A 4WD Trip to Abminga Station

The trip to Abminga got off to a chaotic start. The 4WD had to have some major surgery which was a week overdue. So instead of an orderly progression through the tasks, it was more like herding cats.

The purpose of this trip was to help an historian friend visit Bloods Creek as part of research into a book on Ted Colson who was the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert in 1936. He left from Andado Station with five camels, an aboriginal friend named Peter Eringa, and of course his dog which, strangely, is not mentioned in official histories. Two weeks later, he arrived at the Birdsville pub – and three days later he left to go home, nailing a tin plaque to the Poeppel Corner post on the way. He arrived home after a thirty-day journey. Quite a remarkable feat when one considers that explorers like Sturt had tried the same trip and failed. But I digress.

Red dust. Green verge. It’s amazing what a bit of rain does to the outback.

The route in 2016 (Plan A) was to head up the black top to Leigh Creek, then the Oodnadatta Track to Oodnadatta. From there we would drive to Abminga, which is 70km south by east of Finke as the crow flies. From Abminga we would visit Bloods Creek, 50km to the east, and return to our camp at Abminga. A quick two-day visit to friends at Erldunda, then back to Oodnadatta and Maree, with a detour to the Painted Desert. From Maree we would go to Montecollina Bore on the Strzelecki Track, south to Yunta via Chambers Gorge, then home to Adelaide. Two 4WD vehicles, two satellite phones, two UHF radios, well-supplied with fuel, water, and food. We thought the trip would take us 15 days and cover about 3,500km.

Abminga Station is on the southern side of the SA/NT border from Charlotte Waters, on the Old Ghan Railway. 

Monday, August 29 – Adelaide to Burra Gorge

Got away on time, midday. Only forgot the thermos and bacon. Fine weather heading north but overcast and starting to rain by the time we reached Burra Gorge – World’s End Biodiversity Reserve as it is now called. Where do they get these names?

Coffee in Kapunda on the way to Burra, then lunch on the banks of an overgrown creek. A useful tip for those who forget something: the general store in Robertstown is one of those old country stores that have everything, somewhere, just find it.

The fierce Aussie outback showing a bit of colour.

The countryside is green and domesticated and prosperous looking at this time of year. Very relaxing and good for sightseeing. This slowed the driving but made the journey safer. Must remember that.

It felt good to stop early and select our campsite at leisure, even if rain was threatening. Inevitably, it started to drizzle then rain as soon as we started to set up the tent on our camper trailer. A good night’s sleep then cereal for breakfast, as we’d forgotten the bacon.

Tuesday, August 30 – Burra Gorge to Leigh Creek

Rain stopped overnight but the tent was still damp when we packed up. We were running late to meet our friend at 9:30 so we had to rush into Burra. At the usual place I had a tiddy oggy, which was brilliant. A real Cornish pasty from the mining days. Then onto Peterborough, Hawker, Orroroo, and Leigh Creek.

We went through several small country towns which seemed to be dying, if not almost dead. One that caught our imagination was Terowie. The bypass road to Peterborough from the Barrier Highway has really isolated the town and few people bother to stop. Despite that setback, the people in Terowie have tried to make something of their town. It is clean, and despite an obvious lack of money, it is well kept. We saw some features that are worth preserving such as the old blacksmith shop, with a classic curved top wooden door; a centenary/pioneer park, a feature park for children; and a quite imaginative metal sculpture park. Terowie is worth stopping at for a coffee, and a look around.

Metal sculptures in Terowie. A typical country town in decline that shows great human spirit. A must-visit if you’re passing nearby. 

It makes you wonder about the government’s policies on the country towns. They are obviously dying, and there is little work or financial incentive to live in the country.

The old shop fronts on the main drag in Terowie. Long gone but well preserved. 

We camped in Leigh Creek Caravan Park that night with our friend, by tradition, taking a room at the pub. Leigh Creek is also a town worth a visit. The government has obviously slated this town to die but the people are fighting back. They are cheerful and optimistic but don’t know what the future will hold. All the facilities are there to make this town work – supermarket, pub, shops, school, swimming pool, caravan park, post office, police station, hospital and medical centre, petrol station and workshop, public works department, pipelines, sewerage system, good domestic roads and, most importantly, people already there who are eager to make a go of anything. It seems a waste to desert it all. But silence from the government. Remember the pride of this amazing town when it was shifted, holus-bolus, in 1982 when they wanted to expand the coal mine?

Wednesday, August 31 – Leigh Creek to Erldunda

We now had to make a major revision of our plans. Overnight all the dirt roads in the outback were closed because of rain. We had heard the forecast on ABC Country radio, so the closures were not a surprise but were a disappointment. Our priority at this time was to find out if there was any more rain forecasted and when the roads might be open again. The police in Leigh Creek are very helpful. They thought the roads could possibly be open again early the following week. Out with the maps and onto Plan B.

