We made a diversion off the main Oodnadatta Track to go and check out a special offroad location called Dalhousie Springs and Mount Dare Track which will eventually bring us out to the main road again.
Hmmm.. looks like an interesting road, I hope it's not too difficult. We can do difficult but I'd rather not do big sand if we can avoid it. I have never fallen in love with that stuff.
Well? It turned out to have a fair bit of sand from the beginning. I wasn't in a position to stop the bike to ask Suzanne if she wants to do this. I just put on "focus face' and powered through.. And then, if it wasn't sand it was lovely corrugations.
There was no way in heck I was going to take photos in the sand.. Nor would I stop to take one as I was nervous as all be and to stop and start again would have been worse. But! I snapped a couple in the corrugations. I'm always happy to have a break from those things.
Interesting how corrugations don't look near as bad in a photo as they are in person. Let me just say, they were BAD.
We made it to the beginning of the Witjira National Park in South Australia. Inside is Dalhousie Homestead Ruins and Springs.. and a lot of land. The national park was proclaimed on 21 November 1985 to "protect Australia’s largest array of arterial springs: the nationally significant Dalhousie Mound Springs complex". Wikipedia
Arriving Dalhousie Homestead:
Can you imagine building your new life here.. back in the late 1800's? On one hand there is nothing that seems like could grow food on, but on the other hand, at least they had water! They would have had a super tough life. It's insanely hot in the summer here.
Overview from SouthAustralia.com website:
A true oasis in the desert, featuring more than 120 springs surrounded by lush greenery and abundant wildlife. The park sits on the western edge of the Simpson Desert in the far north of South Australia amid endless sand dunes and stark gibber plains.Witjira National Park features more than 120 mound springs. The park includes the National Heritage-listed Dalhousie Springs, used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years as a source of food, shelter and medicine. You can swim in the main spring’s warm waters. The area is home to unique species of fish such as the Dalhousie hardyhead and other rare aquatic life found nowhere else in the world.
There are heaps of birds (Corellas or Cockatoos?) in those trees. They are smart living above the water! I didn't want to get in the water by myself. It was dark green, and I saw some fish. Not sure if I want strange things to bite my toes. Suzanne is more brave and she went in first. The water is warm like bathwater. It was nice to float around for a while, not so bad after all.
Until! I saw some bubbles. If I see bubbles, I know there is something big swimming under me and I don't want it to bite my toes. We floated around a bit more and then! I saw really big bubbles!!! I screamed, there is something big underneath of us, get out, get out!! We scrambled away and then decided it must be bubbles from the... Springs... duh!!!
So we get out and instead of being attacked by green underwater monsters, I am being attacked by flies and mosquitos. I'm happy though because I can see them and even more happy I can put my head net on. It's all part of the adventure, right?
Our little campsite at Dalhousie Springs. Local dingo included!
That was a special treat. Well worth the knarly road to get here. We set an 8:00 AM departure time and start heading north again to Mt. Dare, where we will start to turn back toward the west again.
I was still in shock about the big sand we did yesterday so I was going slowly out of the camp and on to the road as a bit of a warm up. I wasn't really ready to go fast in sand yet.
However! The road has a different idea. Just out of camp, I'm slowly moving along and I see not only sand, but super deep bulldust trap.. Crap! Panic! Throttle!!
Suzanne was just behind me and saw me fishtailing all over the place.
That must have psyched her out because when I got to the other side of this mess, I didn't see her headlights in my mirror. I stopped and waited for a bit and then I knew, I had to turn around and go back for her. This is what I found!
There she is!!
It took some effort and lots of muscles, but we got her up again.. whew! A few more broken bits, but the bike is still drive-able.
That was the worst of the sand luckily and then it was just majorly big pointy rocks and doing our best to avoid popping a tire or cracking a rim.
Gee whiz, what an interesting road! I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually quite fun! (in comparison to the flat boring maintained gravel road on the Oodnadatta Track)
Now I have learned that we unknowingly took the short cut track with is the more difficult choice, but it was only 70 km.. and we're out.
I asked, "Are you okey, can I help you?" He said, "I'm riding a BMW 800GS and I want to know the road conditions? I said, "I'm sorry, road conditions?" (I had envisioned in my short trip to him that he must have a friend with a broken leg, or needs water by the way he was running out of the bush) He had been warned by locals NOT to ride the track we just finished and wanted to know how we did it.
I told him the track is not EASY, but we are 2 girls and just did it. He looked over at Suzanne, "Two girls"? Yes.. I told him that not knowing his skill levels, the only tough part was the bulldust trap Suzanne fell in, but other than that, take care on the rimbuster road.. However, easy enough. I wished him well and moved on to Mt. Dare Hotel (through corrugations and sand again), where we needed to get fuel.
The attendant showed us all the broken cars, axles, campervans, trailers, etc that have tried to do that track we just completed but failed. I had never seen how large thick pieces of metal on trucks and rims, just crack and break off like that! He was so hilarious when we told him we came through there this morning. Telling other staff working there, "These girls just did the toughest short cut road this morning, can you believe it?"
We didn't have to ask him but HE asked us, "Do you have anything broken we need to fix?" Oh yes, I do!~ My gps holder wouldn't tighten anymore and even though I taped it on, I lost the screw. Tony's nose is long gone. Other than that it's cracked mud guards. That's a duct tape job for sure. The plastic is cracked all around the screws.
And the local dingo came for a visit while fueling.
Inside to pay and we are hungry. It's only 10:30 AM, but we've had a heck of a day already. Unfortunately it was still morning for them, so no cooked lunch I'm afraid. We can have a pre-made treat though!
I'm not a fan of the "Pie". It's an Australian thing, and I don't really like them, but I had one because it was warm and available. It was all right. Filled the hole in my stomach.
Trying electrical tape instead of duct tape. I should have brought a bigger role of duct tape!
We left Mount Dare Hotel and headed west as our next goal to reach is Uluru.
Oh! I guess we are crossing a state line out here!
Welcome to the Northern Territory!
Sheez! Wild brumby from nowhere!!! Glad he's fast!
Sand and corrugationssssss.......
Nice big gate.. to keep the wildlife in or out!
And from Finke we did another 193 KM of sand and corrugations.. (you've seen enough of those photos), but it was an easy run. We came out at Kulgera on the Stuart Highway.
Next stop.. Uluru!!
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