Monday 9 May 2016

9. GAMMON RANGES TO THE OODNADATTA TRACK

We traveled ever Northward from the Flinders Ranges to the Gammon Ranges...Home of Arkaroola and more Gorges to explore.  Our camp was in a place called Wetootla Gorge.  It was a lovely little National Park Camp and we as usual went to explore the  gorge.  I especially like the dry river beds.
I thought I would include a picture of something a little different for all those who 
don't get out of their comfort zone for fear of using anything less than a flushing loo.
Looks reasonably civilized, maybe they have septic out here???  Wrong again - it's a long drop!!
What will it be like inside????

 See....Still reasonably civilized!!!  You just open the lid and there's a deep deep hole!  The chimney at the back is to let the facility breathe, so it doesn't smell.  Admittedly this was a pretty new one but its better than nothing when you are in the bush.
We left the ranges and made our way to Leigh Creek.  Its a nice place but the town is dying as they have closed down the coal mine.  We were welcomed to the carvan park by Scotty and his dog Foxy Lady and had a good shady site.
But Leigh Creek was a place of mixed fortunes for us. Firstly we had the Truck 'keyed' at the shopping centre, purposely parked it away down the end as we still had the trailer attached.
The following day we ventured out to see Old Beltana Township but didn't quite make it.
This was the result of hitting an Emu!!!  I said they were the stupidest creatures !!  Two of them just launched out in front of us from the bushes, Dave managed to avoid them as they changed direction twice, and then one thought better and changed again - Bang!!!  Thank you 'ECB' your bull bar saved the day, otherwise i would have had an Emu in my face!!!
The following morning we noticed a fellow camper had a flat tyre, and being out miles from anywhere Dave offered a hand and plugged the tyre for him so he could get somewhere to have it fixed properly.  It must have given us good Karma as when we again tried to go to Beltana, we had issues with our fuel filter and it ended up with a young guy stopping to help us and he towed us 6K with his cattle truck to Beltana station where he was from, so he could use his big compressor to get the fuel pumped up and we could continue.  Thank you big time Towa!  (that was his name - truly)
Beltana Station was worth the visit and we recommend it by the way!
As we have been travelling, it has been pretty obvious that we are in desert country, that is until you come across a site like this.  It just seems so out of place out here!
A lot of strange things have appeared on the side of the roads - check this out!
Not sure of the significance of him but he was big!
We disturbed this guy while he was having lunch - check out the look !
Eagle with ATTITUDE!
Some times just the sight of a road sign can make us smile - especially after days in the dirt!
but we generally find ourselves back in the dirt again ....this is the Oodnadatta track!
You sometimes wonder why people do the things they do??  A sculpture park,way out in the middle of nowhere, free access and massive statements........but what?
There were some strange ones.....and some quirky ones.
Then finally, another landmark spot on our journey.
Its huge and its White!!!!

Our camp for tonight is at William Creek, at a campsite run by the pub. Not a bad one and its comforting to know that here in the outback, no expense is spared on state of the art safety equipment.
But hey - this is the bush and with our nightime vista - who can complain.......















1 comment:

  1. You may be interested to know that the 'stone man' you saw is an Inukshiuk which means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path." Cheers, Marie

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