West Macs (Alice - somewhere along Larapinta Dr)

Day: 10 (Alice - Side of Road (West Macs))

Distance Travelled: 255kms

Weather: Fine, sunny, hot!

Today's Biggest Challenges: More dirt tracks (sand, bleh), and the intense heat in the gorges.

What I've learned from today: That the West Macs are one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Highlights of today: We rose this morning after sleeping a little better last night (probably from exhaustion) and packed up the rest of the gear. I headed off a little earlier to the Watershed cafe to meet up with Leticia, the Alice Springs Crew Leader. I arrived at the trendy little cafe to order some coffee and we found each other without any problems. It was fantastic to meet a local, especially someone familiar with scouting, and just to be able to ask heaps of questions! Stories were thick and fast and we had a good yarn while waiting for the others. Stories about freelance riding around the desert and monster python snakes up near Katherine, it was fantastic to explore the differences between the centre and the south coast. Eventually the others arrived and we enjoyed a yarn and the free WiFi till we had to leave and start our West Macs adventures!

Our camping neighbour at the Alice caravan park had given us a sheet the day before of all the best attractions in the ranges to explore. On advice, we decided to skip over Stanley Chasm and did a select few for the time we had available.

First stop was Simpson’s Gap. A short drive into the area, we arrived about 11am which was a great time to see the sun peering over the slit that was the creek gap. Much to Kristal’s delight, we spotted some shy, cute little rock wallabies among the boulders on the east side of the gap. The water was rather rank at one end and we had to steer clear for the algae in it (I think it was toxic if I remember correctly) however it was magnificent. I took advantage of the amazing acoustics and sang Pippin’s song from The Lord of the Rings into the echo… a memory I won’t easily forget! So beautiful. We took a number of photos and decided to head off before the tourist buses came for the midday viewing.

Next stop was the Ellery Creek Hole. Another gorgeous waterhole with a fantastic area for swimming in deeper water. Incredible rock strata layers bent mysteriously around each other along one of the western walls and we searched in vain for a fossil - but the rocks are just too old!

It’s funny, Kristal and I are getting rather a reputation in the outback now as ‘those girls on the motorbikes’. We have met people back in Oodnadatta and Alice who we keep meeting again now, especially in this area as everyone is jumping from attraction to attraction. This came rather in handy for what happened next.

We left Ellery Creek to head to Ormiston Gorge. Kristal and I were pretty keen and we eventually lost sight of the boys. We arrived at the turn-off and Kristal headed down while I waited for the boys. I waited for two minutes before deciding I’d bake myself into a migraine if I didn’t find some shade in the heat, so I headed down to the gorge as well (the boys knew we were headed there anyway). We arrived and waited some time before deciding to have a look in the gorge and see if, for some reason, they had perhaps gotten ahead of us and we may have found them there. Still no sign of them. An hour after we saw them last, we decide to ask the next entering vehicle if they had seen the others broken down. The car we waved down turned out to be people we had met before and yes, they had seen the others broken down on the side of the road about 15 minutes behind. So with a sinking feeling we decided it would be best to push ahead to Glen Helen to get fuel before heading back to find the others. Just as we saddled up, however, the boys drove in with everything seemingly intact and we ran to greet them! Turned out, they told us, (between filling up bottles at the rain water outlet), that the radiator hoses had been shaken completely out of their sockets on the dirt roads and all they had to do was shove them back in again and re-fill the water outlet. Phew! Could have been so much worse.

We pushed on to Glen Helen for a quick refuel and lunch in the shade. Didn’t quite match what we had seen so far but would be worth coming back here and checking out the sights further. Met more German tourists (why so many Germans…? no idea!) walking around before heading off. I took a few photos of the nearby mountains and we were on our way.

Scenery was just beautiful and the road started to get more interesting and twisty on our way to King’s Canyon. Our last stop was the lookout to the Gosse Bluff crater, a massive crater on the western outskirts of the West Macs. We had no time to enter but from the lookout on the hill was an incredible sight.

