Blogs from William Creek, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

The dirt road from Arkaroola to Copley, a distance of 130km, was in very good condition. It took us through some scenic countryside with larger and greener river valleys which had resulted in the road in those areas to have been graded and mended due to the recent flooding. We were pleasantly surprised to travel on bitumen from Copley to Marree as we thought that from Farina it would be dirt. At Copley we replenished our water tank with 120 litres. We also have 4 x 20L jerries. The famous bakery at Farina was a ‘must stop’. We did, as did every other traveller on the road. We explored the ruins as Farina, established in 1878, had been a large settlement. At Marree, the junction for the Oodnadatta and Birdsville Tracks, we refueled, and headed off ... read more

We headed out of the Finders Ranges NP, along a fantastic track which was along a mostly dry creek bed and onto the sealed road up past Leigh Creek, Lyndhurst and Maree. We stopped in at Leigh Creek, but it was completely deserted. This was a mining town which was re-located about 30 years ago so it is pristine but we couldn’t see any people. It was a Sunday so I guess everyone was at Mass. At Lyndhurst we stopped for coffee and a macadamia and white chocolate cookie.The guy behind the counter was obviously in need of company and he sat down with us. The mobile coverage was so marginal I couldn’t write the blog anyway. We had a good chat about the various ins and outs of Lyndhurst and after about 30 seconds we ... read more

The Best Monday Morning ever Oodnadatta Track With Van Morrison on the iPod we are whistling our way up the Oodnadatta track, a Monday morning like this is the best Monday morning ever. The sun is shining, the temperature is currently about 16 degrees and the traffic is light, no sign of gridlock anywhere, we have seen about 4 vehicles! We were on our toes this morning a quick breakfast not much to pack away and we were driving out of Muloorina Station by 8.45, we left our camping fees in the honesty box, made a donation to the RFDS and we even spotted a dingo on the way out of the station. There is a dog fence that comes around the edge of this property and we pondered which side of the fence wild dogs/dingos ... read more

We had a walk around the ruins of Farina before heading north to Marree. The mice plague is alive and well in Marree and we were reluctant to do any shopping here. The Lake Ayre Yatch Club were a great source of tourist information before heading off onto the Oodnadatta Track. Our first stop was to let the tyres down to avoid tyre damage and then onto Lake Ayre South - amazing to see so much water in the middle of nowhere ! The only bird life here were seagulls ! From Lake Ayre we made our way to the mound springs - The Bubbler was just as the name suggests with water bubbling out of the ground - apparently its warm but we weren't allowed swim ! On to William Creek Hotel - another business ... read more

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 ... read more