Entry 10 – August – 2025 Oodnadatta Track – 3rd edition
We headed north out of Oodnadatta, towards Marla. At about the 20-kilometre mark we decided to participate in another deviation. Dalhousie Springs sounded like a nice place to visit. It was only about 163 kilometres, down a track.
We had been getting mixed reviews for the condition of this road. Over the last week we had spoken to two separate people who had just come out of Dalhousie Springs. Both said the road conditions weren’t too bad.
Around the first 30-kilometres we were getting jostled about from bad corrugated road conditions. One of us piped up, “I’m not keen to put up with these road conditions for over 300-kilometres, considering we are planning to return along the same route. Number two diligently agreed.
We stopped and reduced our tyre pressures a bit more and continued onward, until our next assessment. The road conditions did improve, though we were still encountering many corrugated sections, thankfully in shorter bursts.
We decided to “soldier on.”
There was one section of road still affected by the wet weather event from about 3 weeks previous. At least the nearby land surface had similarities to a lake bed. It provided a comfortable deviation for about 4-kilometres, though dusty.
Adding to the mix of hazards, we were encountering a number of bull dust covered holes in the road surface. Appropriately, we managed to capture a photograph of a bull, kicking up some dust in one of these holes. Thus, could this be where the terminology “bull dust holes,” originated?
We did encounter some cow incidents, whom were acting more like kangaroo’s, “unpredictable.”
The sun was getting low with still around 60-kilometres to our destination. Due to the road conditions, we were travelling at a speed of around 10 to 30 kph for quite a period. We found a spot to park up for the night alongside of the track on the gibber plains. Another beautiful setting, all to ourselves with the only background noise, some crows - crowing.
The following morning, we continued onwards. It was rough going, with our pace at around 10 kph. When we did get a good section of road we felt like we were flying. Even though our speed was barely 40 kph.
It felt good to finally arrive at the entrance to the national park. Though, there was still more driving to our destination.
There was a stop at the ruins of Dalhousie Station. It had been abandoned for over 100 years. It was quite the set up with a comprehensive array of buildings and stock yards. One of the buildings, the predominate feature was the fire place. Looking up the chimney you could see a piece of steel with lots of hooks to mount various pots over the fire.
The timbers used to construct the stock yards were quite substantial. It was sad to think there were no longer trees of this size visible anywhere over the gibber plains country side. Though the backdrop setting was a delight to view.
At Dalhousie Springs we set camp and had a look at the pool, located about a 400 metre walk from the campground.
The pool temperature was signposted to be a warm 34 to 38 C degrees. We thought around the 38 C to be most likely.
This region was another location with about 80 Mound Springs, discharging water from The Great Artesian Basin. West of the main pool the spring discharges around 160 litres per second at a temperature of 43 C degrees.
One morning we headed down to the pool at sunrise. The air temperature was quite crisp. It was wonderful immersing our bodies into the warm artesian waters. We were serenaded by the sounds of chattering birds around us. A beautiful, blissful setting all to ourselves. So, we thought. Within 15 minutes we were swamped by other campers, seemingly all with the same idea. Our background sounds of birds replaced by people chattering.
Another morning, we woke with no breeze about. From a distance it looked like smoke rising from the pool area, as if it was on fire. The rising steam provided another element to the beautiful setting of Dalhousie Springs.
There was the option of a couple of walking trails with a start point nearby the pool. Both moving out into the country side. When participating in these walks, we saw many mound springs covered by trees. Over the hundreds of kilometres of country side we had travelled through, all the mound springs we had sighted had been denuded of any tree life. The Dalhousie Station buildings of its time, had been the most northern residence in South Australia. The location of the Dalhousie Springs campground was quite a distance from the station ruins. Could this have been the savings grace for the trees surrounding many of the mound springs of this area? Of note the campground and the Simpson Desert had been proclaimed a fire free zone.
We emersed our bodies into the hot artesian waters of Dalhousie Springs often during the day. Each time we entered the water it provided a delightful sensation. When you sat still for a period the local Dalhousie Gobies would start to nibble at your feet. We thought it felt like a defoliation exercise. Often unsuspecting first timers entering the water would scream with fright on their first encounter of a Dalhousie Goby.
Daily we would see galahs, cockies, swallows, white faced grey herons and some other visiting birds about the springs. They were a delight to watch from our floating positions in the water.
Dalhousie Springs is on the edge of the Simpson Desert. It is the start or finish point, depending on the direction of travel chosen, for the iconic 4-wheel drive trek across the Simpson Desert. It travels along the French Line, connecting with Birdsville at the other end of a 435-kilometre track.
