21. – 23. May

Now it was time to start the Birdsville Track which connects Maree with Birdsville and was used as a drover route covering around 500km. It’s a dirt road and you and your car collects a lot of it. - The first night we’ve spend in Clifton a camp area with a bath tub. While pitching the tent the tub got filled with nice warm artesian water. So we could jump into the bath after the work was done. The best part was it had pressure jets so you could get a neck or lower back massage (depending where you were sitting).

There is another accessible bore bath along the track but that was not so nice. We had just a quick look, were amazed by the cockatoos in the trees and drove on. The last 40km were a bit challenging as you had to cross some water… if they couldn’t create a detour. One crossing was long and around 50cm deep but luckily we didn’t have any problem. Later we learnt that another Grand Vitara had to be towed through this crossing. - It didn’t have a snorkel to breath underwater! ;-) The air intake is at the front section of the engine room and positioned very low. So, ‘breathing’ water was pretty possible for a car without a snorkel or very high ground clearance. 

In Birdsville we drove in direction Big Red – but could just go until little red and then the road was closed. The lake had flooded the whole road and it must be deep. We could see one National Park Sign and it was standing half in water – no possibility to enter the Simpson Desert from Birdsville. We looked at the Waadi trees – an ancient tree which only grows in three areas. It looks like a pine tree and the wood is so hard you will even have problems with a chainsaw. They assume that the trees are around 500+ years old.

Cheers, Tom and Anja

 

 

 

15. – 20. May

Now it was time to cross the border into another state – South Australia. We had to pass the check-point for fresh fruits and fresh vegetables as they’re not allowed to be taken in. We stayed in Peterborough in a caravan park which had a guard cat – actually the cat was just lying around and you had to come close to check if it’s alive or not.

Later we drove to Port Pirie – we wanted to see water again but just saw the harbour with some coal/oil vessels. From Port Pirie we did a daytrip into the southern Flinders Ranges – via the Germain Gorge to Melrose. The Mawson and Heyson Trail (long distance walking and push-bike track from Adelaide) are going through this town. We did a little bit of the Mawson track – actually we walked to the lookout to the Cathedral Rock but were disappointed – there was nothing which resembled a Cathedral or everything was covered by trees. It must be great to do the push-bike track as it meanders through the forest. We returned via a Scenic Route and stopped at another Gorge hoping to see a yellow footed wallaby but we were not lucky.

We drove further north to have a look at the Northern Flinders as well. From Hawker we followed the road to Wilpena and then turned left into the Brachina Gorge a scenic dirt route going through the mountains. At the first stop we met a tour guide and he included us into his tour – so we received some background information about the mountains, the animals and other events which occurred in that area. One side track is actually called “geographic track of the Flinders”. In one area it is possible to see some stone pieces which were blown into this area by a meteor crash some hundred kilometers away. In another part you notice that the rocks have been under water as they show the typical wave lines. We saw a little mite which eats ants… it creates a little crater and when an ant tries to walk through/ over it, it normally falls into the middle and can’t escape. And we saw some yellow footed wallabies – at least there were some wallabies and they looked a little bit yellow through the camera lens. They were only 45m away but were so small you could hardly see them – well camouflaged and tiny.

Hawker has a seismograph at the Information Centre and of course we had a good look at it. Unfortunately it didn’t record anything while we were watching but anyway it was interesting and informative. One bloke explained that it even recorded the 2004 Tsunami. The seismograph is so sensitive, it records when the kangaroos eat the grass close by. Normally it gets two or three shock waves each day – when the coal mines in Leigh Creek and Roby Downs blast. The coal mine in Leigh Creek is an open cut and you could have a look at the hole. They even have two big machines on display – one tip-loader and a crane plus one old tyre. It was possible to touch the tyre and crawl into it as well as walk through the crane and sit behind the steering mechanism. – Leigh Creek is a mining town which means that all the grocery and petrol is sponsored by the mining company. With other words, you can get all the essential stuff for a decent price. In any other place out here you have to pay at least 50% more.

