>Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
(>Pictures at the bottom)
…crossing the border between states
After the evening fly alarm at the Dalhousie Springs/Witjira National Park campsite, the morning was a little more pleasant. But as the day progressed, the annoying flies returned and practically drove us away. We also decided to skip the warm water bath, where the water temperatures range between 37-43°C. Thousands of mosquitoes were already lurking at the water basin!
While the column of smoke from the bush fire was still visible in the distance, we followed our path, an old pioneer track from a bygone era. Ruins still bear witness to this time, when the great spirit of optimism drove people to achieve the almost impossible and establish settlements in desert-like landscapes. After many kilometres, we reached the old railway line, where the last Ghan train ran from Alice Springs to Port Augusta in 1980. Much of this former infrastructure can still be admired today and captivated the former railwayman (Tom).
(Note: The line was abandoned in favour of a new standard gauge route from Port Augusta to Alice Springs to Darwin.)
We continued south through vast and lonely landscapes. Some stations – the name for Australian farms – are usually located far off the beaten track, and only a few vehicles were travelling on the gravel road. At the roadhouses, there was a brief gathering of overlanders (travellers in the Australian outback) at the petrol stations. In the shops there, we always hoped to find the food we wanted. The selection varied greatly. Sometimes we found a large selection of useful products, while other times the selection was limited to beer, snacks and sweets.
On the many hundreds of kilometres of gravel road – mostly bumpy tracks – we experienced time and again, despite the endless expanse, things that made us stop briefly and amazed us; whether natural or man-made, sculptures in the middle of this lonely area, the longest fence against dogs or simply a salt lake; we were amazed again and again.
In Marree, in the middle of nowhere, we reached a very well-maintained road and soon realised why a wonderful tarred road had been built through the vast landscape: coal and copper mining required good transport links. The open-cast coal mine at Leigh Creek has since been closed and the copper mine further south is currently inactive. The closures also led to a decline in the surrounding settlements, leaving behind ghost villages.
We had had enough of eating up the miles on the tarmac road. To the east of us lies a national park, and its evocative name appealed to us more than the fast traffic on the Outback Highway. Our expectations were soon fulfilled. In addition to the quieter drive, the slightly mountainous landscape provided us with new impressions and many animals along the way. We became a little nervous when we were unable to make a booking for a possible place to sleep in Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges N.P. because there was no mobile phone network available anywhere. We cursed this new way of online booking and payment. It was only shortly before entering the national park that we were able to make a booking by mobile phone, thanks to the nearby Aboriginal village. The following night in the remote national park once again brought us absolute silence, and the fantastic starry sky soon lulled us into dreams. The morning birdsong to wake us up was the crowning glory in this lonely valley.
The next national park was only a few kilometres further south on our desired route and, thanks to the booking option from the previous day, we purchased a day pass for our car, allowing us to drive through the park from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. We don’t fully understand the whole system; for us, it was and still is incredibly complicated. In some cases, you have to purchase a permit, while in other parks everything is free, or in addition to the vehicle, passengers also have to pay an entrance fee. In addition to the Australian states, there are often different regulations within the same state.
We would have really enjoyed the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and would have liked to stay for a night. Unfortunately, it was no longer possible to make a last-minute booking or reservation on site, so we were forced to leave the park again. We left the national park on the west side and followed the Outback Highway to Hawker, where we were able to replenish our supplies and get petrol and gas.
North of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, I (Tom) discovered a small place where copper was mined and processed long ago. At that time, it was a larger place in this mountainous landscape. Today, the few residents are proud of their past and guide visitors through the ruins of the former mine. Nature has reclaimed much of the area, but the scars of overexploitation are still visible almost everywhere. No one knows exactly how harmful or even toxic the waste and slag left behind are, or perhaps no one wants to know. In any case, we did not fill our empty water canisters at the local well.
In two days, we reached the Barrier Highway, where we increased the tyre pressure back to normal and continued eastwards to New South Wales. This route was more of a chore than a pleasure for us; monotonous, heavy traffic and huge road trains (extra-long lorries with several trailers). But we had to endure this ordeal until we reached Broken Hill; there are hardly any alternatives to this route. In return, we had a short stay in Broken Hill – an active mining town where silver, lead and zinc are mined today. We had to do our laundry and various other chores before heading back out into the wilderness.
