Smelling nice again, we ambled over to the bar for a couple of bevvies. It was pretty quiet in there as we ordered a couple and handed the hired satellite phone back. Desert crossers, both intending and having just done, came and went as we relaxed and caught up on times gone by. Hours slipped by and before we knew it we were all at the staff dining table enjoying a lovely meal prepared by Karen. Jovial banter continued into the evening and little did we know it at the time, but in the not too distant future we would be back at Mt Dare, working.
Jeff was telling me about a bad run that he'd had with the tyres on his private vehicles. All of these tyres fell victim to "dog spikes" that lay all over the Old Ghan railway easement, which is the shortest and quickest route to Alice Springs from Mt Dare. I wish he hadn't told me as this was the route that I had planned to take to Alice the next morning. We only had one spare and 19" tyres are not easy to get. I wasn't overly confident about being able to pick one up at the Alice.
As a result, we spent quite a bit of time pouring over maps, trying to work out whether it would be better to go to the Alice via Kulgera or stick to the plan and go up the Ghan Line. Basically it came down to seven hours with about 300Km of gravel versus four hours, all gravel and the risk of destroying tyre/s. I still hadn't made my mind up by the time I hit the sack that night.
Sleep came easy that night, despite the worry about the intended route. The bed would be classed as "average" in any other establishment, but after sleeping on the floor of the car for three nights, it was pure luxury. We awoke the next morning feeling very refreshed. A couple of coffees the hit the spot while we loaded the car and before long we were back at the Hotel enjoying bacon and egg sandwiches for brekkie.
I refuelled the vehicle at Mt Dare, even though we probably had enough fuel to get us through to Alice Springs. I did this, even though the fuel there would be a lot more expensive than it would be at the Alice, because I was curious about how much we had used for the desert crossing and also to contribute to the running costs at Mt Dare. Let's face it, if everyone avoided buying fuel there then, soon enough, the Owners would probably decide to do away with the fuel service (it is not easy getting fuel deliveries made to a place like Mt Dare.) Then where would we be?
Anyway, we used 92 litres for 607 Km of the crossing, averaging 15.16 L/100 Km. You've go to be happy with that! And yes, we would have gotten through to Alice Springs on what fuel was left. With fuel in both the car and our bodies, we bid adieu to Jeff and Karen and headed north toward the SA - NT border. Mt Dare is just 10 Km inside South Australia and works on SA time, even though the bulk of their dealings are with merchants at Alice Springs.
Watches, clocks etc. were altered as we crossed into the Territory. In less than an hour I would have to make up my mind about which route to take to Alice Springs. From Mt Dare to the Finke - New Crown Rd the track was reasonably good, with few corrugations and some minor rutting where people had driven over it while it was still wet. Turning west onto the "main road" confronts you immediately with a fairly badly corrugated road. The entire width of the road was corrugated and it was evident that some vehicles had even driven up onto the shoulders in an attempt to avoid the blighters.
There was virtually no respite from the corrugations all the way to the township of Finke and with the prospect of more of the same all the way to the main highway, the corrugations and dog spikes on the Old Ghan road were starting to look like a better option. So it was that upon reaching Finke we turned north, to take the shorter route.
Finke, for those whom have not been there, is a town that is almost entirely populated by indigenous folk. The housing, sadly, reflects a general lack of maintenance or care and the litter around the place hits you squarely in the eyes as you drive through. From a tourist perspective, it is my opinion that the town has nothing to offer. We drove straight through.
The Old Ghan railway line was closed when the route was relocated in order to avoid problematic sections of track that were constantly succumbing to the elements - be they floods or shifting desert sands. What remained of the easement between Alice Springs and Finke, has been made into a road (to use the term loosely) and public access is allowed. Where the track was lifted, the aforementioned "dog spikes" were used to secure the rail to the sleepers. These spikes were simply left on the ground and have become a major issue for travellers.
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| A partially buried dog spike, waiting for a tyre to destroy. |
Cutting a long story short, we saw countless spikes and managed a halfway decent slalom as we avoided them, but it was the spikes that we didn't see that represented the biggest threat. Somehow we got through with tyres intact. The corrugations were another matter. The road was pretty cut up and had not seen a grader in a very long while - not that you'd actually want to travel over it after it has been graded - grading simply uncovers yet another lot of buried spikes and seems to turn them face-up ready to lacerate tyres.
Along the way you pass the old siding at Rodinga. The walls of the old railway buildings are still largely intact, but the roofs have long-since gone. It is at this juncture that you could deviate and go via Maryvale Station to Chambers Pillar - though we did not, having been to the Pillar in the past.
