Gidday all,

Had a day of sunshine, the ground dried out enough to move from the yards the camels were in to the bush just out of town.

 

Set up camp and lit a fire, the weather is still cold, but it’s great in the sun.

 

Everyone relaxed and enjoyed the good weather even the camels and duck had a lie down in the sun after a munch on the good feed.

 

Will stick around for a couple of days to let the roads dry out more.

Gidday all,

Travelled the 60ks out to Iga Wata, the sun was out and the weather cool, arrived and looked about for someone. No one about so just wandered about, there is a little shop and campground all owned and managed by the local community.

 

We made a cuppa and had smoko, still no one. Then aunty Gladis and uncle Mick rolled up and introduced themselves. Had a good chat and they looked about for someone but came up empty to.

 

Hung around for most of the day, met Sharpy when he popped in and another one or two. Came back to Coply in time to check on the camels before dark. Deb will catch up with the person she wanted to talk to at Iga Wata later. Was a nice day anyway.

 

Rained again all yesterday, roads closed again, unusual weather for this time of year we are told.

 

The sun is shining but the temp got down to 2 degrees overnight. Still it's starting to warm up.
Today we get into the trusty winnafargo and head out to Iga Warta, looking forward to meeting the locals.

                                                               our trek so far

Gidday all,

While waiting for the roads to dry out I thought I’d put some info out there about the amazing wagon we have been following for the past five weeks.

 

Amazingly it is over 100 years old, and was saved from the scrap heap by Deb who restored and modified it in 2000, by herself, in Alice Springs.

Originally it was owned by E +? SCOBIES which was painted on a side board. It was called the Overlander. In its first life it delivered stores and mail up the Oodnadatta track, the Strzelecki track, and the Birdsville track, before Tom Cruise had the mail run, as well as all through the flinders ranges.

 

Often was pulled by camels or donkies, or horses, or a combination of all the above, whatever they could catch on the day. What a sight that would have been.

Today, in its second life, it’s retracing some of its steps of years gone by, led by a remarkable woman, Deb, who has a love and affinity with the Australian outback and her beautiful camels.

                                                  The first flat tyre it has had in 16 years.

 

Coco and Ziggy who have the honour of taking the wagon back to its roots.

 

We also consider it an honour to be part of this journey.

 

Gidday all,

Camped up the end of Copley, went for a walk to check out town, a very short walk, but pleasant. Called into the pub and the publican was very welcoming and helpful. He offered a place to put the camels if needed and best of all, the use of the showers

Talking to other people around town, Deb has had offers of work and other opportunities in the communities to the east of here. We will go out there in the next days to check it out. Iga Warta and Nepabunna, we passed through there on our way down last September. Interesting country.

The rain has stopped for now but the tracks are still to wet to travel on so will wait here till all dries out. The road past Lyndhurst is closed anyway

 

A mob of emus strolled by this morning, they were more interested in the camels than us.  

                                                           another day in paradise

Gidday all,

The weather finally cleared up enough to move on. Did the last 20ks to Leigh Creek and decided to move up to Coply, just 5ks up the road as it would be more camel friendly than the larger township. For these last 20or30ks we have had to stick to the bitumen road as the dirt tracks have turned to mud with the rain we have been having.

Traveling along the bitumen is slower going if you can believe it. Every so often you get people pulling up for a chat and photos. Deb can get a bit frustrated with this as the camels like to keep going once they start, rather than stopping and starting, and so does Deb. We have had some pull up in between the wagon and us, as we were out front with hazard lights on to warn oncoming vehicles, and pull up for a chat, on a climb up a hill !  Some people have no idea.

Anyway, pulled into Coply in the late arvo and found a block round the back of town to pull up. Settled the camels down for the night and started to cook tea. Next thing there was someone at the door, I called a greeting and he angrily told us we were ignorant freeloaders for not calling in to his place before stopping, to ask permission to stop on his land. I and Deb tried to explain that we intended to seek someone out in the morning to inquire about the land, but he continued to rave on, we apologized but it didn’t seem to satisfy him. He left without introducing himself or where he lived, then came back to say sorry for being angry, had another rant then left. Still don’t know who he is or where he came from. He was right, but could have approached the situation better. Think he owned the caravan park down the road.

Packed up next morning and moved to the other end of town. The rain started again so we might be here for a few more days. Will look for some more friendly locals today.

Gidday all,

Another day of up hills and down into washouts for the camels. By about three o’clock and another two or three long climes ahead it was decided to pull up for the day. Found a level patch beside a dry river bed and set up.

