Hawker - Coward Springs 06 August 2013

Well today's the day - finally going to justify the outlay on the totaly go any where camper. Yep that's right Oodnadatta Track here we come!
More beautiful landscapes through the Flinders ranges dotted with more and more ruins lining the path of the old Ghan railway.

Dick's Knob (I kid you not!)

Spotted a couple of trots of emus (what is the right collective noun here - flight just doesn't cut it) off to the side of the road. Stopped for fuel in Leigh Creek which is the biggest place around, you know, supermarket, cafe, school fer Christ sakes (complete with flashing lights on the school crossing), but the servo was closed, so we had to go down the road a little to a one and a half horse place called Copley to fill up the incredibly thirsty beast at the princely charge of $1.89 a liter! Worse was to come as when we got to Maree, which is at the start of the Oodnadatta track it was even dearer (by a whole 10c!!!!!).
First mechanical failure discovered at Maree - the Anderson plug on the camper (it plugs into the back of the Patrol to supply the camper with 12v while traveling to run the fridge and recharge the batteries) decided to dedicate it's existence to Vibratum, the God of Bumpy Roads, and fell out of it's designated socket and dragged along the ground until it self destructed. Fortunately I had a trusty spare and was able to replace it without too much swearing... (note to self - buy more Anderson plugs in Alice)

Mosque built for Afghan camel drivers

Maree Pub

Lake Eyre Yacht Club Maree

The track begins

The drive north from Lyndhurst is strange with long stretches of good dirt road interspersed with sections of bitumen which just appear for no apparent good reason. Anyway, once you go past Maree it is all dirt (well rocks with a little bit of dirt between the rocks), but happily recently graded so not too rough. Surprisingly, there is a lot to look at on the track. Emus, lizards, dead lizards, dead roos etc, but also lots of man made stuff from graffiti (DIP signs which have been changed to "Skinny Dip", "Corn Dip", "Get a Grip", "RIP", DIB DIB DIB etc etc), old railway water tanks which wouldn't hold a drop these days with all the rust holes in them, and even a sculpture park where two old Beechcraft aeroplanes have been stuck tail first in the ground and painted like American Indian Thunder Chief effigy's and a selection of old drive train parts have been turned into a mechanical person holding a baby. Only in Oz. Probably the most amazing sight was an extremely dedicated individual on a bicycle!!!!!!!! WTF!

Views of Lake Eyre South off to the right were pretty cool with water visible in the distance but lots of salt flats between us and the wet bits. Apparently there is some surface water over 40% - 50% of the southern lake from recent rain and creek run off, but the northern lake only has about 5% from direct rain fall.

Stopped for the night in Coward Springs which used to be a siding on the old Ghan where the camel trains would meet the steam trains. There was a pub and hot spring baths.Sadly only the "hot" spring survives.