Our Big Trip of OZ - 24/09/11 - ~16/01/12: Thurs 21 Oct – Sat 23 Oct

We leisurely set off from Coober Pedy by late morning. We considered going inland to William Ck to meet the Oodnadatta track, but decided on going sth via Woomera, before ducking up to the Oodnadatta track as this could have more interest to the boys.

The plan was to free-camp at Pimba, the turnoff to Woomera, that night.

Passed a couple of solar cars on the way – they get along ok, and weren’t going much slower than us.

We arrived at the Pimba roadhouse late afternoon, and scoped out a place to set up for the night. While we were doing this, the wind picked up and then got to a point where it was a constant 35knts, gusting to 45knts (80kph), according to the weather website. There we were, sitting in the car, with the whole rig shaking n rockin. There was just no way we could wind up the camper in this. In the distance (100m away) we could barely see the roadhouse through the dust storm. After half an hour or so, still no change in conditions, we deliberated about driving on…..the weather site showed no respite anywhere close and it was now dusk, so we enquired about a room behind the roadhouse to take refuge in. So, there we were – first night unable to stay in camper!

Wow- we had our own bathroom, a tv that didn’t work and the kitchen table for the butane burner to heat up dinner was the bedside table!!. At least we’re on the road livin the good life…..

It was an easy pack up the next day – hop in car and drive off!

We checked out Woomera, which was a bit like a ghost town and, apart from the rocket and plane display, there is nothing to see.

Roxby Downs was the next stop, an hour up the road. This place surprised us and we didn’t expect to see a town this big in the middle of nowhere. It is there to service the nearby Olympic Dam mine, which is the largest underground mine is

Australia

(well there you go, there we were thinking Mt Isa was!).

We had a look around the place and made the most of using Woolies to stock up on specials. On the road again and a quick lunch stop at a possible place to free camp before airing down tyres for the Borefield track that connects Roxby Downs to the Oodnadatta track, 70kms away. This road, like most outback roads at the moment, was in good shape. Once at the Oodnadatta track junction, we turned left and went to the Lake Eyre lookout, where we planned to free camp the night. It was a great spot, and we savoured the view of Lake Eyre with water in it. We didn’t end up staying here, as it was quite exposed and breezy, so we back-tracked towards Maree, hoping to find another free camp. We consulted ‘the bible’ and picked a few out, but they were either exposed or in a gully with masses of flies, so ended up at Maree, where I asked how much to set up camp behind the Hotel. I was told it’s free, with $2 for showers. Done deal, Set up camp out the back for next 2 nights and had a look around the area. We went up to Muloorina Stn, 50kms north of Maree, on the way to Lake Eyre. This place was an oasis in the middle of the desert – billabongs and shady trees home to a myriad of birdlife and we wished we’d found this place the previous day to set up camp – never mind, next time. We ran into a family that we met at Ormiston Gorge (west of Alice Springs) a couple of weeks ago, who were camping out there with their Jayco Swan Outback camper, so it was a bit of a laugh bumping into them in the middle of nowhere. The further 50kms track to Lake Eyre was said to be in bad shape and then you still had to walk 3kms to the water (receeding). As we had seen the southern section of the lake, we opted not to go on, and headed back to Maree.