It’s difficult to describe what it’s like driving through the Australian outback. The terrain is flat, very flat as far as the eye can see. Similar to looking at the ocean when the horizon seems to curve, so it does with the land. Sometimes a mountain appears faintly blue in the far distance. Desert sand scattered with rocks form much of the scenery with small, tough, grizzled shrubs and grasses fighting for every drop of moisture. Just a few stunted and sun blackened trees dot the landscape. It’s harsh, unforgiving country, but strangely beautiful.
The sky is enormous; azure blue with a few fluffy white clouds adding contrast. As the day develops it gets hotter, the sun gets brighter and mirages of water appear ahead. Sunglasses are vital to minimise the glare. Vin Rouge has no air conditioning so the windows are open to allow the breeze to provide some relief from the heat of the day.
The dirt road stretches ahead into the distance. Twenty minutes ago there was a slight curve where we slowed to avoid sliding on the corrugations and loose stones that always seem to be a feature at these places. Kim spots half a dozen emus to our left so we slow down again knowing that they often change direction and dash out just ahead of us. They’re big birds, standing more than two metres and would make quite a mess if we hit one.
A couple of wedge tailed eagles circle in the sky searching for thermals, meanwhile another rips chunks off some road kill not far ahead. As we approach it eases itself majestically into the sky, its two metre wingspan slowly lifting the huge bird away from us.
Periodically the track dips a little to cross a creek, dried up of course, but there’s a line of slightly greener foliage to mark its course. A kangaroo looks out from between two stunted bushes, pricks up its ears at our approach and hops casually away. Then the scenery returns to sand, rocks, scrub and dust. Two hours later it’s pretty much the same.
The dust is malevolent and follows us along as a great cloud. It pervades everything. Now Land Rovers are not known for their superior door seals and the stuff drives in from every tiny crevice. Even pop rivets end up with a ring of dust around them. Now and again we pass another vehicle. Normally both vehicles slow to a crawl to avoid flying stones that can break windscreens and to minimise dust clouds through which it is not possible to see more than a few metres ahead. Occasionally some dolt either doesn’t think or doesn’t care and goes flying by. We normally come to a complete stop when this happens and just wait for the dust to clear so that we can see our way ahead.
We’ve driven something like 250 kilometres on dirt roads, from Lyndhurst to Marree, then on the Oodnadatta Track followed by a detour southwards on the Borefield Road to Roxby Downs (about 80 kms north of Woomera if you’re looking at the map).
But first, a little diversion. Kim, who is in charge of navigation, often decides that we should visit somewhere ‘not too far off our course’. This usually means a couple of hundred kms but are usually rewarding. On this occasion we took a dirt track and camped at Muloorina Station waterhole.
Remote it certainly was, we were the only people for miles. As the sun set over the trees putting on a spectacular show, the stars appeared. For those readers who have not visited the southern hemisphere, imagine all the stars you can see on a dark night, then multiply by a hundred and you’ve some idea of just how many stars bless the heavens in the southern sky. We had a camp fire blazing that gradually settled into a mass of red charcoal, so we settled in our chairs with a glass of wine in hand, relaxed our way into the evening until it was time to turn in. Lovely.
Next morning we awoke at sunrise when everything was bathed in a golden light.
Now back to the story.
Roxby Downs; it conjures up mental images of an English village, complete with church bells ringing on a Sunday morning, the local pub with oak beams and an inglenook fireplace, thatched cottages and cows in the field. If anything could be further than the truth it’s Roxby Downs. Basically it’s a town built around and for a mine. Uranium, gold and copper come out of the ground and most of the population of 4,000 is transient. The town itself is pleasant enough and I spent a pleasant hour in the library making use of the free internet whilst Kim had her hair cut. I was even interviewed by the local radio station on ‘health and happiness’!
There’s only one place to camp, the local caravan park, and it should be good. It’s quite large and the facilities are modern. However, the woman running the place can at best be described as unhelpful and unfriendly. Over $30 to stay in a parking bay we thought excessive, especially when there we plenty of unused sites available. Grrr! Still enough of that. Tomorrow we’re going on a tour of the mine – surface only unfortunately – and will then return along the Borefield Road to the Oodnadatta Track.
When next we get a phone signal we’ll update the blog with our adventures. Until then, it’s a balmy night and it’s time to send this up the wire.
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