Marree & Lake Eyre

On Saturday the 22nd April we finished up our tour of Farina Downs ruins before lunch and then headed to Marree. It was only a 50km or less trip. We went straight on into the van park and got set up on a couple of powered sites. We could have stayed at the pub for free but it was expected you buy a meal there and I knew the prices were pretty high for drinks so it would not have been cheap to dine there. The land beyond Marree and leading up to it for that matter is pretty sparse looking but it still supports sheep and cattle.

After setting up and having lunch we went for a walk. It was a beautiful warm afternoon there at Marree. There are just the two streets in Marree apart from a couple of intersecting streets linking them. Where we were in the van park is at one end of the main streets. This is the view to the other end which is the large building on the right hand side, being the pub.

The other street contains a road house, the Marree Yatch Club and a few houses. The yatch club is not a joke name. They actually do go yatching on Lake Eyre when it has water in it. I didn’t get a photo of that street. In the middle is the disused rail line.

There were some boards there that talked about Sir Sidney Kidman and his cattle empire. I find him fascinating and I have been meaning to read some books about him so I will do that soon. He was so clever in his strategy for drought proofing and maintaining supply and communication.

After having a look at the rail line we went over to the pub and had a drink. There was a large room dedicated to the life of Tom Kruse. Not the Hollywood actor. This guy was a real hero. A movie was made about him called, ‘Back of Beyond’. It was interesting reading and seeing the short film (not ‘Back of Beyond’) about his life. He was the mailman, but it was a lot more than just a few letters that he delivered to the outback stations. There was all manner of items and equipment he delivered. He was a lifeline to those farmers. This was the truck he used to drive.

On the way back to camp I dropped in to the Yatch Club as there was a sign indicating they had info on Lake Eyre. I knew there was a lookout on the Oodnadatta Track where you could see Lake Eyre but on the previous occasion I was here we also went north out to Muloorina Station which had a campground and beyond that you could go another 30km or so and get a good look at the Lake and also walk out onto it. The salt lake was brilliantly white there and I wanted to show that to Jan & Ross as well. So I asked the fellow at the Yatch Club about the Muloorina Road and he advised me that you could still get out to Muloorina but the government had locked off the road beyond Muloorina. He explained the government were playing some game to stop public access pastoral leases being used to make money by the pastoralists. It was great to get that info as we would have gone out the 50km to Muloorina on some badly corrugated roads only to be stopped at the locked gate and return. Back at camp we relaxed and watched a beautiful sunset. It was beautifully golden and finished with a hue of red. This video was before the red came on.

The next morning after breakfast we drove out on the Oodnadatta Track toward the lookout for a view of Lake Eyre. It was about 90km or so. We were going to go a further 100km to William Creek for lunch at the pub there but it wasn’t a popular extension of the trip so that got canned. On the way we stopped off at the sculptures that are in a paddock beside the road. Apparently the property owner does them and maintains them. They are good for breaking up the journey. Firstly there are the two planes standing on their tails.

Then some weird space like character.

Some sort of hub cap sculpture.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Then there was the wind chime sculpture. I though that was pretty good. But it needed a video to do it the justice it needed, so I did some.

There was another spaceman character but he had much better form. The picture does not show it well unfortunately but he is holding a baby in his right arm. He has two glass gauges of some sort for eyes. If you are wondering how I know it is a he, look in the obvious place.

I don’t what this is supposed to be apart from the clock.

Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of the terrain on the drive out there. It was mostly flat but these are a couple of jump up spots.

We arrived at the Lookout and took a look (out). There was no water to be seen on the Lake but this is just the southern lake. We then walked down to the lake. The edge was just a grey but as you got further out the white salt was more apparent. So that box was ticked for Jan & Ross.

These are some iphone photos, including panos that do a better job perhaps.

At the car park there were some interesting display boards. The first shows the Lake Eyre Basin but the detail on the map is not easily seen. The other boards give some history which is interesting and the importance of the mound springs to life, farming and exploration.

On the way back we stopped again at the sculptures to break up the trip. I got a photo of this bus that is a bit further away. It has a tail on the end and a sign on the side that says, ‘Ghan Hover Bus’, I think.

Back to camp where we did some housekeeping jobs like putting diesel from the jerry cans into the tank. Then there was the vans water tanks that needed topping up with fresh water we were carrying. We were on water hook-up there but we did not need to put bore water in the tanks. I also had to put air in the Land Cruiser tyres as I had let air out to go on the Track. Then came another beautiful sunset. This time I also took a video of the sunset when it got red.

That completed our second main destination of this trip. We would now be heading for home, still checking places out and enjoying everything but it was a tad sad to know the trip would be ending before long.