The sun was beginning to get quite low in the sky so we pushed on to the Larapinta Drive junction and from there took it slower on the dirt road towards King’s. After an hour of this it became impossible to see anything and our eyes hurt a lot from the sun glare and the dust, even with sunnies and helmets on, so I swapped out with Stu (although I must say, the knobbies were making a huge difference in grip on the dirt road!). We pushed on for another 20 minutes, letting the riders make the decisions on when to stop (if necessary), until Kristal had a massive fishtail and she called us off. We found an appropriate spot on the side of the road and set up camp for the night.

Wow, I must say, this is probably the best night so far! There is something just so exciting about making it up as you go, and tonight is exactly that. We made one of the better recipes for dinner (sausage hotpot) and Anthony found enough fallen wood to make a small fire to herd off anything unwanted. Surrounded by absolute pitch black, the most deafening silence I’ve ever heard and shooting stars by the dozen, we ate by the firelight and sipped tea while singing campfire songs and listening to ‘the adventures of Kristal’, Kristal’s no-end of stories that prove she has nine lives! We were even shocked to find out that this whole time she has been riding with one eye literally half-blind from a years-ago accident. Well, the things you find out!

Finally we settled down to sleep as the moon began rising over the horizon. Tomorrow, the final 100km push to King’s Canyon and then on to Uluru! Till then, MMG

A Day Off (Alice)

Day: 9 (Alice! Just Alice.)

Distance Travelled: 45kms

Weather: Fine, Sunny, Hot

Today's Biggest Challenges: Not long enough! :)

What I've learned from today:

Highlights of today: Today was a fantastic opportunity for a break and some time to ourselves. We slept little during the night as we were all on edge after hearing about the van that got broken into yesterday, so we all slept with one eye open.

I got up early as I wanted to make the most of the day. I also wanted to check out one of the churches in town and they happened to have a super early service at 7am (super early for a day off anyway haha), so I headed off for that. It was great to meet a few new people and see how they did things in a different area… it was a little different but again, great to see new faces and see new things. It was relatively short (20 minutes) so I was out for the sunrise and decided to head up Anzac Hill to watch it. The hill is a beautiful, peaceful place on the northern outskirts of town and in the cool breeze of the morning it was a great refresher. Sadly, I lost my balance on the hill while parking and the bike fell over on the low side. There was no one around and I was worried about getting it up again, however I remembered seeing a video on picking up bikes by grabbing it backwards (back to bike) and walking it up, and it worked surprisingly easily! New skill for the kit.

Headed back for a yummy brekky of eggs and toast. First breakfast in yonks that’s not porridge or cereal! Made for a nice change and was great to put a bit of pazaz into the food for once. Then I spent time catching up on writing while the others got themselves out of bed. Stu got up early too, to take the bike to the mechanic and get the tires changed as they’ve been getting some serious wear on the front… not sure if it would even make it home on the current set as they’re getting so thin. Will be good to have new ones! Might even be able to do something about the bent lever from the fall.

Come about 11am Stu was back with the bike and Kristal, Anthony and I decided to head off on the bikes to the gaps outside town on the eastern ranges. Exploring Jessie’s and Emily’s Gaps turned out to be a great decision! The rock strata here is just so immensely old it’s hard to fathom the amount of years between its formation and our arrival there - one thing I’ve learned on this trip is just how phenomenally old Australia is. In many of the rock strata layers it is impossible to find fossils simply because of the fact that the rock pre-dates all life entirely. It’s so difficult to fathom.

Anyway, after gaping at this for some time we walked through the dry, sandy riverbed and to check out some aboriginal paintings on the walls. I noticed a climbable path up the side of the gap and thought it would be a good opportunity for a better view. The others joined and a little scramble ended up being a full half-hour climb to the top of the range. It was well worth it though! The sights from the top rivalled any we have seen so far! You can see horizon to horizon, a few odd ranges far in the distance and, looking east, Alice is clearly visible along with Pine Gap, the US/Australia joint air space facility. And far, far to the east, the West Macdonnell Ranges begin! They just seem to have a voice of their own that just calls and begs to be explored. They are light-blue and tan in their appearance from the distance and they remind me somewhat of the mountain ranges from home… a beautiful sight. I can’t wait to see them!!

After some time we headed back down to explore the other gap (very similar in sights) and then headed back for some lunch. We met Stu’s friend Marie back at camp and she and her kids shared local stories and answered our questions about the area. The whole day I had been trying to get a hold on any of the rover crews in the area to meet up before we leave tomorrow and it’s proven rather difficult. We’ll just have to see how that goes.

