Blogs from South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 11

With our spirits high and confident the road conditions were favourable we set off for the famous Pink Road House in Oodnadatta. Road conditions were pretty good for a while. They never really got bad … but it was abundantly obvious we were driving across Sturts Stony Desert. There were gibber plains to the left and gibber plains to the right. The colours were sometimes, black, sometimes white and sometimes red. It was quite beautiful. We saw the odd small group of cattle standing under a tree at the roadside of course. Out on the plains the gibber stones appear quite small, but in reality, they were much larger, varying in size enormously: from golf ball, to fist, and even the odd football. As the road graders do their bit to improve road conditions taking out ... read more

Next stop was Merna Mora Station. We had camped here many years ago in their campground near the main road. It was pretty primitive. This time we decided to go further in where there was obviously a higher standard of site. Not only was there power, but also water. We were in seventh Heaven! We had thought that after Peterborough we would probably not have a water connection again until we got to Whyalla. Any shower is a good shower but camping showers rate pretty lowly. This was a delightful location. 12 powered sites to connect to, chooks to entertain you, a campfire (with wood supplied) to share with others, happy friendly campers … including some of those lost CoVid refugees hanging around until it is safe to return home interstate or looking for a new ... read more

Entering Farina this trip was so different to last time. Last time it was a buzzing place with people everywhere, The Underground Bakery was operating and the volunteer rebuilding program was in full swing for its annual winter program. It was hard to find a park in the main street and the campground was overflowing. All the premium sites were taken so many like us camped amongst the bushes. This time the Bakery doors were closed and there were no cars in the street. Even the camp ground was pretty much deserted. We only realised this trip just how big and beautiful the campground is. What is usually the volunteer’s campground was open to the public although the 240v power was not available. The grounds are superbly clean and well organised. There are fire rings and ... read more

Next stop, Farina to check out the ruins. We heard about this place just a few days before we left on our trip. The volunteer restoration programme and the Underground Bakery captured our imagination so we opted for a couple of nights here instead of going on to Maree. The volunteer restoration project runs for 10 weeks from May through to July. Anyone can volunteer, skilled or no specific skills. Teams of volunteers work on the designated project for the year. There are teams involved in cleaning, stone masonry, all aspects of the bakery through to garbage and campground fees collection. Many of the volunteers are grey nomads, some returning almost every season. People come from all over Australia to volunteer. Buildings are being restored just to a height where visitors can wander through and imagine ... read more

Today we’ve got a long day of driving to Renmark in the South Australian Riverland, near the Victorian border. As we check out we get chatting to Rob, my pilot from yesterday. He says that today he’ll be flying a group of intrepid expeditioners up to the not so thriving metropolis of Leigh Creek and then on to a picnic on the shores of Lake Eyre. One of the other guests in reception seems to think that Leigh Creek’s major claim to fame is as a landing ground for space junk. I hope Rob gets all his passengers back here safely. I’m not sure you’d feel all that well if a random piece of some Russian rocket smashed into you while you weren’t looking. There seem to be lots of dead kangaroos on the side of ... read more