Coward Springs to Oodnadatta SA

Sunday 27th June 2021
We had a lovely night at Coward Springs. I had a lovely sunset walk followed dinner and yoga. Yay!

We had a lovely bath in the hot springs this morning. The temperature was about 29°C with an extremely strong jet. Unfortunately this meant my costume filled with sand. Lucky there was no-one around so I had a quick nudey swim and got dressed. We then had a quick visit to the museum, via the wetlands from the natural springs where we saw 3 brolga in flight. We so wish we had brought the good camera as my phone video was pretty ordinary.

We then were on our way aiming for Oodnadatta or further today. Cross your fingers for us. We are not sure how many stops we will have today along the dirt Oodnadatta Track.

Todays Stops.

Beresford Siding Dam. This was a surprise, we were just expecting the Ghan Railway Siding but instead we went over a mound with the dam either side and it was like a green oasis, there was grass, trees and lots of vegetation.
Strangways Springs ruins.
Discovered in 1858 by Major Peter Warburton, this was the site of a homestead, a yard, a woolshed, a cemetery and a water tank. In the 1870’s Strangways was used as a repeater station on the overland telegraph line and used until 1896. The ruins of many buildings still remain at the site.
We went for a walk around the ruins, it was like a little a little town built around mound springs which were now dry but there must still be water under them as each one had vegetation at the top.
William Creek . We finally arrived at 12.30pm and had a lunch stop followed by an ice cream – Only$13 for 2. Woohoo!! I talked to an old codger in the bar who said we should be staying for country music festival here and camel cup in Marree next weekend. Not this year.
About 66km out from William creek we came across new grading of the track. Yay!
The Ghan Railway sidings all had water softening tanks as the water was too hard to use in the locomotives. There were many rail bridges over dry creek bed. Near the Peake homestead turnoff there was a bridge which still had some railway sleepers on it. It was such an amazing feat or its era to build a train line from Port Augusta all the way to Alice Springs. It is such a desolate landscape.
Algebuckina Bridge over the Neale River was a really long high bridge and was in quite good condition.
Dutton siding cemetery – had one unnamed grave.
Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse – petrol only $1.98 per litre
A little last minute shopping before the desert trip. Ouch these prices hurt. Basically double the cost at home but David is happy to pay than the price rather than dig around them all in the car for 5 days. He is a changed man sometimes.
$69 for Packet of wraps $9.35 x 2, Lettuce $3.50, Chicken thighs $11.50 for 1/2 kilo, Isobutane Gas x 4 $25 and Yoghurt 1 lt $9.99

The drive along the Oodnadatta Track form Marree to Oodnadatta has been very beautiful. I love the vast countryside with changing colours of dirt, vegetation and hills. The highest hill being only about 180m high. There have been many areas of salt pans and mound springs as well as hot springs. There have been many Railway Sidings in all different levels of ruin and a lot of history along the way. It has been an interesting couple of days.

We decided to enjoy dinner out at the Pink Roadhouse to save buying more supplies. We both enjoyed a Burger with the lot plus hot chips.

Well tomorrow we head to Dalhousie Springs to meet our friends to then cross the desert. I will be unable to blog for at least 4 days due to no phone service. So take care and stay safe.

: Showers at Coward Springs are heated via a wood fuel stove.

: The Natural Spa at Coward Springs.

: Brolgas at the natural springs

: Incredible the life that comes from one spring in the vast barren country

: Oodnadatta Track roadway

: Beresford Siding..

: ..water tank for the Beresford siding.

: Dam at Beresford siding..

: ..and the fruits of this dam are beautiful green trees and even grass.

: Strangways Springs ruins..

: Cemetery at the ruins..

: ..some were just headstones.

: A farmyard corral made from a stone fence.

: Where would you like to go next from William Creek?

: Old Telegraph Line pole at William Creek..

: ..and an old steam engine..

: ..then into the Hotel to get an ice cream and have a chat with a local..

: ..look at the old parking meter.

: Olde Ghan bridge near Peake homestead. It even still has the timber sleepers at the end..

: ..view from below at creek level.

: Too far for this destination today, we did start down the track but it was a very narrow, winding, heavily rutted track so we decided to give it a miss this time.