We left Broken Hill heading south and headed for the national parks of Kinchega, Mungo and Yanga, with long stretches of no man’s land in between, followed by huge sheep farms. But even on the first stretch to Menindee, a short distance of just over 100 kilometres, we counted well over 200 animal carcasses on the roadside or on the road. Most of them were dead kangaroos, followed by emus and a few small animals. The more the roads are used by large vehicles or at night, the more horrific the roadside looks; it’s practically a battlefield where everything is simply flattened!
From Menindee, we left the ‘death road’ and headed into Kinchega National Park, where today much of the water from the Darling River is retained in large lakes for human consumption and agriculture. Lake Cawndilla and part of Lake Menindee are protected areas and motorboats are not allowed, so you can observe a magnificent bird life. Fortunately, the kangaroos were hopping around here and not lying dead in the roadside ditch.
For the rest of the journey, we did not take the main route, but found a track through farmland and enjoyed the quiet drive through no man’s land. The only downside was that Chantal had to open and close lots of cattle gates! In a small town, we filled up both our petrol tanks as usual; in Australia, you have to take advantage of every opportunity to refuel, as breaking down in the middle of nowhere could be a bit nerve-wracking. With full tanks, we continued on to Mungo National Park. During a stop, we noticed a smell of petrol, but didn’t pay any particular attention to this new smell. It was only at the visitor centre of Mungo National Park that we realised something was definitely wrong; petrol was dripping out of the auxiliary tank and within a short time there was a large puddle of petrol on the ground. We looked at each other questioningly, and even I (Tom) didn’t know what to do at first. Should we continue driving until the auxiliary tank was empty, or simply let the petrol drip into the great outdoors?
We let the petrol drip and turned our attention to the national park. As it was Saturday, there would be no breakdown service available immediately anyway, and the tank would have been empty by the time they arrived. The big loop was closed due to storm damage, but the road to the Walls of China and Red Top Lookout was open, allowing us to drive into the area. Unfortunately, in all the excitement about the petrol tank, we forgot to look for the oldest human footprints. Mungo National Park is also said to be the place where the oldest human remains outside Africa were found.
It was just over a hundred kilometres to the next town via gravel roads. We hoped to find help for our leaking petrol tank somewhere in Balranald. But no such luck; the potential repair shops were all closed, and at the petrol stations we were told that it wasn’t so bad and that the repair shops would be open again on Monday. So we reserved a campsite in the nearby Yanga State Conservation Area so that we could spend the next night in relative solitude; the leak in the tank had gotten a little bigger in the meantime.
At the campsite, I (Tom) removed the metal guard from the auxiliary tank and we were quite surprised to find that a stone had become lodged in the tank, deforming it and causing a small crack. Thanks to a piece of tyre we found on the road and a sheet metal screw, we were able to temporarily seal the leak. And it was watertight! How we would permanently repair the tank was secondary that evening, and we hoped that the repair would hold for the next few days.
As we continued our journey along gravel roads and other road-like connections, our repair proved its worth, so we ventured straight over to Victoria (southern state) and drove to Murray-Sunset N.P. Even the worst corrugated tracks couldn’t damage our seal repair, and perhaps the temporary fix will become a permanent solution. In the meantime, the weather changed from lots of sunshine to mostly cloudy with frequent short rain showers. The temperatures were also considerably lower than in the previous days, and we hoped to have fewer bush flies. Unfortunately, our hopes were in vain; these annoying creatures were still there and – subjectively speaking – even more so.
For the onward journey to South Australia, we enjoyed one last sandy track in Murray-Sunset N.P. in light rain, and as luck would have it, at some point our car got stuck in deep wet sand. We expertly freed our vehicle thanks to the sand plates and lowered the tyre pressure again significantly. With only 1.2 bar air pressure, we continued to plough through the bush landscape and even on larger inclines, our flat tyres (tyres with very little air!) proved their worth.
In Loxton, South Australia, there was another change of route. Instead of continuing on to Adelaide, we will first head towards Western Australia. A couple we met on our South America tour is also travelling along the south coast, and we agreed to meet up with them a long time ago. We have plenty of time, as our next fixed date is not until 20th November. So we will cycle a good distance towards them and who knows, maybe we will spend a few days together. But until then, we still have a long way to go and the outback of South Australia also has a lot to offer. Hopefully the approaching bad weather won’t cause us too many problems!
>Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator