Gidday all,

Had a relaxed weekend at Worlds End Gorge, some traffic up and down the dirt road but not to annoying. Headed off on Monday over to Loxton near the border to Victoria. Fuel and water filled up and some supplies on board we made our way east to the border and the entrance to the Murray Sunset National Park.

 

It was late afternoon when we arrived at the border so entering the park we travelled a few hundred meters and found a clearing off the road a bit and stopped for the night. Next morning, travelled about 14k to a spot called the shearing quarters, an old bunkhouse from the sheep station days, with a camp grounds. No one about so decided to stop. Found a tank full of water at the quarters so set up the shower and showered our heads off.

 

Set off in the morning on a small sandy 4wd track heading south along the S. A / Vic. Border on the Vic. Side. Down the track, came to a long, somewhat steep sand dune, stopped to let air out of the tyres and next minute two bikes came up behind and asked if we were okay. I said yes and they rounded us up and struggled up the dune. Tyres down and off up the dune, I think Ned the Winnafarrgo enjoyed showing us what he can do, took it in his stride.

 

Quite a lot of soft sand stretches and a few more sand dunes later we arrived at the Rock holes. The day was warming up so found a tree large enough to give some shade and camped up for the day.

More dunes and soft sand next day as we headed for the Pink Lakes, on the southern border of the park. Ned handled it all well. The days this week are steadily getting hotter, 35 and 36s so trying not to travel in the hottest part, the sand is a lot softer in the heat too.

 

Made it to Pink Lakes, dry salt lakes where the surface has a pink hue in places due to a species of red algae. They only have water in them in the wet season. Camp ground was deserted so we picked a prime spot

They used to harvest the salt here during the dry times and machinery and old stockpiles of salt remain, weathering on the shoreline.

          

 

Gidday all,

Arrived at Blinman, a small outback town with a pub and café, we stopped at the pub as it was lunchtime. Had a nice lunch served by a French backpacker who was working there for a couple of months.

Back to the bitumen for a bit going through the Central Flinders Ranges, didn’t hang long as it’s still school holidays and everyone has gone camping there.

Came into Hawker, a larger size town but still small. Filled up with fuel and water then found a small shop and topped up with some basic supplies. Then decided to leave the bitumen and head onto Orroroo further south, along station roads.

 

Came across our new trailer along the road. Backed up to it and then the station owner turned up and asked if we were lost, I smiled and said no, just wanted to get a photo of the dray. We had a chat and he left us to it.

 

Small town along the way has a claim to fame as having a giant red gum, 10.9m around the trunk, they say it’s 500 years old.

 

Up the road, some bush art, creative people around here.

Wanted to find a place to hold up for the weekend as the school holidays are finished this weekend and the road will probably get busy. Found a camp at Worlds End Gorge, just south of Burra, perfect. The camp area is spaced all along the creek bank, a few campers up one end so we headed to the other end. Set up camp and put the corned beef on the fire to cook.          

 

 

NANTAWARRINA

 

Drove to the turn off to Nantawarrina, you need a permit to travel through there, you self register at the border and put the fee in the box. $30 for the permit and $10 per night camping, you get the first night free with the permit.

 

 

 

Camped at the first campsite about 12k in. Lots of birds and wallabies and bobtail lizards, as well as emus with babies following along.

 

 

 

They have had some rain and sturts desert pea and numerous other wild flowers are everywhere. Beautiful country.

 

We had two days at the first campsite then moved on to a campsite 25k down the road, no one for miles. This was our last night as we had paid for three nights. On the way out in the morning we passed a dam they call orange tree dam, had some smoko and got out the yabby pot, 15 minutes later, hauled in the catch. Guess what I had for tea that night, Din had salad.

    

Gidday all,

Came off the Birdsville track at Marree and had a look around town. Stopped at the roadhouse and fuelled up. $1.90/ltr later and no water available as they have to truck it in and don’t give any away, not a problem as we had enough left to last a while. Marree, the home of the Lake Eyre Yacht Club, the boats looked a bit dusty.

 

Then on South through Lyndhurst and on to Leigh Creek, here we topped up on groceries as it’s a coal mining town of about 600 people and the little supermarket had a good selection and reasonable prices. Called into the servo to top up water and noticed an inside dual wheel had a flat. It always seems to be the inside one, you have to take both wheels off to fix it. Though with dual wheels if one goes flat you can drive on for a while with the other holding it up if you have to. Don’t know how long this one was flat for, I checked them that morning, will have to check more often I suppose. Had a spare tube so pulled over to a shady park at the servo and fixed the tyre. These Split rims are easy to work with when changing tyres thank God.

