29 March 2000

Didn't have a bad nights sleep - with the long-legged, green, phosphorescent beetles that we shared with. And the long-legged black ones. And thankfully Lorraine spent the night in her bed (we had two single ones) instead of on the floor. Which was nice for all concerned.

Had a good look round Marree this morning. Not a bit like I thought it would be. In view of its history I thought there would be a long, wide, dusty main street with a number of lovely old-fashioned pubs and surrounded by a large complex of cattle yards and old railway sidings. Not a bit of it. The pub where we stayed, the Oasis cafe, a roadhouse, a (very) few houses, a caravan park, the old railway station, the Police Station, a public park, one of the old Ghan diesel electric locomotives (vandalized, graffiti'd and for sale) and that's it. What a pity, in view of its very colourful history.

About a kilometre out of Marree is the start of the Birdsville Track (very tempting). It's called the Birdsville Track because it runs 516 kms from Marree up to Birdsville in far south western Queensland. Luckily for Lorraine (perhaps) the track between Mungerannie and Birdsville was closed, so that ruled that out. So we instead completed the Oodnadatta Track from Maree through to Lyndhurst, where we rejoined the bitumen, and continued on down through Copley to Leigh Creek and then on to Hawker (which we also saw on our first tour of the Flinders Ranges).

The weather was cool, slightly breezy and sunny (the strong, blustery winds of the previous night had abated), and there were some interesting sites to visit on the way. Not the least of these were the Farina ruins. The place was originally called Government Gums and used to be a bustling town of some three hundred souls. The name was changed from "Government Gums" to "Farina" (a Latin word meaning "flour") when it was decided it would be an excellent area in which to grow wheat. Unfortunately the poor soil and the climatic conditions defeated this scheme and the area was abandoned. The ruins of many of the public buildings are still there, and are now on the cattle station of the same name. Two kilometres away is a cemetery holding the remains of a number of the place's original inhabitants (and also some newer ones - the cemetery was last used in the 1960's). There are a considerable number of unmarked graves (presumably those of Chinese labourers and Afghan cameleers). You have never seen a more desolate place. It is situated on its own in the middle of nowhere, no shade or shelter of any kind, surrounded by plains of rocks stretching away to the distant ranges. These rocks seem to cover the whole area, and although I am not a farmer I am still hard-pressed to see how anything requiring care and nurturing could ever grow there.

The track from Marree to Lyndhurst, although dirt, is very good, and you can travel on it as quickly as you can on the bitumen.

Where the Oodnadatta Track ends at Lyndhurst, the Strzelecki track starts. It is called the Strzelecki track not because it runs from Lyndhurst to Strzelecki, but because it is named after the explorer of that name and runs from Lyndhurst to Innamincka in north western SA. It is supposed to be a really tough one to travel. Maybe next time.

After we got back on the bitumen and approached Copley, we began to see these enormous mounds of coal. There is a huge open cut coal mine at Leigh Creek and the coal is piled in large, long hills from Copley all the way to Leigh Creek - a distance of 5 kms. Doesn't sound far, but that's a lot of coal.

Travelled uneventfully from Leigh Creek through Parachilna and on to Hawker, where we refuelled and said goodbye to the old Ghan railway line. Then on down to Quorn (pronounced Corn, remember?) - home of the Pichi Richi railway - and across the South Flinders Ranges to Stirling North, just out of Port Augusta (where we stayed last week). It was nice to have some driving to do through the ranges, and the mountains themselves and the scenes of cultivated fields of green and gold certainly contrasted with what we had been used to of late.

We continued from Stirling North down the Prince's Highway past Port Germain and Port Pirie, through Snowtown, Port Wakefield, Two Wells (where we refuelled again), then across to Gawler, where we stayed the night.

Gawler appears to be quite a large city, some 44 kms from Adelaide (where we are not going), but oddly enough has only one motel (where we are staying the night). It is run by Indians, and they are bloody tight.

Will have a look round tomorrow before we move on. Undecided at this stage whether to head straight down to the coast or to go up to the Barossa Valley and then across and down.