DougOutOnTheRiver 03

Broken Hill to Port Augusta

This leg was a little frustrating, as I had planned to drive to Leigh Creek/Copley (the end of the tar), then on dirt to Marree, a flight over Lake Eyre, and on up the Birdsville Track to Birdsville then hang a left across the Simpson Desert to Dalhousie Springs. This didn't happen - roads over all this normally dry area were flooded and closed.

Planes got bogged on the airstrip at Willam Creek, and the only way north was via the tar road - a 500 km detour back to Port Augustand back up the Stuart Highway to Coober Pedy.

In Broken Hill

I had one pair of Blundstone boots but they got wet - so I bought another pair with elastic sides like the farmers do. I got a free beanie too! Only problem was they had no laces so I couldn't tie them just outside my elevated tent home, they had to come inside (yuk!).





I went to the top of a big pile of rocks in town and had lunch. I noted that Pro Hart's daughter Julie Hart had some paintings on sale there, so I went to her gallery in town and bought a great acrylic painting of a Flooded Creek as a reminder of the trip ... it's now on holiday with me.






And now some vital pieces of info from the Broken Hill streetscape ...




Ororoo

Then back down the Barrier Hwy into SA, cutting a corner off to reach Ororoo campground just on sunset. Next day there was a need to repack the Troopie by replacing some Reject Shop plastic boxes that had broken, with new ones I bought in BH finishing up with fewer boxes ...






Leigh Creek/Copley

The end of the tar on the way to Marree where I had flight booked across Lake Eyre - roads closed due to rain. I waited a day in Copley to see if it would dry out and re-open - no such luck.
The nice lady at the Copley Campground rang her mate Dougie the pilot at Arkaroola, and it turned out he had a seat or two available on a flight next day, and agreed to drop into Leigh Creek airstrip to pick me up, saving a 4 hour return trip in the Troopie.
Then followed a memorable 3 hour flight over Cooper Creek and North and South Lake Eyre. The Cooper was in flood and spreading over the country. It had cut the Birdsville Track and an ancient ferry (made of 44 gallon drums) was in operation. We flew over it and watched the queue of 4WDs waiting to get across. A few pelicans but not many on the Cooper. Funniest were the three tinnies racing down the river - usually this is a dust bowl!
Over Lake Eyre - it was full, with 85% of the water coming down the Warburton and rest from the Cooper. We could see the Waburton Channel clearly - the path that the river dug when it initially started to filll the Lake many years ago.









A night in the Flinders

I had to make the decision to backtrack on the tar to Port Augusta to eventually make my way north via Coober Pedy - very sad as I had been looking forward to a dash across the Simpson Desert (named after the washing machine man interestingly).
On the way back I noticed the Flinders Ranges on my left and decided to detour there for a night as my trip last time had been a bit rushed.
Very cold and no firewood, but a delightful sighting of a mother emu and her fi ve "chicks" (bigger than a full grown goose!) fossicking for food. A walk along a trail in Bunyroo Gorge then back on the road south to Hawker.
I bought some provisions there and admired the only Sturt Desert Pea plant in a planter box that I saw - they seem to grown very selectively and apparently are hard to cultivate.








Then onto Port Augusta (no pix) and a very bad reef and beef meal - why does the quality of the seafood increase as you get further from the sea?

Now on to Coober Pedy and some underground rooms in the next blog ...


Desert Doug