Marree, SA to Kings Canyon, NT

15 June 2017 - Marree to Roxby Downs via Oodnadatta and Borefield Tracks.

Morning view from our camp in Marree, SA

Well we decided to take the advice of our camper trailer neighbours and go to Roxby Downs the way we hoped we could, via the oodnadatta and Borefield tracks. The morning we left was cool at just 3 degrees but the sunrise was beautiful. Breakfast was held outside with our backs being warmed just a little by the weak early morning sun as we faced west and watched the day slowly come awake. Unsurprisingly we were the only ones outside but we were all rugged up as we just love welcoming the new day under the desert skies. 

500 metres out of Marree we hit the dirt and dirt and dust is all we see for 180 kilometres. The road is pretty good, the Oodnadatta is worse than the Borefield but I let all eight tyres down and the occasional rocky or corrugated surface is easily negotiated.

Washouts are common but negotiating them at slow speed works well. What we love about this countryside is the sheer enormity of this part of Australia. The land is completely flat in all directions and the level horizon all around us is such an unusual sight. The dusty dirt road has a few bulldust holes but overall the drive is just wonderful. Our speed is around 60 to 70 kph and is just right for the road conditions and to savour the experience of travelling this area of the country. 

After an hour or so we come across Mutonia Sculpture Park literally in the middle of nowhere. This is one of the reasons we wanted to come this way so we are glad we are able to see it. The park is the work of Robin Cooke a mechanic turned artist. It started with two planes welded together and stood on their tails and every winter Robin adds another sculpture. It is easy to spend an hour here not just because of the number of sculptures but because they are spread out for 100's of metres. Morning tea is held beside the park and slowly we and the car and van are covered in a layer of dust from all the 4WD's flying past not bothering to stop.

 

Our dust trail

The rest of the drive is great and the Borefield Track is in very good condition. We pass by Roxby Downs uranium and copper mine and enter Roxby Downs township where we book in to the van park that has running water and power that doesn't dropout every time a light is turned on. Such luxury we haven't had for a long time.

Our neighbours arrive just after us and they are something else to watch. Everything they think they say out aloud and very loud. Whoever talks loudest wins. Everything they do is utter chaos, but eventually they set themselves up. I ask how long they have been travelling, thinking the answer would be 10 minutes but no it has been 10 weeks. They are quite outgoing to say the least as they invite themselves over for a few drinks. Terry is an ex Western Australian Minister for Sport, Recreation etc and is quite interesting to listen to - you can't really talk to them, just listen.

The next day is cloudy and we get a light sprinkle but this doesn't stop us driving to Andamooka an opal mining town like Coober Pedy. In the centre of town the community has kept and maintained the original dwellings of the first mining settlers of Andamooka. One of the old shacks belonged to Jack Absalom's father.

Original opal miners huts at Andamooka

Jack Absalom's father's hut

Bent over old miner

The town is quite extraordinary. There are mine shafts everywhere and mullock heaps all around them. Houses are literally built on old mullock heaps and backyards are mine shafts. The street layout is so higgleddepiggleddi. 

An unsigned rough dirt 4WD track leads out the back of Andamooka and leads to the western shores of Lake Torrens. On the way we encounter a couple of separate mobs of emus. I stop the car and turn off the motor and these inquisitive birds just can't help themselves. Each mob came right up to the car, bobbing their heads and circling us trying to work out just what we were. 

Lake Torrens was very much like a lake. Unlike Lake Eyre it did have water in it but it had receded a fair way leaving salt crusted mud along its shores. Some funny locals had set up old car tyres in the mud to make them look like the Loch Ness monster.

Lock Torrens monsters

Lake Torrens

Lake Torrens

The upturned boot for the head was a masterstroke. Driving back to Andamooka we again stopped for the same couple of mobs of Emu's who still hadn't worked out what we were. The local cemetery gave us great insight into Andamooka's local characters. Most of the graves depicted a celebration of a community member lost to those still alive and the dry Aussie humour came out in their tombstones.

The graves in Andamooka Cemetery

Back home after a supermarket shuffle to get ready to travel to Woomera tomorrow. 

Andamooka - typical house amongst the mullock heaps.

