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PORT AUGUSTA TO COOBER PEDY - VIA THE OODNADATTA TRACK April 1999

We left Port Augusta on a Sunday morning after driving from Wilpena Pound, doing some shopping (yes supermarkets open on Sundays) and headed for Woomera.
Back in the 1950’s Woomera was the site of rocket launching tests, and amongst the rockets tested were the Blue Streak and the Black Rod, both of which were manufactured in our home town of Hatfield in England. Many the night we were awakened as children by the houses shaking and rattling when they were testing the massive engines that powered these beasts. Because of this affiliation we both were very keen to see Woomera and its surrounds as in the newspapers at the time it all seemed so far away as to be fiction rather than fact.

The landscape as we followed the Stuart Highway to the Woomera turnoff and on to Woomera itself was rather flat and uninteresting, in hindsight we are not totally sure whether that was the case or whether we were still suffering from our bout of the ‘flu.
Woomera was a purpose built town for the military and civilian population that were involved in the missile testing program, and consequently today there are very few people left there but the town remains as a testament to these people. There is an excellent heritage museum, explaining the history of the area and the “missile park” which houses the remnants and some replicas of the missiles. We found the whole set-up fascinating and could have spent hours there, but thought we’d better book in to the caravan park and set up camp.
The park was small and clean and a little exposed, but there were two large groups of cyclists in residence and they had taken all the shaded sites so we missed out. Rather than cook dinner we decided to visit the local pub, once we managed to find our way in (and we hadn’t even had a drink yet) it was quite pleasant, very few people there, but $21 for a seafood platter and salad and the drinks it was not bad. Being unused to having pokie machines in pubs we had to try our luck, when we had won a couple of dollars we decided to quit whilst we were ahead, so we left and returned to camp to prepare for an off in the morning.

Clive’s birthday and we’re off to Andamooka. What a place!! Someone we met on the Nullarbor described Coober Pedy to me as a junk heap; I don’t know what words they would have used to describe Andamooka. There is a bitumen road in, and then all the other roads in the township are dirt. It is quite hilly, obviously very dusty, and as one has always been told a lot of the homes are built into the hill and underground. There is a very good ‘historical’ area with replicas of the original types of homes the opal miners lived in and a very informative gentleman at the site, which also has a small shop. We had a look at some of the opal displays and shops, which are actually in people’s homes, but resisted the urge to buy at this time. After lunch we took a drive out to the original Ettamogah Pub. This was started by a guy called Bill Macdougall as a fundraiser for the RFDS, it is literally a tin shed in the middle of the mullock heaps with more junk than you could ever imagine around, and port flagons everywhere. Attached to the shack is a large lean-to which is full of tin chairs and upturned cable drums to be used as tables. There is a rare collection of road signs, warning signs and street signs. It is now opened one Sunday a month for a ‘barbie bash’ to collect more money for the RFDS. The story is that Bill MacDougall used to give you a jam jar full of port when you arrived, (for a donation) and to mark thnis they cemented a flagon of port on his grave, and it is still there. His nickname was the “Sheriff” of White Dam.

Next stop Roxby Downs, a town built to accommodate the Olympic Dam mining operations. There are tours out to the dam and mine but we opted to give it a miss. We stayed at the Myall Grove caravan park where the majority of people appear to be permanent residents (which isn’t surprising as it is a mining town), but whilst a little noisy for our tastes, everything was excellent. Roxby itself was quite an attractive town; It has a hospital and quite good air-conditioned shopping facilities. We also registered our intention to drive to Coober Pedy along the Oodnadatta track at the police station, so we better remember to de-register ourselves when we get to Coober Pedy, or they’ll be out there looking for us in a few days.
We saw our first Sturt Pea there in full bloom, the scarlet flowers brilliant against the earth.
These last two days, whilst originally I was rather dubious about the detour, I wouldn’t have missed for quids. Everything was just so different from anything I had ever seen or imagined. Moonscape is what jumps to mind to describe Andamooka and its surroundings.
As we set off the following morning the engine of our Discovery was, for want of a better word, clunking, and as we were headed for very remote country we thought we’d better get it checked out. Thank goodness for Landrover Assist, we called them up and they had a mechanic to us within 30 minutes. He checked out the engine thoroughly and pronounced it o.k. thought it was just the vehicle protesting in its own way about the country it had been travelling in, and said it would work itself out. Which it did.
From Roxby it is approximately 120 kms along the Borefield road which is a fairly good gravel road to the Oodnadatta Track.. The track starts at Marree about 100 kms further south from where we joined. The track itself was fairly good most of the time, our first glimpse of Lake Eyre south was unreal, just glistening salt as far as the eye can see, hard to believe that at times this completely floods and the wetland birds flock from everywhere. Travelling along the track you are following the route of the Old Ghan train, there are many reminders of this era with ruins of several sidings still in reasonable condition and you can trace the line of the track and even see remnants of it as you drive along. We stopped at Curdimurka one of the sidings for lunch. The old station house is still there are the rooms are open so people can camp there, unfortunately the toilets had been vandalised. Curdimurka is the venue for a bi-annual black tie ball when people come from everywhere by air and land to dance and enjoy themselves out under the stars. We signed the visitors book.(We received an invitation in the post a year later to the next ball).