We judged that there would be no significant rain in the area in the next few days, so we hit the black top and backtracked to Pt Augusta, then north to Erldunda. We anticipated the roads being opened by the time we left Erldunda. This would just reverse our order of march to return to Maree. It did have the advantage of giving us the chance of a good look at the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens just north of Port Augusta. It’s a fascinating place that shows what can be done with little or no water. And there’s a good café for lunch.

2016 has proven to be a bumper year for desert wild flowers like Sturt’s Desert Pea. 

We weren’t looking forward to the long drive north but the recent rain added more floral interest. Everything from Sturt’s Desert Pea, native daisies, Green Pussytail, native bush tomatoes, Blue Pincushions, and many others. Sometimes carpets of flowers, sometimes just individuals, but it shows how rain transforms the inland. The east coast country has its greens and mountains, but the flat inland produces shy surprises like these.

Tuesday, September 6 – Erldunda to Abminga

After two very enjoyable days on the station at Erldunda we started out again on our research trip. Firstly, down the blacktop to Kulgera where the price of diesel was 169.9. Then we aired down and hit the first of the dirt tracks heading east, to Finke – well maintained but wet. We had a short side-step to Lambert’s Centre, 20km before Finke. This track was very wet. 4WD only, which gave us a taste of what was to come. It’s a desolate spot with a visitor’s book in a jerry can, donated by the Toyota Landcruiser Club of Australia.

Lambert’s Centre. The Geographical Centre of Australia, you know?

Turning south from Finke towards Charlotte Waters, the road deteriorated very quickly. This road leads primarily to Mt Dare and the desert, or southward, and is well maintained – but the recent wet weather had made it very muddy and the few cars that had used it had really churned it up.

There was mud and water everywhere, and many detours. One detour was at least 2km long. We were in four-wheel drive, high range the whole time. In retrospect, the roads should have remained closed for another two days. We have been told that because of manpower shortages, roads are automatically declared open three days after the rain stops… without actually checking!

After the turn off at Charlotte Waters towards Abminga, the road changed. You’d expect a dirt road to be graded, perhaps bulldozed, with a ridge at the edge. The road we were now on had no edge to it. The only change was that the going got a little rougher through the low ground cover if you strayed off the road.

There isn’t much left at Abminga these days. Here are the ruins.

It gives the disconcerting feeling that if people do not continue to use the road, after a couple of weeks, it will simply be reclaimed by nature with no indication of where it is or leads to. There are no signposts or mileage markers.

We camped at Abminga, a siding on the Old Ghan Railway line, just on dusk. All that’s left are the ruins of a few fettlers’ cottages, a water tank, and old cattle yards of historical significance now.

The downside to this campsite, and any campsite in the surrounding thousand miles, is flies. Sticky little bush flies that don’t seem to understand ‘no’ or imminent death as any sort of deterrent. At least they disappear with the arrival of the dark. There are mosquitoes about but not in the same quantities and they did take the hint when we lit mosquito coils. Darkness on the other hand did not deter them as it did the flies. We were very thankful to have an insect proof camper trailer tent to which we could retire to eat dinner and sleep.

Wednesday, September 7 – Abminga and Almost Bloods Creek

Today was the day the whole trip had been planned around: the visit to the Bloods Creek ruins. They were less than 60km away, on the map, which we thought would be an easy day trip. It might have been in the dry season, but this wasn’t. The road was far worse than any we had been on so far, both in mud and water; quantity and depth. But we persevered and, after two hours and a bit of low range work, we were within 2km of our destination.

Typical road conditions for the trip. Wet and muddy.

Then our journey came to an abrupt stop. We came to a creek flowing over the road. We had been able to circumnavigate other similar problems but not this one. It was deep, wide, and flowing. There were no recent tracks into or out of the water as there had been up to now. And the bottom appeared to be muddy, not firm.

This is very lonely country. We had not passed any vehicles on the road or seen any habitation, so we turned back. If we had another vehicle with us we might have tried a crossing, but not under these circumstances. We had left our other vehicle back at camp – why bring two on this short trip? Our thoughts, as we returned to camp, are not repeatable. At Leigh Creek, a good meal with a good bottle of red altered our perspective. Out with the maps again and onto Plan C. We decided to attack Bloods Creek from the north, via Mt Dare. We would not be able to spend as much time there as planned but at least we could take some photos after a quick look around.

Thursday, September 8 – Abminga to Mt Dare

We packed up and left for Charlotte Waters on the same atrocious road that we had come in on. At Charlotte Waters we turned south for Mt Dare. The road was even worse. We reached Mt Dare early afternoon, or rather we reached the edge of the Mt Dare property. We were presented with a heap of churned up mud followed by a completely flooded road, the end of which we could not see. When I say flooded, only the top-half of the road signs were visible. There was one 4WD and trailer stuck in the mud with no-one about.

