Today was the day we set off hoping to make it to Marree which is the start of the Oodnadatta Track.
We had had a sleepless night inbetween taking girls to the toilet and then having to listen to husband snoring until eventually fell back to sleep to start it all over again. Before l knew it it was morning. What should have been an early start ended up taking a while longer with setting off around 10am. We found out the Parachilna Gorge road was closed which was an absolute bummer as was meant to be 'a must see' of the Flinders. So we had to head down again but took the 4WD scenic route across the Moralana road. We'd done this a few days earlier so knew it was ok for the caravan in toe, just had to take it a little slower. This detour had saved us back travel of 100kms or so which was a real time saver. Anyway we made our way up to Parachilna and took a quick left to stop at the Prairie Pub. As soon as we got out we were swarmed by hundreds of flies and l bet we looked like idiots flapping our arms around frantically to get them off us. Forgot how annoying and sticky the little b*****s are!! Marty was cursing straight away, their one of his pet hates, so being in central outback Australia is gonna be fun for him!! Lol... Getting back to the pub, we stopped here because the advertising for it looked awesome. It was cool to look at from the outside with timber horse tie rails put front and cool tin roof, but it was only lunchtime. So we had our peanut butter sanga's and pushed off again.
We passed thru Leigh Creek and just up yhe road we pulled off to check out the 'Ochre Cliffs', which were spectacular. Its an aboriginal sacred site, these cliff faces with ochre rocks colored a deep brown red thru to bright white. The ochre is very useful to the aboriginal people, with it being used for ceremony body paint, medicine, and also for the women to make jewelry or ornaments with and also used at times of burial where they would scatter the ochre onto the body. Our photos will never capture how stunning and vibrant the colors of the cliffs were.... A little but up the road Marty came to a halt as he'd seen a bearded dragon sunbaking on the side of the road. We all piled out of the car and walked up to it, making sure the girls were quiet (harder than you think) so as to not scare it away. The bloody thing didn't move, let us take our up close pics without even blinking an eye, as the phrase goes cause it did blink, it was alive!! Lol. The girls found it fascinating and l just thought, at the time, that this is what it's all about, these interactions and experiences....
We ventured on and about 70 odd kms or so later we arrived in the sleepy town of Marree, about 2:30pm. Not a bad days drive really. Awesome scenery heading out of the ranges and getting to the real outback of flat plains and red dirt. Unfortunately the sightings of emus dropped off, was really enjoying them!! Anyway, we pulled up to the Marree Hotel and spoke to the nice publican, Gordon. We were able to camp out the back of the pub for free and just had to pay for showers, $2.50 each. We pulled out the back and set up, it was real blowy here, the wind was pelting thru. Seemed to keep the flies at batt a bit thank god. Anyway, after setting up we headed in to the pub for a quick beer and wine, the girls real excited to have an OJ. We had a quick chat to Gordon, who was this quite shy type of bloke, which seemed odd out in an outback pub, but nonetheless he was real nice. After the thirst quencher we headed across the road to check out the old mail truck which was driven by Tom Kruse for years from Marree to Birdsville. He'd only just passed away last year at the age of 94years old. The truck was pretty cool, an old 4WD tray truck, and was dedicated to his memory and all the mail he delivered over the years. We then walked across the old Ghan train line to the abandoned Marree railway station. There were a few old Ghan trains there, awesome to view our history in person instead of reading it in a book. We also drove past their footy ground, called the MCG!!! Lol... After moseying about and getting blown away with the strong winds we headed back to the van and done some school with Boo. She's really starting to get back into the schooling which is great, she's very eager to do her work and is loving the subjects do far. It's making schooling life easier for Marty and l which is good. After school the girls had fun dancing in the dirt with the music from the iPod. We then had tea, had our $2.50 shower and settled for the night. Marty fired up the generator to watch his last Mad Max movie, told you he was obsessed after visiting the museum, and then retired for the night. at least the generator is getting used!!! Tomorrow we officially start the Oodnadatta Track, wahoo!!!
Bell Xxx