Woke to overcast sky and the rumble of thunder in the distance. Rain started to fall and it showered for most of the morning. Stayed put in camp and waited it out. Din noticed the camels were restless and called to Deb, she said they were nervous about the sound of water flowing down the once dry river bed.

 

 We went out to look and the river was a raging torrent. As we were close to the bank, it was decided to shift camp.

Only just in time, as the ground was getting pretty soft. Drove up to high ground then attached long ropes to the wagon and pulled it free of the mud with the truck.

 

Being on high ground and next to their wagon the camels settled down. The rain also stopped and we sighed with relief and had a cup of tea.

 

 

Gidday all,

Today was a bit of a hard slog for the camels, the track was rough and we had a lot of washouts with some steep climbs out of a few.

 

The country was looking green after the rain they have had, although still sparce, which is normal.

 

Bush tomatoes were flowering and other wildflowers were here and there.

 

Had an early day because the camels were buggered, but they had done 13ks even so. Gave them a treat of an orange each, they chewed them up whole without spilling a drop of juice.

 

Made camp a few ks out of Beltana, south of Leigh Creek. Beautiful star lit night.

Leigh Creek in a day or two.

 

Gidday all,

The weather report said the next few days were going to be wet. So down the track we came to a high spot and pulled up and made camp.

There were a few showers, but the wind was worse, blowing and gusting for two days. Not good for traveling, so we hunkered down and waited it out. Friday morning it was a still and clear sky, had breakfast and were on our way.

 

A number of ks up the track we came to the ruins of a railway workers accommodation, a relic from the original Ghan railway. Some rooms fairly intact, except for the roof, so we set up a kitchen complete with fireplace.

 

 

 

It was a good place to do the repairs to the damaged spring, so the next day we jacked up the wagon and supported it on timber which was conveniently lying about. All went smoothly and had it replaced quickly.

Spent two days there and caught up on washing and showers as well, what a great camp.

Time to move on, so packed up in the morning and re-joined the track up the line.

Another three days and we should be in Leigh Creek. A bus of school kids pulled up while we were camped at the ruins and asked Deb if she would visit the school with the camels. So that should be good.

 

Gidday all,

Camp 5 along the rail line, a rain shower over the flinders ranges produced a rainbow which looked wonderful.

 

During the day we came to a nasty washout with a deep trench at the bottom. As we were ahead of Deb I called up on the hand held uhf to Deb about it, she intended to take it slow but as the camels approached they decided to speed up and took it at a jog. The wagon hit the bottom and bounced over with a bang. After an inspection a bent rear spring was discovered. Pulled up for the night and wired a bar on it for support.

 

Job done and camp set up.

 

Pancakes for breakfast, then back on the road .

Two more days and arrived at Parachilna, a railway siding with a pub and not much else.

As we rolled in we noticed a small 4wd wreck in a paddock, mental note taken. I climbed onto the wagon to man the brake and Deb led the camels and rolled on past the pub with some locals out front taking photos. As we passed Deb asked one if this was a thirsty camel pup, but I think the joke went over his head.

Found a camp and next day went to check out the 4wd wreck. The two back springs were intact, so we got to work removing them. No one was about, so no one objected.

Will pull up in the next few days and do the repairs to the spring.

The track was sandy and the wind was blowing, so it was slow going for the camels today. Still they made nearly nine ks. Not bad as they will do up to fifteen on a good day. Just our speed, you can really get a feel for the country and notice a lot more than if you race through.

Made camp at an old stone built water tank beside the track. We had come to a gate earlier that had a sign which read, no access trespassers prosecuted, but carried on through, as it was too far to go back. After we made camp a 4wd came along, it was the manager of the property we were on. He was very friendly and didn’t mind that we were traveling through.

 Had a good yarn and he told us of the government plans of building a nuclear waste dump on land just before his land for French nuclear waste.  All Australians should protest and stop this.

 

He also told us it was going to rain tomorrow starting at 4am. Cooked a meal and went to bed as usual, woke to the patter of rain and looked at the clock and sure enough it was 4am. Joked about it amongst ourselves all day.

The rain, or showers lasted all next day which made the track too boggy to travel on so we stayed in camp and reorganized our gear and had a tidy up.

 Cooked up some pancakes with Tassie berries and cream, doing it tough.

 

A mob of emus visited the camp, came really close and checked us out.

 

The duck climbed a sand dune to survey the road ahead. Ended up staying another three days waiting for the road to dry out.