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Central Australia Trip Part 1 - September 2000
Bernie & Stephen took their first trip to Central Australia, doing 6,000Km in 2 weeks. We left Melbourne and headed to Adelaide before heading basically due north-north-east along the Stuart Highway towards Alice Springs.
Beware of the Road Trains!
This truck (left) pulled out in front of us near Port Augusta as we reached the 100 Kph zone. We had to slow to 30 Kph before we were able to overtake him. This is the longest road train on the road!
Eagles (left) leave the roadside kill feast as we head to Coober Pedy to spend our third night in an underground motel! (right).
200 Km before Alice at Eridunda, we turned off to the west for Uluru National Park to see the Olgas (right, photo at sunset) and Ayer's Rock.
Bird life (Spinifex Pigeon) and Tiny Dragons at Uluru
The full moon sets over Uluru at dawn (left). We had tried to get a shot of the rising moon at the Olgas the night before.
From there we went to King's Canyon and took the Mereenie Loop thru Aboriginal land to Hermannsburg and a visit to Standley Chasm (right) before staying at Alice Springs. Can you spot the three Budgerigars (left) in the tree top - try on the bigger shot by clicking on this small one. Well camouflaged aren't they?
Bernie decides that a swim in the Todd River (left) at Alice Springs is a way to cool off!
The Trip home via the Oodnadatta Track
Now it was time to start heading home down the Stuart Highway to Kulgera.
More of the Road Train, parked at Kulgera.
Doesn't show its length from the front, but look at how long it really is. Make sure there
is plenty of road before overtaking!
From Kulgera it was short run to Marla to pick up the Oodnadatta Track - more of a dirt freeway than a track these days! It had been recently graded and was 4 car wide for most of the way. Just take care thru the dips, where the road drops down 2 to 5 metres (6 to 15 feet)! We followed the whole track to Marree, with a detour at Williams Creek into Lake Ayer, which had flooded after heavy rains in far north Queensland a few months earlier.
The Williams Creek parking meter (left) comes from Melbourne City Council. Proceeds go to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, an essential emergency and health service for Rural Australia.
This tree just out of Williams Creek bears the carcasses of feral cats. They escape into the outback and feed on Australian Marsupials and are causing the destruction of entire species. The Farmers and the Army uses ferals for target practice. This tree is obviously a reminder to city folk about what a nuisance unwanted pets can become.
Our trip started with Bernie wanting to see the bird life that had migrated to Lake Eyre when it flooded a few months earlier. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, only Seagulls remained. Here (left) we have about 10 Km to go to Lake Eyre and we stopped to look at the barren landscape. Note the 3 Seagulls which immediately landed. Nothing grows out here due to the salt!
Lake Eyre is usually a salt lake (right). It floods once every 10 years or so. Within days of the lake flooding (seen between foreground and horizon), birds from Victoria, and other parts of Australia flew in to breed and feed on the fish washed down the rivers over 1000km in length from Far North Queensland which had exceptionally heavy rains. [Lake Eyre has had more flooding since then, so I now think that it is no longer every 10 years or so - SJT 25/5/2022].
Australian Flora & Fauna
Here is a Blue Tongue Lizard (far left), Frill Neck Lizard (left) and the world famous Sturt's Desert Pea (right)
Marree is the end of the Oodnadatta Track. From Marree, it was down thru Leigh Creek and Hawker to Peterborough to pick up the Barrier Highway, which we followed to Broken Hill and visited Delprats Mine (right), the original BHP Mine.
From Broken Hill we headed home to Melbourne via Mildura and the Calder Highway.