Day 16 – September 16 2012

The mosquitos last night as we were sitting outside chatting under the stars were ferocious.  Poor Tereza has swollen mosquito bites all over her back where they bit through her shirt.  Some of the mosquitos were fairly large.  We got away from the lovely oasis of Coward Springs at around 8am, following the old Ghan Rail Line to our next destination of William Creek.  The track was OK in some places, pretty bad in others.  We passed a few more mound springs along the way (now we know what they are & look like) with the resultant salt marsh surrounding them.  The landscape is now predominately red gibber plains interspersed with sand hills with a little bit of vegetation scattered around.  Some of the colour contrasts are very good, with the deep reds, yellows, whites & greens. It is unbelievable how lovely the desert scenery is, we enjoyed the drive very much – the road was the only pain. We are starting to see a few cattle feeding, though what they are eating, who knows, there does not seem enough to sustain them in this desert.  The sand hills gradually changed from yellow & they are now a deep red colour, rolling along in never ending lines.  It took about an hour & a half to drive the 75km into William Creek, a population of ten people.  We stopped here to catch a plane flight over Lake Eyre. Helen & John kindly booked the plane for 5 of us, Rose isn’t keen on flying.

The small park across the road from the William Creek Hotel has a collection of rocket memorabilia from the launches of rockets from Woomera, with many rocket pieces landing on the properties around William Creek.  The flight over Lake Eyre was a revelation, the vast expanse of lake is mostly white salt, (about 30 cm thick) with a small amount of water (about 15% & the water is about  6 – 7 times saltier than the ocean) remaining in the deepest pocket of Lake Eyre closest to William Creek. They expect the water to evaporate by the end of the year.  In the last hundred years the lake has only filled 2 times, 1974 was the last time.  The flight was interesting & not too bumpy, we descended to 500 feet over the lake for a closer look.  The colours of the lake change to pink as you fly over it, with the colour coming from the algae thriving in the very salty water.  The land from the air looks just as barren & unsupportive of life.  It really is a harsh & hostile country.  Anna Creek, the name of the cattle station we were flying over, is the biggest cattle farm in Australia, the size of Belgium & they have approximately 18,000 cattle on it.

After our flight it was lunch at the William Creek Hotel, a very old & rustic country pub that lives from the tourist trade that flows through town. The steak sandwich with the lot & a ginger beer was very popular & very tasty.

On the Oodnadatta Track again around 1pm & just out of town we found out what we would be in for, the track condition has worsened badly north of William Creek.  It is full of corrugations, ruts & holes, shaking the car, Karavan & us equally as badly.  Poor Ron had to concentrate on the road so much weaving from one side to the other to try & avoid the terrible corrugation.  The 5 hours of driving to Oodnadatta we had no one overtake us but we met with 6 vehicles (mad ones like us) coming from the opposite direction.  The roadside scenery worsened with even less vegetation, it was different – if the road would have been better we could have enjoyed it.  The desert turned mainly into rock fields with sparse vegetation.  Mother Natures rock garden.  We passed the ruins of old railway sidings at regular intervals, with the rail embankment of the old Ghan Line a near constant companion on either side of the track.

The largest rail bridge constructed in South Australia was our next stop, a welcome relief to stretch the legs as well.  The Algebuckina Bridge spans the Neale River & carries 19 steel spans of 30.9 metres each span, to total 587 metres.  It is a very long bridge, now disused, looking spectacular sitting a long way above some remnant water pools.

We finally reached the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta after 306km for the day, including a long 5 hour very bumpy drive from William Creek.  The camping area is a fenced off enclosure behind the roadhouse, for security reasons by the looks of it, very unglamorous, just like the town. We were very pleased to finally stop & have a rest from driving.  Helen & John drove faster & booked into one of the caravan park cabins for the night.  Helen made some pancakes & invited us to share it with them. While Ron was writing the blog I used the laundry & washed our clothes.  A couple of glasses of red, pancakes, then bed, it has been a long tiring day.