WEEK 5

CARAVAN TRAVELS AUSTRALIA WITH BOB & MARION CASSIDY

Week 5 - Whyalla SA to Kings Canyon NT:

Sunday 27 March 2011:  As was our usual practice we went to the local church in the morning.  After mass we again drove around for a short time before going to a local take-a-way for lunch. We then returned to the caravan, where we spent a quiet afternoon reading and relaxing out of the wind.  We were actually feeling a bit depressed, what with the weather and the realisation that all our expenses in Adelaide, including equipment replacement, gas fittings and installations, had depleted our budget to the extent we were not confident we could afford to continue our trip to Perth.  We pulled out the maps and made some calculations, before deciding we could still have a holiday by travelling north up the Stuart Highway to Woomera, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. We could also fulfil an ambition to go and see Kings Canyon, which we had bypassed when we last visited Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the Northern Territory some years ago. Having made this decision, we notified all those expecting to see us on our return trip and promised to travel down south to see them again next year.   At least we can look forward to that trip, when we will also complete our intentions of exploringing the southern states on the east coast of Australia. Think positive, that's our motto!  It was time to "burn our bridges" and move on.

Monday 28 March 2011:

07.28am.  Departing Whyalla was uneventful; however I had concerns that the vehicle would be covered in salt from the strong winds blowing in off the ocean during our stay on the foreshore.  I informed Marion, who was very dubious, that I intended putting the car and caravan through a car wash when we got to Port Augusta.  We arrived there at 08.30am and found a large car wash on the eastern side of town. The attendant was a bit surprised to see a Toyota Landcruiser towing a caravan, pull into one of the bays and stayed with us to make sure we were going to fit into the washing bay.  He gave us advice on how to use the washing equipment and hovered in the background whilst I did the job. When it was time to go I had a very tight turning space on then exit side of the washing bay, and just made it around burshing the wall lightly with the very end corner of the caravan's rear bumper bar. No damage eventuated to the wall or the bumper bar, and after thanking the attendant for his assistance we continued on our way with a clean rig. My worries about salt were over and Marion was much relieved.  We drove back through town and turned right onto the Stuart Highway towards our intended destination, the old rocket range town of Woomera.  At 11.00am we stopped to photograph a salt lake named Island Lagoon which was almost full of water. This is a very rare occurrence in this desert country and we were reminded that last time we had passed this way the lake had been a dry white bed of salt.

Island Lagoon Salt Lake, Stuart Highway, South Australia.

After our stop at Island Lagoon Salt Lake, we continued on, arriving at Woomera at 11.40am.  We set up the van and settled down to relax for the rest of the day, having decided to stay an extra night in order to give ourselves a full day to explore Woomera once again.  We raised the satellite dish on top of the van and enjoyed some home grown Queensland television before retiring for the night.

Tuesday 29 March 2011:

We spent the morning at the Information Centre Rocket Museum and the Woomera Historic Museum, taking time to view an excellent DVD about the exploits of Len Beadell, surveyor and explorer. Len Beadell was responsible for surveying and building all the major outback roads in central Australia, including the Gunbarrel Highway and the Connie Sue Highway, named after one of his daughters.  I had a special interest in his work as all the books he had written adorned my bookshelves at home.  Len also identified and developed the sites for the testing of the atom bomb in outback South Australia. The fist site was called "Emu Claypan"; and atomic bombs (Totem 1 and 2) were exploded there on 15 and 27 October 1953 respectively, by the British.  The second site was called "Maralinga" which is the aboriginal word for "thunder", and it was here that between 27 September 1956 and 9 October 1957 seven atomic bombs were exploded.  Len went on to build several other roads that opened up the outback, including the Anne Beadel Highway and the Gary Highway named respectively after his children.

Atomic bomb test, Emu Claypan, S.A.

Len Beadell was also responsible for opening up the last remaining isolated desert areas (some 2.5 million square kilometers) of central Australia from 1947 to 1963.  He is sometimes called "the last true Australian explorer".  He is buried at Woomera in the local cemetery and

we drove out to the site, just outside the town to look at his grave.

Len Beadell Grave, Woomera S.A.

