June 8 (Day 397) - Oodnadatta to Marree

 Oodnadatta is a pretty small town, similar in feel to Birdsville. We dropped into the Pink Roadhouse for a coffee and a bit of food. Fuel was about $2 per litre so we were thankful we filled up all the jerry cans at $1.52/L in Marla.

The Pink Roadhouse, Oodnadatta

Inside the Pink Roadhouse - included a decent enough sized store

The Oodnadatta Track

Some of the many old ruins along the Oodnadatta Track

The Oodnadatta Track runs parallel to the old Ghan railway line. As you may remember from our entry last year when we popped up this way after covering the Birdsville Track, the Ghan railway line ran this way up until 1980. It originally followed this path because it was the old Afghan camel trading route, which itself went this way because there was a steady supply of water from mound springs, which themselves were a result of this route sitting on the edge of the Great Artesian Basin. This ready supply of water was equally essential for the steam engines. However apart from this, it wasn't the best route for a railway line, because when it rained it really rained, and the flat open area meant plenty of flooding. For this reason the railway line was often washed out. The towns along the Oodnadatta Track were primarily railway maintenance hubs housing workers and the supporting infrastructure (pubs, post offices, bakeries etc) so when there was a washout the line could be repaired quickly.

Once locomotives moved from steam to diesel power, the proximity to the water supply was no longer necessary, and the constant washouts were inconvenient enough to justify moving the railway line west through Pimba and Tarcoola, which is where it runs today. Consequently, the key points of interest along the Oodnadatta Track relate to the historical association with the railways - ruined water towers, maintenance sheds, accommodation and other related infrastructure.

Most of the day was just driving, and it was in many respects similar to the Birdsville Track in the countryside. There were patches of gibber plain, lots of open plains but with coverage of shrubbery. Interesting enough. However compared to our expectations, overall the Oodnadatta Track was a bit of a disappointment, because once you got past the nice scenery, there wasn't really a lot to see apart from ruins every now and then, and after a while these cease to hold too much interest unless you're a real historian. We did acknowledge that our perspective might have been a bit skewed by having seen the lower (more interesting, in our opinion) section before, and also having been pretty spoiled by other parts of our trip. The Oodnadatta Track has an artesian spring; but it's nothing like the springs in Katherine or the freshwater Manning River in the Kimberley. The Oodnadatta Track has red sandhills; but they're insignificant compared to Big Red at Birdsville. You could make similar analogies for many of its attractions. However for someone popping up from Adelaide for a couple of weeks, these attractions are a big contrast to Woolies or an exciting expedition to the local park.

Arriving at William Creek

We stopped for lunch at William Creek, which has a typical population of 16 people. William Creek was microscopic compared to Oodnadatta - the main street turned into bitumen yet we could see a car coming towards us a few hundred metres away on dirt - the bitumen main street wasn't very long! The hotel was very full so we made our own lunch, bemoaned the excessive dust, and moved on.

Inside the William Creek hotel

William Creek main street - dirt road visible at both ends!

 

We drove past some of the attractions we'd visited last year - Coward Springs, where you can bathe in a warm artesian spring for a few dollars; Lake Eyre South (still dry) and the Bubbler Spring. But we were getting keen to get home so we carried on until Marree. The free camp behind the pub was full so we found a track on Google Maps and stayed the night about half a kilometre from the highway behind a line of trees.

Sunset on the Oodnadatta Track

 

The van got VERY dusty on this track!!

Part way through vacuuming all the dust!

-- Greg