Blogs from Outback, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

Well to say we are having a ball is an understatement, we are enjoying the outback so much and the people you meet along the way make it even more of an adventure. We headed off from Coward Springs 10ish on Tuesday and drove the 275klm to Oodnadatta, all gravel, roads not great, lots of corrugation but we did make it! Only a couple of mishaps before we left Coward Springs had a very slow leaking puncture so John plugged that its going OK. Then when we stopped for lunch enroute to Oodnadatta found the contents of my freezer on the floor, thought the lock was good but obviously not, rattled open but don't think that will happen again, John had some extra strong tarzan velcro, well thats well and truly all over the fridge and ... read more

Onto Coober Pedy from Oodnadatta but not before we detoured from the Kempe Road to the Painted Desert, 150km north of Coober Pedy. I love physical geography so visiting this area today did fill me with joy and wonderment. Painted Desert is a superb example of the forces of nature weathering and eroding the desert landscape. PD is also known as the Arckaringa Hills. This was such an experience for us. It is spellbindingly beautiful. The rocky outcrops and small hills emerge suddenly out of the flat desert landscape and are made up of varied colours with orange, yellow and reddish brown and white dominating. Erosion has been at work on the landscape for millions of years. Weathering has resulted in the ground being soft and fragile. We spent considerable time walking the landscape. The track ... read more

Saturday 19 November 2016 Next was onto Oodnadatta which is situated around 200km from the Stuart Highway along the Oodnadatta Track and only 85km from Arckaringa. The track is unsealed, but the road to Oodnadatta was excellent. The town itself was small enough to walk around and used to be a railway centre. The old Ghan railway station is largely preserved and is a museum. It was interesting to walk from room to room in the old station, learning about the history of the region and the consequences of the railway line moving away from the town. Oodnadatta has survived, despite the Ghan being relocated westward, with a population of around 200 and probably because it is on a main tourist route with not much between it and the next place. There are some famous landmarks ... read more

We have quickly been pegged as newbies with our shiny new caravan. We were even asked if we picked it up this morning!... read more

Finally got on the road again after the wild winds and pelting rain although we got thoroughly soaked hitching up! We have decided that we will prop any time the weather opposes us. Both wind and rain can make things a little uncomfortable but wind is worse. Time is not our enemy luckily. What a surprise Nullarbor was to us. We expected barren desert and not much else. Well, surprisingly, we found an undulating green landscape , access to beautiful shorelines and lots of green grass. In Fraser Range we were told that there had more than two inches of rain in the last month! Do yourself a favour if you haven’t been across and make the trip at some stage in your life. Ceduna No photos for Ceduna! For us, we needed to see it ... read more