Cooper Creek Ferry Figures for 2012

Submitted: Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:25
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Hi All

It has been a long time since I have been able to post the ferry figures like I was able to do last year. The reason for this is my contact within Transport SA has taken a senior roll for the next 18 months and she has been flat out in her new position.

After a number of emails and phone calls to Juanita, she has been able to take time and compose the following figures for me, so here they are. I will give a months figure at a time and then I will give a complete detailed break up at the end.

Those that have been following my details will be aware that the ferry commenced operation for the second time in 2011 on the 22nd June 2011 and here they are:

Total vehicles that crossed from the 22nd June until 30th June 2011

227 vehicles, 585 people and 375 crossing with the busiest day on the 29th June and 42 vehicles ferried.

From the 1st July until the end July 2011

1513 vehicles, 4215 people, 2245 crossings and busiest day on the 12th July and 71 vehicles ferried.

From 1st August until the 31st August 2011

1504 vehicles, 3964 people, 2337 crossings and the busiest day on the 31st August with 107 vehicles ferried.

1st September until until the 12th September 2011

801 vehicles, 1949 people, 1369 crossings and the busiest day on the 1st September with 107 vehicles ferried.

Total Four wheel drive ferried until 12th September 3493
Total Number of Car ferried until 12th September 91
Total number of Buses ferried unit 12th September 295
Total number of Motor Cycles ferried unit 12th September 166
The 10,000 person crossed on the 6th September 2011.

So until my next updates, it is still not too late to head up to the Cooper Creek Ferry and experience a piece of history.

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Cheers


Stephen
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Reply By: lancie49 - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:32

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:32
Hold that pose fellers...............

I'll be there in 3 weeks..........
Am I lookin forward to it.....?

JUST A BIT !!!!

Stephen, again, thanks for all the effort you put into keeping us all updated on what's happening up there.
I realise it's a great burden for you........... but let it be known you are appreciated ;-)

Yep, only 3 weeks ..........YAY
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:59

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:59
Hi Lancie

You will hate every minute that you are there...LOL, from noisy neighbours

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Shocking Sunsets

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Everyone wants to be on the water at once

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Overcrowded camp sites

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and of course nothing to do when you get there

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Have a great time and make sure that you take some spending money and do the Cooper Cruise with Peter and let Paul the helicopter pilot show you what it is like from the air.


Have a Ball.


Cheers


Stephen
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Follow Up By: lancie49 - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:09

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:09
Bugga, and I thought I'd have the place to meself,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ohh well, I guess I'll cope somehow.

Thinking about a flight from Marree on the way up, and then the cruise with Peter and maybe the heli flight as well.
I'll see how much lunch money the boss gives me before I leave home.

Will you be back up there again this season Stephen ?


Lance
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:13

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:13
Hi Lance

I am not sure, but it looks like may be not. If time was permitted, I could have thought of no where better than to spend a week there, it was just unreal.

My only advise is stay as long as you can and you will talk about if for the rest of your life.


Have a great time.


Cheers


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Reply By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:58

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:58
Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the updates on the ferry.

Got told last Sunday by the Ferry operator it was my "last trip across on the Ferry as I've used up all my frequent flyer points"( we were going across to the North side to get some wood for the fire). I hope he was only joking.

Spent Sat afternoon and all day Sunday there just watching the Ferry, the planes, boats and the bird life go by what a great way to relax after a big holiday.

Cheers

Graham
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:08

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:08
Hi Graham

Great to hear you also have a great time out there on the Cooper.

Yes they must use that line all the time, and I know that it is in fun only. When we went to get wood, also on the northern side, we were a long time and collected enough for 2 days. When we got back, they said that we were gone long enough to drive to Birdsville and Back....LOL

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Cheers


Stephen
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:11

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:11
Hi again Stephen,

Love the firewood holder do they come in different colours? LOL

Seriously a previous photo looks similar to our camp spot with pure sand all the way to the water.

Cheers

Graham
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:27

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:27
Hi Graham

Yes that special wood carrier is available in Blue, Red, Green and Yellow, but when we purchased it a few years ago it was either orange or orange...LOL

We had a sandy patch, with small bits of grass into the water. The bottom was all sandy and we had a ball out on the water with the kayak.