Later in the afternoon we had a chance to do some shopping for groceries before a nice stew for dinner to end our rest day. We discussed plans for the following day’s exploring of the Macdonnell ranges and cleaned up for another (hopefully not too) restless night. Before bed I got another message from the crew leader of the Alice Springs Rover Crew and we have arranged to meet at a cafe in the morning, yay! Keen to meet some interstate Rovers and get travelling again after a restful and exciting day. Till then, MMG

North (Marla - Alice)

Day: 8

Distance Travelled: 454kms

Weather: An awesome 25 degrees, sun and light winds

Today's Biggest Challenges: More dead straight roads for hundreds of kms. Sun through the visor made it feel like an oven but the cooler breeze helped in the end

What I’ve learned from today: Definitely worth having the kettle ready for coffee when you need it! Also, good hydration is impossible to overestimate in value.

Highlights of today: Another beautiful outback sunrise greeted us for our journey to the fourth state on this trip (and, incidentally, the eighth and final state/territory I am yet to visit!). Plan was simple: Drive North 450 something kms. So after getting our freshly cleaned clothes off the line from the day before (YAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!) and a quick pack we were off.

We planned this day a little bit, looking for rest stops every 100kms or so (started looking around the 80k mark). By the second stop, we were at the NT border! I initially thought I’d missed it as the SA border sign going the other way is more than a km back from the major sign so was a bit confusing. We snapped a few pictures and continued along the journey. The signs now said 130kmph which was AWESOME to experience! Good fun, very fast and we made good time.

We pulled over for fuel at the first roadhouse in the NT and was a fun $1.90p/L at the time. Walked inside to pay and saw a photograph of a fuel pump from nearby, some time ago, with an outrageously high price on it (more than $3.40) with the poor person having to buy more than 200 litres. Check out how much that turned out to be! Incredible.

Eldunda was the next stop and is a roadhouse on the corner of the Lassetter Highway, the turn-off to Uluru. The night before we had made a unanimous decision to switch up the Uluru/Alice days so that we can have a proper rest day in Alice, re-stock, use wifi, etc. before the busy touristy day at Uluru. We stopped for lunch, coffee and souvenirs while sitting in the heat getting roasted. Getting on to 28 degrees and boy can we feel it in the bike gear!

With only two hours to go, Stu swapped out with Kristal as she was getting a bit of a hydration headache, and so we pushed on. The 130kmph helped cool us down a little as we watched buzzards (which I argued looked like eagles but ahh well) having a kangaroo feast on the side of the road and dodged the cyclones created by the triple-trailer road trains.

Our last stop before Alice was the Stuart’s Well roadhouse. Next door was a camel farm so Stu thought it would be a great idea to get up close and personal with one and it got a REAL close whiff of his helmet! Clearly it didn’t taste any good cause he wouldn’t really pose for another photo haha. There were also a few emus about and I took rather an interest in studying their backward knees. Funny things they are. We had also had a look at the Cannonball Memorial nearby, marking the crash site that killed four people in the 1994 Cannonball Run motor race. A dry, windswept place not too far from the Finke River, it’s all that’s left to tell of that day.

The last stretch to Alice was quite easy, and we began to see the beauty of the Northern Territory. It is not quite as flat as many think it is and we had quite a lot of fun snaking between the hills and rivers on the way in. It is really a beautiful area and I for the hundredth time I wished we had more time to explore the area… till next time.

We arrived in Alice with a fair amount of sunlight left and headed for the campsite. With very reasonably priced sites we were on top of the moon (despite the lack of grass) until halfway through set up we were warned of the security problems of the area… a van had been broken into last night. I looked up google reviews for the place and they unfortunately confirmed our concerns… some people had even had their tents unzipped by thieves while they were in them! We all barely slept that night having one or more eyes open to any noises… we were on the lucky side though and survived the night without incident. However, it must be said that the feelings of insecurity did drop its attractiveness as a campsite quite substantially… I don’t think I’ll be going back there. (I would just like to say a note here on the indigenous peoples of the area… I am not from Alice or the central Australian areas and so it was rather a new experience to see so many aborigines roaming the streets, many seemingly aimlessly. I don’t know all the real situations here but they have not always been positive and there is often more that meets the eye in all senses of the phrase. I have a great respect for the indigenous peoples (and I have met some in particular that I hold a great awe and appreciation for) however, there are certainly two sides from what we experienced and in the towns and cities, sadly the experience was not the most positive. It can and has been a real problem in the past and very strict alcohol (in particular) restrictions are in place in many areas of the NT and SA.I hope more can be done in working with the indigenous, helping each other and building rapport in the future).