Our neighbours were off today too and were getting away early so with great anticipation I sat outside to watch any antics they would get up to as they packed up. I was far from disappointed as the whole act of packing up was again one of total chaos. We take 15 minutes to pack up and hardly a word is said. Our neighbours took 1.5 hours and it was like 100 Italians caught in a traffic jam - the chaos was just hilarious to watch. Each was doing the tasks of the other but stopped doing them half way through as they went back to their own tasks. The other didn't know what the other had done, voices got louder and louder with the loudest voice prevailing. Eventually it was like a flock of squawking parrots being herded into a room, the car door closed and with a final wave out the window from Terry shouting "If anything is still connected or falls off catch us at the gate. Safe travels". 

Then quiet descended.

We packed up and headed south to Woomera. The short 80klm drive meant we had to waste some time on the way so we didn't arrive too early. A dirt paddock on the side of the road provided a pull off place where we read for 45 minutes.

The dirt paddock

As we drove back onto the highway a huge explosion in the distance with its plume of white smoke trailing into the blue sky showed us we were already in the Woomera testing area.

Explosion - what explosion

Nearing the town a right turn towards the nondescript buildings heavily protected by security gates was signed as Forbidden Entry. The turn left was allowed and we checked into the busy, dusty and very basic van park on the edge of Woomera.

Woomera Van Park before the day shift arrived. Our van in the middle of picture.

We walked into town and, and like so many outback towns reliant on a single industry, the place all but deserted. Currently 129 people live in Woomera, a town that could house 1000's. In the centre of town is an aging display of the numerous rockets and planes that were developed and tested here since the 1950's. An informative museum further describes the history in more detail. Currently the testing area is being used by the US but no details are available. If we come here again we would arrive just after lunch and the afternoon would provide more than enough time to see everything there is to see.

With Woomera done and dusted we headed north to Coober Pedy. After fuelling up just down the road at Pimba Roadhouse we turned onto the Stuart Highway that goes north all the way to Darwin. The road travels through the Woomera testing range and so any deviation off the highway is frowned upon. Numerous lakes, usually dry a lot of the time, were full from the good seasonal rains received in the last 12 months. The countryside is relatively green also. 

Lake Hart rest stop and bush camp

Julie's calculations  - will we make it??

The distances between fuel stops on this stretch of road are a long way apart. I calculated that we had around 200klm of spare fuel to get us to Coober Pedy as we passed the last fuel stop. The decision not to top up soon proven wrong due to the strong headwinds. By the time we arrived in Coober Pedy we had just 35 klm of fuel left in the tank. Julie spent about an hour and a half calculating and recalculating our fuel usage every 10 klm and remaining distance in the tank. I slowed down to 80 kph to conserve fuel and it wasn't until around 15 minutes out of Coober Pedy were we confident we would make it.

The first tree in Coober Pedy

We had low expectations of Coober Pedy.  The van park we were booked into we expected to crammed in and the "locals" who we had heard about as far back as Marree that were currently a big problem breaking into cars and vans to steal iPad's, phones etc. As it turned out we were happy with our van site and the park was locked up behind two metre high gates at night.The 'locals were behaving themselves too. Coober Pedy is filled with history and quirky Aussie characters from way back. People do live in dugouts underground to escape the 50+ degree summer heat and the freezing winter temperatures. Their dugouts remain at a constant 24 - 25 degrees all year round. Churches are underground as are hotels and one of the caravan parks. One bloke dug out his underground house and as he kept on adding rooms he kept on finding opal - hundred's of thousands of dollars worth. He now has a 22 room underground house.

A big blower 

Coober Pedy 'suburb'

In the middle of a 30 klm dirt road loop out of Coober Pedy are the Breakaways, a truly spectacular multicolored remnant of an ancient ocean. After setting up camp we took the drive out there and were just mesmerised by the beautiful coloured hills that rise out of the desolate flat plains.

The Dog Fence

Breakaway's Lookout

The Dog Fence at work

We decided to book on the town tour with the guide being George, the owner of the van park, for the next day. He provided a classic dry humoured tour of all the interesting places in town and we both agreed it was well worth it. The tour included two underground churches, the golf course without a single blade of grass and with sump oil "greens", and a mine tour with an 82 year old Italian ex-opal miner as our guide. He still lives underground and has for decades and provided interesting insight as to life worked and lived metres below the surface. It is just too expensive to live on the surface as to heat and cool a house is horrendously expensive.

