Dalhousie Springs

The ground was still firm underfoot, if a bit damp when we arrived. The rain was steady through the night and it continued on for two more days, until the ground turned into a veritable quagmire of sticky goo. There was no way we were going to risk towing the van in those conditions and we weren’t going anywhere. Just like that our overnight stop had quickly turned into a five night stay.

It seems that Dalhousie Springs isn’t actually a destination in itself, it’s a jump off-point for those adventurers crossing the Simpson Desert to Birdsville, (and vice versa) some 430 Km to the east. Dalhousie Springs provides a great meeting place and a good warm bath for weary traveller’s. We watched over fifty serious 4X4 vehicles come and go, plastered in layers of muck and nursing a multitude of mechanical issues while we waited for the ground to dry.

Dalhousie Springs is in the Witjira National Park. The springs are made up of over 60 natural artesian springs. We, as in all travellers, are only allowed access to the main spring. The good news is that the main “spring” is bigger than two Olympic swimming pools, and at a temperature of 37 degrees…ahh, pure bliss! So, you can guess where we spent a lot of our time.

It wasn’t a bad place to be stuck, there were a couple of walks around the area but not much else to do. We ran out of Netflix downloads on the third day (that was hard to cope with) and had to revert to old school entertainment; cards, scrabble, and…well, that’s all we can talk about.

We saw signs around the park saying there were dingos in the area. I was also pleased to see that they are protected here, well, at least they are not actively baited/poisoned. I don’t want to get on my soap box but I think Australians should be ashamed at how we treat dingos. Yes they take livestock, but so do vehicles. Road kill is a constant on our travels, including cattle and sheep. Yes dingos also take smaller native animals, but no where near as many as feral cats and foxes. More importantly, they are native to Australia and as such play a vital ecological role. I particularly feel for those dingos on Fraser Island. I’ve seen a few there and they look emaciated. With so little food is it any wonder they approach campsites trying to scavenge food to feed themselves and their young?

Anyway, on a more positive note…we saw one at Dalhousie Springs. How cool is that?

Because we had no mobile coverage at all, we were talking to other travellers in order to find out what the weather was doing. We had to wait until the roads dried fully, but we were told that there was a lot more rain heading our way, and we didn’t want to wait too long and get stuck for longer. Luckily we were able to get in touch with family members (there is a payphone there) and they kept us updated on the weather and road closures (many thanks for that). Until then, we relaxed, swam and Peter adjusted the tyre pressures, lowering them even further than he had before, hoping for a smoother drive.

Two days after we left, it began to rain again. For once it seems our timing was good. 🙂

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!