Thursday, Jul 09, 2009 at 11:50
Gidday Sheryl,
We travelled from Maree to Oodnadatta at the end of May. Left the track at Oodnadatta for Dalhousie Springs, Mt Dare, Finke, etc etc.
There had been rain which closed the track the day before we started, although it was reopened that afternoon to 4WDs. We decided to give it a few extra hours overnight, and camped at Hergott Springs, just a couple of km out the back of Maree. There are 2 campgrounds in Maree. The road was fine the next day, and we really enjoyed the trip.
There’s lots to see along the way – stop at the sculpture park 50km north of Maree, and there are stone ruins of fettlers cottages every 30 km or so along the Old Ghan Rail Track, some surprisingly intact, some restored, some just a heap of stone, but almost all still have their distinctive square iron water tank on it’s high stand. Don’t miss mound springs Blanches Cup and The Bubbler, south of Coward Springs. Also Strangways Ruins (pastoral station/Overland Telegraph repeater stn) south of William Creek. We took a 2 hour flight out of William Creek over Lake Eyre and the Painted Hills, it was excellent.
We camped at Beresford Railway Stn ruins, William Creek (the pub runs a campground) and Algebuckina Bridge before leaving the track at Oodnadatta.
Adam Plate, owner of the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta is really helpful, has a lot of local knowledge and will fill you in on current road conditions. They run a campground behind the roadhouse.
No NextG coverage at Maree, William Creek or Oodnadatta, but all have public phones – buy a phonecard if you need to make calls. Locals use UHF radio to talk to each other, there are signs along the track telling you which channels to use to call for help. We also carry a satphone for emergency use only, and where we have no NextG, turn it on 6-7pm each night in case family needs to call us urgently.
Can’t give you numbers, but there is quite a lot of traffic on the track at this time of year, you should be fine; corrugations make the road pretty ordinary in some places, but hey, we’d probably feel cheated if the Oodnadatta Track didn’t toss us something to complain/boast about – happy travels, and keep safe.
Cheers, Deb
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