Finally a chance to get some 4WDing in. Googs Track north from Googs Lake was certainly more challenging than the track south. The sand was a little deeper and the dunes a little higher and steeper. As Adrian Mac was to find out, having the right tyre pressure made all the difference when heading over these dunes.
The morning was spent going up and down sand dunes through some dense scrub. It is amazing the difference a bit of rain makes in these areas. Our goal this morning was to get to Mt Finke and climb to the top. Mt Finke is the tallest thing around these parts and sits at 369m (not high as far as mountains go).
We arrived around lunch time and soon a group of us were making our way to the top after finding an Astro Geocache on the way up. With the way the rock was laid down, it was like climbing a large staircase to get to the top.
After working up a sweat on the way up, a few photos at the top and some phone coverage (quick phone call home), it came a little unstuck on the way down. As I was heading down, a rock I was on gave way and down I started tumbling, only being able to stop by grabbing some Porcupine Grass (and that hurts). Sustained some collateral damage including skin off from the knee down, damage to my ankle (swollen and tender) and numerous pin pricks to the hands. Made it down to the bottom, a quick wash off, some iodine and we were on our way again towards Tarcoola.
After crossing the Trans-Australian Railway, it was onto Tarcoola. This town used to be a booming town with the railways and mining nearby, but now there is only one person living here and is a railway lay over area where two trains can pass on the single rail line. It just happened that there was a train parked and waiting with another coming the other way when we arrived. We couldn’t have timed it better.
After a brief look around town, we headed east towards Glendambo through Kingoonya. In contrast to Tarcoola, Kingoonya was rocking with the pub full of people. This seems to be the place of choice for the locals and those in the know as it is not full of the tourists you find in Glendambo.
The final stop as a group was at Glendambo. Here 5 of the vehicles headed south and 4 including me headed north. Before splitting up a photo was taken of the assemblage and birthday treats for one of the kids of Tony Mashford were handed out to all. The lolly bag even had a pathtag inside.
The northern group were headed to Coober Pedy for the night. We were entertained by a lightning show and a motorbike sat on my tail most of the way. I don’t think he wanted to come head to head with any wildlife on the way and was happy to use me as a wind and wildlife break.
We camped the night at Stuart Range Caravan Park which also had a Pizza Bar inside so it was beer and pizza at 10:30pm. There was a little bit of rain over night but not as much as what was to come.
