William Creek and Lake Eyre

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Tuesday 12th April 2011
This was our first foray into 4WDriving on our own, 168klms from Coober Pedy to William Creek (and back again) - the gravel road was quite good considering that the road had been closed only a couple of weeks ago because of the rain (we were told that it had been graded since then). There was one detour which was quite sandy and some nasty turns but we handled it quite OK. We left the caravan back at Coober Pedy as it is not suitable for off roading and we are glad we did as it would have been very dusty and might not have faired well over the gravel.
Travelled about 30klms down the Oodnadatta Track where we did our first water crossing with the old Ghan railway in the background .
We stayed overnight in the bunkhouse at the campground (a donga) with a double bed in a very small room and an air con - that is all that would have fitted in the room, but the room was clean and the bed was comfortable ($80pn).
In the afternoon after arriving we booked a flight over Lake Eyre ($250 each for an hour). The plane was only a four seater so there was just the pilot and us two. The flight over the lake was just amazing - a little disapointed we did not see much wild life - perhaps you need to be on the ground to see that. The expanse of the water was huge and it was about 80% full.
William Creek Hotel and campground is on Anna station - the largest station in the world, owned by Sydney Kidman's Company (Sydney Kidkman was famous for owning many large stations and for droving cattle from SA to Darwin).
We had a meal at William Creek Pub - met a couple at the bar before we went in for the meal and had our meal with them, lovely people (Frankl and Christy). John had the best porthouse steak (we presume the meat might have come from Anna Station, which is reputed to have some of the best cattle for eating, most of it being sold to the Japanese market.
We also had breakfast at the Pub - it was huge - did not need to eat lunch until late in the afternoon after arriving back at Coober Pedy.

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