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Perth-Coober Pedy | Coober Pedy - Birdsville | Life Around Birdsville | Birdsville - Kulgera | Kulgera - Perth

Coober Pedy - Birdsville
DAYS 9 - 12

Day 9	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Tuesday 11/6/02	Coober Pedy	Dalhousie Springs	378.3 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
0:33 hrs	77.9 km/hr	4:51:33 hrs	100.7 km/hr

Although Coober Pedy is a bustling metropolis with 2 caravan parks, numerous motels, hotels, cabins, and backpacker resorts, 3 servos, 2 supermarkets and 2 bottleshops - there is no cryovac meat available. I find this strange considering the distances most people would be travelling from Coober Pedy to their next major destination. Anyhow, the lack of cryovac didn't really affect our immediate needs but I had hoped to have it for the return trip from Birdsville. Buying meat in bulk from major centres and having it put in cryovac simply means you can buy it at the right price, rather than pick up little bits of frozen stuff, which is usually poorer cuts of meat at exorbitant prices from roadhouses.

I should mention here that we were told to use the coin operated water pump in town rather than fill up our water tank from the caravan park. I suppose someone has to pay for the water! I'm not sure if its a new facility or whether we just missed it last time, anyhow we found the pump on the northern end of the main street on the outskirts of town opposite the independent fuel outlet. We had to wrestle with the stupid thing though - and spent 20c for 2 drops of water!#$* The hose had a kink in it, but the pump doesn't measure water dispersed but is based on running time so we'd done our money for nothing. David threw a tantrum (not pretty I assure you), and needed some convincing to try again. This time the water came out at such a fast flow that the hose jumped out of the filler and water spilled all through the vehicle (our filler is inside the rear window, near the pillows!). I observed yet another tanty, now over 40c worth of wasted water, but I sympathised as we didn't have anymore change (having spent over $10 worth of change in the washing/dryer machines). Third time lucky and 20c bought us about 30L in a matter of seconds. So be warned if you intend using this fine piece of council wizardry.

We headed out of town to the NE via the Moon Plains along the signed route to Oodnadatta. We have never actually been on this track. On the way in from the Anne Beadell you enter Coober Pedy from the west, and previously we have both entered and departed CP via the William Creek track to the east. 

The Moon Plain has been used in many well known movies, including Mad Max. For as far as you can see in a 360° direction the ground is bare of anything but gibber.  We stopped and played with the video taking various action photos because its a great place to kick up the dust.

The 197km run from CP to Oodnadatta took us 2hrs 20minutes. Having spent some time in Oodnadatta on a previous occasion, we barely stopped for than 10minutes (just enough to buy the last cold ice-cream) before continuing on towards Dalhousie Springs. We had heard that the trip was currently taking about 3˝ hrs, but we found it was a good trip and we did it in 2˝ hrs. Again, having done this trip before we had the advantage of knowing what to expect as there are many very rough creek crossings and sudden dips and the odd bit of bulldust. 

Dalhousie Ruins - just 9kms before Dalhousie Springs

When you travel with a toddler (same probably goes for kids of any age), getting to the destination before dark is a priority. Leah had been told about the warm swimming pool for days and by now she was constantly saying "swim... pool". We pulled into the campsite with the dying light and managed to get our campsite setup in record time and then gear off for swim in the fabulous warm spring water. The new toilet block offers cold showers, so we all made do with a hot swim.

Dalhousie Springs

Day 10	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Wednesday 12/6/02	Dalhousie Springs	Bush camp between Colson Track and Erabena Track	153.2 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
0.34 hrs	37.7 km/hr	4:03 hr	86.7 km/hr

There were probably 20 cars in camp last night and only half left today. When you get talking to people it is surprising the number that have only dropped in to visit the spring and are not there at the end or start of a desert crossing.

We are probably quite different to other travellers because we opt to travel solo and do our best to put as much space between ourselves and others. So when in a crowded situation we watch what's going on and either wait for everyone else to move out or we rush out to get ahead. Either way, we find that travelling in convoy with a group that is not your own quite undesirable. We also find hearing other travellers radio conversation quite tiresome and annoying, especially if the trip leader is "educating" his followers with stories of "... when I was here 5 years ago....".

So it was 10.30am when we left camp and headed out along the Spring Creek Delta Track. There has been some talk of a "new" track, which confused us because you can't make out any other track. I think the whole track has been slightly rerouted so its hardly worth mentioning as there is no diversion - you just follow the track (or pack) ahead of you.

