Trail genre: Unsealed trail
Trail point starts from: Adelaide
Trail point ends at: Alice Springs
Total trail nights: 10
Total trail distance: 3000 kms
We slept with dingoes. We slept in bushes with no man around in the radius of few thousands kilometers. That’s our road trekking experience to the Australian Outback.
We joined a tour with Heading Bush. This is not an inexpensive tour. The total journey was about 3,000kms. We slept in swags, under billions of stars, millions of mosquitoes, snakes (Australia has 10 out of 12 most poisonous snakes in the world), dust, heat (40c), no shower, travelled in a crowded old jeep, on bumpy unsealed road.....with 10 of us plus...
... driver, for the next 10 challenging days.
Day 1 Adelaide – Port Germain – Quorn – Flinders ranges – Wilpena Pound
We started our journey to the outback from Adelaide. When we got on to the 4WD(we were picked up
from our hostel in Adelaide), there were just 3 other people there, plus the 4 of us. The driver, who also doubled (or perhaps I should say quadrupled!) up as a tourguide, a cook, and a “pain-in-the-arse” (just kidding!!), then made another stop to pick up another guy who sat in front next to him. It didn’t start well, we hit traffic almost immediately after we got out of the city and were stuck in a massive traffic jam for a good 2 hours. And we were already late to start with. Instead of starting the journey at dawn, we only took off after 10am due to some delay at the tour operator’s part. We only found out later in the trip why this was so.
Once we got out of the massive traffic jam, our driver finally made a quick stop at a petrol/food kiosk. Although it was already past noon and we were starving, he decided to hold off lunch until our scheduled stop at Port Germaine, another 1.5 hours away.
Port Germaine is like an old abandoned town, with hardly
any cars or people. We had lunch in front of the old jetty. After lunch, we got a “special delivery” of an older couple, who are to join our trip from thereon. If we thought the 4WD was crowded before with 7 of us in the back, imagine what it is like now. All 8 of us were packed like sardines in the back - in fact the whole 4WD was packed like sardines, with 8 squeezed in the back in 2 rows, facing each other, and another 3 in front. Yes, there were 11 of us altogether, including the driver. We all started to wonder how we could survive a 10 day road journey like this, what with the heat and everything else in the harsh outback conditions. But survive we did.
Our first stop after lunch was Kanyaka homestead. This was once one of the biggest homestead in Australia but is now abandoned. We got down to stretch our legs and explored the ruins.
The first day also included a small hike up to Yourambulla caves, where I got
to see Aboriginal cave paintings for the first time. We drove on and I was happy to absorb the view along the way which was pretty impressive with the Flinders Ranges up ahead. After a couple more hours of driving, our driver turned off the main road into what looks like private land. It is in fact Arkabah Station, one of the huge cattle stations around South Australia. We drove on for a little bit and we could see lots of kangaroos hopping around and looking curiously at us. We finally stopped at an open area and were told that this was to be our home for the night.
Wow! Isn’t this amazing. We quickly had a look around and set up camp. We were shown how we were to sleep that night – in swags. A swag is a canvas bag essentially with a thin mattress that holds your sleeping bag and has a flap that covers your head in case it rains. Although relishing the experience of sleeping out in the bush in a swag for the very first time, we felt pretty exposed that first night and had trouble falling asleep. It was however a very beautiful night with a full moon. I laid there in my swag looking up to the sky for a long time.
Day2 Wilpena – Wilpena National Park (NP) - Iga Warta
We woke up with the sun the next morning and after a quick breakfast of cereal, we learnt how to pack up camp, including rolling up our swags. This is not an easy job, I can assure you. A “swag manager” was appointed and his job is to stack and secure all our rolled-up swags at the of the trailer.
Today we visited Arkaroo Rock, another Aboriginal cave painting. We hiked for about half an hour up to where the cave drawings are and had a good look around, learning how to recognised the drawings and symbols and their meanings.
After that it was off to Wilpena Pound, a large volcanic crater. Wilpena Pound is located in the centre of the Flinders Ranges and is an extraordinary natural amphitheatre, encircled by sheer peaks. We hiked right up into the pound, the track turned challenging towards the end to the lookout. After some photo shots, we hiked back to our vehicle and drove towards Iga Warta, our stop for tonight.
Iga Warta is the home of the Adnyamathanha people, an aboriginal community. It was surprisingly civilised and we
were happy to have our first shower since we started our outback trip in Adelaide. That night we had our meal around the campfire. The chief joined us and taught us about their culture, beliefs, the galaxy and how to cook a damper (a leaven bread) with the fire. While waiting for the damper to cook, buried in the ground, we were treated to a singing performance by the chief and of course we ended up joining him singing and dancing around the campfire.
“Hey! My walla, is rumbling, is tumbling
Hey! My walla, is rumbling, like a big bass drum.
Ta da ta da ta da da da!”
Day 3 Igawarta – Lake Eyre – William Creek
Next morning we were shown around the community and to Yalmarralpana Ochre Quarry. Apparently ochre is very important to the aboriginal community and each colour has a meaning. Our local guide from the Iga Warta community explained the history to us and also showed us how to paint our faces with the different coloured ochre. It was surprisingly easy – all he did was take a bit of powder from the ground and mix it with water. You could find all sort of colours in the one small area. We ended the tour with multi-coloured painted faces! Back at Iga Warta camp, we bidded farewell to our hosts and continued our journey towards Leigh Creek.
Along our way, we stopped by Quandong Cafe for a much needed “proper” coffee (instead of the instant coffee
we have every morning) and to have a taste of the ever famous Quandong pie and Kangaroo Pie. Yummy!! It was then on to the home of a man called Talc Alf. We had a good look around his place, which is full of sculptures he carved himself and other symbols, theories and drawings. It was unfortunate that he was not at home as it would have made an interesting visit.