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| Rodinga Siding. Most of the Old Ghan sidings were of the same design. |
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| No, this isn't the road we were on. This is the racetrack next to the road. Taken in 2008. |
Rather than regale you with stories of our social life while at the Alice, and rather than write a tourist critique of the Alice, I'll move on to the remainder of the trip back to Birdsville. There is plenty of information available about Alice Springs, for those wishing to check the place out - what I will say is this....everywhere we have been in recent times, people have made comment about the "problems" at Alice Springs. Now, we all know that they are referring to our indigenous friends, and I have to say that this has not been an issue so far as we are concerned. At no time have we felt threatened or unsafe in any way in all of the times that we have been to Alice Springs, including having lived there for a total of twelve months. If you are thinking of travelling to Alice Springs, just do it and ignore the rumours that you may hear.
We left Alice Springs with full fuel tanks and a full cargo area, having taken the opportunity to buy some warm clothes as a preparation for our upcoming job at Arkaroola. Our route would take us north on the Stuart Highway to the junction of the Plenty Highway, where we would head east via Gemtree, Harts Range and Jervois to Tobermorey Station, on the NT - Qld border. Most of this is gravel, with only 98 Km of the 496 Km to the border being bituminised. From there the road changes its name to the Donohue Highway for the remaining 249 Km to Boulia, again, almost all of it gravel. We would stay overnight at Boulia before heading south through Bedourie and finally back into Birdsville. All up it would take us two days to get back, having taken five days to get to the Alice via the desert.
The plenty Highway can have its moments. We were lucky enough to traverse a fair deal of smooth, recently graded road. It was really only the last 60 Kilometres or so that were corrugated, requiring us to slow to about 60 KPH to be comfortable. The scenery varies from reasonably wooded coverage at the Stuart Highway end, to sparse, grass covered plains, to sand dunes as you go east. There are a couple of ranges of hills to make the drive a little interesting, but generally speaking, the country is not all that inspiring. If you plan to come this way, fuel is available at Gemtree, Harts Range and Jervois. Tobermorey can be problematic. It was open when we came through this time, but was not when we came through on our previous occasion.
The last time we were through this way, the Donohue highway had just been upgraded with new road-base and a lot of grading and compacting. It was first-class. You wouldn't recognise it as the same road this time around - it was not corrugated as much as pot-holed. There were sections of pot-holed road that ran for many kilometres. Most of the pot-holes were easy enough to spot from a distance, although some remained hidden, ready to claim a tyre or wheel. This reduced the speed at which we could travel. Scenery along the Donohue is principally plains of low grasses.
It was a long day, with lunch eaten on the fly, and it was late afternoon before we cruised into Boulia and the waiting motel room. Sue got settled in while I went off in search of some tucker and to fuel the vehicle. The roadhouse could be described as.....no, really, you can't really describe it - so I won't. I put just $50.00 of fuel in the car, wary of the quality the fuel may have been and the food was....nothing short of dreadful. All they had was some of those chicken wing-ding things. I took some back to the room, but Sue wisely elected to give them a miss and eat some crackers and cheese that we had.
Interestingly, Sue had no recollection of having been to Boulia previously, even though we had stayed the night there at the caravan park. It was memorable to me because the waterhole at the caravan park had countless dead pelicans in it. Apparently the birds had been at Lake Eyre and were on their way back to the coast. They ate every fish in the river and the birds that were unlucky enough to miss out did not have enough energy reserves to fly out. They simply perished of starvation. Sue may have been victim of the fact that we came into Boulia from a different direction on this occasion.
So, what's at Boulia? Not much. You would only come to Boulia on your way to or from somewhere else. Having said that, if you need to stay over and Boulia is where you are at, the one and only motel there was clean and comfortable. The caravan park is very basic and didn't even have an office when we were there last. It may do now. When we were there you had to find the Caretaker's van and pay him. You are possibly wondering why there have been no photographs in the blog since the one showing the Finke Desert Race? It's because we did not see a single thing worth photographing after having left Alice Springs!
The only thing of note that did happen was that my silly mate, Nigel, rang from WA - having forgotten about the time difference. I'm not sure that the other guests were all that impressed with my 2 AM telephone conversation. Nice one Nige.
We had breakfast (we had it with us, thankfully) and headed off for Bedourie. The road from Boulia to Bedourie is paved for much of its length and we made good time along this stretch. There are quite a few creek and river crossings, some of which had remnant waterholes in them. These help to break up the otherwise featureless scenery. At the southern end of this section of road there are also a few minor dunes on the right-hand side, the last vestiges of the mighty Simpson Desert's eastern edge.
Approaching Bedourie meant that we were now officially on the home stretch. Bedourie is as small as Boulia, and both are larger than Birdsville in terms of population, although Birdsville would almost certainly be more significant in terms of economic importance. The offices of the regional council are at Bedourie, much to the chagrin of the locals at Birdsville. There are a couple of historic buildings still standing in Bedourie, including the old police station and the hotel. Other than that the town consists of mostly residential buildings, the council buildings, school and roadhouse. Like Boulia, Bedourie is, to me, a place to pass through on the way to somewhere else.
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| The old Police Station at Bedourie |
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| The Hotel at Bedourie |
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| Open-plan house |
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| Cacoory Ruins |
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| Shoe store, desert style. |
Next blog: Arkaroola
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