After spending most of the day in and around Woomera town we returned to the caravan park to find we had new neighbours, Peter and Robyn from Daintree in Far North Queensland.  After a visit to the bar in the caravan park for a quiet drink; we invited them over to our shade for drinks and had a good session enjoying each other's company with much laughter and anecdotes.  We promised to met up again futher up the track.

Woomera Caravan Park, S.A. Donga Bar.

Inside the donga bar. Robyn is on the left. Woomera S.A.

All in all we had enjoyed our short stay in Woomera.

Wenesday 30 March 2011:

06.57am.  We quietely departed Woomera and drove north along the Stuart Highway towards Coober Pedy.  We passed Lake Hart, another large salt lake and we were not surprised to see it was also full of water. It was obvious that Lake Eyre was not the only salt lake to have received some of the flood wates from the Queensland channel country and Cooper Creek system in the north.  The last time we had seen Lake Hart it was an imense span of white salt baking in the harsh outback sun, with not a drop of water to be seen.   Australia is indeed a land of contrasts.

11.21am. We arrived at Coober Pedy, South Australia.  Approaching from the south was an experience as the panoramic  moonscape of opal mining mounds consisting of white dirt had doubled in size from when we last saw it, and had spread southwards for mile after mile.  We also passed over several overpasses under which wide mining roads leading to and from local iron ore mining operations had been constructed.  The area had certainly changed since our last visit in 2006.  We pulled into the Opal Inn Caravan Park and set up in time to go for a walk around town and enjoy a late lunch at one of the local resturants.  After lunch we visited the Desert Inn underground opal centre, including the underground bar where we had enjoyed a few drinks during our last visit.  I chatted to the manager, who was from Sri Lanka, and he pointed out one of the problems they are currently having with droplets of water penetrating the ceiling from above the man made caves.  The solution to the problem had not been forthcoming at the time of writing.  Taking more notice as we walked through the system of underground tunnels, we did notice seveal areas of ceiling where very small stalactites were forming.  I wonder what will happen in the future if this problem is not overcome.

Desert Inn, Coober Pedy, S.A.

From the Desert Inn we went to the Coober Pedy Underground Book Store where we browsed through the shelves and spent some time admiring the underground structure.

Underground Book Store.

After walking around town we returned to the van and had a rest.  Later that same afternoon Peter and Robyn arrived and set up near our site.  We arranged to go out for tea to a Greek resturantnaed Tom and Mary's Greek Taverna, where I hoped to meet up with a friend we had met on our last trip, Angelo Legogiannis.  In 2006 Angelo had been the tour guide for our bus trip out to the breakaways north east of Coober Pedy.  We had become friends and enjoyed a marvelous evening with the family who then owned the resturant.  Sadly the resturant had new owners now, Mario and Wendy, who were just as hospitable as Tom and Mary had been.  On this occasion Angelo came along with his new wife and we all enjoyed an evening of fine food, fine wine and merriment.  It was great reminiscing with Angelo and the evening passed all to quickly.  All too soon we had to retire and get some sleep, as we were leaving Coober Pedy the next morning.

Thursday 31 March 2011.

0706am.  We attempted a quiet departure, but I am sure we woke Peter and Robyn who were sleeping in!  We were soon back on the open highway travelling north once again towards Marla and the Pedirka Desert, one of Australia's smallest deserts lying just north  Oodnadatta.  I knew I had to obtain fuel for the landcruiser and regretted not purchasing some at Coober Pedy, but it was too late now.  1000am.  We pulled into the Marla Roadhouse and fueled up.  My wortst fears were realised;  we paid $1.905/lt for diesel!  Not the best planning by yours truly!  My only concolation was that we now had enough fuel to last us until we got to Alice Springs where it would be somewhat cheaper.  1156am.  We arrived at the South Australia_Northern Territory border and pulled up at the rest area for a break.  Imagine our stunned surprise when we observed the large iconic border structure was missing the respective state emblems which had been proudly displayed on each side for all the enjoy.  Somebody had removed them!  It must have been a mid-night job, because they would have needed ladders and tools to get them off the walls.  What on earth possesses some people to steal something that was on display for all to see.  We couldn't believe it!



Marion at the S.A. _ N.T. Border.  Note the dark circle high above where the missing emblem was once located.

