Entries about south australia

The flight we had booked over the Painted Hills was not due until 4pm so we had time to swan around William Creek, using our fly nets for the first time. There is a small outdoor 'museum' just over the road from the pub which features, among other things, the odd rocket which has been fired from Woomera to the south and has overshot the mark, landing not far from the town!

Remains of two Skylark rockets

In the afternoon, we wandered over to the airstrip/airport only to find that they had not got our booking down for that afternoon. Luckily, another pilot, the lovely Miranda, was on hand and took us up for the magnificent views. We had been due to land in the Painted Hills for a close up look but because of the delay we were unable to do this. Instead of landing we had a slightly extended flight, some of which was at a slightly lower level giving more extensive views. Apart from the booking confusion, we were very happy with WrightsAir who ran this flight and the one from Marree.

The Painted Hills are a recently (the 'Noughties' I think) discovered part of the Breakaways country on Anna Creek Station which is the largest working cattle station in the world at 24.000 square kilometres. The hills themselves cover an area about 20km by 18km. Previously, Anna Creek Station was owned by Stanley Kidman who has a fascinating history. He started out at age 13 as a drover with a one-eyed horse and ended up owning property stretching some 3,500km from the Gulf of Carpentaria to just outside Adelaide. We took enough photos to fill several blogs but will only inflict a selection on you!

Bridge over the old Ghan Railway

Dry watercourse threading its way through the hills

The Pillars

Some lovely shapes and colours

The Pillars

Last view of the hills

Anna Creek's The Big Anchor - competing with Marree Man!

As I understand it, 'breakaway' refers to uplands of varying heights and area which were once part of one enormous range and have 'broken away' from other outcrops which form named ranges in some areas.

The town, in case I have not mentioned it, was named in November 1859 by explorer John McDouall Stuart - now there's a surprise! - during his expeditions in the area. William was the second son of John Chambers, one of Stuart's co-sponsors for his many expeditions (Wikipedia)

The following day, our 171km journey across the William Creek Track was supposed to take just about all day, but once again we found it fairly easy going. It started off very similar to the Oodnadatta Track but became increasingly sandy and in some places thick patches of bulldust had been flagged and needed care and attention. Only one was a little dicey where deep ruts had been made by other vehicles but some common sense saw us through this with ease.

William Creek Hotel

The start of the William Creek Track

Typical landscape

Towards the end we had small bushes - quite exciting!

We found our accommodation, supposedly underground. It had been hacked into the hillside so the walls and ceiling were stone but we could see daylight through a bathroom window which was at ground level. The place was Radeka's Underground Hotel which we found was a backpacker hotel. Nonetheless, it was comfortable enough and had room for us to spread ourselves out. The town is probably the most unattractive town we have seen. It has few old buildings visible, as most are underground, but much of the town looks like a scrapyard! However, the underground places are both fascinating and, in some cases, quite beautiful.

The main street through town

A nice mural on the side of the IGA supermarket

Scrap iron 'sculptures' or a junk yard?

Off the main street, some buildings were rather sad

View over the town from the Big Winch

The opal town was originally known as Stuart Range but in 1922, the local Progress and Mining Association renamed it Coober Pedy, apparently combining two local Aboriginal words 'coober' meaning boy or white man and 'pedy' meaning hole or rock hole, thus describing what the Aborigines would have considered a strange bunch of white men down holes! (Aussie Towns)

The first opals were found by 14yr old William Hutchinson who was looking for water for his father and others seeking gold. Sadly, the family did not profit from the find and only five years later, William drowned while crossing a creek, taking cattle to Queensland.

If we had more time, we would have gone out to Crocodile Harry's - apparently he was the original on whom Crocodile Dundee was based but after hunting crocodiles, he came to Coober Pedy in search of his fortune.

In spite of my sometimes negative comments about the town, it has a fascinating history and is worth a visit if it happens to be on your route.

The day after our arrival was ANZAC Day so we turned out for the parade which has to be the smallest parade we have ever seen. Still, they did turn out and ended up with a service at the underground (Catholic) church next to our hotel. This is a small church but very attractive.