Day off in Alice to come. We are tired and so happy to have a break! More to come :) Till then, MMG

Oodnadatta Over (Oodnadatta - Marla)

Day: 7

Distance Travelled: 208kms

Weather: Blazing blue sky, 24 degrees (at least!)

Today's Biggest Challenges: The serious ball-bearing-like gravel. Makes for a fun speedway but not much else. Mentally very challenging. Trying to miss the cows on the side of the road (yes you read that right, cows, not camels).

What I've learned from today: Sand is still yuck, marble rocks are scary, the dust is a PROPER red and green grass is the best invention since sliced bread.

Highlights of today: Decided to get up and pack up early so we could get to Marla asap and get out of the dirt and get clean. Had a great time chatting to some of the campers the day before about what Uluru was like for them when they went, where to stay, etc. A great time for camper fellowship and had a good chat with their kids about motorbikes (they were a bit starry-eyed at ours!). We bought a few things and I managed to bargain the lady at reception for some rain water to drink before heading off at about 9. Fuel was a bit cheaper at $1.87 p/L so we filled up ready for the final stage of the Oodnadatta track, said our goodbye’s to the Pink Roadhouse and we were on our way.

We had been told the night before by the campers that the road was very good on this side of Oodnadatta, however, we were to find out that ‘very good’ referred to driving in Hiluxes and not on motorbikes. Ball-bearing-like gravel, bull dust and some decent corrugations made for physically and psychologically trying times. While we could still do 90kmph most of the way it was mentally very taxing as the road could change at any time and required instant reactions to conditions at any second. Couple this with a bike that I didn’t quite know made it rather difficult to handle for long. We stopped after 70ish kms for a break, had a snack and watched the dozens of little finches fight over the branches of a dead tree across the river… a river with GREEN GRASS! A rarity since we entered South Australia last Thursday.

We continued on however my still-growing experience on dirt road and lingering sickness
meant that I became tired faster than Kristal and I had to stop and hand over to Stuart about 50kms out of Marla. Thus was the end of the Oodnadatta for me, after a successful 430kms in the dirt on the VStrom. I think I’ve learnt so much about dirt riding over the last four days, it’s been phenomenal. I figure dirt riding is kind of like parenting… there is a very fine line between going swimmingly and smashingly. You can’t force the bars, you must be very gentle, but you still have to guide them… if you force them it will let you down hard but if you don’t guide you’ll run off the road entirely, so it’s riding that fine line. The bike would often fishtail in the dust, which was terrifying at 90kmph on a 220+kg bike but somehow (no doubt thanks to the good suspension) would right itself almost entirely by itself (provided it wasn’t on the loose stuff for too long at a time). I think it has also done a lot for my road riding capabilities and endurance levels.

We arrived at Marla and kissed the tar, we were so keen! After getting out and hugs and photos and groans of stiffness we rolled into the roadhouse, filled up and set up camp. It was great to get some washing done, clean up the bike chains and lube the parts, dust everything off and have a nap. Everything was absolutely COVERED in a thick layer of dust and we picked up half the desert’s rocks in the back of the trailer, despite the tarp and net. So good to get rid of the dirt and camp on grass again.

Just had the best shower this whole trip… My hair was so matted I thought I’d have to chop pieces of it out but finally loosened it all up. After a delish dinner, more star gazing and a yarn we are off to bed. We’ve decided to ride to Alice tomorrow instead of Uluru as it gives us a chance to shop, have reception and rest before heading out to the Rock where we will want to spend a lot of time exploring. A long day in the saddle tomorrow but we are keen and happy to get back on the tar for a bit, leaving the dirt for the next keen motorcyclist. Till then, MMG

The Road to Oodnadatta: Rock Solid Instability (Coward Springs - Oodnadatta)

Day: 6

Distance Travelled: 279kms

Weather: Another bright, warm, sunny day with a grand total of zero clouds.

