Tuesday, July 26, 2005
The road was sealed upto Lyndhurst (pop. 30, most days!). Lyndhurst was where the Strezelecki track went off across the Strezelecki desert to Inaminka. From Lyndhurst onwards the road was unsealed, but in a reasonable condition. It soon became apparent that this was because graders were working on the road. Graders are large machines like earthmovers which go over dirt tracks smoothing them down, removing corrugations etc. There had been some rains about a week ago and many vehicles had been stuck on the road, and chewed up the road where they had got into trouble. So the graders were out. Some way out of Lyndhurst were the ochre cliffs. The soil here was deep red and bright yellow and used by the natives like paint on their body during rituals. Further up the road were the ruins of Farina. Farina was a settlement which was built in the hope that they would be able to grow wheat in the surrounding areas. It was amusing to read it. It was hard to imagine that somebody could dream of growing wheat in such arid, harsh country. And that a whole settlement came up around this idea was inconceivable. But there were the ruins as a reminder. The ruins are in pretty good condition. There are no roofs left, or windows or doors. But the walls are still standing straight and proud, almost in defiance.
At Maree, 79 km from Lyndhurst, the Birdsville track and the Odnadatta tracks split. These are two legendary outback tracks. The Birdsville track was used to drive cattle from Birdsville to the railway head at Maree, to be transported to the Markets in Adelaide. Every year this is re-enacted, and many people join the drovers for a part of or the whole way. The drovers are the jackaroos (Aussie cowboys) on horses who drive the cattle. During the enactment, about 600 cattle are driven down the Birdsville track. The journey is ....km long and takes about ....days.
The Oodnadata Track is one of the famous dirt tracks through the outback, passing through remote cattle stations and many ghost towns. 
It follows the route of the Old Ghan Track, which is a railway line that ran from Adelaide to Alice Springs. The Ghan in turn was laid along the route of the old Telegraph line which ran from Adelaide to Darwin, to connect Australia to England. The line had repeater stations along the way where messages were received in Morse Code and re-transmitted on to the next station. The stations were about 150-200km apart. The whole area is very harsh and dry. The telegraph repeater stations were at places where there were natural springs in the desert. These springs are where the underground water from the Great Artesian Basin finds its way to the surface. The Great Artesian basin is a huge underground water resource which covers nearly a third of the continent. In some places it comes up to the surface under so much pressure that water shoots up from the ground while flowing. In many of the springs even though this doesn't happen, the water comes to the surface quite forcefully, and flows into the desert like a creek, forming a wetland or an oasis. When the Ghan was built it was built so that the stations at these springs could provide the water required for the steam engines. But because the water was hard and full of minerals it had to be softened before it could be used. So most of the stations had a water softening plant too. Later when technology changed and diesel engines were used which no longer required the water, a new track was laid which did not follow the old route, but runs through Coober Pedy and straight up the desert.
Many of the old stations that serviced the Ghan are in ruins, just off the Oodnadatta track. We stopped at most of them, walked around the ruins and marvelled at how people lived and did things. The Ghan was named after the Afghan cameleers who helped build the track. The Afghans planted date trees in many of the places. These trees are still standing.
One of the first ruins we came upon was the Curdimurka station. 
Here every year a formal ball used to be held for the people of the region. Wooden decks were laid out and upto a thousand people came from all around, in their tuxedos and ball dresses. It was the biggest annual social event of the region. Standing there in the harsh sun and with nothing around us but the wide open expanse of the desert, it was hard to imagine what the place would have looked like on the night. The last ball was held there in 2000.
Just before Curdimurka we came to a viewpoint from where we could look out across Lake Eyre. Lake Eyre is a large inland lake, or rather sea, since the water is so salty here. It is about 12 m below sea level. The basin covers a large area, many seasonal creeks draining into it. Yet, the lake is so large that in the past 250 years or so it has filled to capacity only on three occasions!. When the rains feed the lake and there is a fair amount of water, many birds descend upon it from far away places to feed on the teeming fish there. 
Pelicans from nearly 2000 miles away come there and nobody knows how they can possibly know that the lake is full, since this is not a regular event. For most of the time instead of water, the lake or rather lake bed is covered with a thick crust of salt, which in some places is 750 mm thick!
The outback is not quite the desert one expects it to be. There are short scrubby plants. And the colours of the outback are quite stunning too. There are shades of purple (distant hills), greens (plants), reds (soils and rocks) and the deep blue of the clear sky. And the horizon in many places is absolutely flat, giving one the feeling of emptiness and space that you cannot possibly describe or experience anywhere else. And then there are so many strange sights. Like the Bubbler. We turned off the Oodnadatta track to go and see what the Bubbler and Blanche cup was all about. The sign board said they were 4 km away. It was getting late in the day, but the travellers we'd met at Leigh Creek had mentioned it and we decided to take a look. Blanche cup was a mound spring. This was where the water from the Artesian Well had pushed its way to the surface and flowed out. In doing so it had pushed up and deposited sediments, which formed a small hillock or mound, like a mini volcano, from the top of which the spring flowed down. The Bubbler was also a spring. But here the Caldera of the mound was a clear pool with a sandy bottom. All was quiet and still when we got it. We peered into its depths and suddenly the floor of the pool started to churn, a bubble of sand formed and burst. This continued as water forced its way up through the sand. There was a steady stream water flowing out into the desert, with some green vegetation around it. When the bubbler had churned and bubbled for a while it quietened down. Then after a rest it started all over again.
We meant to get to William Creek for the night. But stopped when we go to Coward Springs, which was another railway station. This one had been restored and the surrounding area was a private campground. The spring was not a natural one. It resulted from a bore that had been sunk there. Water flowed freely and then a wetland was formed. Nowadays it is like an oasis in the desert and many birds are found there. There was a very nice campsite and we pitched tent there for the night. I had a dip in the natural outdoor spa, where the water flowed out of the bore and into the wetland. The water came up with such force that it was like sitting in a spa/jacuzzi.
