Oodnadatta Track - Tuesday 11th August
A very cool night awoke us early, the first time I have had to pull up the extra doona. We waited until the first tendrils of daylight crept into the van to fire up the diesel heater (we are so loving this recent addition - worth every cent). As I warmed up, I reached out to drop my blind, just in time to watch a spectacular sunrise from my cosy nest in bed. What a great way to start the day in the bush.
The coals from the campfire were still hot so it didn't take long to get a fire going again and the coffee percolating. We had decided this would be our fry up morning so as the sun started to warm us up, the eggs, bacon and hash browns were sizzling away. A great breakfast was enjoyed by all before the pack up ritual commenced. We were on the road by 10:14am for the 60-odd kilometres into Maree. We stopped at the very odd sculpture park at Alberry Creek for photos only, and then at the dog fence which didn't seem as authentic as when we saw it at Coober Pedy.
Onto Maree, where we stopped for morning tea, to see the train station, Tom Kruse ( the Birdsville mailman)'s truck and the old hotel. It was definitely our biggest town for many days. We have just finished listening to the novel "Alice to Nowhere" whose main character was based on Tom Kruse, so we were interested in the room of the Maree pub that is now dedicated as a museum to him.
Onto Maree, where we stopped for morning tea, to see the train station, Tom Kruse ( the Birdsville mailman)'s truck and the old hotel. It was definitely our biggest town for many days. We have just finished listening to the novel "Alice to Nowhere" whose main character was based on Tom Kruse, so we were interested in the room of the Maree pub that is now dedicated as a museum to him.
As we left town, the novelty of bitumen continued for about 10km but we had to take it slowly as our tyre pressures were still down. Not only was the bitumen a novelty but so was the dust storms that swirled across the road. We could see it in the distance as we headed south but didn't expect it to envelop us! so much so that I couldn't see the car 50m in front of us! Fifty kilometres down the road, we turned right into the historic ruins of Farina.
Farina has fascinated us for many years since we met some of the caravanning volunteers who are helping to restore the town. Established in 1878, it was a bustling town for almost a hundred years but the closure of the Ghan railway line was the final nail in the coffin and the town fell into ruin very quickly. In 2000, the current cattle station owners (who now own the town site) teamed up with some others to start the restoration process. There is now an official restoration group and teams of volunteers come up every June and July to do some more work.
The campground is just beyond the town site so we headed there first to set up. It was very windy so there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to find the best spot. After moving a couple of times, we finally decided on a spot which was still less than ideal but at least sitting in front of the campfire, we were out of the wind. We had lunch, complaining all the while about the wind. The rest of us decided to walk into town after lunch but Greg decided it was more pleasant in the fan listening to a book. And once we were up on the open plains, the wind was really howling. It certainly wasn't pleasant. The wind crystalised for us why the stone buildings are in such poor condition after only 30 years. The wind blowing dust would be so abrasive and hence the old lime mortar would just be destroyed. The restoration efforts have focussed on identifying what the old buildings were, some of them have been fenced off, streets have been re-graded and this year, street signs were added. A couple of buildings are starting to be re-pointed, most notably the underground bakery, which now operates as it would have 100 years ago over the months of June and July. So unfortunately we missed that. The wind really made the experience less than enjoyable and given we have already bought the book that details the restoration, we decided to head back to the vans. On the way, this groups of emus ran across the track in front of us!
We had already planned roast lamb for dinner so we got the Webers going, trying to find a reasonably protected spot so the lamb would cook. This was easier said than done, with one Weber having to be moved to a gully with a tarp strung up to protect it! However, as the sun set, the wind seemed to abate and so we lit the campfire and were enjoying nibbles around the fire - with some people who were friends of some within our party - until it was time to carve the lamb. With only a couple of people left around the campfire, a vicious gust of wind and rain sprang up and everyone scrambled to stop things blowing into the fire, before making a beeline for the vans. It would appear our roast dinner around the campfire was not to be.
But campers are a resilient lot so six of us crammed into one van and we tucked into our delicious roast as the wind howled and the odd rain drop fell. We even followed that up with pancakes for dessert. Some of the favourite music from the past few nights was replayed and we were all singing again over whiskey and Baileys. It was still a fun way to spend our last night together although not quite the same as around the campfire!
posted by Tracey @ 9:59 pm
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