 was the year that Lake Eyre was last full however because it evaporates quicker than it can fill from the artesian basin or rainfall it remains dry most of the time. The artesian basin covers a staggering 22% of Australia. The salt plains were amazing nonetheless and Luuk said this is where they practice for the American Salt Lakes the Fastest Indian Race. I hadn't realized that Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia and was blown away that it is 12 meters below sea level. Luuk's parent's live 11 meters below sea level and only remain dry from the brilliance of the Dutch engineered dykes and polders. It takes a good flood in Queensland to fill Lake Eyre as the artesian basin underlies this northern landscape. Locals say it could be another 100 years before Lake Eyre is full again.

We passed the famous dog fence which separates the cattle country to the north and the sheep country to the south and keeps those cheeky dingoes out. I know there was a movie written abut the rabbit proof fence and wonder if this relates to the same thing or different and relates to the issue of mixamatosis back then. Interesting to see considering the length of it spanning 5,300 kms across three states of Australia, but also just a fence.

Luuk saw a curve in the road and became extremely excited as most of the road is up and down but straight ahead. He asked me to quickly look at the map to see where we were, all because of the bend. The things that excite some people?? The kids entertained themselves by listening the their reverberating voices whilst going over the often corrugated road. I read about the Oodnodatta track and camping spots. Coward springs looked great so that was the plan until......

We saw in the distance a car stopped that had passed us 10 minutes before, in the middle of the road, and then to the left we saw another car probably 10-15 meters from the road and belongings strewn all over the desert. We got out to see what had happened. Two German tourists had hit a kangaroo and though the kangaroo was nowhere to be seen, the poor Germans had rolled twice, totaled their car and destroyed a lot of their belongings. They had just fixed the car in Adelaide, bought new tyres and were ready for their outback adventure which was to only last a few days. The tourists went with the other car and we collected their belongings into our car and caravan. The male had hit his head quite badly and may have needed medical attention therefore we all decided to go to Williams Creek where there as a pub and perhaps a satellite phone. We missed Coward springs and Mound Springs but have heard these are great if passing along this way. Not to miss. Luuk and I will just take a note to do this when we retire.

We rendezvoused in Williams Creek and the German guy was feeling much better after he had slept on the drive. They set up camp, were shouted a free beer at the pub and then I made dinner for us all. We chatted a while but had some serious business to conduct in the evening at the bar. Luuk headed off to barter his services for a discounted flight over the painted hills as we really wanted the kids to see this. Unfortunately, I had to opt out, due to vertigo but Luuk and the kids went and thoroughly enjoyed it. No need to barter he was able to take the 3 kids and himself for $350. Our original quote at Lyndhurst and then Marree was 280 for Luuk and the kids 200 each. Wasn't going to be an option at this price. The pilot was a young girl in her 20's, Sarah, who was so short she had to sit on a few cushions and push her seat so far forward so she could just reach the controls and pedals. It was priceless seeing the kids so excited. Sam was up early, got himself dressed, packed his bag with water, food and sunglasses and of course his iPod to take photos. He couldn't sit still until he was in the plane.

On return from the plane flight the kids were eager to fill me in on their experience and show their photos off. They flew over the painted hills which were red, yellow, orange and purple in parts. The colors are formed through left over mineral deposits in the sand. They are a fairly new discovery as a pilot had lost his way a few years ago and stumbled across these beautiful hills. Camels roam free in the station as they were let go years ago when the Ghan and other modes of transport came to Australia. The pilot stated that they are now causing issues for the other animals on the stations as they are depurifying the drinking water. Interestingly enough the Afgans who sold the camels to businessmen in Aussie years ago for trading purposes now want to buy the camels back as they have been breeding the camels for racing and have over bred now posing the problem of having few full bred blood lines left. When camels became the inferior mode of transport in Australia they couldn't be sold which left the businessmen who owned them wanting and now the opposite is true. How times change. Musterers use aeroplanes and motor bikes these days to round up the cattle as the stations are so vast this is the only way to find the herds. Williams creek station is still owned by the Kidman family who inherited it from Sydney Kidman and it is one of the largest stations in the whole world.

Now off to Coober Pedy for a stay at a caravan park for a few days and to plan the next part of this amazing trip.