The ANZAC Day parade

The underground Catholic church beside our hotel - note the ventilation shafts

Interior of underground Catholic church

A gilded statue in memory of the ANZACs

Aaron first took us to the Umoona Mine/Museum and gave us an interesting guided tour around that. He then took us to the next door property to show us the 'spaceship' used in the making of the film "Pitch Black" (never heard of it!). They had used some of the scrap metal lying around in town to good (?) use.

'Space ship' used in Vin Diesel movie "Pitch Black"

A flying saucer? - anyway something else used in the making of a film in Coober Pedy

Not scrap metal but a replica of the bus used in the making of "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" which was partly filmed in or around Coober Pedy

We were then scheduled to go to Faye's Underground House but this was closed for ANZAC Day so Aaron took us to a house that he owns and uses for a B & B so we were able to see what underground life was like.

And we all trooped off to gawk at Aaron's house

Next stop was the underground Serbian church which sadly is little used now as most of the Serbs have moved away from the town. There are some people still mining for opals but only a fraction of the number who were here some 30 or so years ago. In the church, you could clearly see where circular and square drills had been used to form the rooms.

View of exterior of the church (note again the ventilation shafts)

One of several statues inside the church, all by Norm Aston

The main interior space in the church

Our 4WD tour then led out of the town on a pretty corrugated road to the Moon Plain, a plain covered with quite large dark rocks which often give off a metallic clang when banged together. Aaron said these had been left by a glacier sliding its way through and the area had been used for filming several films, including at least one of the Mad Max movies.

Two views over the Moon Plain

Close to all the time was a long stretch of the Dog Fence. This was started in the late 19th century and stretches 5.614km from west of the Eyre Peninsula on the Nullarbor Plain to Jimbour on the Darling Downs in Queensland. It zig zags through part of New South Wales and the intention was to keep dingoes away from sheep and, latterly, also provides protection for cattle. There were many emus along the fence but quite why they congregate there I don't know.

Part of the Dog Fence with some of the many emus we saw

As the sun started to lower in the sky, we arrived at The Breakaways (see above for definition). These were once part of the Stuart Range and the whole area had been a vast inland sea with aeons of deposits forming coloured layers which show in the hills now, although most have subsequently been tilted and/or folded. Several of the hills are mesas with caps of harder material which had prevented these from being as worn away as others. We enjoyed some bubbly and nibbles between taking photos.

Aborigines call these 'papa', meaning two dogs, part of a story

Bubbly and nibbles are served at the main lookout point

Two views over the breakaways, one so like the Painted Hills

On the way back into town, Aaron took us into the Opal Fields and showed us where he has a claim which had been tunnelled in, rather than the usual shaft-sinking method.

Machinery in the opal fields

Aaron has a stake in one of these tunnelled claims

The working area near the tunnels, underfoot was like ankle deep chalk dust

On our last day in this bizarre town, we walked around and visited The Old Timer's Mine Museum. In here, we could wind our way through tunnels that had been carved from various shafts, seeing a few seams of opal (potch, or non-valuable opal). There was also a fascinating museum and finally we could walk through the completely underground house which had been home to the miner and his wife and two daughters.

One the way through town, Steve could not resist a bookshop!

An old blower opposite the Old Timer's Museum

The Old Timer's Museum

It would be easy to get lost in the labyrinth of tunnels

Coober Pedy must have been pretty wild in the past!

Statue of a miner - by the ubiquitous Norm Aston

One of the underground bedrooms

Some 'potch' or low-grade opal still in the mine

After leaving this fascinating museum, we trudged up the hill to see the Big Winch. Not surprisingly, this is a big winch and there is also an old 'blower' on display as well as panoramic views over the town. The attendant indoor display was closed and the path from the hill was blocked off, so we had a long detour - thanks Coober Pedy!

The Big Winch

Another old blower

Another view over the metropolis of Coober Pedy

We now start the long trek to Yulara and will leave South Australia behind but this will have to wait for the next blog. If we continue to have decent internet access, something we have lacked often over the last few weeks, I hope the next blog will be quicker - depends on what other distractions lay in store!

Our 369km trip from Willow Springs was estimated to take quite a long while. However, the unsealed stretch of road between Lyndhurst and Marree was excellent and we made good time.

We returned to Blinman and stopped at the historic cemetery just outside the town. Here we found a memorial to William Kekwick. He had accompanied Stuart on his later expeditions as second in command. After spells in business and gold mining, he joined William Christie Gosse's expedition but became ill and failed to respond to treatment, dying at the age of 48 in Nuccaleena before being buried at Blinman.

