Saturday 10th June

We had three nights in Ceduna, so Pat could get a bit of washing done, we could do a bit of shopping and have a bit of a rest. Also managed to catch up with the blog, it’s only accessible with the internet so a lot of the time it’s a draft in Word.

We haven’t travelled far today. We wanted to go into the Gawler Ranges but it’s a National Park and camping spots have to be booked. This is the King’s Birthday long weekend holiday in the rest of Australia (in WA we had ours last weekend!) which is why all the sites were booked. We found a bush camp near Wuddina, called Watle Rock, which was quite popular, but we found ourselves a spot, with a good view of the Gawlers from the van window and we will go and explore there tomorrow with just the Cruiser.

Sunday 11th June

We spent all day exploring the National Park, with some good exercise getting to some of the features. This was a sheep running area for wool in the 19th century which eventually declined in the early 20th century. Towards the end some arable farming was introduced to supplement the sheep which also changing to meat production. It is a park of several different characteristics which makes it interesting. It was acquired by the S. Australian Government in 2000. It comprises of Paney and Scrubby Peak Stations which cover 1,633 square kms. Some of the station buildings and Homesteads have been restored.

The Old Shearing Shed, recently refurbished

These are called the Organ Pipes, in fairness they might be more impressive in a better light as advertised! There were no end of people heading in that direction when we were leaving – perhaps they knew something we didn’t!

It’s the Monday of this long weekend tomorrow so we have decided to stay here another night.

Monday 12th June

Grey and damp this morning but the sun got out later and was enough to charge the batteries.

Pretty lazy day today because the bitter wind was quite strong so we ‘rocked on’!

We moved the van to try and get out of the wind but that didn’t work very well so we had another windy night plus some rain.

Tuesday 13th June

This morning dawned bright and fair, we stopped at Kimba for diesel and a gas bottle exchange and then travelled on to Port Augusta, We have noticed an oddity with the cruiser so we will stay over night at a caravan park and try and get it resolved at the Toyota Agency in town. Fat chance – not the slightest bit interested! We needn’t have stopped!

Wednesday 14th June

Pat took advantage of the washing machines and did some washing today and we picked up some shopping and stocked up for the next phase of this journey which is up to Marree and hopefully the iconic Birdsville Track, provided there has been no rain.

Topped up the water tanks ready for tomorrow and emptied the cassette.

Thursday 15th June

Got a reasonably good start , we’re heading up Marree which is the start of the Birdsville Track. From Port Augusta the first part of the road goes to Quorn and Hawker and is really very pretty although a bit of a pain to drive as it is all up and down and round and round, ie; quite hard work, it criss-crosses the railway line > after Quorn it is mostly fairly flat up the very wide valley between the two parts of the Flinders Ranges > we stop at the  Prairie Hotel Parachilna for a coffee.   The hotel was built beside the old Ghan railway and the station building is still there, as are some of the tracks.   There was a a fair bit of mining went on at nearby Blinman, hence the station.

We’ve been here before and had dinner, in those days the menu mainly featured the meat from ‘feral’ animals, what we laughingly call ‘roadkill’, ie; roo, emu, wild boar, camel, etc.   It also sported a very good wine list as people flew up from Adelaide to sample the fare.  Sadly it has changed its character and we saw that the menu has only a passing sample of ‘feral’ stuff – a sign of the times we expect!

We have had the Flinders Ranges on our eastern side all the way up from Port Augusta, they are impressive but as usual it is very difficult to really capture the magnificent views because we’re heading north and into the sun so it is necessary to stop to get any decent photos.

We make good time and decide to stop the night at Farina, which was prosperous in the late 19^th and early 20th centuries, as the original railhead on the old Ghan Railway.  It was a centre for the surrounding stations and had between 100-300 inhabitants, significant enough for 33 of its locals to serve in WW1.  

It is a popular place to stopover when going up or down either the Oodnadatta or the Birdsville Tracks and is even more popular in May, June and July when the restored Bakery is operating!

Today the place has many ruins and a local volunteer group is trying hard to restore some of these beautifully built buildings.  

Next stop is Marree, about 50 ks away which was also a later railhead on the old Ghan railway. We’re just going to top up the fuel tank here and let a little air out of the tyres before tackling the iconic Birdsville Track.

The Track has a history going back to the second half of the 19th century when it was essentially a stock route, then it became a mail route and was immortalised in the book ‘The Mailman of the Birdsville Track’, which I have read at least twice. It has had a reputation for being a difficult 520 ks of sand dunes, creek crossings and clay pans.

The first few ks are fine but quite soon we come across washouts on a fairly frequent basis.

Whilst these washouts aren’t really too much of a worry they are frequent enough to make progress slower than we would like. However, the track essentially is in much better condition than we expected.

This is a vast and remote area and it is 520 ks to Birdsville, there is a roadhouse at Mungeranie but there are no other facilities along the track and no communities. There are a few stations, some have accommodation these days but other than that it is a very empty and very remote area. We make reasonable progress and we stop at Cooper Creek for some lunch. The Cooper can flood and when that happens there was a barge to ferry people and goods across the creek.

We get to Mungeranie Roadhouse about 1430 and decide we’ll make this our night stop.   This place is under new ownership and they have done a good job in tarting it up.   Admittedly they charge $20 to stay here but there is plenty of hot water for showers and the pub does some good food including GF!

Some of the trucks that once serviced ‘the track’ are preserved here.

Saturday 17th June

We have just over 300 ks to run to Birdsville and although we were expecting the track to be worse than yesterday, it seems considerably better than the southern half!

We’re crossing the western side of the Sturt Stoney Desert, which consists largely of round flat stones, called ‘gibbers’ locally. With the sun behind them they look like vast expanses of water but when you look ‘down sun’ they are just vast areas of grey stones. Towards the north of the track we’re entering the Great Sandy Desert which has completely different characteristics. To the east and north is the Simpson Desert which consists almost entirely of red sand dunes.

This is an extremely remote part of Australia, in 300 ks this afternoon we saw one vehicle going in the opposite direction, nothing caught us up and we saw only one truck ahead of us!

You may find this video boring but it might also give you a sense of what the country is like. Unfortunately we’re heading north hence the sun.

In relatively short time (we thought it was going to take longer) we arrive in Birdsville, the end of the ‘track’. We hit lucky as only a few weeks ago the track was closed due to heavy rain. Since then it has been dry and the graders have done a great job. The track is yellow and pink on the map.