Day 4: Oodnadatta Track

Day 4:  Oodnadatta Track

We started out early today as it was another day of many kilometres.  Although it was long it has been our best day so far.  We took a dirt track from Coober Pedy out to Oodnadatta arriving around 9:00am for some morning tea and happy snaps.  



The Pink Roadhouse - Oodnadatta



From Oodnadatta we took a small 20 min 4wd loop road - just for fun!  We then headed along the Oodnadatta Track to William Creek - another 200km on a dirt highway.  Plenty of sights to see along the way, Mt Dutton Ruins and The Old Ghan Railway to name a few.   

 

Given that Lake Eyre is only 63km from William Creek, we weren't coming this far without taking a look.  Some great fun was had getting out to Lake Eyre - the recent rain left some mud and water on the roads - Adam doesn't need an excuse to get a little 4x4 action when he can.  Lake Eyre was vast - no water though, but well worth the drive.

A little dirty!

 

William Creek Hotel

 

Lake Eyre

We had a long but enjoyable day and saw sights that many only get to see on TV or magazines.  After a few big days of driving, we will travel about 10km tomorrow to see some more of Coober Pedy before heading towards Ayers Rock the next day.  Time for the girls to have a sleep in and a day out of the car :) 


Day 3 Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

Day 3: Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

After a reasonably noisy night in Port Augusta, due to the location of the park being close to the highway (not quite as bad as Arafat), we headed off early to make the 500km trip to Coober Pedy.  The purpose today was to get to Coober Pedy at a reasonable time and set up for a 3 day stay.  We hope to spend the next three days seeing Coober Pedy itself and also heading out to Oodnadatta, William Creek and Lake Eyre.  Today's drive was literally 500km of mostly flat, red desert and small green shrubs - the occasional large rock formation would appear - but mostly nothingness for 500km.
We made two stops one in Pimba at Spuds Roadhouse and one in Glendambo before arriving in Coober Pedy which was the most exciting part of the day.  Coober Pedy is an interesting town, a large opal mining town with a lot of the town being built underground due to the heat in summer.  The scenery is mostly lunar like not a great deal of green here.

Road to Coober Pedy

Road to Coober Pedy

Road to Coober Pedy

Spuds Roadhouse

Glendambo

Glendambo

Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy

 

Mines coming into Coober Pedy

 

 

On top of houses built underground

WALKERS OUTBACK TRIP

Day 1: Razorback to Mildura
With an early morning start of 3:30am we hit the highway and travelled through the fog to arrive in Wagga Wagga at around 8:00am for breakfast and then back on the road for the rest of the 900km trip to Mildura.  This was a long day in the car, but with limited time available for the trip a necessary task.  The most excitement Jade had all day was coming out of the bathrooms at the caravan park to see her father walking back from the showers in his knickers and thongs - she pretended she didn't know him and headed in the other direction :)   I think it was more embarrassment than excitement!!!  It was very early to bed that night for some well needed shut eye before the next leg.

Day 2:  Mildura to Port Augusta
With a much slower start today and a departure of 9:00am we headed off from Mildura towards Port Augusta.  Morning tea was taken at a little rest stop in Renmark and then continuing on to Burra for lunch.  Burra is a quaint little town in SA and one of our favourites so far.