Today’s biggest challenges: SAND! SAND IS TERRIFYING! Riding on sand = fishtailing, and fishtailing on a bike has at least a 47.9% chance of ending in an accident (I’m not making up statistics at all, of course, just thought you should know! :P). Anyway, riding on sand made for lots of tension in trying to keep everything under control correctly. Also, corrugations hurt. Sometimes a lot.

What I’ve learned from today: Sand is scary. Scary sand. Just stay away.

Highlights of today: Lots of highlights! We got up to the beautiful sunrise at Coward Springs with a beautiful breeze blowing and probably 18 degrees. I went for a walk to the natural mineral spa just outside the camp site and soaked my feet (yay!). Went off to explore the ancient museum house (where you can find photographs, snake skins and camel skulls) before heading back for brekky before the long ride. We have well and truly got our packing pretty smooth now and I’m quite proud of our system! We can get up and get everything done: dressing, hygiene, brekky, packing, tents down, gear packed, trailer and car loaded and tied down and on bikes ready to leave in a relaxed two hours, so I think we are doing quite well, all things considered.

We left early to give ourselves plenty of time to deal with the road if it became as nasty as it was the day before, so Kristal and I left a bit before the car to get a head start. It didn’t turn out as violent as the day before and we managed quite well. I had a number of times where I nearly lost the front out on the sand (sand is honestly something else - you’ll know what I mean if you have ever hit it - instant loss of control) but otherwise a generally peaceful time. We smashed out a good 70kms before arriving at William Creek to fill up with fuel - now a whole $2 per litre! We met two other bikers there while we were waiting for the others to show up in the car, Will and Joe, who have been travelling around the world on their dirt bikes for the last few years. Had a good yarn about bikes and the places they had been and the places they were going… was good to meet fellow riders on the track! They had just done the Simpson desert and Mt Dare, so we may have to put that on the list for next time! :)

After a quick stop in at the pub full of stickers, signatures, business cards and cash from all over the world stuck up on the walls, we left for Oodnadatta, the famous township the track was named after. The track was pretty easy going and we could often do 95kmph for the next 80kms or so, so we made quite good time. I had another near miss on the sand again in a dry creek bed so we had a break and Stu gave me a little pep talk… every piece of road is a new piece of road, just keep going. Road became quite ‘Oodnadatta’ again (for meaning, see last blog) with ball-bearing-like stones everywhere so again, we had to take it easy. We eventually arrived at the famous disused rail bridge 70kms south of Oodnadatta. We had lunch in the shade while admiring the old architecture in such a deserted place. Climbed the bridge, took some snaps and had a look at the beautiful field of red-purple succulent flowers before continuing on to our famed destination. The road became smooth again here and we had an uneventful rest of the trip.

Finally, we arrived at the well-known Pink Roadhouse of Oodnadatta, set up camp at it’s caravan park down the back and decided to go for a rather well-deserved pub dinner. The ‘Oodna burger’ is quite something - perhaps one of the most packed burgers I’ve seen in my life - with everything on it possible. Definitely worth it for a whole $15. Come visit.

Another interesting thing I’ve noted is the rather large number of foreign people serving in the outback. There are numberless Irish and Canadians on working holidays at the roadhouses, pubs and garages… I think we met more of them than Aussies! Get to know them and their stories if you have a chance…. they are fascinating people!

Well, time for bed. Marla tomorrow and then finally, FINALLY the Rock the next day! Signing off for another night, MMG

The Air of Eyre (Brachina George, Flinders’ Ranges - Coward Springs)

Day: 5

Distance Travelled: 352kms

Weather: Blazing blue sky

Today's Biggest Challenges: The Oodnadatta track (remember what it means (see last blog)? Yep. It’s aptly named).

What I've learned from today: Sand is sill scary! Having a swap-out rider was DEFINITELY a good idea. Great to have people experienced with dirt riding to work with. More grippy tires would be helpful. And gosh, Australia is OLD!