Memorial to William Kekwick

Plaque on Kekwick's burial place

I forgot to mention that the town had come into being after shepherd Robert Blinman found copper - Aussie Towns suggests the town could have been called Peg Leg as this was Blinman's nickname (he was one-legged). Also, Parachilna's name comes from the Nukunu Aboriginal word 'patajilnda', meaning place of Peppermint trees (Aussie Towns).

The Explorer's Way (the generic name for the road that we had been on from Adelaide), continued north to Leigh Creek where we stopped for lunch in a lovely park.

Understated sign to tell us we were on the Explorers' Way

The town used to be a coal mining town but seems to be fighting hard to survive now that the mining is over. It is a smart town with great facilities so we hope that they do well.

Further up the road, just past Lyndhurst, we turned off to see some very colourful ochre pits. With the range of colours, it is easy to see why the Aborigines made use of this for body paint, wall paintings and, today, in their artworks. Like many places, this is marked as a place of special cultural significance to Aborigines. I don't really 'get' why in this modern age so many places like this have access barred to non-Aboriginals. I may get shot down in flames for being insensitive but Australia does seem to have overdone the 'affirmative action' which has happened in so many countries where some Europeans seem to have a guilt complex.

Views of ochre cliffs and information about how it is used by Aborigines

Our friend and advisor, Terry, had advised us to stop at Farina, not far north of Lyndhurst. The town is no longer inhabited and was originally surveyed and proclaimed a town on 21 March 1878.  It was first known as ‘Government Gums’ because of the mature River Red Gums in the creek to the north of the town but later its name was changed to “Farina” (Latin for wheat or flour) by farmers who optimistically hoped to turn the vast flat lands here into fields of grain (SA Community History website). It was certainly a fascinating place. We have seen quite a few ruins on our travels but these are by far the most extensive so far.

The old hotel/hospital/boarding house

Another abandoned building

Signposts to various abandoned areas of the old town

We reached Marree to find that both our bookings at the hotel and the flight the following day had been recorded for different dates. Fortunately, the pilot was on hand and a cabin was found for us. The cabin was pretty basic but was comfortable enough for our needs. The hotel is almost entirely staffed by foreign workers, young folk on working visas - here there were English, French, Belgian and Italian people. This place is a real Outback pub with very friendly folk, visitors and locals alike.

Welcome to Marree

The Marree Hotel

The hotel from the old Ghan station with Tom Kruse's truck in front

As mentioned in the last blog, Marree was originally called Herrgott Springs after their (European) discoverer, who had travelled as an artist with Stuart in 1859. The town was gazetted in 1883 and renamed Marree which is believed to be a corruption of the Arabunna Aboriginal word 'mara' meaning 'place of possums' - a bit odd as the district is not known for possums (Aussie Towns)

The following morning, our pilot (WrightsAir) took us up and out over Marree Man, a 2.7km tall extending over 650 acres. The figures appears to be an Aborigine hunting with a boomerang. It was discovered in 1998 and is believed to have been created by American serviceman who were based in the area some years before. It became somewhat eroded and apparently the hotel owner arranged for GPS readings to be taken and for a grader to recreate the outline. It seems he did not seek permission from the State government who were a bit peeved but it seems to be a case of fait accompli.

Our aircraft

A roadtrain seen from the air

The old Ghan line running over a bridge and parallelling the Oodnadatta Track

Marree Man

We also had some good views, although difficult to photograph well, of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre showing where water had flowed in from the northern lake filling a large part of the southern lake. The water has flowed in from rain falling on the western side of the Great Dividing Range running through Queensland into northern New South Wales. At this stage, it was not apparent that the usual large flocks of birds had made their way in - would love to have seen that.

Part of the salty area of the south lake

An island formed by the inflow of water

View of the water in the south lake

Aerial view of the metropolis of Marree

On our way back from the 'airport', we stopped in town to look at what remains of the old Ghan railway station. There were a couple of old engines as well as the old station building. When we were travelling last year, we had a look around the Wadlata Outback Centre in Port Augusta and enjoyed a film showing the work of Tom Kruse who was the mailman between Marree and Birdsville. We were pleased to see one of his old, and very battered, trucks on one of the station platforms. Inside the hotel, one of the dining rooms doubled as the Tom Kruse Museum (another doubled as the John McDouall Stuart Museum). An interesting stop.