We found the track pretty good, plenty of loose stone chips, but it was well graded (60 – 80 kph with no problems) the reason for this was that there was a grader not far ahead. When we passed the grader the road deteriorated so 40 – 60 kph was our safe travelling speed.
The main reason we had decided to come on this detour to Coober Pedy was another throwback to our childhood in England. In our geography lessons we were given blank maps of Australia and had to mark on them the artesian springs, and we were taught all about these hot water springs in the middle of the desert. This all seemed rather far-fetched back then, but now we were here and we could see for ourselves.
It was amazing; driving along the track the landscape is very flat, very sparse, and quite uninteresting. Then in the distance you see this rise, as you approach and take the side track off you see the greenery, then when you arrive there is this lush green grass around this circular pond on top of a mound, the water gently bubbles and is just warm, phenomenal. You turn round and you can see several of these mounds but everything else is brown, dry and flat. We visited the Big Bubbler and Blanche’s Cup, two of the more accessible springs, before driving on to Coward Springs for our overnight stop.

Coward Springs is another of those places described as “an oasis in the desert”, but it’s true. Camping is underneath the tamarisk trees, which are teeming with birdlife (and consequently quite noisy), there are individual fireplaces, toilets, and cold showers. Our first port of call when we arrived was their home built spa. Where one of these artesian bore comes out the enterprising landowners had constructed a spa, complete with handrails for the weary traveller to wallow and refresh in, and after a long hot day driving along a dusty track it is very refreshing. With no-one around and being the first into the campsite, we paid our fees in the honesty box, parked by the spa, threw off our clothes and climbed in. 30 minutes later just after we had got out dried off and got dressed our overnight neighbours arrived. Unfortunately the one thing spoiling this place was the flies, if they had not been such a nuisance we may have stayed two nights, because it was so lovely there, but they were too annoying. Maybe we were just unlucky.
The dawn chorus got us up and moving towards William Creek. Along the way we saw several other artesian mounds, more relics of the Ghan track and a couple of lakes, amid this very parched part of our land. William Creek was quite an eye-opener, the pub with its related outbuildings a couple of houses and an aeroplane, the sum total of the place. The pub was fascinating; the décor was something to be seen to be believed. The hospitality was great, the guy serving the beer used to own the pub and now runs the scenic flights was a hoot, there were three other old guys in the bar who had driven from Victoria to WA then along the Gunbarrel highway and were now coming down from Marla on their way back to Victoria. They also had some tales to tell. It was very hard to drag ourselves away. Maybe we should have stayed, a few more beers might have made the next stage of our journey less boring.

There were a couple of incidents which alleviated the boredom of the scenery as you pass through Anna Downs Station, one we passed an AAT Kings coach, broken down, and someone trying to fix it. Another coach had come from Coober Pedy and collected the passengers and dropped off (I presume a mechanic). The coach passed us further up the track and we again passed it, stopped on the side a few more kilometres along. It is 166 kms from William Creek to Coober Pedy and the only thing to see was Lake Carabarrawirracana (of Rolf Harris song fame). It was a beautiful lake, and brings home to you the amount of water that is out there in the centre of Australia, even when all around is dry and dusty.
As you approach Coober Pedy you go through the Dingo Fence (what stops the dingoes going through the gate?) and through breakaway country which is very beautiful at sunset. There are signs everywhere to take care not to fall down mine shafts, lots of mullock heaps and lots of dust.
Coober Pedy has a real pioneer feel about it. The main street is sealed, but that’s all – only the road – not the sidewalks which are about 30 cm. above the road surface. There are opal shops everywhere; it is colourful and very much alive – Andamooka was quite dull compared to Coober Pedy. After visiting the police station to let them know we had arrived we booked in at the caravan park and watched the sun set over all the old mines, which are now underground houses. It was beautiful. It was rather warm getting to sleep but very chilly when we awoke in the morning, but the sun soon warmed up and warmed us. Water, as you can imagine, is a very precious commodity in a place like this. You pay for the use of the showers at the caravan park on top of your booking fee, but you can understand the reasoning behind it, and lets face it, when you’ve got to keep putting money in the slot you don’t waste your time in the shower. From memory 20/40 cents got you a shower and $1.00 was heaps for a shower and hair wash.
We toured the town, visited an underground church, some potteries and various other landmarks. A visit to the Umpoona centre was great, we were shown a film about how opal is formed and mined, and another aboriginal film on opal. We toured the mine and an underground house, then into the shop!!! A little bit of re-stocking of the food was necessary before we could head off again, and we were told lucky we were shopping today as the truck had just come in and there were fresh vegetables etc. to be had. We don’t realise how lucky we are in the city and suburbs that everyday we get fresh produce, not once a week and not even then if the road is closed for any reason..
Clive wanted to have a go at “noodling” (looking for opal) so I grabbed my book and relaxed in the car whilst he sorted and sifted through the public noodling heaps, coming up with nothing. Most of the residents of the town appear to be German or Dutch with a lot of indigenous families around as well. We’re off to the pub for tea $6.00 for fish, chips and salad, hope the whole town isn’t there at that price! Before we left Coober Peddy Carol was tempted to buy an opal ring which was small neat with three stones, luckily it was within our budget, so we will be able to eat and continue our journey.
Next up the highway to the Rock and beyond.

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