Week 15: Flinders Ranges SA - Coober Pedy SA

 Stats Overview

Km's Travelled: 1005

Km's Hiked: 11

No. of Campsites: 4

The Adventures

I think we can confidently say that this week has been the best week of our journey through South Australia. We have been fortunate enough to have some amazing weather (sunny and 30 - literally haven't had weather this good since Mildura!) which has enabled us to really step up the adventuring and enjoy getting off the well beaten track. We have well and truly hit the outback and are loving exploring the more remote parts of Australia.

We started off the week at the Flinders Ranges where we thought we would take Bertie out for some 4x4 through the ranges on the station we were staying on. We figured we could get to explore some of the mountains and give our legs a break at the same time. However, we quickly discovered that 4x4 becomes a lot more stressful when your car is your whole world, which it becomes when you are on the road. So while our legs rested our blood pressure certainly didn't! Luckily Bertie is a beast and she took the track all in her stride, which meant we had a really lovely day exploring the ranges and enjoying the breath-taking views. We even saw a herd of feral goats while we were driving which was a new animal for us to see in the wild. While we were in the area we also went to Wilpena Pound and completed the Mount Ohlssen-Bagge hike which was fairly short but very challenging walk. It was steep ascent the whole way to the summit and even had some rock scrambling, which was a new one for us hiking novices. The view from the top over-looking Wilpena Pound (Wilpena Pound is a natural amphitheatre made from the mountains)  was worth the effort of the hike and, don't worry, we rewarded ourselves with our favourite Golden North ice cream when we made it to the bottom.

After the Flinders we continued our journey north on our way to Marree to start the Oodnadatta Track. We made a lunch stop at Copley hoping to try some of their "feral" pies made from local animals such as camel and kangaroo. However, we got in too late and had to settle for beef, which too be honest was a lot safer in my opinion! We did manage to try their other famous item which was their Quandong pie made from the native fruit which grows in the outback. It was very delicious and well worth the stop! We also stopped at the Lyndhurst Ochre Pits which had an amazing array of colours - red, orange, pink and even purple hues. This was a significant site traditionally for the Aboriginal people who would use the ochre for trade, ceremony, art and burial amongst other things. It was definitely one of the prettiest ochre pits we have seen on our travels! The other highlight on the road to Marree was Farina, which was once an outback town, but is now only a station which contains the site of the towns ruins. However, they have established a volunteer organisation who are doing a lot of work restoring the township, so we had a great time exploring and learning about the harsh life of the early pioneers in this area. Although we were very disappointed when we discovered we were a few weeks too early to enjoy the bakery that is run from the ruins over the peak tourist season.

After Farina, we headed north and made it to the Oodnadatta Track which runs from Marree through to Marla. The track follows a traditional Aboriginal trading route which was then chosen as the route for The Ghan Railway, because of the numerous natural springs fed from the Great Artesian Basin. We did not complete the entire track, opting to exit at Oodnadatta to head south to Coober Pedy. Over a period of 2 days we travelled over 500kms on dirt roads and we now have a caravan full of red dust to prove it! (We will be cleaning dust out of the van for weeks to come!). The road was in pretty good condition, albeit a bit wet in some places from the recent rains, with only a few patches badly corrugated or rutted.  We were glad to make it to the end unscathed, as we saw a couple of people pulled over trying to patch up the back of their vehicle after their back window was smashed by rocks flicking off the track. Some of the highlights of the Oodnadatta Track were: the sculpture park, seeing Lake Eyre, crossing the Dingo Barrier Fence (it has a sensor siren alarm which was a surprise!), the oasis of the Mound Springs, the old bridges and infrastructure from The Ghan railway, the William Creek pub and the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta. We were really hoping to see the Painted Desert while we were out there but unfortunately the road in is still closed due to the recent rains and doesn't look like it will be opening any time soon. However, we honestly had the best time on the Oodnadatta Track. It is the first time we have truly felt we are in a remote area whilst travelling, and after so long on gravel there was no better sight than seeing the bitumen road as we made it to Coober Pedy!

We will spend the next few days exploring Coober Pedy before we make our way north and across the border into the Northern Territory!

Kodak Moments

Bertie conquered the mountains in the background - Merna Mora Station

Nothing better than a campfire dinner - Merna Mora Station

Made it to the Mount Ohlssen-Bagge summit - Wilpena Pound

View from the summit - Mount Ohlssen-Bagge

Stunning ochre pits, the photo does not do it justice - Lyndhurst

We saw so many of these giant, spinning clouds of dust while on the road - Lyndhurst

Old Police Station - Farina Station

The memorial for the explorer John McDouell Stuart - Marree

Found the Dingo Barrier Fence in SA, crazy to think this stretches all the way back to QLD - Oodnadatta Track

"Plane Henge" at the Mutonia Sculpture Park - Oodnadatta Track

Expanse of salt as far as the eye can see - Lake Eyre South

Incredible oasis (compare to the barren background) of the naturally occurring Mound Springs - Oodnadatta Track

If only these walls could talk - William Creek Pub

An icon of the SA outback - Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta

Just a few kms from Brissy (2622kms if you can't read the sign) - Oodnadatta

Sunrise view from our campsite - Coober Pedy