Two views of old Ghan locomotive

Marree railway station, no longer in use

In the afternoon, we drove about 40km up the Birdsville Track just so that we could say we had driven on it (our intention on the last trip was to drive from Marree to Birdsville and then onto north Queensland. There were several interesting mesas although it was generally pretty flat and relatively featureless, although we did see some wallabies on the return trip.

The start of the Birdsville Track - even now part of the track was closed

A rather saturated view of one of the mesas we saw along the track

A typical view of the gibber strewn track leading north

A panoramic view of the countryside along the track

Sunset bids farewell to Marree

After our short stay in Marree, we tackled the Oodnadatta Track (216km to William Creek). We had been given dire warnings of the condition of the road and the distance estimator tool we used suggested that it would take about 8 or more hours. In fact the road was in good condition and certainly no worse than many bush roads we have driven on when living in Zimbabwe. Not far out of town we spotted a Wedgetail Eagle not far off the road, protecting a wallaby carcass from a group of Ravens. Some way on, we stopped to see the quirky 'Plane Henge' which was actually a collection of strange scrap metal sculptures - why here?!

We start up the Oodnadatta Track

A big rig throwing up a lot of dust

Male Red Kangaroo

'Plane Henge'

A couple of views of an old Ghan railway bridge over a long-dry riverbed

Little Corellas just off the the track

The name Oodnadatta is probably an adaptation of a local Arrernte Aboriginal word "utnadata" meaning "blossom of the mulga". (Aussie Towns), not that we saw a lot of mulga!

There was a lookout point which gave a distant view of the southern end of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

Very flat country leading to still salty Lake Eyre

Panoramic view over south Lake Eyre

About half way to William Creek we found signs to the Mound Springs Conservation Park - in here were The Bubbler and Blanche Cup which are quite high mounds with springs forming a pool at the top. The deposit of salts over the years has lifted the mounds to their present height. The story with Blanche Cup is that Kakakutanha, the Kuyani ancestor, followed the trail of the rainbow serpent to Bidalinha (The Bubbler) and killed it there. He cut the head off and threw it away and today it is an upland called Hamilton Hill. He then cooked the snake in an oven, Dirga, which is now Blanche Cup. The bubbling water represents the convulsions of the dying serpent. If you feel sorry for the serpent, Kakakutanha's wife was angry that she had missed the best part of the serpent and cursed her husband who went on to meet a gruesome death. Nice bedtime story!

rivulet flowing away from The Bubbler

Panorama from The Bubbler

The Bubbler

Blanche Cup

The countryside along the track had mainly been gibber plain (sandy desert covered with smallish stones) but near William Creek we drove by a number of large red sand dunes and the road was a bit smoother. Near the town (the smallest town in Australia), there was a large flat area which looked as if it may, very occasionally, be a lake.

Jet Set really enjoyed the track

Some of the gibber plain

Large red sand dunes for a change of scenery

Dry lake bed

We arrived in William Creek in plenty of time to have taken our flight so we could have managed with only one night - this would have been preferable as William Creek must be the fly country capital. They had been bad enough in Marree but in Willliam Creek they were so bad that we wore our fly nets for the first time. The cabin accommodation here was again pretty basic but was reasonable enough and the food in the hotel was good.

Our cabin (a container?) and Beast Mk II

William Creek Fire Service

William Creek was named in November 1859 by explorer John McDouall Stuart during his expeditions in the area. William was the second son of John Chambers, one of Stuart's co-sponsors for his many expeditions (Wikipedia)

Loaded up and ready for our 576km drive

And, as usual, we had a back seat driver

Last time we went to the Flinders Ranges, we travelled through the Barossa Valley and then on to Hawker. This time we let Gladys guide us and 'she' took us to Port Wakefield which has to be one of the least inspiring drives we have had. The drive on from there to Quorn was little better but it did gradually improve as we neared Hawker (for any new readers, 'Gladys' is our Garmin satnav and has such a prissy (male) voice that we nicknamed it Gladys).