Cheers


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Reply By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:10

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:10
Hi Stephen, I will be out there in 10 days and will have my trailer on and hope old mate is still out there with his truck to take my trailer across. Could you let us know how much the truck costs and also the chopper flight and river cruise please so I can make sure I have enough cash. Can't wait it seems the days are dragging on at the moment, need to get away. Cheers Mick
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Follow Up By: lancie49 - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:23

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:23
I think
Heli flight = $85 (15mins)
Cruise = $75
Truck = $75

Stephen could confirm or correct.
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Follow Up By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:38

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 20:38
Thanks Lancie49, can't take too much money I guess. Cheers Mick
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:08

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 21:08
Hi Mick

Peter will be there for the duration of the ferry, so you will have no problems, as the talk is that the ferry could run until Christmas. Peter does put priority over customers wanting do his cruise, but otherwise it usually take around an hour for the camper and vehicles to cross, buy the time you secure the camper to the back of his flat top, get over, you get over and then re hitch to your vehicle. The cost was $85.

The cruise is $50 per person and is money well spent, as the cruise lasts 1 1/2 hours and Peter is a wealth of history for the area and can tell you what ever bird on the Cooper is.

There are 3 flights from the ferry site. The first is $85 per person and lasts for 20 minutes and take you out to the Birdsville Track to where the Cooper has cut the track and then back. When you are in the air, it seems like you are going only slow, but I took my GPS and were sitting on about 180 kph which surprised me. The second flight which we also took takes you out to the old Mission, lands there and do a good tour of the place and this flight was $170 per person and was just over an hour.

The biggest and longest flight was 4 hours and $340 per person, went as far out as Lake Eyre and Back. If you run out of cash, Paul can take credit card details.


Have a Ball, as I know that you will.



Cheers


Stephen
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Follow Up By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 14:35

Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 14:35
Thanks Stephen, I will say g'day to Peter for you while I am there. I will be taking my own Cooper with me (Cooper James) and will try to get some Coopers beer to have with him as you suggested last time I was on the Cooper ( he can't have any, too young) Cheers Mick
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Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 22:57

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 22:57
Us crossing it around the 6th ..........
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 23:03

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 at 23:03
Hi Joe n Mel n Kids

Good to see you arriving on the southern side. I hope you enjoyed the crossing and your time at the Cooper.

Cheers


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Reply By: Members - Bow & Nan - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 08:12

Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 08:12
Score Board



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Follow Up By: Members - Bow & Nan - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 08:17

Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 08:17
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 09:10

Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 09:10
Hi Bow and Nan

Great to see you had a crossing. I thought that you would have washed your car to make it look tip top for the occasion....LOL

Thanks for the images.

ps, the score board was for when the ferry ran for 7 months last year from June until January this year. As you can see, the figures for this time around are shaping up quite well.



Cheers


Stephen
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Reply By: Member - Tony (ACT) - Sunday, Sep 18, 2011 at 07:28

Sunday, Sep 18, 2011 at 07:28
Wife and I camped at the crossing. over the race weekend. It took 20 hours for the vehicle that arrived in front of us to cross. The line up was over 1 and 1/2 k long.
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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Sunday, Sep 18, 2011 at 09:14

Sunday, Sep 18, 2011 at 09:14
Hi Tony

That would have been one sight to see and I hope that you took a few images of it. There was a picture in the Advertiser taken from the air and it is very hard to believe that there were that many vehicles all waiting to cross.

Thanks for the reply.



Cheers


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Reply By: Member - John R (cQld) - Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 17:43

Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 17:43
Hi Stephen

Although this thread is now getting a bit old (we're just back from our Flinders trip) I thought you might be interested in this pic of some minor repairs being carried out on the ferry. A roller replacement, if I remember correctly, and it only took ten minutes to do. The repair was done by the "mechanics" whilst the normal ferry crew were having lunch, and they then ferried us across.
It was great to be one of the statistics you quoted above at last, and an amazing sight to see all that water out in the desert.

Cheers, John


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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:21

Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:21
Hi John

Thanks for that image. I wonder if they had to draw straws to see who was going to don the waders...LOL

Great you had a great time.



Cheers


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Reply By: Member - cuffs (SA) - Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 20:27

Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 20:27
Thanks for your reports Stephen.
I have now crossed on the Ferry before & after the lengthening.



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Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:23

Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:23
Hi Cuffs

I bet you had a good time away and good to see that you have experienced both crossings.



Cheers



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