Australian Walkabout

Lake Eyre

After what seems like a lifetime, we finally arrived at William Creek. It’s small. It’s remote. It’s dry and dusty. It’s wonderful!

We drove into town past the airstrip, the Wrightsair Scenic Tours Office, and the pub/hotel/fuel station all on one side of town. On the opposite side was the caravan park, and that my friends, was that. The second we drove into town we both said, “I love this place!” I don’t know what it was, but it just had a really good vibe. Some small towns have it, some don’t, but William Creek (at least for us) has it in spades. During the cooler months, when people travel through to the centre, it can be quite busy. When there’s water in Lake Eyre, William Creek becomes a hive of activity, otherwise it has a permanent population of twelve.

As you can imagine there are not a lot of activities in or around town. Except one. And that was the one we had come for. A flight over Lake Eyre. We were finally going to see it from the best possible vantage point; above.

We chartered an airplane specifically for photography. Did that mean it had fancy gear, and super clear windows? Nope. In fact, there was nothing fancy about it at all. It was simply a small six seat passenger plane with one seat and one rear door removed.

How thrilling is that? I was hoping for some good photos, but even if I didn’t get any, I figured the flight itself would be amazing. And it was. I have never seen landscapes like this before, and having that door off, being able to say to the pilot, “bank left over that inlet please” then being able to shoot straight down at the ground…Wow. The whole experience was exhilarating.

Our pilot, Tony, was excellent. We spoke to him the day before the flight, told him what we wanted then relied on his knowledge of the area. After agreeing to a 0630 take off the following day, we went home feeling very excited.

I’ve never done aerial photography before, and it does come with challenges. It gets cold up there, and there is a lot of vibration, both of which impact the clarity of your photographs. Choosing the right lens, then selecting the correct settings to allow you to shoot while travelling at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour…all trial and error. Still, I’m happy with the shots I took, and they will give you a sense of the beauty of Lake Eyre and its surrounds, both wet and dry.

Tony suggested we fly past the Davenport Ranges (west of Lake Eyre) as sunrise was the best time to view them. He was right. The subdued shades of ochre and sand came to life as the sun touched the ranges which seemed stretch on to the horizon.

After the ranges, we just meandered our way across to the eastern side of the lake, often circling back to get a shot from a different angle, or to dive bomb a group of pelicans, (just kidding) because of our circuitous route and doubling back I lost track of our actual location. These were taken over the Neales River area, one of the three main flows that feed into Lake Eyre.

Although there are often many huge flocks of pelicans around Lake Eyre after rains and floods, there had not been many pelicans seen in recent weeks, so we were all thrilled when we saw a couple of groups of pelicans, and a large number of cormorants below us.

These next photos are without doubt my favourites. We passed two areas where these Mound Springs were evident, I could have spent the whole flight looking at them. They are formed on the surface of the lakebed as subterranean water forces its way up under pressure from the artesian basin. As it breaks through the surface, it brings with it a variety of minerals, mud and other debris. When this dries it creates a crust, and over time it can form into a mound. The overall result is visually stunning, naturally formed, intricate, unique shapes. They truly are works of art.

These next photos are just pretty. They were taken over some of the smaller tributaries and other interesting land formations. I find them pleasing to look at, but then, I am rather partial to abstract.

This last section of images proves that there is indeed water in Lake Eyre (north). Apparently, it is very difficult to accurately measure the water level in the lake. It covers and immense area, an estimated 9,500 square kilometres. It is the largest lake in Australia, but it is incredibly shallow, and according to Tony, it can move. That’s right, the water is so shallow that depending on the wind it can move across the flat lakebed and end up in an different location. You can see in some of these images just how shallow the water is.

I know I’ve been prattling on a bit, but this was an experience much worthy of prattle. We were in the air for just over two and a half hours and we both thoroughly enjoyed every second. The lake is majestic, even when not full. The landscape is breathtaking, almost ethereal with its delicate patterns and striking colours, and with tributary fingers that stretch across the surface feeding water into the salty lake. The salt deposits give an ironic feeling of snow and ice, so out of place in the centre of Australia; quite surreal. The splashes of green from the vegetation and the occasional yellow burst from the blossoming wattle trees add a touch of colour on this ecological canvas.

Only mother nature can come up with artwork like this, and I highly recommend a flight, any flight, over it, you won’t see anything like this in an art gallery. Wrightsair were great to work with, they really know the area and we haven’t spoken to anyone who has regretted taking a flight with them.