After a short rest here we were off again, hoping for an early stop at Kulgera in the Northern Territory.  We duly arrived about an hour later - 12md NT time.  [S.A. had been on daylight saving time.]  It was just a basic caravan park with a large covered swimming pool and very clean ammenities.  We were quite surprised as we also had power grass and shade.  We decided to have lunch at the roadhouse resturant where we were served a large steak meal which the cook grumbled had been spoilt by my request to cook it "well done".  Like most cooks he wanted to do it medium rare; however, I remained adamant I like my steak cooked not ozzing blood.  We had a good yarn with him and he told us of his many travels around the outback.  I suspect we could have been fascinated with some tall stories had we been staying longer.  Later that afternoon Peter and Robyn arrived and we enjoyed a quite drink in the shade.  As this would be the last time we saw them before meeting up again in Alice Springs, we exchanged telephone numbers and addresses and wished them a safe trip north, whilst we would be heading west to Kings Canyon.  Both Peter and Robny had jobs lined up in Alice Springs and would be staying there indifinitely; thus it was only a matter of a week or so and we would meet up again.

Friday 1 April 2011:

0639am.  We were awake early the next morning and were soon on the road again.  0731am.  We arrived at Erldunda Roadhouse and turned west off the Stuart Highway onto the Lasseter Highway heading towards Mt Ebenezer arriving there at 0810am.  We had passed this roadhouse on our last trip and knew there was an aboriginal art gallery inside.  Thinking it might be worth our while to have a look at the art, with a view to a purchase, we pulled up and went inside.  We were told by the owner that no photos were allowed of the artwork and I assured him I would abide by the rule.  We were pleasantly surprised by the contents of the art gallery and came across and original dot painting which was pleasing to the eye.  Having decided to buy this painting, we were treated to a much more friendly reception.  We took the time to have a chat with the two owners and were given a photocopy sheet showing a photograph of the artist and an explanation of the dot symbols on the painting.  Apart from acquiring the painting, it was an interesting experience and we were glad we had stopped.

Mt Ebenzer Roadhouse N.T.



We continued west and at 0914am, some 53km on, we turned back north on the Luritja Highway leading to Kings Canyon.  This highway was a good double lane sealed road and we had no trouble cruising along for about 139km before reaching the Kings Canyon resort where we had booked a powered caravan site.  We were given our own choice of a site and found we could in fact occupy two sites as there were only a few caravans and motor homes booked in at this time of the year.  Kings Canyon is part of the Watarrka National Park in Northern Territory, Australia. Located near the western end of the George Gill Range, it is 323 km southwest of Alice Springs and 1,316 km south of Darwin.  The walls of the canyon are in excess of 300 metres in height.  We intended spending the next three days exploring the area and going on some of the walks available; enjoying the bush and the wildlife, including birds and dingos.  The dingos were not afraid of humans and one had to be careful not to encourage them as they were unpredictable.  We had two dingos visit our site but they kept going and we did not feed them.

Dingo Sign - Kings Canyon, N.T.



Saturday 2 May 2011:

Kings Canyon Resort Day 1:

One of the easier walks in the National Park is the Kathleen Springs walk which is about 2.6km  return from the car park.  We set out in the morning and took our time exploring the walking track and the surrounds.  At one very small pool of water in a creek bed we stayed for quite some time watching the birdlife come and go.

Pair of Zebra Finches _ F left M right.

Spinfex Pigeon.



The walk to the springs took us past some aboriginal rock carvings which had been registered as a sacred site and reminded me of wave marks made by the tide in the sand.  The rock pool at the springs was quite large but did not look inviting to me.  The walk was made all the more interesting by a number of information boards and we enjoyed the day out.  On the way back to the car park we came upon a sand goanna and stopped to let him wander off the path into the bush.  The zebra finches seemed to follow us from bush to bush as we walked along; I think they were as interested in us as we were in them.

Goanna on the path.

On the way home I was taken with the rugged beauty of the hills and ranges and the cotton wood trees growing on the floor of the valley.  They had a character all of their own and seemed to be a perfect fit in the landscape.  We arrived home in time to clean up and wander over to the entertainment area where there was country music in the air.  We stayed a while enjoying the show then headed back to the van for a meal and bed.

END OF WEEK 5.