The flow at Purnie Bore has been restricted - it really was a waste of water but now you cannot see that beautiful blue pond or go swimming. The picture below is of Leah at PB and its all quite dry. The wildlife viewing hut is still up the back in the reeds and there seems to still be water further up that way with plenty of screeching from the birds indicating that this is still a favourite spot.

In all, it takes about an hour of driving after leaving Dalhousie before you come to the first dune and it was not until after lunch that we started the French Line at Freth Junction.

From Freth Junction we took 1hr 40 minutes to reach the Colson Track and it was all low range (4th) over sandy dunes. There's nothing too steep or difficult but most dunes have twists at the top in softer sand. These are just single lane narrow tracks so using a desert flag and using your radio to periodically check for oncoming traffic is very wise.

After setting up camp I walked Leah back up the last dune we had descended to burn off some energy. She was having a ball - running, face-planting and throwing sand everywhere, including in her mouth...  It's a good place to bring a toddler.

Dinner: Moroccan Lamb with Couscous (camp oven).

Day 11	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Thursday 13/6/02	(1˝hrs drive before Erabena Track)	Poepell's Corner	112.2km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
2:02 hr	22.3km/hr	5:02 hr	50.8 km/hr

Breakfast: jaffles (egg, bacon, cheese)

The desert seems even better this time for me - and having Leah enjoy it so much is even better. This section is very slow, bumpy and twisty and there are not many good camping options from our start point towards the Erabena.

After the Erabena junction there are many very good camping options most of the way towards Poepells corner, particularly around the salt lakes before the Knolls track turnoff. From the French Line you can actually see the Knolls as you approach the turn to the AAK track on the right. We are keen to reach Birdsville quickly so we did not deviate from the French Line on this trip.

By mid afternoon we realised we could probably make it to Poepells Corner just before sunset but then Leah was carsick again. We were only about 15mins drive from the corner so after a cleanup we pressed on until we got there right on sunset. Surprisingly we were the only campers - although we could hear a convoy talking on the UHF not too far away. 

We listened in for some time and could make out that they were trying to find Poepells Corner. We nearly laughed ourselves crazy as the group of 6 vehicles whizzed along the western edge of the salt pan totally missing the deep furrows and mazes of tracks across the middle of the salt lake that lead directly to the corner post. They overshot the track by a few kilometres before turning back and then we watched in amazement as they started to head deeper into the desert to the west!. We had to let them know that Poepells was just a few hundred meters in front of their noses to the east as it was approaching dark. So David got on the radio and put out a call to them. 

They had themselves convinced there were right and were a little sceptical as to how we knew they were in the wrong place, because they couldn't see us. We had to explain that we were actually sitting at Poepells watching them drive by and hearing every word over the radio. We convinced them to turn around but even this was not without incident. One got bogged and needed to be snatched out so they missed the sunset and had to setup in the dark. It was probably the largest group we've seen in the desert, numbering 20 people in 6 cars (lots of kids) but they were all happy, easy-going folk who seemed to enjoy their first day of adventure in the Simpson Desert.

The thing that amazed us in all this was that a few of them actually had GPS units but like many people we find, they don't know how to use them. 

Day 12	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Friday 14/6/02	Poepells Corner	Birdsville	175.0 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
1:41 hr	37.2 km/hr	4:42 km/hr	97.6 km/hr

On our last trip across the French Line we took the track further east of Poepells Corner to pick up the K1 line north to where it meets the QAA line into Birdsville. This time we took the other route from Poepells by driving north along the edge of the salt lake besides Poepells before swinging east onto the QAA . We noted many excellent campsites along the route and enjoyed a sunny lunch spot while we washed and dried out the clothes that didn't escape Leah's carsickness yesterday.

The final approach into Birdsville before Big Red is a series of large dunes interspersed by large salt pans but finally you see this view ahead and that's Big Red - all 90m of it.

The right-hand picture shows 4 tracks over the dune. The one on the left is a downhill only (you'll see why if you go yourself). The centre track is always passable - depending on driver skill and vehicle. I can't stand being in the vehicle when David attempts stuff like this - I prefer to watch from behind the safety of my video lens. I still say its a male-thing so I let him have his fun. Meanwhile, I'm more interested to find one of the season's last cunningham bird flowers. At the end of it all, Leah was still sleeping soundly in the carseat, oblivious to the great places we take her.

We rolled into Birdsville just after lunchtime and settled ourselves in for an excellent holiday with Wolfgang and Karsten for 10 days, which you can read about in the next edition of our diary update.