Outback
South Australia has some great experiences to offer. Some might find it too
remote and the long flat roads tedious – but we find it amazing. We camped at
the Farina Ruins on the way to Marree, where the Strezlecki Track and the
Birdsville Track meet. At Farina we were fascinated by a family of emus
stopping at the picnic tables for a rest, then a large number of galahs
disturbed by the high winds and oncoming rains. It was very interesting to walk
around the ruins of the old town. The name Farina means flour in Italian and
the settlers originally thought it was a great place to grow wheat. They were
very optimistic, to say the least!
|
Plains near Farina |
|
View from the ruins of Farina |
Our
next stop was Marree. The only point of interest there was the old truck of the
famous postman, Tom Kruze, who delivered mail on the Birdsville track for 30
years.
|
Tome Kruse's Mail truck |
After
Marree we followed the Oonadatta Track. We stopped off to look at the Mutonia
Sculpture Park – a series of Mad Max inspired sculptures made by Robin “Mutoid”
Cooke. They were bizarre and amazing – and enhanced by the creaking sound
effects of the high winds.
|
"Plane Henge" |
|
Size of the Dingo sculpture is enormous, the head is a car body, The body an old railway watertank! |
We
turned off the Oonadatta Track to Roxby Downs and Woomera. Woomera was like an
old army base – with lots of no trespassing signs. Our camp for the night was
at Lake Hart, a huge salt lake that looks like a frozen lake from a distance.
It was a great camp – but the flies were the worst we’ve had yet! The next
morning we rode out onto the salt lake – that was an awesome experience.
|
Camp at Lake Hart |
|
Lake Hart Salt Lake |
After driving along the worst dirt road yet we found a
lovely campsite at Hiltaba property, amongst huge boulder formations. After
that, we drove through the Gawler Ranges, but didn’t camp there as the weather
expectation was for winds of 50kms an hour.
We got to see the ‘Organ Pipe’ rock formations that the National Park is
known for.
|
Hiltaba views |
|
Hiltaba camp site (spot the car) |
|
Organ pipe formations in Gawler Ranges |
|
Gawler Ranges |