WOOMERA: an Aboriginal throwing stick; also a rocket launching area from the 1950s...
We got up and it was 23 degrees and STILL raining. We looked outside fully expecting to see we were in the middle of a lake but actually it wasn't. The ground must've been so hard yesterday that it all just sat on top but now it was soaking in leaving the top drier!
We ate pancakes whilst we discussed what to do. Pancakes make everything better after all! Wechecked out the exit road and it seemed ok and the rain had almost stopped, so we decided to take the opportunity and get out while we could. There were storm clouds everywhere and they were chock full of the wet stuff!
We packed up in double quick time and set off. The road was good. Spongy but fairly firm so we stayed at 30-40kph and just crawled along very carefully. There is nothing to attach a winch to out there if we were to get bogged!!
About 5km along, it looked like it hadn't rained at all! The road was much drier which was a huge relief. As we drove we realized we were only 1m above sea leve! We were wondering I Lake Eyre was the lowest point in Australia....
We drove past a beautiful derelict sandstone building and stopped for a look. It was called Margaret Siding and was built by the railway workers in the 1800s. The old Ghan railway followed the overland telegraph line, connecting Adelaide to Darwin in the 1870s and then from Darwin to the rest of the world eventually. Just amazing.
There was a bit of modern graffiti along the way...every time there was a sign saying DIP, someone had written another word. We saw Lucky Dip, Onion Dip and Skinny Dip which were actually quite funny 😊
Half an hour later we came across Curdimurka Siding a fascinating glimpse into the past history of the old Ghan Railway and Charles Sturt's explorations of Central Australia. It was really spooky as the wind blew and rattled the wire fencing so chimed softly. Dust blew up against derelict buildings and a steam engine water tank was silhouettes against the stormy skies. Magical. You honestly could almost hear the trains coming and smell the coal and smoke.
Apparently there is a ball held at Cunimurka Siding and we reckon it would be awesome 😀
10 minutes later we came around a curve. The GPS said we were 14m below sea level. And then we saw it. The Great Inland Sea. Lake Eyre. Full of water. Laura burst into tears. The rain, the cold, the fear of rolling the van. It had all been worth it to see this. The water stretched right to the horizon, as far as you could see. Exactly like an ocean.
It should have been the hottest, driest weather you could possibly imagine. There shouldn't have been a drop of water anywhere. And yet here we were. Gazing at thousands of square kilometers of a lake that only exists once in two decades. Now that's lucky.
Oh and it was still raining :)
Shortly afterwards, we turned off onto the Borefield Road for the 125km section of dirt road to Roxby Downs. By now we could do 60kph safely.
The relief was shortlived however! About 5km in the nice dry hard road turned into a boggy slushy muddy nightmare. We struggled on as best we could with huge clods of clay flinging up all over the triton and the van until we basically ground to a halt just as the aircon stopped working.
Steve had managed to get fairly close to an old bore cap as possible which was a bonus as we may have needed it to winch us out.
There was steam coming out from under the bonnet and when Steve popped it open he was met with boiling water flowing freely out of the radiator reservoir. The whole engine bay was stinking hot too.
After a few minutes he turned the ignition on and saw the engine had cooled down a fair bit so he then removed the radiator cap and left it to cool down completely. Luckily the wind and rain helped this process.
He then noticed the near side van tyre was leaving skid marks instead of tread marks and realized it was because there was s massive build up of mud between the wheel and the chassis caused by the caravan steps.
We then set about cleaning it out of all the wheel arches on the van and the car. Plus we got rid of most of the rest of the mud that was coating the van - it probably added about 50kg to the weight which was the last thing we needed at that point! It was one helluva dirty job and we were both covered in it!
Steve then filled up the radiator with coolant to replace the lost fluid. He let down the tyres to 20 psi, checked all the oils etc and the engine was now cold so we crossed our fingers that the engine would start!
It did so we set off again. We struggled and slid and drifted crazily all over the road for about another 5km doing about 10kph. It was nightmarish with huge puddles everywhere and mud up to halfway up the wheels. It was still raining and we could hardly see either. Revolting!
About 10km further up the road hardened up again and we passed a Utilities Depot with some people working there and a tractor! So at least we wouldn't have been too far from helped if we'd needed it.
Our spirits rose as we went back up to 60kph, the rain stopped and the sun came out.
Pretty soon we were only 20km from Roxby Downs and we stopped to get the worst of the mud off with the idea of finding somewhere to gurney the rest off!
We saw some cool wildlife on the road too; a black snake, a bearded dragon, a couple of stumpy tailed lizards and some rabbits. Oh and an "eagle"...Probably all been brought out by the unusual rain!
As we finally hit the bitumen we turned around to see the Road Condition sign.... CLOSED!!! You'd think they could've told us while we were stuck in the middle of it wouldn't you?! It was definitely open when when we went in yesterday!!
We refueled at Roxby Downs ($1.31) at 5.45pm. It had taken us 8 hours to do 125km! The staff were amazed we'd made it! The girl even told her boss to come and take a look and all the other locals just stopped and stared hahaha
And if it hadn't been for the half dried 6 inches of mud all over the car and van, they wouldn't have believed our story about the rain. Roxby Downs you see, hasn't had rain for YEARS... It was just where we were.... Hmmm curiouser and curiouser!
We found a cool car wash in Roxby that has a "mud bay" - obviously we were not the first people to need it!
Much better!!
On the 71km to Woomera we couldn't help noticing how drought stricken everything was. The temp was 32 degrees like you'd expect. So damn normal for the centre of Australia at the height of summer.
It was almost like we'd slipped into some bizarre parallel universe on the Oodnadatta Track. Ah stories would be told that night at the bar for sure 😀
We stayed the night at Woomera Caravan Park which wS basically just a huge gravel car park. But it was fine and it had showers and toilets and a laundry! We did a massive wash of all our dirty muddy sweaty clothes, had a quick dinner and fell exhausted into our beds.
No comments:
Post a Comment