The town of Hawker was proclaimed on 1 July 1880 and named after George Charles Hawker, an early settler, Commissioner of Works and a member of the South Australian Parliament 1858-1865 and 1875-1883 (thanks to Wikipedia and Aussie Towns).

The old Ghan (railway) line ran through Hawker and I had hoped to find where this ran but we were running out of time, so continued on into the Flinders Ranges. We were here in March last year but this time, although it is still magnificent country, it is much drier and animals and birds appeared to be less obviously abundant, although still enough to keep us happy.

We stayed at Skytrek Willow Springs Station which is excellent, with several good walks and a long 4WD trail which we did not really have time for and, in any case, were not game to undertake the drive in our hired vehicle in view of the constraints in the hire agreement! We stayed in the Overseer's Cottage which had been used for the School of the Air and was well equipped and very comfortable. On our last trip, we visited the ruins of Appealinna Station Homestead and have now found that Willow Springs Station is part of that original station, giving a sense of continuity.

The entrance to Skytrek Willow Springs Station

We arrive at the Overseer's Cottage

One of the original radios used for the School of the Air

On our first full day based there, we headed up nearby Stoke's Hill (the only place we could get a 'phone signal) and Judith was able to post
a Facebook entry from there just to keep in touch. We then revisited Wilpena Pound where we had a picnic lunch and then cruised back, stopping at Wood Duck Pond where we hauled our chairs out and relaxed for the afternoon, watching birds come and go and wallabies coming down to drink.

The mast on Stoke's Hill which we needed to get near to check emails¬

A view from Stoke's Hill

Wilpena Pound in the far distance with a relief map of the pound in the foreground on Stoke's Hill

Wallaby startled by a family of Grebes interrupting drinking time

Whistling Kite perched in tree by the pond

Whistling Kite soaring over the pond

When we got back to the cottage, we ran the tap for a cuppa but after a short time, our water then stopped. We reported this to the office and just about everyone on the station turned out to trace the problem and then dig up the pipe where the blockage had occurred (calcification). In the process, one of the guys managed to puncture the pipe so they had to charge around finding a long enough but thinner hose plus reducing joiners and we had water back on tap shortly after sunset.

Some of the guys waiting for the reducing joiners to be found

On our arrival, the owners had kindly made bookings for us for the mine tour at Blinman followed by lunch at The Prairie in Parachilna. On the way to Blinman we pulled off to see the massive rock formation known as the Great Wall of China.

The drive up to the Great Wall of China

Part of the Great Wall of China

Panoramic view of the Great Wall of China

The mine tour took us underground where we could see the old workings and the conditions under which the (mainly Cornish) workers laboured - obviously H & S did not exist back then! The town grew to about 1,500 people at its peak but after the mine closed as being no longer economical, the population dwindled to around 200 and is now about 18 (although there are 20 on the Progress Council as two local station folk have been co-opted).

A band of malachite, a copper compound, in the mine

View from underground to open shafts

We drove from Blinman through Parachilna Gorge to get to lunch. This gorge is another very attractive and interesting drive with more lovely river red gums lining the route. My favourite is still Brachina Gorge but this was most enjoyable.

River red gum in the gorge

View through the gorge to the ABC Ranges with our vehicle parked on the side

Once through the gorge, we left the ranges behind and drove through very flat country to get to Parachilna, where we enjoyed a shared platter of 'feral' mixed grill - kangaroo fillet, emu burger and camel sausage, the latter being surprisingly good.

The Prairie at Parachilna

Aboriginal art in the dining area of the Prairie

Our feral tucker - already carved by Judith for us to share

Having relaxed for a while in this rather odd place, we drove down to Brachina Gorge where we enjoyed the drive just as much as last time, although there was even less water at the Aroona River crossing than there had been last year. Nonetheless, it was a good spot for birds - it would have been even better if it weren’t for the Easter traffic! The camp grounds in the gorge are understandably very popular.

On our way into Brachina Gorge

A Wedgetail Eagle soaring over us when we stopped at the Arooma River crossing

It has been great to get away from 'city lights' and have a good view of the sky at night. Just now, we have had an almost full moon so although we have seen the stars more clearly, we haven't yet had a clear view of the Milky Way.