Inside the Greek Orthodox Church 

Outside the Greek Orthodox Church 

Inside the Catacomb Church 

Inside the Catacomb Church

Outside the Catacomb Church

Inside an underground house

Inside an opal mine

Opal seam 28 metres underground

Local transport system in Coober Pedy

The Breakaways were so good that on our last day (second night) here we went out to see them again and this time to watch the sun set over them. Just beautiful.

Return to The Breakaways - at sunset this time

The dusty road out to the Breakaways

For about 50 klm around Coober Pedy there are 1000's and 1000's of mine shafts dug all looking for a good piece of opal that lies 28 metres below the surface in a 10 centimetre thick layer. Most holes bring nothing but those that do, well no one talks about them because survival out here in the desert is already difficult. The road home from the Breakaways travels through the 'anthills' produced by the century of mining undertaken in the area - if those hills could talk.

Opal mine area

So we were pleased we stopped at Coober Pedy and we really did enjoy this quite weird quirky little place that is nothing like we have ever seen or experienced.

A lonely stop for morning tea on the way to Cadney Roadhouse

300klm or so further north from Coober Pedy is Cadney Roadhouse that offers a casual station stay beside the roadhouse/pub. This was our next destination as it is the "Gateway to the Painted Desert". The Painted Desert is the same as the Breakaways but a lot bigger. It is also 90klm along a dusty dirt road that is sometimes covered in sharp gibber stones, corrugations, huge bulldust holes the size of a 25 metre pool but only 400mm deep, gravel dry creek crossings, grids and only very occasionally a car. Again after setting up our van and an early lunch we headed east to the Painted Desert. The one big bull dust hole on the track went right across the road and could not be avoided. For the first time ever I saw dust flowing like water coming over the top of the car's bonnet. 

The road to the Painted Desert

The road to the Painted Desert

The rocky road to the Painted Desert

The Painted Desert was just as beautiful as the Breakaways. A walk up from a carpark took us to the top of an escarpment and, with just the two of us alone in the desert, we had a sea of colour painted in stripes across the hills around us. Quite an experience really.

Wonder why it's called The Painted Desert?

Painted Desert

Bulldust hole on road to Painted Desert

The drive back went well and we arrived back to camp with the hope that the Roadhouse pub would have the second State of Origin on as there is no TV (except for Satellite TV) or radio. It didn't - bummer. Border Patrol was on though for all the locals to watch! Fortunately we have a short wave radio and I was able to pick up a very static filled ABC broadcast of the game and what a game it was.

Today's sunset was again beautiful and was a great way to finish off our time in South Australia as tomorrow we head north into the Northern Territory.

Cadney Roadhouse sunset

22 June 2017 - clear skies continue to greet us each day and with that cool to cold mornings too. Almost all the campground was packing up and heading either south or north along the Stuart Highway. As for us, we finished packing up and turned north heading into the Northern Territory towards Uluru. Neither Julie or I have been to the Northern Territory since the last time and that time was in 2013 when we travelled around Australia.

Morning tea stop on the way to bush camp

Bush camp on the way to Uluru

We had phoned ahead and could get two nights in Uluru and two in Kings Canyon. Tonight though is a bush camp on the side of the road about six kilometres short of the Kings Canyon turnoff. We have camped here in the past and it is a good spot to breakup what is a long drive. 

Bush camp on the way to Uluru

We arrived at camp around 2.30pm and there were already four vans in and all well spaced apart. We filled in a gap with nice views over the desert through desert oaks and kangaroo grass. The site was very popular with the local flies too so. For the first time on this trip, out came the insect nets. They can be hard to get used to initially as Julie found out as she tried to eat some nibblies through hers when she forgot she had it on. The sun set and out came the stars, billions of them. The Milky Way was so clear and bright it looked like a cloud passing across the sky.

Breakfast at sunrise at bush camp on the way to Uluru

Next day, like everyone else, we packed up and head west to Uluru. The campground at Yulara was so busy that they had two officials controlling just the parking of people and vans checking in. We jagged a great site and set up. Once in, the campground didn't feel so busy but the whole town of Yulara was chock-a-bloc. 

In the afternoon we headed off to once again walk the 10.6 klm around the base of the rock. The 'Climb' was open and lots of people were climbing Uluru. 20 years ago I did the climb with the family and it was harder then because it was a lot less eroded way back then. The rock is still amazing and truly stunning even though I have visited it three times now.

THe many faces of Uluru.....