I’ve been searching for a topic for my 2023 calendar…I think that search is over. 😊

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!

It’s a relatively short drive from Muloorina to William Creek, 250 kilometres, and truth be known most people do it in one day. But why hurry? We spent the first night at Curdimurka siding a ruin at the site of an Old Ghan railway siding. Its glory days may be gone, but it still has its uses. Providing a lovely backdrop to campers such as us and offering shelter from the extremes for quite a few birds.    

You may well be asking, “What’s a siding?” I know I was, until we started to follow the Old Ghan rail track (a twelve-hundred kilometre stretch of narrow gauge railway which runs from Port Augusta to Alice Springs). Simply put, a siding is a section of track, off to one side of the main track, which is used for one train to wait o, while another passes by. Because the Old Ghan is a single-track line this was necessary to allow for two-way traffic. There will be at least one building near each siding, a square water tank to service the old steam engines. There are also usually fettlers cottages for the rail workers.  

Now all that is left of the Old Ghan are a few sections of line, quite a lot of the old bridges and some of the buildings near the sidings.

The following day we camped at Beresford siding. This must be one of the best maintained buildings that we have seen, and as an added bonus, it had a nice big dam within easy walking distance.

I know it seems as though we take a ridiculous amount of time to travel from one destination to the next and I’m sure you must think we travel at, like 50 kilometres an hour, but that’s not the case. We take a lot of time to explore sites along the road, like Coward Springs, but the main reasons are:

1. We have no need to hurry
2. I keep saying, “Oh, can you stop the car? I want a photo of that.”
3. Peter keeps saying, “Look! There’s a hill I want to climb it.”
4. Hugo keeps saying, “I need to pee.”

So, we take our time, take lots of photos, climb lots of hills, take more photos and have frequent pee stops.

Next stop William Creek and Lake Eyre…I promise!

Now this is an oasis

Sticking to our plan (I know…shock and amazement 😊) we left Marree and drove back to the Muloorina campground. I think it’s safe to say that this has to be one of our favourite campsites.

Muloorina is a property that covers four thousand square kilometres. It runs cattle and sheep, but more importantly, the owners have very kindly set aside a large area for campers. The camp ground is well treed, offering shade to those who need it, but it also has ample open areas for those who need the sun to power solar panels. There is a natural (capped) artesian bore that feeds into numerous water holes around the area and provides a natural hot/warm bath for all to enjoy. Even Hugo had a quick dip.

And of course, where there are trees and water, there will be birds, and what are my favourite birds? You got it, Budgies.

There were of course, some water Birds

Some little Birds

A brief break from birds.

We had planned on staying at Muloorina for two or three nights. Then it turned to four or five. We met a lovely couple camped next door to us, and we had a lovely evening with them and their dogs. We sat around the fire for an hour or so, then the wind picked up and we all got sandblasted, so we moved inside. Needless to say our guests of honour got the best seats in the house.

In the end, we decided to stay at Muloorina until after Peter’s birthday (when he finally got to open the mystery package he’d been carrying around in the back of the car for a couple of weeks). After all, what better place to celebrate a 70th.

And back to the birds. Bigger birds this time.

A very pretty bird and a couple I couldn’t identify.

I’m don’t know if it’s because of the hot bore water, but it was considerably warmer here than it has been elsewhere. Perhaps this is why we had quite a few snakes in and around the camp. We saw 3 browns go through camp, another looking for a feed in a tree, yet another brown going for a swim (a first for me) and a snake I have never even heard of let alone seen before. A Strap-Snouted Brown snake.

So G.R. be warned, this next section contains images of snakes.

So as the sun goes down on our stay at Muloorina we will continue our journey to William Creek and Lake Eyre (north). See you there.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!

We Finally Made It!

When we left Port Broughton, we found ourselves on roads we had previously travelled. Once more driving the Outback Hwy north from Port Augusta with the great Flinders Ranges on either side of us. We stopped that night well off the main road, with an old ruin to the East and the Old Ghan railroad to the West. It rained all around us, which made for some pretty impressive skies. This led to an impressive sunset and an even more impressive full moon rising. The colour of the ranges as the moon rose is accurate due to the sun still setting on the western horizon.

The following day we did a quick detour to Aroona Dam. This countryside never ceases to amaze. After yet another bumpy dirt road, we pulled into the parking area to see this.

