The bugs and the rain had gone when we awoke this morning. The only issue now was fuel to get to Oodnadatta. I was on empty but had filled the jerry cans back at Coober Pedy – that gave me about 35 to 40 litres. Parrots were about the same. Mt Dare had said that we would need about 60 litres in the current conditions to make it.
Their solution was to drain the sub tank of their Landcruiser which held 100 litres, of which we were welcome to 20 litres each at a cost of $2 a litre – who was going to complain about the price out here. As it was, we nearly missed out as some other travellers heard about this and were going to grab the lot and they were only going the 100 km to Finke. Lucky we had teed it up last night and we got our 20 litres each.
It is amazing how quickly the roads dry out as apart from the roads nearest Mt Dare, the rest were heading back to dust. With buoyed enthusiasm, and 3/4 of a tank of fuel, we decided we would make the diversion to Dalhousie Springs and stay the night there. It only added an additional 5km to the journey.
The trip was uneventful and we made good time arriving around lunch time. Andrew and I headed off for a walk to grab a couple of caches including another Astro cache. After the walk it was time for a soak in the Springs. Having spent time in other springs such as Mataranka, I was looking forward to this.
What we didn’t know was how hot it was. The temperature of the water was up around 40 degrees so you could only stay in for about 15 minutes before needing to get out to rehydrate and cool. Did this couple of times, chatted with some others that had just made the journey through the Simpson Desert.
The mozzies were starting to get friendly so we decided to keep moving south towards the Oodnadatta Track via the Public Access Route #8, passing the Dalhousie Ruins on the way. Again we past through some amazing country, then arriving at Hamilton Station we came onto a new road that went for about 30km. It was better than the Stuart Highway – it is amazing how money talks (obviously had been built for Hamilton Station).
Once again we were heading towards sunset so it was time to find a spot to camp. We came across Alberga River and a familiar voice on the CB. It was one of the vehicles from the Goyder Creek crossing the day before. He was bogged in the river sand. We headed in and helped him out then found an area that was above where water may come through during the night. There was no clouds in the sky but with the weather patterns they way they were, we were not prepared to take any chances of a flash flood. We also camped on the southern side of the river in case it did become impassable.
Unfortunately we failed again to have our evening meal in daylight – maybe tomorrow.
