The Road Home

 We left Ayres Rock, headed for Coober Pedy again.
We stayed at Coober Pedy that evening. Because we got in late we decided to get a pizza for dinner.
The next morning we were up early and on the road again.
By the time we reached Glendambo the Triton was running like clockwork again.
We decide that we would take a short-cut through to the Eyre Highway.
We took a right at Glendambo and drove out to Kingoonya. The famous Kingoonya Pub appeared to be closed down.
We then proceeded to take the route from Kingoonya south through Lake Everard and into the back end of the Gawler Ranges.
The track started out good and after the first 100 k's I was wondering whether I'd made the right decision.
After 8 hours without seeing a soul on this track, we came out around Poochera.
From there we drove through to Streaky Bay. We stayed at Streaky for 2 nights and made our way back across the Nullabor and eventually home.

Main Street of Kingoonya

The Road South to Eyre Highway

Ayres Rock

We drove from Kings Creek Station to Ayres Rock. It will always be Ayres Rock instead of Uluru for me I'm sorry.
Ayres Rock was one of the most exhilarating sights I've ever seen.
We looked around the town of Uluru that afternoon and collected our permits to travel through aboriginal country on the way home - Great Central Road.
That afternoon I noticed the car was running rough so I called the local mechanic out. We took the car out to his workshop and he fitted a new fuel filter in the hope that it would run better.
He advised us to drive around for a while and see how it performed after the filter change out.
We went out to Ayres Rock and attempted to climb it.
Pauline found it a bit too daunting so we only made it up about 80 metres or so...
We drove the car out to the Olgas the next day and walked the circuit through them.
The car was still running rough at the end of this so the mechanic advised us not to go out onto the Great Central Road.

Ayres Rock

 

Olgas

Ships Of The Desert

Dingo

Kings Creek Station

We left King Canyon and decided to stay at Kings Creek Station for a night.
The wood that I had been carrying around since Ross River camp came in handy here.
We decided that we would have one the stations famous burgers for dinner that night.

Kings Creek Station

Our camp site

Amenities

Ripper Fire!

Kings Canyon

Today we're heading to Kings Canyon and it's raining. The rain hasn't been heavy or continuous, but the sky has been dark all day. Not far out of Kings Canyon, we noticed a station stay called Kings Creek Station. We decided that we would spend a night there on the way back out.
We set up at the caravan park and went over to the pub for dinner.
The pub had a husband and wife band (if you like) that sang a lot of fun songs. They got the audience involved so it was quite a good laugh.
The next day we got up and went off to do the canyon walk.
It was quite exhilarating looking down from the top into the canyon.

Stormy Red Centre sky

Kings Canyon

The strap doesn't do much for the guts!!!

Looking down into the canyon

Caravan Park

Palm Valley

After a night out at Ormiston Gorge we headed out to Palm Valley which you access from Hermannsburg.
Palm Valley is a great camp site out on the Finke River.
It's said that the Finke River system is one of the oldest in the world.
The track meanders along the river bed for much of the way.
The track definitely requires a four wheel drive to get out there. It's only about 20 kl's or so out to the camp site but because it's slow going it took us about an hour and a half to get there.
The section from the camp area to the valley proper, was even slower going and requires a reasonable level of four wheel driving skill.
That night we cooked on the campground BBQ. Pauline was startled by a dingo rummaging through our bin when she went back to the Tvan for some things to cook with.


Finke River Bed

Palms in Palm Valley

Palm Valley

Palm Valley

Camping at Palm Valley

Night Falling On Palm Valley Campground

Palm Valley Campground

East Macdonnell Ranges

Today we drove out the other side of the MacDonnell Ranges. We stopped at Ellery Big Hole Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen Resort.
We decided to camp at Ormiston Gorge.
In the morning we did the walk up over the top of the gorge which gave us some fantastic views.

Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge

West MacDonnell Ranges

We set out today to check out the West Macdonnell Ranges and plan to stay at Ross River Resort camp site. We stopped at the usual places along the way - Jessies Gap and Emily Gap.
When we got to Ross River Resort we couldn't believe how quiet the place was. The campground is big and there only a half dozen of people camped there.
We set up and then drove back down the highway looking for firewood for the night.
We cooked our dinner on a fantastic fire that night.
Next morning we decided to check out the walk at Trephina Gorge.
The walk starts by climbing up over the gorge cliffs and ends up coming back down onto the river where you walk back along it.
There were small streams of running water in the river which were great for pulling the walking boots off and cooling the feet.

Setting Up Camp At Ross River Resort

Ross River Resort

Dinner On The Fire

View Of West Macdonnell Ranges From Trephina Gorge

Stream Feeds Into Trephina Gorge

Nice to Cool The Feet

Trephina Gorge

Alice Springs

We left Coober Pedy at around 7am so that we could some serious kilometres under our belt today. The plan was to make it to Alice Springs.
We stopped at Kulgera for lunch and bumped into one of the young families that we got talking to at Farina on the Oodnadatta Track. Oh forgot to mention we saw them at the caravan park in Coober Pedy as well. The two families had parted company when we saw them at Kulgera.
The rest of the day was pretty un-eventful as we forged our way up the highway to Alice Springs.
We got there in reasonably good time and booked into the caravan park. It was quite warm, so we made a bee line to the pool for a dip.

