We were woken by the soothing sound of rain on the tents …… shit, everyone out of bed and let’s get packed up fast. Why, was the reply!! The answer was if there is too much rain then the Birdsville Track would be closed and we would be stuck there until it re-opened. (not all that bad :))

The tents and everything was packed up in record time and we were sitting at the petrol pumps of Mungerannie Hotel at 8:00 am when they opened up. Fuel was $1.65 a litre – how can it be 12c a litre cheaper than Marree??

It was onto the Birdsville Track and heading south to the Ferry. The rain was still falling albeit not too hard and the road was getting muddy and slippery.

We arrived at the Ferry to find one car lined up and the Ferry on the other side with no operators. I got on the CB to the Ferry Operators to find up about the hold-up. They claimed it was too rough but the creek was dead calm. OK, time for some breakfast while we waited. Half an hour later the Ferry arrived and they recognised us from yesterday and told us that they had been sorting out the belongings of the worker that died yesterday.

A quick trip over the Ferry and we went to the spot where the Birdsville Track was cut by the Cooper Creek. There was water everywhere with the camp-site sign and toilets 100 metres out in the water. Located here was the original “boat” (MV Tom Brennan) used when the Track was cut by flood waters.

We continued down the Track, and I started to feel a difference in the steering – yes a flat tyre. This was near Clayton Station.  A rock had fractured the tyre. No worries, grabbed the jack, spare tyre, wheel brace but where is the jack handle? Looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. (Of course I found it when I unpacked the car after we got home) Started using a screwdriver when another car stopped who also had an Isuzu so the right jack handle. It ended up that they lived near Mannum and knew Jenny’s Mum and Dad – how small is South Australia!

Back on the way and the road started to get muddy again. There had obviously been more rain here. A quick stop in Marree but not tyre repairs here so moved onto Lyndhurst where I had to get a new tyre as the fracture was to big to repair. A quick drive out on the very muddy Strzlecki Track to grab a cache at Clarrie’s Water Hole and we were back on the way south to Leigh Creek and Hawker.

With wet tents and sleeping backs, it was decided that we would not be camping tonight but the only thing available was a very budget caravan in the Flinders Ranges Caravan Park. It was some dry beds and the caravan park amenities were excellent.

After tea, Jenny and the kids played cards and I headed out to do some night caching (Found 14 caches around the Hawker area). All slept well, sleeping into 9:00 am the next morning. 🙂

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Today was an easy drive with 200 km of the Birdsville Track to Mungerannie Hotel broken up 3/4 way by the Cooper Creek, but that’s OK there is a ferry over the water.

We had a look around Marree before heading off but there isn’t a lot to see apart from the old Train locomotives and the Lake Eyre Yacht Club. Fuelled up at $1.77 a litre and we were off on the Birdsville Track.

It was a pretty easy drive to the wet weather diversion of the Birdsville Track with a couple of rough spots. The diversion road was freshly graded but had not been completed. We arrived at the ferry with about 15 cars in the queue (well so we thought), which meant we were going to be in a long wait.

It ended up that most of the cars were there just to take photos and we were 4th in the queue. However, the ferry was on our side of the creek but there were no operators. It turns out that one of the grading road gang had suffered a heart attack and the ferry operator was the 1st Aid Officer.

After an hour they came to the queue and told us that the outcome was not that good and they were waiting for a helicopter with the Police and a Doctor. After another hour the chopper arrived, the 35 year old was pronounced dead and the ferry started up again.

It took around 15 minutes for the ferry to load a car, go to the other side, unload and load again and return. After another 40 minutes and we were on the Ferry and heading to the northern side of the Cooper Creek. The Ferry only took one car at a time, a total of 6 passengers and everyone had to wear a life jacket.

It wasn’t long and we were off the ferry and heading north to Mungerannie Hotel. The northern diversion road was very sandy but smooth, which was in contrast to the Normal Track which was rough in spots. We arrived to the oasis like Mungerannie Hotel and met up with Mungerannie Phil, set up the tents in the Wetlands Area. I went for a walk in the Wetlands to grab a couple of caches, while Jenny and the kids went for a swim in the Hot Pool.

After a spectacular sunset, we headed to the pub for tea, some beverages, 8 ball and then back to bed with some winds starting up.

Caches for the Day:

GC1EF5V – Hergott Springs

GC7339 – Hot Pools 1

GC1X91K – Desert Hats

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Unusual for us, we were all packed the night before so it was just a case of getting out of bed, shower, breakfast and in the car ready to go. Given all this we managed to get away from home 8 minutes later than I wanted at 9:38 am which is unheard of for our family.

With all the roadwork’s going on north of Adelaide, it took a while to finally get through to around Roseworthy. After that it was just a matter of stopping occasionally for fuel and food and keep going til we got to Marree.

We only stopped a couple of times for Geocaches as the plan was to grab them on the way home.

We managed to get to Marree around 5:00 pm with 3 options to stay. We looked at the Marree Hotel for a cabin but none available until September, same story at the Marree Drovers Rest Tourist Park and Oasis Town Centre Motel & Caravan Park. So we ended up choosing the Oasis to pitch the tents.

A walk down to the Hotel for tea and then back to the Caravan Park to the Fire Pit to meet fellow travellers and chat until late. Once in bed, the locals in the streets made sure that we wouldnt get to sleep too early but eventually they relented as well.

Caches for the day:

GC2AEXV – Pioneers 2

GC1ZPEW – Chocolate & Jam

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It is Australia Day Long Weekend so that can only mean one thing – camping at the Coorong. During the summer, this is one spot that is bearable for camping although this year it is almost winter with night temperatures getting down to near 10C.

The days have been good with mid 20’s and plenty of sunshine. The advance party of Bookers, Goss’s and Hattons arrived on Friday securing our campsite but one other managed to sneak in but they were warned. We came back from Renmark Friday so we didnt get down here until Saturday afternoon. Also the pallecon from the Jamboree had to be unpacked prior to us leaving.

Sunday most of the crew headed down to Robe for some beach, icecream and caching (well I cached).

Lunch was on the Robe foreshore then we ventured to Long Beach for the kids to have a swim and sand play while the adults relaxed on the beach.

After setting everyone up, I headed off to do some caching in the Little Dip Conservation Park. It was fun 4WDing through the Park. Came across others, which was comforting should I have got into trouble. Checked out some spectactular coastline at the various cache locations.

Also travelled to Drain L for a cache. It is amazing that this engineering feat was carried out back in 1911. The 1 hour caching trip lasted 2 hours then it was pick up everyone then into Robe for icecream and back to the campsite for Curry Night.

It took a little while to coordinate everyone but about 1/2 hour before dusk, the camp sat down for the communal Curry Night. A great meal was had by all but look out tomorrow morning.

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