Painted Desert and Oodnadatta 4WD Track
OUTBACK SOUTH OF ALICE SPRINGS.
Our next big adventure was going to tackle some unsealed outback tracks that would takes us into some very remote and spectacular desert scenery the Red Centre of Australia is famous for south of Alice Springs.
This needed a bit of preparation and planning as help is a long way away if things go wrong. So with a tank full of diesel, full water tanks, lots of food and our PLB we set off from the Stuart Highway at a small place called Cadney Homestead.
The Painted Desert is an area about 100 kms east of relatively easy unsealed roads.
The Gibber Plains are distinctive and a very flat landscapes laid down millions of years ago when much of inland Australia was part of a huge inland sea. This has long disappeared and some of the subsequent erosion has revealed slopes of different colour sediments in reds, yellows, browns and many shades in between. The road was rough and corrugated in places so we slowed down at the dry river crossings to protect the truck and trailer as much as possible.
We stopped and did a short walk through the area known as the Painted Desert which sits on private land climbing to a lookout point about 50 meters above the valley. The temperature was again in the mid thirties which made walking any distance uncomfortable. We carried on driving into the late afternoon before reaching the intersection with the Oodnadatta Track.
The Oodnadatta is a famous stock route used in the past by farmers and cammeliers but now used mainly by 4WD owners keen to get a taste of the outback with its dry, dust and rusty red dirt that gets everywhere. Even into places I'm too polite to mention.
The following day we pushed onto Coward Springs which was an old Ghan Railway hotel but now has a rustic campground for weary travellers. We decided to stay a couple of nights and do a day trip to a couple of mound springs nearby. These natural springs are part of the Great Artesian Basin and flow naturally with relatively fresh water. This attracts lots of interesting plants and animals that make the most of water in otherwise a very dry place. The heat and evaporation are extreme and any surface water soon disappears leaving salt deposits in the classic low lying salt pans.
After our rest we pushed onto and around the bottom of Lake Ayre which sits at 15 meters below sea level. Much of the Outback river system drains into Lake Ayre and it fills with water from time to time. The last time it was full to over flowing was 30 years ago!!!!! Most years it has no water.
We took a walk down onto the salt flats here as well and the place is pretty extreme. Flat, white and featureless. Not a nice place for us humans, who are 80 percent water. Get caught out and you die in this place.
However we got lucky and trucked on towards Maree which marked the end of our outback excursion on unsealed roads.
We got through it OK and wondered how some vehicles survived given the speed some drivers hit those corrugations. For us it was a great experience and will stick with us for years to come.
All the best for now.
Rudy and Maria
Our next big adventure was going to tackle some unsealed outback tracks that would takes us into some very remote and spectacular desert scenery the Red Centre of Australia is famous for south of Alice Springs.
This needed a bit of preparation and planning as help is a long way away if things go wrong. So with a tank full of diesel, full water tanks, lots of food and our PLB we set off from the Stuart Highway at a small place called Cadney Homestead.
The Painted Desert is an area about 100 kms east of relatively easy unsealed roads.
The Gibber Plains are distinctive and a very flat landscapes laid down millions of years ago when much of inland Australia was part of a huge inland sea. This has long disappeared and some of the subsequent erosion has revealed slopes of different colour sediments in reds, yellows, browns and many shades in between. The road was rough and corrugated in places so we slowed down at the dry river crossings to protect the truck and trailer as much as possible.
We stopped and did a short walk through the area known as the Painted Desert which sits on private land climbing to a lookout point about 50 meters above the valley. The temperature was again in the mid thirties which made walking any distance uncomfortable. We carried on driving into the late afternoon before reaching the intersection with the Oodnadatta Track.
The Oodnadatta is a famous stock route used in the past by farmers and cammeliers but now used mainly by 4WD owners keen to get a taste of the outback with its dry, dust and rusty red dirt that gets everywhere. Even into places I'm too polite to mention.
The following day we pushed onto Coward Springs which was an old Ghan Railway hotel but now has a rustic campground for weary travellers. We decided to stay a couple of nights and do a day trip to a couple of mound springs nearby. These natural springs are part of the Great Artesian Basin and flow naturally with relatively fresh water. This attracts lots of interesting plants and animals that make the most of water in otherwise a very dry place. The heat and evaporation are extreme and any surface water soon disappears leaving salt deposits in the classic low lying salt pans.
After our rest we pushed onto and around the bottom of Lake Ayre which sits at 15 meters below sea level. Much of the Outback river system drains into Lake Ayre and it fills with water from time to time. The last time it was full to over flowing was 30 years ago!!!!! Most years it has no water.
We took a walk down onto the salt flats here as well and the place is pretty extreme. Flat, white and featureless. Not a nice place for us humans, who are 80 percent water. Get caught out and you die in this place.
However we got lucky and trucked on towards Maree which marked the end of our outback excursion on unsealed roads.
We got through it OK and wondered how some vehicles survived given the speed some drivers hit those corrugations. For us it was a great experience and will stick with us for years to come.
All the best for now.
Rudy and Maria
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