Marree - Lake Eyre 26 - 27 July 2009

From Arkaroola we drove to Marree via Copley. This tested Trish's packing for dirt roads. We have been pleased that so far it has stood up successfully and we haven't found the biscuits reduced to crumbs or the oil all over the cupboard.

Marree was known as Hergotts Crossing until WW1 when anti-German sentiment saw the name changed. Marree means place of many possums. It is the intersection of the Birdsville Track and the Oodnadatta Track.

For a while it was the rail head for the Ghan Express train. Later when the line went to Alice Springs the track's gauge width changed here [don't ask - it is an Australian thing!!] it was where one was woken up in the middle of the night to get onto a narrower or broader gauge train.

 

People who endured that journey say it was a nightmare, but at least the hotel did a roaring trade as all the passengers had to leave the train. Marree declined when the train line relocated west.

The Oasis Caravan Park is basic but offers a $10 barbecue. For that you get a mixed grill and dessert of apple strudel and vanilla slice, cooking like Nonna used to make courtesy of two Italian backpacker girls who along with a visiting station owner who had flown from Bellingen to see Lake Eyre, provided the evenings entertainment of poetry and singing. This was a great evening.

It was here we first saw what must be an outback phenomenon of circling of the wagons, where even with space to spare, people parked as close as possible and then surrounded their vans with vehicles. We are not sure which predator was of concern.

The next day we flew over Lake Eyre. It really is a fantastic sight, with water. Lake Eyre is the worlds largest internally draining system. Normally it is a salt pan.  It fills infrequently mostly from floods in Queensland this year from floods in the Georgina River. When it fills it is a mecca for birds and humans.  Because the floods came late in the season less birds came to breed, although the air was quite busy with flights from Marree, William Creek, Birdsville and elsewhere.

Maree alone averaged thirty departures a day.


The Lake Eyre Yacht Club at Marree is a triumph of optimism. The Commodore had a two week cruise this year.





We also flew over the Marree Man, a 4.2 km tall man ploughed into the desert, making him the world's largest artwork.

There is a great deal of speculation about the originator of this Artwork and theories abound. Some believe it was the Americans then based at Woomera because they had access to GPS tracking, although this seems unlikely as they would have found it hard to have 3 months of spare time required to do the plowing.

 

 

A former policeman we met in Coober Pedy believes it was a local "bushie" from the Roxby Downs area, rich enough to have a bulldozer and GPS, but it seems unlikely the truth will ever be known.

Arkaroola - 24 & 25 July 2009

We left Beltana heading for Arkaroola, one of the best known locations in the Northern Flinders Ranges.

On the way we called in at Iga Warta an information centre owned by the Adnyamathanha people.Their display enables you to learn some of their history in the area.

Arkaroola [http://www.arkaroola.com.au] was established and built by Reg Sprigg in the 1970’s when he took over the lease of Arkaroola Station. Arkaroola comes from the Adnyamathanha word Arkaroo meaning a mythical monster. The owners refer to it as an ark for the flora, fauna and rocks of the area, and they have done a lot of work to eradicate feral goats, rabbits and camels. This private sanctuary was one of the first true ecotourism ventures in Australia.

Dr. Reg Sprigg was a rock star [geologist] who first came to the area as part of the wartime Manhattan Project, to reactivate the Radium Hill Uranium Mining field and to regionally map the Mt Painter Uranium field.

He made many important discoveries, the most significant being the world’s first multi celled organisms which left an imprint on the sedimentary rock in the Ediacara Hills. These organisms have been dated at 620 million years old. Their discovery has led to the naming of a new era the Ediacaran era.

Arkaroola is now a period piece from the 1970’s. It is attractive and comfortable. We enjoyed the Native Pine restaurant and did the Ridgetop Tour which is a fantastic way to see the unique geology of the area from the comfort of a 4wd. Their tyres last about 4,000kms on the very steep rocky roads so we were glad it was not our Landcruiser doing the tour.

This road was built by the uranium prospectors and Exoil. The views are fantastic and it is obvious why Reg Sprigg wanted to preserve it.

The mining companies have left behind a lot of good tracks. Nowadays prospecting is done by helicopter [a dangerous job as they fly within 3 or 4 meters of the slope amongst strong updrafts] and also by analyzing the leaves of deep rooted plants. The plants roots bring minerals to the surface and what is below can be inferred by the trace elements in their leaves. Although it seems unlikely that the Government would allow mining on Arkaroola mining companies are still prospecting.

Confirming our ability to tow rain clouds behind the caravan, it rained overnight. Not a lot, but enough to settle the dust for our drive to Maree.

Beltana Homestead - 16 to 23 July 2009

From Wilpena we drove to Blinman and then towards Leigh Creek.

Blinman is yet another copper mining town.

It has survived the closing of the mine to become a way stop for those going North, proving that good coffee and clean toilets will keep any town going. There is an excellent cafe 'The Wild Lime Cafe" with great coffee and exotic pies such as Red Curry Kangaroo.