From there it was an easy drive to Marree, our kick off point for visiting Lake Eyre (or Kati Thanda, the Aboriginal name). We had no expectations of Marree, which was good; that way we weren’t disappointed. Suffice to say, Marree is not a holiday destination in itself. It is however, an excellent, and necessary, southern base camp if you want to explore Lake Eyre, or if you’re travelling the Oodnadatta, Strzelecki, or Birdsville tracks. Without Marree (and William Creek further north-west) there would be no fuel, no supplies and possibly no way to travel these distances through the interior.

We drove past the first caravan park, Drovers Run, Peter thought it looked a bit sketchy and I for one was not going to argue. That left us with the Oasis Caravan Park. But believe me, an Oasis it was not. We were there for three nights, longer than we would have liked, but this did allow us to put our little washing machine to good use, and to plan our next trip.

This is as remote a town as we have visited to date. Marree has a population of around 150, it is dry, dusty and its’ water source is bore water. The bore water is drinkable but is definitely an acquired taste. You can however, buy desalinated, treated water there which is perfectly drinkable. Except for The Roadhouse, which is busy most of the time, Marree is a very sleepy little town.

On our second day in Marree, we took a road trip to the lake. We had left Chunky Bum back at the Oasis, so we could let Big Ears stretch his wheels and really enjoy the dirt/sand roads. I think it’s safe to say that Peter also enjoyed the drive without having to worry about the caravan bumping along behind us.

We stopped at the campground at Muloorina Station and had a look around, I let out a little squeal of delight when I saw my favourite birds, and I heard Peter mumble, “I guess Lake Eyre will have to wait a bit longer.” He was right. 🙂

Oh, and I should warn you, this next section is adults only.

Once Peter could drag me away from my birds we continued on our day trip to the north-eastern part of Lake Eyre (south,) then followed Goyder channel that connects the north and south lakes. This brought us to Madigan Gulf at the south-east end of Lake Eyre (north). So our little outing had us visit both north and south lakes and the channel between. Even so, this is really just a tiny sampling of the Lake Eyre system. This is no small lake, it’s actually the largest lake in Australia. The south lake is 65 by 24 kilometres, and the north is 144 by 65 kilometres.

The Lake Eyre catchment is huge, it covers a truly vast area of flat land. The Warburton River feeds the lake from the Diamantina River, Georgina River and Cooper Creek. Lake Eyre actually takes in water from as far north as Camooweal (west of Mt Isa)!  Check that out on a map of Australia and you’ll see that it’s truly amazing.

For those of you who don’t know; for most of the year, indeed for years at a time, Lake Eyre is nothing more than a dry salt bed. It is rarely full to capacity, only a few times every 100 years, in fact the last time it was full was in 1974. Without continuous rain, it will be completely dry again in about two years. Even though it is far from full, there is a good amount of water in the lake now, that’s why we’ve been so eager to get here to see it.

This link, https://www.lakepedia.com/lake/eyre.html will provide you with a range of stats relating to lake Eyre, if you’re interested.

Our first glimpse of Lake Eyre (south) confirmed that it was already drying up, but it was still a sight to behold. The salty earth was still very damp under foot. The lake stretched as far as we could see, the horizon shimmering with distant mirages promising a hint of water, and the dunes surrounding the lake were awash with wildflowers; beautiful. Once more, the photos do not do this area justice.

From there, we continued to the most southern point of Lake Eyre (north).  I have to say, we were both a bit awestruck at what we saw when we climbed to the top of the little sand dune, and we could only see a small percentage of the lake. We could have been standing on a vast stretch of coastline, wondering who had stolen the sea.

After a bit of exploring and fun in the sun, we settled down to lunch. I had been baking a couple of potatoes in our little oven in the back of Big Ears, so all I had to do was re-heat the chilli concarne I had made the day before and lunch was ready. While I did that, Peter found us a lovely spot to eat. As soon as I had taken the potatoes from the oven, I put our desert in there. Chock chip cookie dough, home-made of course. I know, we really do it tough. 😊

We had a truly wonderful day. Each turn in the road showed us the area from a different perspective, and Lake Eyre (north) was simply mind blowing and has only fuelled our enthusiasm to see more of it, as you could see from the map below, we have only seen the tip of the lake-berg.

We found ourselves driving home at sunset, and as we talked about the day, we decided that Muloorina would be our next destination. Lake Eyre (north) would have to wait for just a few more days.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!