Lunch today was at another “deserted” town of Maree,
where we all had our first real encounter with a “whirly-whirly”, a sand-twister.
We have seen this not uncommon phenomenon in the outback from within our 4WD several times before, but have never seen it upclose. It moved swiftly towards us but thankfully lost a bit of steam in its approach. Marree marks the start of the Oodnadatta track. We stayed on this track until we arrived at William Creek, our stop for the night. Along the way we stopped to view some interesting art sculptures in the middle of nowhere in the desert, which we were told were the remains of what was once an art festival.
The weather now is pretty unbearable, with 45C heat. We got down anyway and took a walk towards the sculptures to have a closer look. Except for the art-work, we could see miles and miles of nothingness all around us. Welcome to the Australian Outback. After a refreshing drink of ice water from our “fridge”, we climbed back into the 4WD, glad to escape the heat. It was not much better inside the vehicle as we were all cramped at the back with a barely functioning air-cond. Knees knocking against knees, we drove on. And on.
After a couple of hours of driving, we were at Lake Eyre South. Lake Eyre is famous for being the saltiest lake in Australia and it only fills up every century.
We then visited Coward Springs, a small natural spring in the desert about a metre square in size. Some of us jumped in to cool off.
We finally arrived at William Creek late evening and hit
the pub straight away for a cold beer! William Creek pub is very popular among the travellers of the outback as a stopover. This tiny outpost marks the halfway point of the Oodnadatta track. The walls are completely covered with name cards, t-shirts, notes, IDs, currency, underwear (no kidding!), etc. of the visitors from all over the world. For a small fee which is donated to the Royal Flying Doctors, you can tack on a little something, if you can find a space that is, and be immortalized on the wall in this little town in the outback of Australia.
Day 4 William Creek – Coober Pedy – Hookie’s waterhole
Today is going to be a big day. We are visiting Coober Pedy!! We packed up and
broke camp very early as we have a long drive ahead. Why am I not surprised?!! On the way, we passed the famous Dingo Fence (aka Dog Fence). Stretching some 5000km across the central deserts of Australia, the dingo fence was erected to prevent dingoes entering South Australia from the north.
Coober Pedy must be one of the most interesting towns I’ve ever visited.
It is a famous opal-mining town. Many of the buildings have been built underground to shield the occupants from the extremes of temperature reached in the outback. We were taken on an underground tour of a typical underground house and an opal mine where we learnt how to make explosives! No, not really. We just learnt that it is very easy to get an explosives licence here at Coober Pedy – it’s only a day’s course. We took some time exploring the town and made our lunch at a little cave room. It’s amazing how the temperature drop 20C from aboveground to underground.
Next on the itinerary was supposed to be the Painted and Simpson deserts,
unfortunately though the road was closed due to rain and flooding the last few days (hard to believe isn’t it?). So we proceeded instead to Hookie’s Waterhole, a desert oasis. The name Hookey's waterhole came about from the local children skipping out on school to go for a swim as the waterhole is a bike ride away from the nearby town of Oodnadatta. There was an aboriginal family picnicking there when we arrived and the aboriginal kids were splashing & jumping off from the tree branches into the waterhole. It was actually more like a river, there were plenty of water and it must be from all the rain recently.
Our tourguide also decided to camp there for the night. It turned out to be one of the worst nights ever. The place was full of flies which makes eating our dinner difficult and once the sun set, the mosquitoes came out in the millions!
None of us really slept well that night as the mossies were carrying on a symphony of their own the whole night. Sleeping in swags meant that our faces were exposed and we could actually feel the wind the mossies made, there were so many of them! Some of us actually slept with our fly net on! The mossies were indeed a hungry lot, looking for any piece of flesh that is exposed. We had to cover up completely and it was most uncomfortable as the night was warm & humid. However it was either that or being bitten alive. Morning didn’t bring any relief either, as there was then a changing of shift from the mossies to the flies as soon as the sun comes up! We found out later that it didn’t bother our tourguide one bit, as he had a more posh swag, which works like a mini one-man tent and so he was all covered up that night.
Day 5 Hookie’s waterhole – Oodanadatta –Marla Town basin (SA) -> Kulgera (NT) - Campsite (home of the devil weed)
After breakfast we were back driving on the Oodnadata track travelling towards the town of Oodnadatta, an exotic
and unusual desert town which was once an important stopover point of the railway line. It is, by any definition, a fascinating place which, since the closure of the railway line in 1981, has become a quiet settlement inhabited mainly by the local Aborigines who now run the Railway Museum, the General Store (better known as the Pink Roadhouse) and the local Transcontinental Hotel.
First stop is the famous Pink Roadhouse. We then took a walk around the deserted town to the open air cinema, a school, then the Railway Museum. With the wind whistling through the deserted buildings, it is easy to imagine the ghosts of the past. The museum is surprisingly good, with a wealth of information about the origins and history of the town, the old Ghan railway track and the settlement of Chinese in the area.
We soon arrived at Marla & stopped for lunch. Marla marks the end of the Oodnadatta Track and the start of bitumen as we joined the Stuart Highway towards the Northern Territory. We threw all our fruits away at Marla as we were now approaching the South Australia / Northern Territory border and we were not allowed to bring fruits across the border.
We stopped for the night just 100km short of Yulara near Curtin Springs. It was again bush camping in the middle of nowhere. We built a campfire that night to keep away the mossies. Dinner was lamb & roast veges cooked in the camfire. Delicious.
Day 6 – 10: Ayers Rock/Uluru – Kings Canyon – Glen Helen Gorge - McDonnell Ranges – Alice Springs To be continued here
Trail known as: Roadtrip to Outback - Part 1
