OODNADATTA TRACK!
- Sparkys on the loose
- May 31, 2018
- 4 min read
[Leigh Creek to Mt Dare]
After our time in the Flinders Ranges, we were itching for some internet so headed to Leigh Creek for the night. A large town with a small population! Lots of infrastructure for a once bustling mining town. We uploaded our flinders wrap up and caught up on a few more videos for our YouTube channel! 📺
Next morning it was time to track north! We aired down near the ochre cliffs. All tyre's dropped to 20psi. We stopped into the Farina ruins for a good walk around. Unfortunately the bakery🥖 was closed! Lots of people have told us they do the best bread in SA. After checking out all the old ruins we continued the journey north to Marree, staying behind the Marree Hotel.
Kurt's parents had done the Oodnadatta track the previous year and told us we had to stop and grab a meal here. Well they weren't wrong - the food was delicious😋. A few beers to help wash dinner down, then a short stumble back to the van. We helped some nomads with 'facetime' advising them, that since there was limited phone signal, they probably wouldn't be able to make a call. Our good deed done for the night. 👍🏼
The next day, armed with a local map we checked out some of the Marree sights the locals had suggested to us, the night before.
We visited the Lake Eyre Yacht Club⛵️, walked around the old train station, checked out the first mosque to be built in Australia and wandered around the local cemetery. Now we don't usually walk around cemeteries but it was interesting to see the segregated sections where the European, aboriginal and Arabs were buried. Satisfied with our sight seeing in Marree, we topped up with diesel⛽️ before officially starting the Oodnadatta Track!
A good few kilometers down the road was the Mutonia sculpture park aka the local art gallery🎨. We all wandered round, stretching the legs and admiring these one off outback pieces. Further down the road was a great lookout to the famous Lake Eyre! We grabbed some happy snaps, had some good chit chats with fellow travelers before continuing on. We popped into Mound Springs and Blanche Cup springs💦 for a quick squizz. Both were cool to see, natural springs bubbling away.
Coward Springs was pinned as our next overnight camp spot. A beautiful (swimmable) spring along the track. Bring ya swimmers & ya fly nets😂! We enjoyed a good afternoon soak in the spring, without anyone else (but a million flies). We strolled back to the campground where we made dinner and watched the sunset over a campfire🔥. In the morning we wandered back to check out the museum and read about the area. It so great to see places like this, preserving the history.
We slowly moseyed across to the town of William Creek where we grabbed a light beer🍺. The pub has so much character inside on the walls. When we were there it looks like they are painting the walls and over the numerous markings on the wall, will be a shame but maybe they have bigger plans! From William Creek we tracked up to Algebuckina Waterhole near the old Ghan bridge. We had stayed here 6 months ago and Kurt had surprisingly caught dozen of yabbies! 🦂This time round the water was noticeably less when we arrived.
After setting up and having some lunch we threw some more pots in, hoping to catch some more yabbies. Unfortunately after having 4 pots in overnight, only one yabby was caught. We were tossing up whether to spend another night, but as soon as we stepped out of the caravan we were under heavy attack🙅🏻🙅🏻♂️ from flies. A quick pack up and off to our final few stops on the track.
Pulling into the Pink Oodnadatta Roadhouse for another top up on diesel. We had visited this roadhouse 6 months back and on our first visit, we had tried a 'Oodna burger'. This time we just grabbed a few roadtrip snacks🍫before full steam up to Mt Dare. [We have an upcoming station gig in the NT and Mt Dare was on our way through].
You should of seen the looks we got when we pulled in with our caravan😂! Mt Dare Hotel is primarily known as food/fuel stop for those crossing the Simpson desert. Every other camper there had swags and tents. We had a great chat to the lovely owners, before having a yummy feed🍽 and few rummies to finish off the night.
Overall the Oodnadatta track is great! You can do it in a day or a few days. It all depends on what you want to see and where you're going🗺. The majority of things to see were from William Creek to Marree, we reckon. Make sure you support the small pubs and tourist attractions by buying a beer or slipping in some coins in the donation tins. We had a great 4 days on the track🚙.
Now its full steam up into the NT to get our hands dirty and top up the budget 😉 Cheers legends 🤙🏼 Amz & Kurt 💃🏻🕺🏻
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