Driving from Blinman we saw a sign for Beltana Homestead and enquired if we could stay for the night, which we did.

  

That evening we drove the 45kms south to the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna, to eat what they call “Feral Cuisine.”

 

 

John had the "Road Kill Grill" comprising Kangaroo and Emu fillets and Camel sausage. Tricia more conservatively ate the National Coat of Arms, starting with Emu Pate and Wattle Seed lavosh and finishing with grilled kangaroo. The food was great.

Beltana is 463,000 acres of working sheep and cattle station, very significant in the development of outback Australia and now on the Historic Register.

It is the Station where Elders Pastoral Company started. Sir Thomas Elder, the second owner, imported the first Camels and Beltana became one of the most successful breeding studs and largest depots for camels in Australia. The camels were very useful in opening up the very dry inland with their Indian [colloquially known as Afghan] camel drivers.

In 1875 Ernest Giles’ Expedition set off from the Homestead to find an overland route to Perth.  He succeeded but failed to find the rich grazing lands so no reward for him.

We found the Homestead with its 1860 vintage shearers quarters shown here, an ideal base for exploring the surrounding region, so stayed for the week. Evenings brought Graham the owner and the other hands back to the workshop next to the shearing shed, where the days activities were discussed. Sunset brought an amazing stillness as we lit the evening fire to cook dinner and watched the stars, so bright and clear that at first even well known constellations such as the Southern Cross seemed unfamiliar, surrounded as they are by many more stars than we are used to seeing.

Over the following days we visited Beltana Township, another historic copper town. Although largely abandoned, some is preserved, including significant buildings such as the Victoria Hotel, shown left and a Nursing home started by the Australian Inland Mission. In 1911 Beltana was briefly the Parish of John Flynn who took two fledgling and unproven technologies, the pedal radio and the aeroplane and melded them to form the Flying Doctor Service thus bringing medical care to isolated communities. This was his church. He was a superintendant of the Australian Inland Mission and his vision was to have a hospital and nursing home within 100 miles of the place of residence of every outback woman and child.

Beltana was for a while the railhead for the first Ghan railway and a repeater station for the overland Telegraph which went via Adelaide and Darwin to London. The main north road went through the town. Realignment of the railway and the road and closure of the mine meant it no longer had a reason for being.

The following day we hiked to Blinman Pools, which were reached from Angorichina after a 5km rock scramble, made harder because of the recent rains.

On the 20th we decided to drive the 4wd track to Lake Torrens.  This went well until we came to the third and final sand hill blown across the track and failed to traverse it, getting ourselves bogged.

After two hours of digging to no avail we contacted the Homestead and two of the station hands came to tow us out so we could continue on our trip to the lake. It shows the value of having radio and phone contact with the station, as it was not hard to imagine how isolated and helpless we would have been without the ability to get help. It is not surprising the unprepared die in this country every year.

The next day after that excitement, we had a very sedate walk around historic Blinman. Tricia had emu pie for lunch this time.

 

We drove back through Glass Gorge which has stunning vies of Wilpena Pound and the Flinders Ranges.

 

The following day we did the 4wd track to Puttapa Springs.  Puttapa Station is the home of the Ragless family.  Graham Ragless now owns both Puttapa and Beltana Stations and runs them as a combined operation with his wife Laura. 

 

We enjoyed our time at Beltana, the historic buildings, still in use today, the varied landscapes and particularly the chance to see the rhythm of the working day for those who live on the Station and to learn how an operation like this runs and survives despite the harsh and challenging environment.

Rawnsley Park, Wilpena Pound - 11 to 15 July 2009

It was raining when we left Argadells giving us our first really challenging drive. Although the back road to Hawker is supposed to be all weather, in places the limestone topping wore through to the red soil below, which is like powder and when wet is sticky and very slippery. Even crawling along in low ratio 4wd at times the car and van were both sliding sideways.

We crossed Willochra Creek which was rising. It is unnerving to see how fast these dry creek beds fill.

The dangers are obvious, as shown by Hugh Probies grave near Willochra Creek. He was the 3rd son of an Earl who came out to take up the lease on Kanaka Station. He was only 23 when he drowned in Willochra Creek while chasing stampeding cattle. His grieving sisters shipped out one and a half tons of granite for his memorial. This must have challenged the bullock team who hauled it from the ship to this remote location. He is probably better known now than if he had lived. Kanaka Station was later abandoned and is now in ruins.

We also passed Simmonstown, a classic boom town which never was, with an hotel and shops built and land sold by property speculators for the boom which would come when it became a stop on the Ghan railroad. Perfect, except that the train went 18km to the east of the town. This is the remains of the hotel.

We stayed at Rawnsley Park Station which is just outside of Wilpena Pound. This is very well run, and set up for the many tourists who come to Wilpena, including an excellent Restaurant "The Woolshed".

We took a flight over Wilpena Pound, the Heysen Ranges and Chace Ranges, which is the only way to truly appreciate the spectacular geology.



