Went to Mount Chambers gorge next which has a rough 4wd track up the creek bed which would be different every time after rain. We followed the track up and downs banks and many times we thought we couldn't go further but in the end we made it right out the other side. We then just took some un marked tracks through the scrub until we hit the Frome Downs road and took it north until Wertaloona Station. Opposite this to the west is a track that is not sign posted but leads to Big Moro Gorge. This is a great place which we had to ourselves for a few days and spent much time swimming in the crystal clear water from the natural spring amongst the limestone cliffs.
Big Moro Gorge with Wife and Daughter skinny dipping!
At Big Moro Gorge we came across the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby which are getting quite rare now a days and also at dusk there were a help of wild goats going down to drink with even a donkey or two around as well. The tracks around the Flinders Ranges are pretty good with only clearance needed for most places until that is it rains. Then it is 4wd only as the tracks that are covered in bulldust become mud and all the creek crossing don't have bridges and large rocks and branches get swept across them. Took a look at Sliding Springs Mine which have interesting ruins to explore around and saw the largest wild cat ever as it was nearly the size of a puma.
Barraranna Gorge
Spent a couple of days at Leigh Creek which is a mining town for the near by Coal Mine to wait for some people that had talked us into helping them across the Simpson Desert and to re-supply our food and fuel stocks. The Caravan park we had to ourselves but there was no grass and only gravel and next to no shade! There is a pool in town though and as it was over 40*C or 100*F everyday that was most welcome. The mine tour is also worth while and as you can see below the tyres on these trucks dwarf my wife and daughter.
The After stopping at the town of William Creek which is only a pub and has the population of two, we re-fuelled at the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta and had to replace a tyre after getting another puncture ( total of seven for the trip ) as I had too much pressure in them as did not use the tyre formula that I learnt after I got back.
Now that's tyre mileage I want! Leigh Creek Coal Mine
Heading north now with the as the support and recovery vehicle for a Landcruiser we stopped off to see Talc Alf at the start of the Oodnadatta Track who makes carvings from out of talc from the near by talc mine Also there are ochre pits that the local Aboriginals used to trade with other tribes for hundreds of miles around. It was one of their trade routes that became the Oodnadatta track that the Camel trains walked along and later the old Ghan railway which was named in their honour. You can still see the last of the old locomotives in Marree which were just left there after the last run when the line was shifted further west to avoid the washed out lines after heavy rain.
Marree locomotives and the start of the French line track Simpson Desert
The Oodnadatta track is mainly gravel and couple of hundred kilometres long but
you have to look out for washaways and can have bad corrugations if the grader
has not been along for a while. Went on to Mount Dare Station which is on the edge of the Simpson Desert and the
last place to get fuel before crossing all the way over to Birdsville at the
other side. There is nothing but 1,100 sand dunes to cross in the next 500 kms
or 300 miles with not a soul to help or see and low range all the way! They
tried to talk us out of crossing as no one had been over for weeks and with the
high winds and temperatures in the mid forties the sand would be at it most
difficult to drive over. We went anyway after ringing home to let them know
which track we were taking and when we expected to get across. You are told to
do this but if you are a tourist from overseas you can let the police know but
make sure you tell them at the other end so they don't send out a search party!
The police would rather not keep track of everyone that crosses if someone
responsible can be told instead and then notified by them if you do not arrive
in the allotted time along with how much fuel, food and water was being carried.