From Leigh Creek headed east to have a look at the Gammon Ranges National Park, part of the Northern Flinders Ranges. First stop Iga Warta, an aboriginal community, it has a shop and art and artefact display with info on the aboriginal history of the area. Very interesting. Then on to Nepabunna, another community who look after an area south called Nantawarrina Indigenous Protection Area, we plan to go through there on our way back south.

Found a campsite just outside the Gammon Ranges park boundary, nice spot. Into the park in the morning.

 

 

Camped at a spot called Grindles hut, used to be a sheep station before the national park existed. Old man Grindle murdered his son in law here way back then, in the morning I decided to fix the parking brake as it had stopped working. It gave me some trouble but I got it fixed, had lunch and decided to move on. Headed off to a 4wd track that leads to another camp ground, not far up the road we came across a ranger 4x4 coming the other way. The ranger asked if we had camped there the night and we said yes, she asked if we had seen a woman go jogging early this morning, but we hadn’t noticed anyone. Apparently the jogger hadn’t returned, and it was after lunch. She thanked us and kept on.

This track we took is a one way loop, it goes for about 50ks and ends up back at Grindles hut. One way because it is very narrow and there are very steep hills to climb not being able to see oncoming vehicles over the crest. About 4ks in we came across a 4x4 on the track doing repairs, he was headed the other way. We stopped and he said he was good, the front wheel was about to fall off he said, but could fix it good enough to get to help. He was going the same way as us but decided to turn around when this happened. We squeezed around him and continued. One k on another 4x4was headed toward us, so much for one way road, they stopped and we squeezed past. They wanted to know where they were. We produced a pamphlet map and showed them, they had missed a turn and were lost. We left the pamphlet with them and they thanked us and were off.

Eighteen Ks later came to Mainwater Well campsite, a good sight, the road was rough and slow going, but that’s how we like it. Magnificent views on the ridge tops and even through the rocky valleys and creek beds.

 Off again in the morning and back at Grindles a few hours later, we heard they had found the lost jogger, she had taken a wrong turn and fortunately stumbled on another campground and campers that evening some seven Ks away.Moving on, will spend Sunday and the next few days in Nantawarrina indigenous protected area on our way to the South Flinders Ranges.

Birdsville track

 

Gidday all,

Headed out for Birdsville, just down the road came across some emus, they ambled along beside us for a while then took off across the plane.

 

 

 

 

A lonely boot tree growing on the planes.

 

 

Nearing Birdsville, a stand of Waddie trees, these trees are very rare and only found in a couple of places and only around this shire. The wood is extremely hard and has been known to break axes and damage saws, almost impossible to drill once dried out.

 

Entering Birdsville, some outback art greeted us. Had a drive around, checked out the whole town, didn’t take long. Then found the bakery and pulled up for lunch, curried camel pie, not to bad.

 

 

Headed out on the track, the landscape changed to clay pan and scrub then sand dune country, the track in not bad shape, some loose sand patches but mostly packed clay. The country changing from clay pan to sand dunes and back again.

 

 

Came to Karrathunka water hole, just a muddy puddle but would be beautiful in the wet. Good enough for us, so camped up for the night.

 

 

Off again in the morning, through the sand dune country, still clay track, traveling between the dunes, then some sand patches crossing small dunes. Going well, not even in 4wd.

 

 

Came to Burt Dam, small amount of muddy water, three pelicans were circling overhead checking out a landing spot. The strong wind let them stay up there effortlessly, we must have worried them cause they circled some more then drifted further away, so we headed on leaving them to it.

 

About 12ks from where the inside track meets the main track the clay pans and sand dunes give way to gibber planes, covered for as far as the eye can see with small rocks or gibbers. Camped at a creek crossing just after joining the main Birdsville track.

 

Off again in the morning, starting to cross Sturts Stony Desert, aptly named, on the main track, or should I say road, it’s now a wide, graded, gravel road. A little rough because of the rocky terrain, but hardly a track. About 70k on we stopped at the lonely Mungerannie road house, out on it’s own in the middle of nowhere. A sign out front says McDonald’s opening soon, the owner assured us it was just a joke. We treated ourselves to a burger each and a beer, (Din had a scotch), because it was our 20^th wedding anniversary.

 

 

Camped on Cooper Creek for two days, nobody about and the weather clear and cool. Will have one more overnight stop before reaching Marree , seven  days to do the Birdsville track, must be unusual in this day and age, but who’s in a hurry.

 

Last camp, Lake Harry ruins, it has an open air shower next to the artisan bore. All the hot water you can use. We took the opportunity to shower and fill up the washing machine.

 

 

Lake Harry was the site of a date palm plantation around 1896. After some years of problems with pests and drought, the venture was abandoned. Hard to imagine the oasis it was in this harsh country.