Friday 19 November 1999 - Flinders Range


I booked for a trip to the Australian outback and Uluru (Ayers Rock). I chose the Groovy Grape Getaway Company. They proposed a trip for 10 days from Adelaide to Adelaide at nearly 750 AU$.

So I had a lift at 7:30am at the bus station in Franklin street, Adelaide city. When I get on the bus, there was already some another tourists (we drove in the town to pick up the others). My sit was near the back.
We were 18 people from different nationalities and one drive, Scott. I don’t remember all name of everybody, but there was Lidia (Italia), Alex and Dominique (France), Annie (USA), Helena (German Swissland), Hiro (Japan), Theresa and 2 others girls (England), Iva, Simone, Aidi, one boy and one couple from Germany, one Lebanese, and finally one Dutch. And of course me

We left Adelaide at 8:30am by the highway one in the direction of Port Augusta. Arriving at Stirling North, close to Port Augusta, we bifurcated to the road 47 to Quorn, Hawker and Leigh Creek. Finally, we took a track 90km after Hawker to Parachilna gorge and arrived at 4:00pm in the Angorichina Village (our camping for the night).
During the way, we followed the Flinders Rangers, one part of the old Ghan railway, and saw some salted marsh near Port Pirie. By the way, I was surprised to sight some water level yardstick in the middle of wide plains. They were about 2 meters tall. It was really strange to see these items in a place where, at that moment, they didn’t look useful. But in fact, when it’s raining, the plain becomes full of rivers and lakes, which flood on and cover the road.
We did some pit stops at Port Wakefield, Quorn and Hawker. We had indeed some gear problems on the bus.

One of the first things which surprised me when we arrived to the camping was the number of flies. It was terrible! But it didn’t stop us to hike in the gorge during one hour and half. The gorge is gorgeous, with a lot of flowers near the stream. We could see some rock wallabies and some euros too. But it would have been impossible to take some picture. They were too shy and too far away. Unfortunately (sniff!).

This evening, we ate a barbecue after a long and restful shower. It was an occasion to taste a kangaroo meat. We drunk one or two beers before to go to sleep in 8 parts room. There was a short storm during the night which awaked me.



Saturday 20 November 1999 - Lake Eyre, William Creek

I awaked at 7 O’clock. A new bus had been arrived during the night for replacing the old broken’s.

We left at maybe 8:30 to Leigh Creek (the track beginning) and Marree. Before arriving in this small city, we stopped in an eremite house.

This man was living in the desert with his dog Bob, and made some handcraft. He was a little bit silly. Another thing, he was an active republican man and of course against the English queen (not so silly finally ). To prove myself, the Australian Republican flag was flying on his house.

Afterwards, we stopped at the Ochre Cliffs. These colored cliffs (white, yellow, orange, red…) had been used by aboriginal people as pigments.

Finally, we arrived at Marree for a short lunch.

When we finished, we restarted by the Oodnadatta track, following by this way the Old Ghan Railway. We were in the driest Australian desert and reached the salted Lake Eyre South. There was only three times water in this lake since European arriving.

After, we carried on our trip to the Mound Springs, on of the most amazing thing in this travel.
We were in a very dry desert with no water and no plants consequently and we arrived to a small hill. We climbed up and when we reached the top, we suddenly sighted a pool surrounding by a green grass. It was a waterhole and the hill has been shaping by the sediments coming from underground. From this incredible pool, loosed in the middle of the desert, was forming a narrow stream where green plants and flowers grew.

After this visit, we went straight away to William Creek, just stopping 5 minutes to pick up a swag fallen from the bus. A good occasion for taking a picture.

So we finally arrived to William Creek, the smallest town in South Australia.

Easy to understand when you know there is only 4 people who live in (1 couple with 2 children). But you could find plenty of things there: a plane runaway, a museum with some used space rockets and a 9 holes golf! Yes, it’s not a joke! A real golf in the desert, but without grass. Too less of water of course.
By the way, it was impossible to us to take a shower, linked to this problem. So we had to wait for the next day to reach Coober Pedy and a bathroom (with water).
We saw the sunset before the dinner and went to make a party in the William Creek’s pub, the most incredible I’ve never seen. There was on the walls and the ceiling plenty of business card, bras, t-shirt, flags, pictures, … about people who came there. It was amazing. The party was good and the beer expensive.
At nearly midnight, we went to sleep in swags under the stars. At 3:00am, I was awake because I felt cold. I didn’t take my sleeping bag. It was warm in the beginning of the night. So I wore a pull-over from my bag for finishing the night. Too lazy to get up and take up my sleeping bag from the bus.

During this day, I saw a lot of Australian biggest eagles, eating on carcass, like I would see during all this trip.