Having reached this far, it is now time for an update on why the road travelled is called the Explorers Way. The invention of the telegraph led to the next bout of exploration, including Burke & Wills' tragic attempt. In 1859 Charles Todd had the dream of an overland telegraph which would cross the continent from Port Augusta in South Australia to Port Darwin in the Northern Territory. This could then be linked to existing submarine cables to reach the rest of the world. At this time, it was taking several weeks for messages to be transmitted by sea. Various explorers had set out to find inland rivers, or dreamed of pastoral land, north of Adelaide, including Stuart's first expedition under the leadership of Charles Sturt. Stuart's second expedition, his first as leader (not counting various surveying missions that he had carried out), started in 1858. On one of these he had come across promising country north of the Flinders Ranges and his patron, James Chambers took out a holding which became Oratunga Station; it was from here that Stuart set out in 1858, financed by William Finke, with a squatter named Foster and an Aboriginal companion. On this trip, they travelled to the west of Lake Torrens and progressed for a considerable way before turning back when they were near Coober Pedy and could not find a source of water.

The following year, Stuart again headed north, this time with William Kekwick as his second in command, in search of a safe stock route. This time he travelled to the east of Lake Torrens and reached the site of present day Marree. He continued northwestwards finding more springs near the site of today's Oodnadatta. We are now headed for Marree (formerly known as Herrgott Springs, named after the artist who travelled with Stuart)

Before leaving Brexit-mad England, we had another great trip with the East Suffolk National Trust Association to Sissinghurst Castle and Garden in Kent. Typically, the weather was not marvellous but we were able to enjoy a ramble through the estate, finding primroses and bluebells in flower and, when the rain let up again, we explored the more formal gardens. The famous White Garden was lovely although of course not up to the full white blooming state that we have seen in the past in the summer. Others areas open onto different vistas and wild snake-head fritillaries looked just as beautifully strange growing among daffodils and tulips as in a wildflower meadow. As we are now in Australia, the photos we can access are low quality and few but, take our word for it that if you are in Kent, this is a 'must visit'.

Tunnel-like view along a walk around the estate

Primroses and bluebells on small embankment

A solitary snake's head fritillary

This time we chose to fly with Cathay Pacific and had one of our best travel experiences to date. Their premium economy seats are very comfortable and although the food was 'airline' food, it was very tasty and enjoyable. Although we want to enjoy our time in Australia, we are actually looking forward to the return flight!

In our short stay in Perth, we caught up with our old friend Len and then stayed with Sue, the wife of Judith's former employer. Mac, unfortunately had to be moved to a care home where we visited him and found him in quite good spirits. Thus far, our cameras, certainly mine, have barely seen daylight but this will soon be remedied.

We had a good flight to Adelaide with Virgin and, after a short panic, found our hire car and made our way to West Beach Parks Resort where we have a lovely roomy cabin - not quite as good as the beachside villa that we had here last year but we were a bit late booking and they had sold out. On our first morning in SA, we had a very tasty breakfast at Deep Blue Cafe, Moana, a few km south of here, with a friend of Judith's from England who now lives here with her partner.

Deep Blue Cafe, Moana SA

Vanessa and Judith after a lovely breakfast

Last time we were in Adelaide we had run out of time to see the old Adelaide Gaol and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Both were well worth the visit although the old gaol wasn't quite as interesting as the old (transported) convict establishments we saw last time around.

Entrance to Adelaide Gaol

One of the wings in the gaol

Inside the 'new' cell block (late 1800s)

The Hanging Tower and the gap between walls where some prisoners were buried after execution or dying in prison

The Botanic Gardens were interesting and very well laid out with plenty of shade and a number of water areas. Although our bird watching thus far has been quite sparse compared with our last visit, we have seen a few as we have moved around Adelaide.

Probably one of the birds seen most through Australia, a Peewee or Magpie-lark

Australian White Ibis - especially for Terry!

Victoriana water lily in flower

Blue water lily in the lily house

Wood Duck preening

Little Pied Cormorant looking the wrong way for food!

Australian Grebe

Blue Skimmer Dragonfly

Cycad fruit

Some of the masses of flower/seed bunches on Koelreuteria tree

Adelaide really is a lovely city and it would have been great to have more time to relax and visit the wineries and many other attractions at leisure but, unfortunately, we have a limited time - and budget! We stayed again at West Beach Shores Resort but on this occasion the lovely villa we had before had already been booked so we had a holiday cabin. This was very comfortable and roomy so we would again have no hesitation in recommending this as a great place to stay.