A sign that other four-wheel drivers have been through here recently. Chopped up track

Satellite phones are wonderful. A call to the Mt Dare Hotel brought one of their staff out in a Land Cruiser  to guide us in. It was remarkably easy through the deep water, but with firm footing.

Because we were tired, dispirited, hot, and hungry, we decided to stay at Mt Dare for the night. The staff at Mt Dare are very helpful, obliging, and knowledgeable people. Little did we know how helpful they can be.

Friday, September 9 – Mt Dare to Eringa Billabong

It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do. Next day after a chat with the staff about road conditions, and armed with a new sense of purpose, we pursued Plan C and set off south for another attempt to reach Bloods Creek. After eight days to dry out, the road was much better than it had been further north and west. We reached Bloods Creek ruins in time for an early lunch.

Having explored the ruins while we munched and took photographs, we took the road to Federal, another significant railway stop 9km to the east. This was a good road as few people had driven on it since the rains. Then déjà vu. Within sight of the ruins at Federal there was another large body of water. The staff at Mt Dare had warned us that this was probably not passable because of a muddy bottom. So we took long-range photographs and retired unsatisfied.

The beautiful Eringa Billabong.

Now we had to start heading homeward and to try and retrieve as much of our original Plan A as we could. Our plan for that night was to camp at the Eringa Billabong, 25km south of Abminga. This meant we had to retrace our tracks along the atrocious road on which we had first approached Bloods Creek on Wednesday. That meant crossing the creek that had originally stopped us. But we had spoken to the staff at Mt Dare who told us the bottom was quite firm, and after two days of wind and sun the water should have receded a bit. When we reached the creek, 2km from Bloods Creek, we plunged straight in, cautiously, and crossed without incident. We then tackled that same stretch of road that had seen our original disappointment. A day and a half had dried the road quite considerably and we crossed it in, what to us, was record time. On to Eringa Billabong we went.

Camping at Eringa Billabong. Our favourite place.

This was the best campsite of the trip. The recent rains had filled the billabong and everything around it was green – including the budgerigars. There were more birds here than we had seen on the trip so far. Mainly budgerigars, pelicans, and galahs. It was quite startling to see pelicans in the outback. One expects to see them on Lake Eyre, but that is a large piece of water. This was a relatively small billabong, with only two pelicans. Maybe they wanted the place to themselves, and weren’t telling their mates.

We had a good dinner that night and if we had a bottle of champagne we would have opened it. Main mission accomplished. Now we were looking forward to seeing the Painted Desert and camping at the Old Peake Telegraph Station ruins.

Saturday, September 10 – Eringa to… Eringa (via Mt Dare)

Packed up, ready to go early. Daily check of vehicles. All okay. Backed up to the trailer to hitch up. Disaster! One wheel on the trailer was at an odd angle. The bearing had disintegrated. No indication of when it had happened. After taking off the wheel and the hub it seemed there was no damage to axle, hub or wheel, but there was no bearing, it had disintegrated. This trailer was less than a year old, so I hadn’t bothered with basic pre-trip checks and was not carrying spare bearings. One learns all the time.

Sat phone again. RAA could not help for at least two days in spite of our extensive cover. So, which is closer Coober Pedy or Oodnadatta? Look at the map. Mt Dare has a workshop and they are closer. Gave them a ring. ‘Yes, we have lots of trailer bearings. See you as soon as we can.’ Leaving our friend to write up her notes and enjoy a day in the sun, my wife and I set off once again for Mt Dare.

I’ve spoken a lot about Mt Dare in this series. Here’s the hotel. Image credit: Mt Dare Hotel.

This little side trip gave us a bit of a laugh and cheered us up. When we first arrived at Eringa there was quite a deep puddle leading to the Eringa Bridge. Armed with the advice from the Mt Dare people, we just slowed down and went through. No problem. On our way back to Mt Dare with the trailer bearings we charged straight through. There was a couple on the far side, who we recognised from the Mt Dare campground, shoes off and just about to test the water depth. Slowing so as not to splash them we stopped, and being a smart alec, I called through the window, ‘is that what you wanted to know?’, referring to our journey across as a reference point for them. Luckily, they too had an ‘off’ sense of humour.

The roads had seemed to dry up a little over the past few days so we made better time reaching Mt Dare. We were confronted by the same mud and water but this time had the confidence to go straight through. To the Mt Dare staff the trailer bearing was just a routine problem, and quickly we were on our way again with new bearings fitted to the hub. I said this was just a routine problem for them – to us they were a lifesaver.