Where I took a photo of  Ryan and Amy in 1997

Next day the Valley of the Winds walk through the Olgas was on the agenda. So up and away early along the 45 minute drive to the start of the walk. The track was relatively quiet as it was early. The walk lived up to its name as it was very windy at the start.  A couple of tour groups and families doing only part of the 8km walk interrupted our walking pace. The walk is, in our estimation, the highlight walk of both Uluru and the Olgas - excluding the Rock climb which is frowned upon by the local Aboriginals. By the time we finished the walk the carpark was overflowing and we were being stalked by cars trying to get a park as we returned to our car. 

Some images from our walk through the Olgas  ...

A photo of Julie falling in Iceland last year

After two great but long walks in two days our bodies were pleased to enjoy the afternoon off as we busied ourselves for heading off to Kings Canyon the next day. From the first of June peak season starts here and the prices peak too. It's $50 per night to camp, that's if you can get in, $50 for two adults for a three day National Parks pass to get to see and touch Uluru and the Olgas and fuel is $1.84 per litre for diesel and its 442 kilometres each way to Alice Springs. So you clear you don't get much change out of $50 to visit the place.


Next day under cloudy skies, yes cloudy skies, we set off on the 304klm journey to Kings Canyon.

Raining when leaving Uluru

Morning tea stop on the way to Kings Canyon

This entails heading back towards Alice Springs for about 100klm then heading north for 200klm. The terrain is typical desert country as the sealed road travels over numerous sand dunes. The unseasonal rains had greened up the countryside so the drive was a little more interesting. In fact we drove through some more unseasonal rains as we left Uluru. Kings Canyon was once again packed out but once again we jagged one of the better sites towards the front that gave us views of the distant escarpment that lights up during the setting sun - if there weren't any clouds. 

Start of the Kings Canyon Rim walk

Day two at Kings Canyon was all about getting up early and getting away early to beat the crowds. The carpark at the start of the walk was all but empty however the bus park was already busy. We set off in front of a group of 104 babbling high school kids on a trip to Kakadu from Victoria. 

We quickened our pace and beat them to the start of the walk but it was here that we hit a snag - 500 steps up the side of the canyon to the start or the rim walk. We would go 50 steps and have a rest, the kids would go 500 steps without a rest, so at 90% up the steps the first of the group started to pass us, and they were still talking! At the top, where we would normally have a rest, the kids were congregating at the insistence of the teachers. So we kept going although we both would have benefited from the break too.

Julie running up the 500 steps to beat the school group

After a while the babbling decreased enough so that we could now hear the voice of a small party guide telling her stories to several guests.  We passed them and the walk finally turned into a walk that we enjoy, beautiful scenery and peace and quiet. Then it started to shower which continued throughout the walk. We enjoyed the walk though. 

Back at the carpark and the place was really packed with people heading off. We headed off back home to sit and relax under the awning as the rain sprinkled down from time to time. Given the distances from Uluru and Alice Springs most people don't start arriving until 2.30pm with a big influx from around 3.30pm. The campground is pretty quiet until then as, what I call, the 'night shift' (last night's campers) leave early to get to Uluru or Alice and the 'day shift' are yet to arrive. It is then fun and games watching everyone arrive with all types of setups looking for their sites, going the wrong way, you name it. The dust eventually settles around 6pm by which time it is cold so all but a few of us continue to sit outside and watch the day come to an end. 

27 June - today we become the night shift staff so we are up early, pack up and are away by 8.30am. A mere 6.5 hour and 475 kilometre drive to Alice Springs is only interrupted by constant rain for two hours, morning tea at our bush camp we stayed at on the way in, a fuel stop at Erldunda, and lunch at a nice bush camp two hours out of Alice Springs. The rain stopped just north of Erldunda where the midday temperature was just 13 degrees. 100 kilometres further north the sun was out and the temperature was 24 degrees - what does one wear?

Well that will do for this post. The car and van, just like it's owners are going well.

It looks like we will be home by 10 July. From this weekend all States and Territories are on school holidays and everywhere is busy, very busy. We have seen and done almost all we wanted to do for this trip so, with the crowds and having a lot to do when we get home we have decided that once we get to Boulia, via the Plenty Highway, we will just do one-nighters until we get back to the Gold Coast.

So by for now,


JeffnJulie - the Grey Gonads on Tour
29 June 2107