Caravan Park in Alice Springs

Coober Pedy

We woke up from our night in Oodnadatta. There really isn't a lot to do or see in Oodnadatta and I was getting pretty anxious about the stones getting in the brake hub, so I just wanted to head for Coober Pedy.

Road to Coober Pedy

We packed up ready to move on and I decided that I would empty the stone from the brake hub once again.
We decided to have breakfast in the Pink Roadhouse before re-fuelling for the 320 kilometre drive to Coober Pedy.
The flies were really getting to Pauline and I so we bought some fly nets from the roadhouse.
The road into Coober Pedy took us through some seriously barren desert landscapes.

Desert Landscape

It was what I would imagine the moon surface to look like.
About half way we encountered a vehicle with a flat tyre.
It was a young mum with three kids. The oldest boy was attempting to put the spare wheel on the car.
He and his mum had managed to get the car jacked up and I arrived in time to get the spare on for them.
The fly nets came in handy. The flies were thick.
We continued on into Coober Pedy and booked into a caravan park for the night.

Vince the mechanic's house

That afternoon we took the Tvan to a mechanic to see if he could figure out why the stones were getting into the hubs. However, he couldn't...
I took the Tvan back to the caravan park and set up for the night.
The following day we checked out the town and went through the Opal Museum.

The Breakaways

Damn Flies!!!

Sunset at the Breakaways

Oodnadatta - The Pink Roadhouse

Once again, Pauline and I were very casual about getting up out of bed and once again, everyone had left the camp site and we were pretty much the only ones left. There were some people coming in to have a look around and there was also a group of young people on a tour that made the stop for a quick dip in the spa.
We had breakfast and packed the camper and then decided to have a look around the place. We checked out the museum and on the way back had one last look at the spa. The tour group were just leaving, but there was a young couple still left in the spa.

 

Coward Springs Natural Spa



 

These guys were in a ute that was kitted out with bullbar, spotlights and mudflaps. It was the kinda ute you see the country boys driving around in. They were very friendly and revealed the they were doing a quick trip from country Victoria, to Kings Canyon / Ayres Rock and back to Victoria again - in 2 weeks. They were on the return leg and only had a few days to get back.
Once we had finished chatting, we went back to the car and hit the track again.
It was interesting to see the water laying around the place. As I previously mentioned, there had been plenty of summer rain and there was rain through these parts only a couple of weeks before we got here.
William Creek was only about 75 k's down the track, so we figured we would get there just before lunch time. I was looking forward to having lunch and a beer in this iconic desert pub.
Not far down the track from Coward Springs we stopped to take a photo of another small body of water.

Water in the desert

 

After a bit of a walk around we got back into the car and started to drive off. As we took off, I could hear a noise coming from the camper trailer. I got Pauline to drive forward slowly while I walked along side the camper to check it out. To my horror there was a metallic grinding noise coming form the wheel or axle.

I parked the car and began to take the wheel off to investigate. Once the wheel was off I spun the hub for another listen. After spinning it a few times, I figured we had a stone inside the brake hub that was getting stuck between the hub and the brake shoe - or at least I hoped that was it.

Once the hub was off my thoughts were confirmed. It was the smallest bit of rock that was causing this horrendous noise. I tipped it out and proceeded to put the hub back on. Lucky I had a rubber mat that I could lay out on the ground. The mat was handy to stop the outer wheel bearing from getting dirt in it, and also allowed me to work without getting too dirty.

 

 

 

 

Time for a quick look!

 

Taking brake hub off Tvan

 

A bloke and his son stopped to see if I needed a hand. They were contractors installing sat phones in remote communities.

Wheel back on and we were back on the track.

 

We arrived in William Creek at about 1:00pm.

William Creek Pub

 Pauline and I had some lunch in the pub. It was amazing to be there. I've seen a heap of photos of this pub on the internet and now we're finally there.

William Creek Pub

 

After lunch we promptly got back out on the track. Oodnadatta was still 200 kilometres away. I didn't wanna get there too late. Besides, I could see dark clouds in the distance and I didn't want to be on the track if it started to rain.

 

Along the way to Oodnadatta we stopped to replenish our firewood supplies and to take photos of Algebuckina Bridge. The bridge is a lot bigger than I imagined.

Gathering Firewood on the Oodnadatta Track

 

 

Algebuckina Bridge

 

 

 

Coming into Oodnadatta the storm clouds were all around us. I hadn't been able to get radio reception so I wasn't sure what the weather was going to do. Turns out there wasn't any rain in any of the clouds.

I noticed that another stone had made it's way into my brake hub on the trailer as we entered the Pink Roadhouse caravan park. Pauline made a great dinner that evening and we sat around a fire and had a couple of drinks before retiring.

Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse