28 March 2000
Had a nice dinner at the Marla roadhouse last night: roast lamb and veg. Good to see aboriginal contractors being allowed to enjoy a few beers there after work and have dinner with their wives and families in the dining room with everyone else. All chattering away in their own language. Was interested to observe one old chap with his long, grey hair and stubble. He was dressed in a grey T-shirt and had on a pair of long, black shorts with bright yellow and purple stripes down the sides. His long, skinny legs were stuck into a pair of work boots without any socks. Despite his unusual attire he had enormous presence and dignity. He was apparently a man of some standing in his community as every aborigine who came in went and shook his hand and spoke briefly with him before passing on. Also amused by a young aboriginal boy about four years old. Completely and unselfconsciously naked running around and playing.
When we left dining room after dinner Lorraine got a fright when she looked down and saw a blue cattle dog right at her feet. He was just lying there watching her in this way cattle dogs have. He wasn't aggressive towards her or anything, just watching her intently. Then she realized there were another three dogs all within about a five metre circle of her, all just lying there and watching. Not a sound or movement from any of them. And not taking any notice of each other, either. All just lying there in their own little space and keeping a watching brief. Very composed. Very self-assured. Very well trained. We assume they belonged to some of the guys in the bar, and were waiting there patiently for their masters. When we got back to our motel room there was another one, two doors up and tethered by a long rope to his master's truck. The rope was long enough to allow him to wander down to our unit and check us out. He just came down quietly and sniffed us all over and then sniffed Lorraine's handbag. Apparently satisfied, he allowed himself to be patted and then curled up in front of our motel door and went to sleep. I think he was after some company.
Settled down for a good nights sleep. And then Lorraine fell out of bed. I don't know how, and neither does she. It was around 3:00 in the morning and I was fast asleep when I heard this yelp. I looked across to Lorraine, but she wasn't there. Then I saw her head slowly appear up over the side of the bed. Fortunately she wasn't badly hurt; a bump on the head where she hit the bedside table on the way down, a sore shoulder and a carpet graze to her elbow. And a deal of embarrassment and hurt pride.
'Phoned and got the road reports around 7:00 a.m: all relevant roads open and no warnings current. Then spoke to tourist information centre at Oodnadatta: fuel available at Oodnadatta, William Creek and Marree, all roads passable but rough in places. Lady I spoke to suggested we drive down to Cadney Park Homestead and start from there rather than from Marla as country much more interesting. Took her advice and left Marla around 9:00 a.m. and drove 80 kms south to Cadney Park.
Set off from Cadney Park for Oodnadatta around 10:00 a.m. Track quite variable, from very good in places (70-80-90 kph) to very bad in other places (40-50-60 kph), mainly around creek crossings where roads had been washed away and subsequently rough graded. Also, creek crossings mostly covered in stones - all shapes and sizes, but quite rough to drive over.
Passed Copper Hills Station homestead around 35 kms in, and then about 70 kms in came to a feature known as the Painted Desert. These are a series of barren hills in the most stark and unusual colours (reds, creams and browns). They rise up several hundred metres in from the road, from a landscape which consists almost solely of small to medium sharp brownish stones. The road improved after it joined the one that comes in from Coober Pedy, and you could maintain nearly highway speeds on it.
Arrived Oodnadatta approx 1:00 p.m. and refuelled and had some lunch at the Pink Roadhouse. It is called the Pink Roadhouse because it is painted pink on the outside. Everywhere. While we were there, all the local schoolkids and their teachers trooped in for lunch, too. Had a look round Oodnadatta (not much there - not as big as I thought) then set off about 2:00 p.m. for William Creek, another 200 kms down the track.
The track to William Creek was generally quite good. Again you could maintain highway speeds on it (100-110 kph) for long stretches but you had to watch out for sudden deep dips, bumps, rocks and rough and/or sandy patches at the dry creek crossings; these occur mainly where there are hills or ranges and I guess are formed by water running off these when it rains. You don't see them where the country is flat around. A couple of the crossings still had water in them. The chap from the Pink Roadhouse, Adam, has done a lot of work on the track between Oodnadatta and William Creek signposting and writing short histories of the various features, ruins and points of interest along that part of the track, and these made the trip much more interesting. The original 'Ghan train line parallels the track all the way from Oodnadata to Hawker and there are many ruined, old fettler's cottages along the way. These are all quite interesting, and all have their tale to tell. We stopped and looked at the ones at Algebruckina, North Peake and Duff Creek (not an onion in sight). In fact, Duff Creek siding was a former major cattle loading point for the area, and supported a population of several hundred people. The countryside was very variable, from barren rocky plains to red sandhills with bright yellow wildflowers blooming on them. The weather had improved since the morning, from overcast with a cool wind to blue skies and sunshine with a warm breeze, blowing very strongly at times. Arrived William Creek about 5:30 p.m. and after a cold drink at the pub (that's all that's there, apart from a landing strip and three light planes - which struck us as rather odd) decided to drive the further 200 kms to Marree.
Road, weather and countryside for this leg same as before. Not far out of William Creek saw turn off to Lake Eyre (only 57 kms away, but decided not to take it as it was not on our list of priorities). Then, further along, Lake Eyre South came right up to road anyway. This is only a fraction of the size of Lake Eyre proper, but was still an enormous expanse. And it had plenty of water in it. It is 12 metres below sea level.
Arrived at Marree around 7:30 p.m. after driving the last hour in darkness (not much to see, and not much fun). Place all shut up (except for pub, where we had some dinner and put up for the night).
Only a short stretch of the track now to travel before we rejoin the highway at Lyndhurst and move further back down into SA again.