THE OUTBACK AT IT’S BEST

It’s more about the journey than the destination when heading along the Oodnadatta Track and Old Ghan Heritage Trail

WORDS BY AMY SMITH, PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIK SMITH

It had finally arrived; the day we were due to leave the black top and head into the outback to tackle the first of many iconic must do’s around Australia – the Oodnadatta Track and Old Ghan Heritage Trail. Our route had us travelling from Marree in the south towards Alice Springs in the north and, as custom required, we kicked off our trip with refreshment and a meal at the Marree Hotel.

We left Marree after lunch, stopping to take a photo of the car in front of the infamous Oodnadatta ‘OPEN’ sign and then made our way down the immaculately smooth dirt highway. Occasionally we had some minor corrugations, but for the most part the road was easy to traverse with our off-road pop top.

The best thing about this trip is it’s not just about getting from one place to another, so we made a few interesting, quirky stops along the way. The first stop was at Wangianna, where a stone sculpture of a man had been erected just off the side of the road.

Further on make sure you stop to have a good look around at Alberrie Creek, where you’ll find sculptures made from junk, metal and whatever else happened to be lying around. We had to drag the kids away from one particular sculpture, which was set up as a ‘music tree’.

Next was the Lake Eyre South Lookout. Unfortunately there was no water in Lake Eyre, but the view and lookout itself were amazing. The salt plan plays tricks with your eyes, leading you to believe that it is actually full of water.

After a long day we arrived at Coward Springs, a natural spring and permanent wetland oasis in the middle of nowhere. Coward Springs is privately owned and back in 1991 the owners planted hundreds of locally native trees, built facilities and restored the original buildings. The facilities are very clean drop toilets and hot showers that are heated up with a donkey (fire in a drum). That evening we chose to relax in the spring’s tub, which was a coolish 29 degrees. The ‘tub’ comfortably fits 4 adults and uncomfortably about 7 kids, so we obviously took turns. Coward Springs is about as relaxing as it gets – try to soak up as many mineral salts as possible!

The next day we packed up – with the help of the resident swarms of flies – and backtracked about 6km to Wabma Kadabu, otherwise known as Mound Springs – two naturally forming mounds that are spring-fed by the Great Artesian Basin. The first is named Blanches Cup and the second one The Bubbler, as the pressure from the water below actually cause bubbles to be pushed up through the mud and water up to the surface.

After yet another great geology lesson we got back on the track and headed to William Creek, some 70-odd kilometres away. En route to William Creek, be sure to stop at Beresford Dam, where the Beresford railway station building was still standing. Regrettably, there was quite a bit of graffiti on the walls, which really is a shame. While we still had quite a smooth drive on today’s stretch of track, we encountered more sections of corrugations and rough rocky sections. These slowed us down a bit but gave us no real problems, as we drove to suit the conditions. The goal is to not try and beat the corrugations, work with them – vary your speed, and if need be, hop out and drop your tyre pressures by about 4-8psi – it’ll really help out.

We arrived at William Creek in the early afternoon, calling in at the pub first to book in and pay for our night’s accommodation at the caravan park across the road. Of course after we set up we went back to the pub to ‘support the community.’

The next day we packed up and headed off for our lunch stop at Algebuckina Bridge. We had a look around on the bridge and ate some lunch, but the verdict was that the flies were too bad to camp overnight so we drove on to Oodnadatta. Out of William Creek the road was smoother than a bitumen highway and we were able to cruise along at a about 80km/hr. The reason soon became apparent: we had been travelling behind the graders! Sure enough, no sooner had we waved goodbye to the graders then we hit some pretty challenging corrugated road.

We timed our arrival at Oodnadatta for the local races, and set up our camp just past the finish line. The camping was free – no water or power, but there were excellent hot showers and flushing toilets. If you want to experience Oodnadatta and aren’t crash hot on the endless kays of dirt, come in from the eastern side off the Stuart Highway. You’ve got about 200km of dirt, which should be in pretty good condition.

