Thank you one and all for the very useful info, tips and blogs

The road surface Marree to Coober Pedy sounds good enough. Until 2 days ago the road from Lyndhurst up to Marree was closed due rain.

Wet road closures in January? Is that normal?

The warning about temps surprised me a little. Yes, I expected warmer than Melbourne but we have had a pathetic summer. Where are all of our high thirties and low forties?

Following the advice about temps I collected stats from the BOM here… http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20170 … 1701.shtml

I graphed said stats from Dec 1 to now. Yes there are quite a few hot periods but also cooler cycles. We only plan to be in the Marree to Coober Pedy area for a total of a few days. If that slotted into a cooler cycle then I think that is OK. Fly nets should help Jock’s flies.

Why go in Feb? Well I want a summer trip and in SA. I was thinking along the coast but Mrs OT came up with an inland route including the Oodna. As she vowed never to do the Birdsville Track again (slow and boring) I jumped at the opportunity to do the Oodna and as her idea not expect to hear a single complaint whatever the circumstances

7 weeks worth of Marree max temps….

I think we took about 14 days to do our trip total

Dont rush it…. theres so much to see just off the track it self

Any questions about the places….just ask

Hot days…cool nights and that was in May

Bundyrumandcoke wrote:[

We actually found Oodnadatta very disappointing for a number of reasons. The much vaunted Oodna-burger was crap. Perhaps it was because we got there about 1/2 hr before closing time, they had already shut off the burners, and were very reluctant to fire them up again. The stay out the back at the “Caravan Park” was marred up till about 3am but over the top, loud as, doof doof music. We almost packed up and left at about 1.30am. And then, in the morning, dispite there being a line up of about 8 to 10 vehicles, they stubbornly refused to turn the fuel pumps on till exactly opening time, which IIRC, was 8am.

I am not in a hurry to go back there. .

That’s interesting. We had loud noise till 2 am as well, but there were signs all over that they were on the last night of a rodeo….I reckon they woop it up more than we realise.

But really I say good luck to them. I still liked the place, the folks were friendly and they did their best for us. I have had some pretty ordinary burgers in large towns as well….

Smokeydk wrote:I think we took about 14 days to do our trip total

Dont rush it…. theres so much to see just off the track it self

Any questions about the places….just ask

Hot days…cool nights and that was in May

Yes even the trip into Muroolina station was worth the detour

here’s a bit from out log

The turn off for Maroolina station is only a kilometre or so up the road and we turn off, the landscape is just that land and not much else, this is outback country and trees are scarce, the land is undulating and if it were not for the recent rains a few weeks back I doubt that there would be any grass at all, the track is as good as the Oodnadatta track and we still travel at 60 and reach the campsite in just under an hour, it is about a kilometre from the homestead which we can see beyond the tree line, which at first we thought was a creek bed but soon realize that it is Maroolina waterhole, an artesian fed waterhole full of birdlife and a welcome sight in this arid landscape.
Brenda enjoys walking and because of her back injury can either walk or lay down, enjoys the time she can spend with the rest of the group, as she cannot stand around or sit long for happy some of us go for a walk to the bird hide and after a while we decide to walk around the waterhole as it doesn’t look that far, firstly we come to the inlet for the source and find that it is quite warm at about 30 degrees, we find a place narrow enough to cross and continue on, every time we have a look to see where the end of the waterhole is, it seems to disappear around a corner and as we finally reach the tree line where surely the waterhole finishes, we end up on a series of small islands which takes us about 15 minutes to navigate, only to realize that we are not near the end after all and it continues like this so we are forced to turn back, nearly 2 hours after leaving the van and a great adventure in bushwalking later, we get back to have a coffee, we relax for the rest of the afternoon and get together for happy hour before organizing tea, after which we settle for the night, Brenda who had a bad night last night is soon falling asleep and tells me to go and join the others who have resumed happy hour, by 9 pm we’ve all decided to go in and sleep comes easy after a good deal of walking today
the camp and waterhole at Muroolina station

And the overnight at Farina was great too

Old Techo wrote:
The road surface Marree to Coober Pedy sounds good enough. Until 2 days ago the road from Lyndhurst up to Marree was closed due rain.

Wet road closures in January? Is that normal?

.

No road closures in January are not normal, but we have just had the wettest January on record

As a matter of fact it’s pissitivaly possing it down at the moment

the wine growers (and we actually have more than a dozen wine growing regions in SA) are having a sh!t of a time with downy mildew and the harvest is about 5 weeks late

Frank & Brenda wrote:here’s a bit from out log

The turn off for Maroolina station is only a kilometre or so up the road……….

………. And the overnight at Farina was great too

Thanks Frank for your extra efforts with info and pics.

In Aug 2013 when we did the Birdsville Track we had lunch at Farina and earmarked it for a possible overnight.

We did overnight at Maroolina and it was very enjoyable

As mentioned a couple of years ago when O.T. was enquiring about his Birdsville Track trip, not only is Muloorina Station a delightful place to camp for a few days – a real oasis… But it is also a great base to take the day trek into Lake Eyre. That trip alone is absolutely spectacular.
Reading Frank’s Blog and the report of O.T.’s trip, I cant believe that, after the 60 km. trip to Muloorina, they didn’t take the time to head for Level Post Bay…It was one of the best Highlights of our camping trips.
O.T. It seems that you’ll be heading that way again..strongly recommend that, despite visiting Muloorina before, that you spend a few days doing it again with the goal of doing the trip into Lake Eyre whilst there.
Once again, O.T., I have to say, despite your stats..Do not attempt this trip in February.

Jock

G’day Jock,

Yes, it was purely your advice that had us go to Muloorina. I did explain our ‘coin toss’ decision not to go to Lake Eyre based on the severe corrugations reported to me by a friend who had done it a few days earlier. He was an experienced off-roader who had crossed the Simpson a week earlier and said that Muloorina to Eyre were the worst corrugations he had ever seen.

Anyhow it may all be somewhat academic now

According to Dr Google I’m fairly sure I have a hernia. I have been tiling the rebuilt ensuite shower and maybe strained a few bits. Off to the quack tomorrow

hope it goes OK for you OT!

Prior to our trip out that way, our “worst ever corregations” was Battlecamp Rd, from Cooktown to Laura, back in 1992.

But then we hit Mt Dare to Dalhousie springs. That took the cake for us. Admittedly, its wasn’t the corregations perse, but the rocks. 10-15 kph in 1st and 2nd gear the whole way, We have never, EVER, hit a worse road, that’s gazetted as a road.

If you really want to experience Lake Eyre, why not head into ABC or Halligans Bay, out from William Ck. Its only about 60km in.