We decided not to stay in Marree for the Camel Cup as we didn't want to lose any days knowing we still had a lot of driving ahead. The girls had a look at a 6 week old poddy raised camel that was being raised by the granddaughter of the cameliers.

We headed west on the rocky road heading out of town and our first sight of Lake Eyre was around 90 km down the road. The white salt of South Lake Eyre spread out into the distance and we could only imagine what it would look like filled. At a lookout just east of Curdimurka siding we walked into the salt pans to stretch our legs and have a taste of the salt pans.

Another 35 km on we stopped again at Coward springs for a dip in the warm artesian spring at the campgrounds. Whilst the water was warm it wasn't exactly a bath temperature and the breeze was enough to warrant a quick warm shower before lunch.

The landscape started to turn from rocky road into red sand with dunes appearing in the sides if the roads. At one point a plateau appeared that looked just like someone had let the plug out of a giant bathtub.

There were ruins of various sidings alone the way showing why the Oodnadatta track wound around the dry lake where water bubbled up from underground for travelers to make their way north.

We pulled up at William creek mid afternoon, just in time to catch the kitchen - at $10 for a small bowl of chips and Garvey we decided no matter how good the burger looked at $22 we could cook some snags for dinner instead. We fueled up, at $2/litre the most expensive so far for the trip. The pub as one of those interesting shacks that was covered inside with cards, licenses and people's names written all over the walls.

After a beer and the expensive chips we set up camp at the clean and well laid out campsite. We were lucky to get in early as it wasn't long and the place filled up with caravans, trailers, rooftop campers and even a Camel drawn wagon with a young couple with two kids.