The whole Flinders ranges was originally a 15km deep trench between two major tectonic plates, and when most of Australia was inundated by sea, sediment was laid down in the trench eventually forming layers of sedimentary rock. Then as the plates moved together the sedimentary layers were buckled and exposed to weathering.

This gives Geologists a chance to study rock sequentially over aeons of time. The sediment from the first 200 million years has weathered away, but the period 543 to 600 million revealed the fossil impressions of the first multicellular animals and the Ediacaran Period is now named after this area.

We moved into a camping area within Wilpena Pound, and took a guided tour through Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges to really understand the geology of the area.

The next day it rained heavily so we delayed our walk into Wilpena Pound and lookouts until the following day. Wilpena Pound is a circle of mountains with a small gorge entry and a spring. Stock could easily be contained.












We saw the Hill homestead within the Wilpena Pound, more of an outstation really. The government of the era required them to carry too many sheep for this kind of country as a conditon of the lease and all the saltbush was eaten out in 15 years. They then tried wheat, the mantra being that "rains would follow the plough" which was quite successful in good years but the rains failed too often. Finally a storm on Christmas Day 1906 washed them out completely, including the road through the gorge they had taken years to build. After this the Hill family gave up wheat and ran stock until the lease expired.

It is best now as a National Park. Recent rains mean it is as green as many locals have ever seen it.

Argadell's Station - 3 to 11 July 2009

 

We drove from Port Augusta to Quorn and chose to stay at Argadells Sheep Station [another name for a large farm] http://www.argadells.com.au

Because the climate is so harsh farmers can run less than 1 sheep to 10 acres so they need to be huge to be profitable.

Many, like Argadell's also have tourists to provide additional income, and in addition to bush camping they will do up the shearers quarters and have a 4WD track.

 

 

A moon rising over the Flinders Ranges and a moon setting at the back of our campsite.

 

 

While at Argadells we went into Quorn and travelled on the Pichi Richi Railway, which is maintained by a band of railway enthusiasts using the original rolling stock and line of the famous Ghan railway. The original name was the Great Northern Railway but some one saw an afghan camel driver getting off the train and nicknamed it the Afghan Express, shortened to "The Ghan".

The Afghan Express was stopping all Stations and was extremely unreliable often having to wait for rail lines that were washed away or buckled in the heat.

We took the Landcruiser on a challenging 4wd route to the top of Mt. Arden. At the top we had reception for our wireless internet and Trish took the opportunity to set up the computer in the shade to do a Skype Videoconference with one of our children. At this point two bush walkers arrived. They had walked for 3 days to get there through difficult country and they were staggered to see the Landcruiser parked on top of the mountain and gobbsmacked when they realized that a video conference was in progress.

We spent most days walking in the beautiful gorges taking in the scenery and the local wildlife.

Argadells has a population of Yellow footed rock wallabies in Hahnemanns gorge. These were endangered but "Operation Bounce" the release of zoo bred animals and an active program to eradicate foxes - means numbers are increasing.

They are real hams for the camera and once they got used to us they would come quite close. We think this one is saying to its joey "Now straighten your ears for the photographer."

 

We enjoyed Argadells as it was bush camping with hot showers. The Juetts were very hospitable. We had fire rings and could cook camp oven roasts which we like to do. The Iron rings round the fires were thick and transmitted heat so we could toast our feet with a relatively small fire. John believes this photo should be called "Lamb roasting by/on the fire"

 

Port Augusta - 30 June to 2 July 2009

From Burra our next stop was Port Augusta. We travelled there on a very windy day. On the road we saw a road train blown into a paddock, fortunately the driver was not injured. In Adelaide a semi trailer was blown over.

Port Augusta has a lovely old Hotel called the Standpipe Hotel. This is where the water pipe that came under the Spencer Gulf ended and there was a standpipe for the bullock drivers to water their bullocks. Naturally a hotel was built for the Bullockies. It has been renovated and is now a fine Indian Restaurant.

Port Augusta is a cross roads of Australia and the beginning of the Outback. We visited the Royal Flying Doctor service which is very impressive. Their brief is that Isolated People should receive the same standard of care as city people. They evacuate people in emergencies but also conduct travelling clinics and take Specialists around for Consultations.

A lot of their day to day work is done over the phone and people have a full medical kit in their homes for treatment. We saw the School of the Air but they do not run tours.

Then we went up the water tank for the views and drove around the town.

We saw the new Ghan which goes from Adelaide to Darwin. It looked beautiful.

The second day we went on the DekyZane to the head of the Gulf.

Our guide was very informative. The Spencer gulf is a reverse saline Gulf as no Rivers run into it. It also is one of two places in the world where there is a dodge tide. This is when the Sun and the Moon are directly opposite and the forces cancel each other out so there is no change in water levels.

Some Dolphins swam with our boat they like the low pressure area near the bow.

We briefly visited Whyalla, a steel town and visited the Wadlata Outback Centre. This takes one through the History of the Outback from primeval Soup to present day and I think is a must do as it gives one an understanding of what one sees later.