Blogs from South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 6

DAY 16 WILLIAM CREEK-OODNADATTA Oh, how many times we have stood together, just us, in the outback, and still been amazed at the awesome vastness of our great land. One cannot but love it. Heading to Oodnadatta we stopped numerous times to either check out ruins, creeks, bridges, stockyards, the road and animals. The old railway bridge, Algebuckina, stood out as it straddled the Neales River, 58km from Oodnadatta. The OT follows the Old Ghan railway line and Overland Telegraph Line, hence the ruins along the way. Numerous dips, crests twists and turns and much varied road surface make up the Track.... read more

Arkaroola features many unique geological monuments, rugged mountains, towering granite peaks, magnificent gorges, and mysterious waterholes, and as I write this, very sore in many parts of my body, I am well pleased in the fact that Jane and I conquered one of the towering granite peaks (347m), by slogging it up and then down one of those rugged mountains to reach the summit of Acacia Ridge. The track was narrow, extremely rocky and unstable, particularly on the descent. However, the breathtaking vista from the summit of Arkaroola country in the northern Flinders Ranges, was very much worth the effort. In the morning we drove to Bolla Bollana along one of the roughest tracks I have ever negotiated. Again, it was well worth the patience as at the base of the mighty face of the cliff, ... read more

We took four days to drive home.. We headed off from Longreach on Wednesday, leaving about 8 am It was a sunny day, but crisp and we had no problems driving along. We started to listen to an audio version of Dracula which Sam had lent us. Fletcher had never read it and it was at least 25 years since I had. We only stopped to change drivers, get petrol and have some lunch at Tambo, where we found Fanny Mae's cafe and enjoyed a pie each and a large cup of good coffee. . We drove into Cunnamulla about 3-30 and easily found the Billabong Hotel Motel where we had booked for the night. It took a while, though, to find Reception and a friendly lady took me in the "back"way. After we had booked ... read more

Day 10 EXPLORING THE FLINDERS RANGES Today we explored the Flinders Ranges by first finding the Bunyeroo Valley Drive along the Geological Trail. The track is windy and very undulating with numerous sharp dip creek courses and now is in-between well graded and rough. There are many bush-style campsites. We stopped at numerous places … Yanyanna Horse Yards and hut (both now unused), Razorback Lookout, giving views over the Ikara-Flinders Ranges NP, Bunyeroo Gorge through to the Brachina Gap into the Brachina Gorge which creates a striking appearance with its crumbling walls of shale, limestone and quartzite. There are scattered lone graves and ruins of shepherds huts, a reflection of hard times endured, north through the Aroona Valley to the Aroona Homestead and hut with magnificent scenery enjoyed. I remember seeing documentaries of the great artist, ... read more

I exited the Xtrk at 6.45am on a very, very cold clear sky morning. I hadn’t walked 2m before 6 kookaburras sitting together 5m on a tree branch about 30m from me began their laugh, and laugh they did, waking anyone who was still asleep at that stage, for a full 2 minutes non-stop. It was sensational. I had heard kookaburras laugh before but not that many all at once for 2 minutes. Those brave enough to test the outside cold stumbled from their warm interiors to check out nature at its best … again. We conversed with a few fellow travellers and visited the inside of their caravans as we discussed the type of van. Jane is nearing the end with canvas! I quite fancy the eco-tourer outback type. Will do some research. We completed ... read more