OUR BIG TRIP

MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA
BIRDSVILLE - COOBER PEDY - Page 3

5 July 2007, Thursday

Today we had about 400 km's to go to Coober Pedy. Unfortunately we did not sleep a lot because I have a cold and that
hinders a little the sleeping efforts. Hopefully the medicine will kick in tomorrow and it will get better. The trip along the
Oodnadatta Track was very similar to the Birdsville Track except that the scenery is even less begetation as you get closer to
Coober Pedy. We stopped at William Creek Hotel for Lunch and enjoyed the last of the famous Outback Pubs along the way
from Broken Hill to Coober Pedy. The Food was great and we placed another MJOC card on the wall. Again the Aussie
Outback is just like a big family of people. We found at least 3 Holden Business cards on the wall and pretty sure if we looked
more through them we would have found even more people we know. Here are the pictures from the day.
The start of the Oodnadatta Track in Maree. The track follows the old Ghan train line and along are some old ruins from the
better days when the train still ran along the old route. On the right the Wangianna Siding Ruins.
Along the way you pass
the Finniss Springs
Aboriginal Land which
has a strange art
collection in the Alberrie
Park called the Plane
Henge. Nice sculptures.
Along the way also two points to see Lake Eyre South.
Dry Salt Pan or Filled Lake - well hard to tell, but Lake
Eyre North was not accessible to the part which still
carries water.
The most complete ruins along the way are in
Curdimurka. The railway crossing signs are still present,
the station and the water purifier including some tracks.
As mentioned before the
area is also known for its
nores and mound
springs which are all
feed by the artesian
basin. A huge area of
water catchment which
release it after filtering
through thousands of
kilometers and
thousands of years. Here
is Blanche Cup which is
a mound spring in the
Wabma Kadarbu
Conservation Park.