Have fun, Tom and Anja

 

 

 

 

9. – 14. May

We decided to do some part of the Darling River Run and followed the river up north via Pooncarie to Menindee. It was quite interesting that the Darling River had much more water in Wentworth (where it ends) than in Pooncarie or Menindee. In Menindee we stayed two nights at the Pamamaroo Lake which is a catchment area of the Darling River. The weir regulates how much water runs down the river to Wentworth and at the moment they’re still filling the lakes which we could notice very well. We had a camp fire going and the next morning that place was under  water. There are several lakes close to Menindee. – Menindee actually means “lakes made by man”. The nights felt like sleeping at the beach as the lake is so big it creates a lot of waves. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the free camping next to the lake. There  were a lot of other people doing the same. One Caravan or Campervan next to each other. Not at all a big surprise because these lakes are full of water only every 10-20 years. – Thanks to the flood water from Queensland!

 

Our next stop was Broken Hill – I wanted to see the “Living Desert & sculptures” again. This meant we drove directly to the Tourist Information to obtain the key and then headed out to the place. We arrived in the late afternoon and several  other people were waiting to see the sunset from this hill as well. But we could still have a look at the sculptures with the afternoon light and to be sure that we didn’t miss anything we returned the next morning to see them in the morning light. I have three favourite sculptures – the horse, the motherhood and the tiger moon. We went to the mining monument as well to see the city from the top and checked if the big red bench was  still there. While we were sitting on the bench, one long train rolled through Broken Hill – it looked like 3km long. Unfortunately we didn’t see the Indian-Pacific going through (wrong day or wrong time).

See you later, Tom and Anja

 

 

 

1. – 8. May

Finally it was time to leave Dubbo behind. We drove via Griffith to Mildura. We camped two nights in Griffith. This camp area is the main reserve from Griffith as well and I guess they like to teach their children how deer and donkeys look like – there are little fenced areas with the animals in. Keep that in mind and you know how we woke up  in the morning. - The donkey took over the rooster part and was responsible for waking everybody up in the morning.   

We spent some nights in Mildura enjoying the gym, the Murray River and bought new bigger tyres. When we bought our first set of all terrain tyres in the size 225/65R17, the selection was pretty limited. Only 3 different tyres were available. We bought Pirelli ATR, which are reinforced road tyres. Excellent on the road but wear  down ‘pretty fast’ offroad (we used them for 30000km). At Midur a (1.5 years later)  it was much better and we decided to go for wider tyres 235/65R17. The bigger size allowed us to choose from a bigger pole of brands. We narrowed it down to Pirelli AT, Bridgestone Dueller 694 XL and Cooper AT tyres. All of them are well known tyres and we ended up with the Bridgestone ones. There was a special on, $235 for each tyre instead $295. - All tyres cost $295 when not on special. – We choose wider tyres to get better performance on sand, which would become very important in a few weeks!

Unfortunately we didn’t see the paddle steamer “Ruby” in Wentworth as it was in the shed to be restored. But we saw several house boats on the Murray and Darling River. Again we were out of luck and no boat went on the Murray River into South Australia so the weir did not open while we were visiting. Anyway we enjoyed the view where the rivers joined and stood right in the middle of the two rivers. This was possible because there is a nice walk going up to the point where the two river become one.

Just 5km west of Wentworth are the Perry Hills Sand dunes an area in complete contrast to the rest. Suddenly the big sand dunes appear and you could think you’re in the desert. You can only drive around and walk up the dunes which we did. We played a little bit and let some Paddy Melons roll down the dunes. But we had to be careful not to open one of them as they are poisonous. The Paddy Melon is also known as Camel Melon. We saw so many of them and not only in this area, a lot of roads are lined with them. – As soon as you get some rain out here, these melons grow out of the ground like a ‘pest’.

Cheers, Tom and Anja