Pelicans on a water pipe near the resort

Sunset over the Gulf of St Vincent from the resort

Since internet connections have been erratic, at best, since leaving Adelaide, I will try to get this one posted today (in Marree). We have just had a great flight over Lake Eyre but more of that later. The following is just some background for those interested in why we are travelling where we are - following in the footsteps of early explorers. At various stages of this blog, I shall refer to 'discoveries' and these references are to discovery by Europeans, most if not all, already being familiar to the various Aboriginal groups. Once again we shall be travelling in the footsteps (approximately) of some of Australia's early explorers. Last time our route covered ground explored by Edward Eyre, Thomas Mitchell and, of course, Burke & Wills but also touched on many other explorers' discoveries, not least Charles Sturt who discovered and named Lake Alexandrina which we saw behind the Coorong when we visited the area on the last trip. The foremost explorer on our route this time is John McDouall Stuart. On our last trip, when we were in Glen Innes, NSW, I picked up a copy of "Great Australian Explorers" by Marcia McEwan and I have used this since then as my main source, backed up, of course by Wikipedia and the excellent Aussie Towns website. In the Flinders Ikara Ranges we shall be covering ground that both Edward Eyre and Stuart covered in their explorations. In 1839, exploration had only extended about 120km north of Adelaide and Eyre, with his overseer, John Baxter, and their party pushed into the Flinders Ranges before turning back and followed the Murray before crossing back to Adelaide.

From Adelaide, we head north to the Flinders Ranges, partly as we loved the area when we visited last year but also as it is a good waypoint on the way to Marree from where we cross the Oodnadatta Track and William Creek Track to Coober Pedy and points north.

Today's drive was a long one but, as we gained time crossing back into Western Australia, we arrived at our overnight stop in good time. On our way across the Nullarbor, we stopped at a couple of rest areas before reaching the border, one of which gave some good views of the Bunda Cliffs.

Two views looking east along the cliffs

Looking back towards where we had come from

A Nullarbor skink

On reaching the border, we took a break for coffee and to take photos of the Big Kangaroo which marks the start of Hole 6, the Border Kangaroo, on the Nullarbor Links Golf Course.

The Big Kangaroo

The fairway looks a bit rough!

Name and details of this hole

Additional hazards are encountered

Continuing on our way west, we stopped just after Mundrabilla at Jillah Waterhole Rest Area. This was quite pleasant and we found a few flowers amidst the fresher growth. We heard plenty of birds but didn't see many and none in photographic range.

Two big Beasts at the rest area

Some of the attractively treed part of the rest area

The bush looks a bit greener now

And it contains some attractive flowers including this zygophyllum billardierei

Shortly after arrival at Madura Pass Oasis Motel, we found the tee for hole 9 of the Nullarbor Golf Links Course, Brumby's Run, just by the motel. This had changed management since we stayed last year and although the accommodation was much the same, the service in the restaurant was appalling. I hope they sort that out as it is a useful stopping point.

The tee for hole 9, Brumby's Run

The information board for Brumby's Run

The bush does look a little greener and it would seem the birds enjoy the recent rains as, on a short late afternoon walk into the woodland behind the motel, I came across fairy-wrens (too skittish for photographs), weebills (very close up) and sittellas which are a first for us.

A weebill

A pair of sittellas

On Tuesday, we made an early start and as we travelled along the Eyre Highway had an escort of a black kite parallelling us for a while quite close to the vehicle. We've seen plenty of these birds in our travels but none quite so close. Just after having a very good breakfast at Cocklebiddy, where we found Hole 10 of the Nullarbor Golf Links Course, Eagle's Nest, we saw a couple of birds in a tree and they turned out to be, very appropriately, wedge-tailed eagles, a cause for further delay! While looking at the eagles, we also spotted a little wildflower which thus far remains unidentified - any help would be welcomed.

Wedgetail Inn Hotel

Population statistics!

Tee and information sign for Eagle's Nest hole

Pair of wedge-tailed eagles

Wedge-tailed eagle in flight

Little white wildflower!