Highlights of today: We woke up to a crystal clear day with our tents covered in ice from a chilly night in the gorge. I got up a bit earlier as I really wanted to climb the nearby hill and see the sun rise over Wilpena Pound 30kms away. It was certainly worth it! Easily one of the biggest highlights of this trip for me, the cliffs were blazing red directly facing East into the sunrise. I wish we could spend more time here but it’s time to move on.

Stuart and I hopped on the bikes for the first section of the day as Stuart was keen for some time in the Flinders. We started riding and were promptly surrounded by a mob of emus! We slowed to 20kmph and they ran with us along the road for some time before they regrouped by darting in front of us and disappearing into the scrub. It was amazing to see them up so close with their funny backward knees and their bouncing ball of feathers. We rode on through the gorge with rock strata either side of us, hundreds of millions of years old… it’s so difficult to fathom just how old they are… they were old when the dinosaurs roamed the earth! A truly awesome experience.

We finally popped out the other side and the first sight of the plains came into view - bare nothingness that will be our experience for the next week. One last 20km lot of dirt and we hit the Outback Highway.

Soon after I stopped along the way to take some pictures in one of the ruins on the plains. They are quite something - a fireplace in almost every room, very square rooms, fitting together like jigsaws; very simple and elegant and they speak of a time gone by on the wind-swept plains. Again I had many similar thoughts on our way to Orroroo - who lived here? What was it like? It’s quite something to experience.

We watched the ranges disappear behind us and the plains stretch out in front as we headed in to Leigh Creek for a refuel before heading to Farina to the underground bakery. Farina is an old town in the middle of nowhere surrounded by yellow/white dust in all directions. The town was abandoned many decades ago and they recently started rebuilding it in the last ten years as a historical project. Part of the restorations include the reopening of the underground bakery where we had an early lunch. The area is only an active town of volunteers for eight weeks of the year during the peak tourist season before it becomes a ghost town once more, the only remaining people being the nearby station owner. A fascinating town to look through and I’d love to come again after learning about more of the history. Unfortunately I tripped over running to catch up with the others and severely bruised my elbow somersaulting on the ground (I know I’m so talented, right!) so I couldn’t ride for the rest of the day and Stuart and Kristal took over while I caught up on some much-needed sleep.

We headed off to Marree to the famous Marree hotel where the Tom Kruse museum is (a different Tom Kruse… don’t ask me which movie he was in but ahh well) and had a short break in the heat. It is so dry here that, looking at the leaves on the gum trees, they were so covered in wax in its attempt to maintain water that they looked about as fake as MSG. We spent some time looking at the old railway before heading off to start the Oodnadatta Track.

The way was easy-going enough and was just bumpy dirt with some gravel and corrugations to start with. It was quite hot and there really was nothing out there. After about an hour and a half of travelling past hills and a field of random sculptures we arrived at Lake Eyre South for sunset. Wow, it is really something! The last half an hour I’d been watching the DeLorme tracker slowly register our sea level height drop slowly to below zero and start into the negatives, and now we ran down the hill to the salt flat to measure it again. It finally registered at -16 meters below sea level (I think a bit out but still close - you can just see it in the picture) and we just stood and drank in the view till sunset. You can just see the curve of the earth where the salt flat meets the horizon as the sun began to sink below the rim. The flat itself it composed of some sort of soft clay (which would just stick to your shoes really easily) with the crusted layer of white salt on top. It felt much like the beach and even the air itself tasted just like the seaside. A beautiful place to be and it was awesome to experience the silence and lack of light-pollution, as it is in the whole outback. We snapped some photos together and headed off for the last 37kms to Coward Springs.

Well! It turned out to be much more adventurous than we had originally planned! As it got dark our attention had turned to the potential for greater numbers of animals on the road, however, even from there an even greater problem was the inability to see anything. With the sunset light in our faces the ruts, corrugations and sand patches were impossible to see and the bikes began fishtailing everywhere. Luckily, our more talented dirt riders were on the bikes at the time to deal with it while I sat in the car looking after my arm. It was a really rough patch and was quite a nerve-wrecking 40 minutes however we made it out alright and arrived at Coward Springs safe and sound. We set up camp under a million stars while the riders went to chill out at the natural spa/mineral spring. We stayed up for some time just enjoying the night sky without any light pollution… I’ve never seen so many shooting starts as out here! Just another amazing night in this beautiful country. A hard road but so worth it.

