If you haven’t read the first part of my adventure up to Abminga via Erldunda, Lambert’s Centre, and Blood’s Creek, go back and read it first. As is often the case, the best laid plans don’t work out and are messed up by the weather. So, this part starts off from where we left off on Plan B of the adventure. And, as you’ll soon learn, we ended up rolling out Plan C too.
Tuesday 6 September – 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, 20 km 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 2 km 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 7 September – Abminga & 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 8 September – 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 sea 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 ute to guide us in. It was remarkably easy through the deep water but with firm footing.
Because we were tired and dispirited, and 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 9 September – 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.
Part 3 will be published next week. If you have any questions about the trip, leave them in the comments below.