Dalhousie Springs may have been quite a remote location in Australia. The reality today, it is a busy location with large numbers of 4wd vehicles travelling the French Line. There was quite a large turnover of campers in the campground each day and many passing vehicles stopping in the day use parking area for a dip in the water.
We were contemplating a departure day when a young family with four children set camp beside us. At the time the campground was near empty and there were so many other camp spot options, far, far away from us. Grrr. Gosh they were loud and annoying. They helped with our departure time line. It was immediate. After six glorious nights we said our goodbyes to Dalhousie Springs.
We drove by the Old Dalhousie Ruins.
We stopped for a lunch break at another Old Ghan Railway ruins. Pedirka Siding. It was a flat barren landscape.
We were travelling through desert plains, seemingly a lifeless, relatively flat environment. For us it was still pleasurable viewing. Though the road conditions made for tough going. We took it slow, minimising any damage our vehicles might sustain. It was 187 kilometres from the campground to Oodnadatta. We arrived at Oodnadatta after nearly 8 hours of driving. We were exhausted.
We slept at the town common area of Oodnadatta, continuing onwards to Coober Pedy the following morning. We decided not to complete the full length of the Oodnadatta track, bypassing the last stretch from Oodnadatta to Marla. There hadn’t been any identifiable points of interest on this stretch of road.
It had been over 3 weeks since our last food shop. We knew of a good supermarket at Coober Pedy and were keen for some fresh produce.
It was another 200 kilometre stretch of road with most of it a dirt surface. It was in much better condition than all the other dirt surfaced roads we had travelled along over the last three weeks. Our bodies and vehicles were very grateful for the smoother ride.
It was still a barren country side. There was a scattering of cows and we wondered how they survived on the seemingly unfertile land surface.
At times we were treated to some beautiful colours.
We had been to Coober Pedy a few times, always travelling on the Stuart Highway with views of mounds of mining rubble. Entering from the other side, we could see the township, minus the mining rubble.
Over the last three weeks we had driven along a bit over 1,000 kilometres of dirt roads/tracks. Around a third, we had experienced corrugated road surface conditions. Our bodies did not like being jostled about on this occasion.
We pondered over reasons for our sudden change of negativity towards rough roads after 12 + years of travel.
Our 4wd/tow tug had recently required a suspension upgrade due to a technicality with the insurance policy for our new caravan. The much firmer suspension impacting the comfort of the ride. There’s always some form of compromise!
There had been a point of interest on the Oodnadatta to Coober Pedy Road. A destination with the title of The Painted Desert. It was another deviation road/track for a number of kilometres. We had heard of recent reports the track was in very poor condition. It sounded like a worthwhile consideration. Researching pictures of the Painted Desert showed nearly all the photographs were obtained from high up provided by drone footage.
With the above thoughts, our bodies decided to bypass The Painted Desert.
In its place we decided to view, Kanku – Breakaways Conservation Park. It is easily accessible, not far from Coober Pedy.
It had been about 10 years since we had viewed the Breakaways. There was still hill top viewing locations where you looked down into the valley below at some beautiful colours. It was still just as fabulous as our previous visit.
We spotted one of the locals watching us whilst they were out catching the last of the days warmth before the sun set.
We spent two nights at Coober Pedy. Providing a much-appreciated rest for our bodies. And the fresh food was delightful.
At Coober Pedy we had camped at the towns free camp which was reasonably quiet. Heading south our next overnight stop was at the small township of Pimba. There is a large free camping area with flushing toilets and $2 hot showers. We had previously stayed at this location several times and quite liked it.
There is a large fuel station with a good variety of food available, where sometimes we enjoy a treat.
It is at a T intersection with the Stuart Highway and the road to the major mining town of Roxby Downs. It is a very busy location with large road trains constantly stopping. From the comfort of our caravan, we watched a steady flow of large freight trains travelling along the Australian north/south rail line. The trains sounding their horns when transversing the nearby rail crossing.
Both of us didn’t sleep well on this occasion, mostly due to the constant traffic noise. It seemed like we had been nicely spoilt over our last three weeks by the sounds of nature, peaceful bush camping, away from busy human activities.
The following morning, we both commented a desire, not to camp there again.
Our next stop was at the Mambray Creek campground in the southern Flinders Ranges.
The campground had received a significant makeover since our last visit a few years previously. There was a flash new amenities block, the camping sites/area had been reshaped with a change of identifiable numbers and there was an addition of a small camp kitchen. It was quite an improvement. Though our records of what sites best suited our needs was no longer valid. We had to reassess suitable sites before booking a vacant site.
Wow! We had forgotten how the gorgeous Mambray Creek setting impacted ones feel good neurotransmitters. Our eyes were constantly trying to take in as much scenery as possible.
We spent a couple of nights at Mambray Creek and could have easily stayed longer.
Our next stop will be at our home base for a period.