To the Scott family, proprietors of the Mt Dare Hotel, and their staff: we are very grateful for your cheerfulness and for not treating travellers in need as unprepared amateurs (which we must have seemed to them). You are a credit to the people of the outback.

We returned to Eringa, fitted the hub with its new bearings, and were ready to go. Just in time for dinner, with a bottle of red.

Sunday, September 11 – Eringa to Coober Pedy

Having lost another day it was time to consider the maps and Plan D. We realised that we could not include a visit to Peake nor the Oodnadatta Track. We could just manage a quick trip via the Painted Desert provided we camped by the side of the road and then returned home on the boring blacktop. Okay, so that was it. But Murphy had not quite finished with us. When we reached Oodnadatta we discovered that the Painted Desert road was closed. So, cutting our losses, we headed for Coober Pedy, planning to spend the night somewhere along the road. Again, Murphy had a chuckle. This road to Coober Pedy is one of the most barren I have come across.

The monotony of the road from Oodnadatta to Coober Pedy.

Halfway down it with dusk approaching, we found a possible campsite on a creek bed with some gidgee trees around it. Not an ideal spot but sufficient for our purpose. We drove off the road and got out of our cars to look at the site. We were immediately attacked by all the mosquitoes from the surrounding aforementioned thousand miles. I have never seen so many. As our friend sleeps in the open we had to move on. Plan E. As the countryside between that creek and Coober Pedy looked to be all the same we decided on a dash to Coober Pedy, which we reached just after dark. No mucking about – pizza for dinner, with a bottle of red.

Monday, September 12 – Coober Pedy to Woomera

In the morning it seems almost unnecessary to say there was another hiccup. Normal vehicle checks revealed a broken fan belt. So being past the stage of being alarmed it was just a matter of fitting a new one. Except, the spanner broke. Luckily it was a Monday morning in a well-supplied outback town. Having finally bought a new spanner, replaced the fan belt, and set the tyres to highway pressure, we were on the road to Woomera, our next planned stop. Strangely, there were no incidents worth reporting that day. We found the campsite I remembered from a previous visit, about 50km south of Woomera. Lit a fire, and had a small libation before dinner. Then it started to rain.

This time I was prepared. Rain had been threatening and being aware that our friend’s reaction to rain was to retire to the vehicle and spend the night sitting up, I had brought a tarpaulin to make a shelter. This done, we enjoyed a peaceful night. The last in the open.

Tuesday, September 13 – Woomera to Laura

Deadlines were now upon us and we had to be home the next day.

After packing up a wet tent, we planned to have lunch in Port Augusta then a quick visit to Wilmington before a night in the caravan park at Laura. But naturally, the rain had caused a landslide on the Horrocks Highway, so we had to go via Quorn (does that qualify as Plan F?), which was no hardship as it’s a very picturesque township.

As we reminisce on the outback this is where the mind went. Track in this condition. 

We had dodged the rain before venturing into the outback, survived the mud and ‘open’ roads full of water, and were now on the black top. And Hughie decided to ‘send ‘er down’. We drove from Wilmington through Wirrabara and on to Jamestown, Spalding, and Clare. We only just made it. In a couple of places,the water was over the roads and the next day they were cut. We were lucky to get through. During the next week there were floods all over South Australia. We had the feeling of not being hounded out of the outback, but of being looked after!

This book on Ted Coulson will be a good one.

Our final night on the road, but not in the bush, was in Laura. Laura is a pretty town worth a separate visit. An excellent dinner of Swedish meatballs with couscous and vegetables, with another excellent bottle of red.

Wednesday, September 14 – Laura to Home!

On to Jamestown and a very good little bakery for a coffee and pasty, before finally saying goodbye to our friend and heading for home.

When we got home, this was the drama presented to us.

Our placid little Fourth Creek trickle now a raging river.

This was a memorable trip. Starting with Plan A, we finished with Plan E which could well have been further down the alphabet. Looking back the only things that didn’t go wrong were our personal health, food, water, and fuel supplies. Two things stood out on this trip. Communications and maps. We had satellite phones for long distance calls, UHF for convoy comms, and AM car radios to listen to ABC Country Radio – 639MHz in SA – which has excellent regional weather reports.

And maps. I try never to travel without detailed, up-to-date maps. Without maps on this trip we would have been paddleless up that creek. Literally. Maps allowed us to plan alternative routes, and achieve our main objective at least. Without a map we could have been stuck at Leigh Creek.

A quick map update: The map I had showed you earlier in this article shows a road direct from Abminga to Bloods Creek. It no longer exists. We spent a long time looking for it. It was recently bulldozed out of existence, no reason given. What’s the opposite of the old saying ‘if a road appears when and where you expect it to, don’t assume it’s the right road’…?

Got any interesting outback stories to share? Perhaps you got as far as a Plan Z in yours? Share in the comments below.