Tomorrow we are off to the famous Oodnadatta hotel. Hopefully the road will be better than today and that I can learn quickly! Till then, take care, MMG

600 Million Years and Counting (Orroroo - Flinder’s Ranges)

 Day: 4

Distance Travelled: 232 kms

Weather: Half n’ half.

Today's Biggest Challenges: Pretty new to dirt! A number of new experiences but all good learnings.

What I've learned from today: Sand is scary! Need to be loose and relaxed on the dirt tracks, use less front brake and more rear.

Highlights of today: We rose to a clearing sky against the backdrop of the valley behind Orroroo. We met a family who had just come back from the Flinder’s at the campsite who told us about their experiences of the place and gave us a few tips on the best places to camp. I did a bit more shopping to make up for the fruit we lost and we headed off.

The first section up to the ranges was really beautiful. Yes it was stark and was really an area without many trees, however the rolling hills were beautiful against the morning sun and we took so many photos! We had to be really careful as there was heaps of road kill around so we took it easy. Super grateful to have stocked up on firewood this morning as it is certainly limited out here. The grassy plains and the grey-green hills against the blue sky is quite something to behold as the first blue of the Flinder’s comes into view on the horizon.

We arrived at Hawker, the last stop before we entered the ranges, fulled up, made some last phone calls before the reception goes out for the next several days and bought parks passes (something like $10 per day for entry per vehicle… could be different for the car, I can’t recall). Driving through the first section to Wilpena Pound was really something. The pound is straight ahead and we were flanked on both sides by the ranges with it’s plain in between. Something odd I noticed was random piles of what looked like yellow apples on the side of the road - they must be some sort of native bush going to seed in its fruit however it was just so random and for a while I thought it must have been tourists throwing out old bags of fruit! However, as they kept coming up at regular intervals I dismissed the thought.

We arrived at the Wilpena Pound info centre and went in to enquire about camping and the best spots. An aboriginal gentleman called Mick happened to be manning reception and he was such a character! Very kind, funny and helpful, he had our best interests at heart and went out of his way to help us find the best spot to camp, which we decided would be in the Brachina Gorge. We mentioned that we were heading out to Uluru along the Oodnadatta Track and he said ‘Oh yes! And you will want to stop at Marree to check out the hotel and Farina with the underground bakery and stay at Coward Springs…. oh, and you know what Oodnadatta means? It literally means ‘shitty road’, and you will find out why!’. He was so helpful we’ve decided to call him Mick the Legend. We said our goodbyes, had some lunch and headed for the scenic dirt drive through the gorges to Brachina.

The first section of the road after Wilpena was a new experience. I’ve had some dirt experience before but nothing too major (perhaps a few hundred kms, hence why I’ve wanted to include dirt in my trip because 1, it’s more physical, and 2, its a new skill to learn). After a while I unknowingly hit a sand patch and the whole bike felt like it had become possessed with the handlebars jumping left and right of their own accord…a pretty scary experience! The others later mentioned it was sand I had hit and I made a mental note to watch out for sand in the future.

After some time we made it up to Razorback lookout where we had a full view of Wilpena Pound. Gosh, it is gorgeous! The blue/green and red ridges jutting out of the earth like a series of knives with the winding dirt track below, the silence palpable and the hawks gliding on the wind… it is really a place that must be experienced. It is easy to understand how these places are sacred to the indigenous.

We slowly wound down the hills into the gully where we crossed a few creeks (more skills to learn!) and eventually made our wait to the final straight section heading north before the campsite. We made camp along the river in the Brachina Gorge where we had a full bush camp - even the toilets were too far away for comfort, so we just made do. It was incredible watching the sun set over the red ridges as we cooked our yummy chicken stir fry for dinner. Afterwards we made a camp fire and sat around sharing stories while I made damper. The gentle breeze, the cool air, the trickle of the river and the incredible number of shooting stars was something so special to experience as we munched on damper and drank tea under a million stars. Will easily be one of the most memorable experiences of this trip.

Tomorrow we head up to Marree and on to Coward Springs to try to make up a bit of the extra time we spent in the Flinders. I look forward to writing again and am keen to see what the dirt road brings! Till then, MMG