THE OODNADATTA RACES

And they’re off and racing! We made our way to the 125th Oodnadatta Races & Gymkhana of 2015. The weekend offered something for everyone, with horse racing and motorbike races for the adults and bar and catering facilities. Accommodation was available at the Pink Roadhouse, Oodnadatta Hotel or, as we had chosen, camping at the racecourse. The event is organised by the surrounding stations with the cost set at $15 per adult and children free. Part of the proceeds are donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This is one of the cheapest, and most enjoyable events on the RV touring calendar!

The fun kicked off on the Friday afternoon with the bar opening at 3pm, and the first event, steer riding, following an hour later. The winning steer rider was a local from Macumba Station – a deserving winner who turned out to be quite the all-rounder over the weekend.

The next day we woke up to yet another pearler of a sunrise, with horses neighing in the yards and the smell of coffee wafting from the coffee van, which had made the trip up from Murray Bridge. The morning started off with an 800m sprint horse race, followed by the gymkhana events such as flag & barrel race, motorcycle barrel race and thread the needle race. While all this was going on, the kids were entertained by the lovely woman from Remote and Isolated Children’s Exercise (RICE), who kept them busy for hours with play doh, beading, colouring, toys and crafts.

The afternoon events were just as much fun. There were sprints for men and women, whip cracking, ladies’ bullock tail throwing and (the highlight of the afternoon for the guys) the motorbike mono competition, with the winning rider managing to hold a mono for over 2km around the track. The other highlight of the day was the main race event, the 1600m Oodnadatta Pastoral Cup. This was won by a horse from Adelaide – a real upset, as everyone had thought the local horses were a shoo-in!

The fun didn’t stop after the day’s events. The evening kicked off with a Weber roast dinner and auctions and then the real fun begun when the band started up. The theme for the night was blue and pink, with lots of people making a real effort. The party went on well into the early hours of the morning. These station people certainly know how to party! Not surprising, we decided, when one partygoer told us it had been four months since she had left the station.

After a fantastic weekend we left Oodnadatta and travelled 250km along on a minor dirt track that was meant to be worse than the Oodnadatta track. We found the first 100km north to Hamilton Station (a Williams Cattle Company station) pretty good, but it took us well over an hour to get there, travelling at an average speed of 60-70km A few hours later we decided to stop at Eringa Waterhole for lunch. This is the site of Sidney Kidman’s first cattle property and is actually full of water. After we fought with the flies for our lunch we decided to have a swim, but since it wasn’t as warm as we had anticipated, we didn’t last long.

The track then got progressively rougher and rockier and our speed average was down to about 30-40km, but we managed to arrive at Mt Dare before dark. Mt Dare is a fantastic place and David and Melissa Cox are great owners and hosts. Situated on the western edge of the Simpson Desert, the property is surrounded by national parks and cattle stations.

The next day we set off on a 70km drive to Dalhousie Springs for an overnight stay and swim. We had been told the road was rocky and slow going but “not too bad”. The first 10km was a little rocky with corrugations but the remaining 60km was very slow going. We were driving over and dodging some pretty big Gibber rocks that had the potential to rip our tyres to shreds, but we had made sure that we set the pressure low at 28psi. Although some stretches – few and far between – were simply deep sand, the trip was mostly characterised by rocks and corrugations. After two and a half hours we finally arrived at Dalhousie Springs, paid for our permit and camping fees and threw down the swags for a quick setup. Then it was straight to the springs for a relaxing much needed afternoon swim. The springs were a warm 37 degrees with plenty of room for everyone. We opted for an early night, as the mosquitoes were out in force biting through our clothes and a nasty wind had crept up, making the temperature a little chilly.

The next morning we woke early to the same strong cold wind, so we decided the best thing to do was head for the water again before packing up to return to Mt Dare. After 3 days at Mt Dare a quick stocktake showed us that our supplies were getting low, which meant that instead of following the Ghan Heritage Trial all the way up to Alice Springs, we headed along the dreaded black top to Alice Springs. It was with regret that we turned left at Finke and headed towards the Stuart Highway, but not before we took one last detour to visit the geographical centre of Australia, Lamberts Centre. To get there we had to navigate 15km of washouts, sand and rocks, but it was worth the trip to be able to say we’d been there!

All in all, we voted this to be a fantastic and satisfying couple of weeks, heading into the outback along the alternative route towards the centre. The ruins, sunsets, springs and welcoming locals were just a few of the highlights.