Once again we encountered the Ninety Mile Straight, just before reaching Caiguna. We took a break from the straight, beyond Caiguna, at Domblegabby Rest Area and enjoyed a cup of coffee. I wandered off to see what wildflowers there may be, a few but there was not a great deal other than eremophila which was nice to see as we grew several varieties in our garden in Perth. I came back and found Judith chatting up a young Danish cyclist, Mats. He was taking a break from cycling from Perth to Sydney (and the Blue Mountains)! Understandably, he was glad of some company and a cup of coffee. He had already run a marathon and after his bike ride, he planned on climbing Mount Doom (aka Ngauruhoe) in New Zealand. He is evidently a Lord of the Rings fan as well as someone who needs a regular challenge. He was very keen but told us that the headwinds he had experienced along the Nullarbor had reduced him to tears - let's hope he made it all the way. Just before leaving we had a visit from some friendly galahs.

The eastern end of the longest straight road in Australia

Eremophila shrub, also known as emu or poverty bush)

Flowers of the eremophila

We can never resist taking pics of galahs

We continued to Balladonia which seemed to have smartened itself up since we came through last year. We enjoyed coffee and toasted sandwiches there before pressing on to Fraser Range Station where we had planned to spend two nights. At this stage of our journey we were brassed off with a shambles of a check-in process and although the room was nice enough, we decided that one night would do. There was no map of the station other than a scrappy trail map which was rather difficult to follow. In the room, there was no toaster or washing up facility. We don't mind using a camp kitchen but prefer to breakfast on our own so although the place has had good reviews, for us it was a work-in-progress. In essence, it was more like a motel than what we have come to expect of station stays - a pity. The area around the accommodation is attractively planted and the bush is quite interesting without much life, although we did see our first camel, albeit not really feral.

Some attractive bush on the station

'Skippy' disturbed by us walking

Camel in the trees, not exactly feral

Good old faithful emu

A station horse enjoying a roll in the dust late in the day

Fraser Range, was originally founded in 1870 by John and Alexander Forrest but was only settled two years later by the Dempster brothers, becoming the first sheep station on the Nullarbor Plain. It had been a sheep station since then but, after problems with a high density of wild dogs, switched to cattle only three years ago. These are Santa Gertrudis cattle which were developed in Texas. The station is also home to the Sheep's Back hole of the Nullarbor Golf Links.

From Fraser Range we made a good start the following day and enjoyed travelling through the Great Western Woodland, although not all was what I would describe as 'woodland'. We stopped at Fraser Range Rest Area where we had a view over a dry lake which we think may be the edge of Lake Dundas. This area had some interesting birds but also more of the dreaded March flies!

Two views of the dry lake area

Two views of a brown-headed honeyeater

An Australian ringneck parrot, or '28'

The Great Western Woodlands cover almost 16 million hectares and is the largest remaining intact Mediterranean climate woodland on Earth. More than 3,000 species of plants are found here, including 20% of Australia's eucalypt species. I wish we had know about this before getting there as it clearly merits closer inspection, although probably Spring is a better time to visit. It stretches from just east of Cocklebiddy to just north west of Mukinbudin and from north of Kalgoorlie almost down to the coast, quite a feature. Some of it made me wonder how it could be called woodland but some was really great to see and full of wildlife.

One of the road trains we met on the way around, just near Norseman

In Norseman, which again failed to impress us!, we had coffee and cake (which did impress!) before carrying on but hadn't got far out of town when we passed a very long train and decided to get ahead of it and take some photos. I got none as I was wearing a blue shirt and March flies just tried to eat me alive! In the end, even Judith didn't manage to get much worth mentioning as she was also bugged although not quite as badly. After a while, we had one more stop as we found a nice stretch of the woodland.

New bark on eucalypust, not sure which species, possibly Salmon Gum?

Great Western Woodlands

Immature grey butcherbird

On finally reaching Kalgoorlie, as our room was not ready, we made for Mt Charlotte Reservoir Lookout but kept our exposure to a minimum as it was stinking hot! The views were good but we were glad to get down and into our room where we started to cool off a bit.

With great regret, we have listed the Beast on Gumtree and already have some offers - this is all coming to and end far too soon, although there are probably a couple of blogs to complete the trip and then we have South Africa for a short trip before getting back to England.

Panoramic view from Mt Charlotte

View over the city

View of the adjacent mine and the Museum of the Goldfields

Replica of Paddy Hannan's statue in the city