We made it back to Port Augusta in time for our car service, but we actually stayed 25 kilometres southeast of Port Augusta at the Spear Creek caravan park. This is situated within a 21,000 acre working sheep farm in Woolundunga and is a lovely spot to stay. Unfortunately, there were severe wind warnings while we were there and that made it hard to explore the area fully. It was so windy that it blew my beany right off my head! Worse than that, poor Chunky bum was a rockin’ and a rollin’, and we woke up one morning to fallen branches and the wheel chocks scattered around the camp. That’s right folks, the wind had literally blown the wheel chocks out from under the wheels. I’m not bush walking in wind like that!

Alas, we still couldn’t leave the area as I was waiting for some mail to come to Port Augusta, so we decided to explore a little to the south, Yorke Peninsular to be exact. We drove to Port Germein for a bit of a look-see. This is a small village on the Spencer Gulf, which used to be a major wheat shipping port and has one of the longest wooden jetties in SA; one of the longest in the southern hemisphere. Of course, we had to walk its length.

But not before a yummy bacon and egg roll and a surprisingly good coffee at the local café, well…everyone needs a good solid breakfast.

After that we drove through to Port Pirie and stopped overnight at Clements Gap. Now the distance and estimated travel time from Spear Creek to Clements Gap is 123 kilometres, 1 hr 28 minutes. We left Spear Creek at 09:30 and made camp at Clements Gap at 15:10 – That’s 5 hours 40 minutes. So, why’d it take so long? Because… Peter likes laneways, small country roads, and going places he probably shouldn’t. We do circuits of little towns until we’ve seen all there is to see, and yes, on occasion, we get lost. But above all, we enjoy every single minute of it.

The next day we explored Fishermans Bay, a tiny town made up of fishing shacks, then drove to Port Broughton. This was an embarrassingly short drive even by our standards, but Port Broughton was such a pretty spot we just had to stay there. One night turned into two, then three, then the mail arrived, and we had no more excuses to stay longer.

We used Port Broughton as a bit of a base camp and travelled a bit further south. Pretty much all of the peninsular is agricultural, which means there must be a way to process and transport the produce. It seems like Wallaroo is one place this is done.

The crops are mainly wheat with some canola. Seas of green on green, it’s a shame the canola wasn’t in bloom, that vibrant yellow amongst the green would have been something to see, all with the Spencer Gulf as a backdrop.

The coastline is rugged in places, most of the beaches are shelly, and not bare-foot walkable, though some are white sandy beaches, perfect for wriggling toes, and they are all oh so pretty. The beaches, not the toes. 😊

Had Lake Eyre not been calling, we would have been quite happy to spend a week or two here and fully explore the Yorke Peninsular. East, west and all the way up the middle. We will be back here to spend more time in the south of SA, until then we are heading north. Lake Eyre here we come!

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!

Brachina Gorge

We left Wilpena Pound and started our way back towards Port Augusta (we had the Ranger booked in for a service). We only drove for about ten minutes when we had to stop and climb a hill. The landscape surrounding the Pound is as different as it is beautiful.

It didn’t take Peter long to find more dirt road (a mere three days after he had just washed Chunky Bum and Big Ears) after a gruelling forty-nine minute drive, 😊 we decided to call it a day and made our home for the night in the Brachina-East Gorge campsite. Once again the landscape had changed from rolling hills with jagged peaks in the distance to steep ravines and gorges.

There’s really not much to say about this except, the scenery just keeps getting better!

We camped that night at the Brachina East camp ground, and the scenery is simply stunning. The photos just can’t do it justice, it really is a ‘you have to see it for yourself’ kind of place.

A few days ago, I posted photos of some wallaroos. We had never seen them before and that made the sighting exciting. Driving through Brachina Gorge we were lucky enough to see a Yellow-footed rock wallaby. Again, neither of us had ever seen one of these, and with good reason. With population numbers around 2000, these pretty little creatures are considered to be vulnerable in SA. In NSW their numbers are between 20 and 250 and are listed as an endangered species. QLD has the same classification, but the population of the Yellow-footed rock wallaby are unknown.

You have to admit they are gorgeous. The unique markings, pretty face (complete with eye shadow) and that tail; now that is one impressive tail. The good news is that their numbers are on the rise. Great steps are being taken by conservationists to protect and preserve their habitat, their food and to eradicate predators (feral cats and foxes). Let’s hope that in the years to come, these wonderful creatures can bounce back in numbers and once more reclaim their territory.

Oh, and the little lady we saw had a tiny Joey in her pouch, 😊 I think she’s going to be a good mum.

If you’d like more information, you can check this link. https://www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/yellow-footed-rock-wallaby/

As we drove out of the gorge Peter and I were having a debate. We couldn’t decide if we were driving along a road or a river bed. Turns out it was both.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!