Day 52 – Broken Hill

The route out of Port Augusta to Broken Hill passes through two quaint villages, of Wilmington and Orroroo both of which had caravan parks and looked like places to relax. There was also frost on the grass as we drove through the Flinders Ranges.

Broken hill has more than 30 art galleries many of which house works by artists who were born in Broken Hill. It is also home to the Brushmen of the Bush, Eric Minchin (founder), Pro Hart, Jack Absalom, John Pickup and Hugh Schulz, who raised over one million dollars for charity between 1973 and 1994. It would be easy to spend 4 or 5 days looking round the town and surrounds.

Broken Hill has unusual streets which double as storm water drains. This leads to some roller coaster rides as you drive across or through the drain areas.

Storm water flows along shaped roads rather than in underground drains

Outside Broken Hill the Living Desert Reserve is home to 12 sandstone sculptures. They were created in 1993 at the instigation of Lawrence Beck and intended as a tribute to the late Fred Hollows.

Silverton which was the site of the first mines at Broken Hill is just a spec in the desert landscape. It has a good heritage walk and quite a few artists. The Silverton Cafe provides an excellent lunch with a menu of drovers fare. Need to book, especially at weekends when it is very busy.

Silverton

Silverton and surrounds - there is a lot of space.

Day 50 Port Augusta

On the way to Port Augusta we past salt lakes that stretched far and wide over the plains.

Port Augusta is a flat town with few high buildings but great views over the Flinders Range. Larger stores seem to sprawl across the streets. It is home to the Arid Lands Botanic Garden with its selection of plants that grow in the deserts.

Day 48 - Coober Pedy

The manager at Hermannsburg had told us that Coober Pedy was ‘seriously weird’ and she had a point. It has the dubious reputation of having the most expensive water in the South Australia and possibly the whole of Australia. The small mounds of stone or mullock heaps are the most striking feature dotting the landscape. They are reminders of the opal that got away.

Miners use truck mounted vacuums to remove spoil from their mines.

There are one or two larger mines.

The Breakaways show different stone strata close together. They are known locally as 'Salt and Pepper' and the surrounding area is popular with film makers who shot films like Mad Max here.

The homes in the rock are at a comfortable temperature but the lack of natural light not to everybody’s liking. There is no plumbed waste water infrastructure in the town and the council have limited mining in the town. As a result houses have a disproportionately large number of deep waste holes. Of course digging so many holes does increase the chances of finding an opal and you just might strike it lucky.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is a little gem in this mining town.

Day 46 - Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta – the Olgas are different but no less inspiring. The rocks are more like gibber rather than the smoother sandstone of Uluru. Out of earshot of the bus loads of walkers the place felt peaceful and somewhere for reclaiming calmness.

Life in the desert is hard. Mt Ebenezer Station, area 1,640 sq Km (164,000 hectares or 405,253 acres) only supports 2,000 cattle.

Day 45 – Uluru

It is easy to understand why Uluru made an impression on the first white explorers. The massive rock is just the tip of a strata that extends about 7 kilometres underground. The faces change with the sun and the viewing position.

Ranger Steve is passionate about the aboriginal teachings. As with Wambirja, the ranger in Kakadu, he explained the levels of knowledge and the morals of the different stories. He also explained that there were different languages for higher levels of knowledge. The Anangu people had a sophisticated and strong culture supported by explicit stories and enforced over the generations. Steve had been trained in the stories by the elders and was careful to keep to the teachings without deviation.

Ranger Steve

Elders' cave with images of ancient elders in the stone!

Water is important in the desert and the Anangu people had strict rules and procedure for keeping water holes clean. One of the sad things about people clambering over the rock is that the water that has filtered through the stone now contains traces of E.coli. This has been traced to the detritus left behind by climbers and in particular where they have urinated or defecated on the rock during their climb.

Water hole where rain seeps through

After listening to Steve we understood some of the sacredness of the rock. The impact of our climbing over the rock would be similar to the impact of tourists climbing over the alters in churches, cathedrals or other special places of worship. We chose not to climb the rock and look forward to the day when the practice ceases.

Day 43 - Kings Canyon

We took the unsurfaced Ernest Giles Road to Kings Canyon. The first 80km was easy going but the corrugations on the last 20km were wicked. It is a remote and enjoyable drive for the most part with the odd sand dune thrown in for variety.

We saw some squash like melons at the side of the road and wondered if we had stumbled on a source of bush tucker until we read that cattle often died after eating them.

Kings Canyon walk is high with views over flat plains to the far horizons. The initial climb to the top takes you up by 100m over a short distance. Thereafter the climb is a bit easier. The rock colours vary from white of fresh broken surfaces to rich reds of oxidised rock and browns of the mud rocks. We were regularly rewarded with domes and eroded structures or views down sheer cliffs into the canyons and gorges below. For a desert there is plenty of wild life. Insects hum away in the lower canyons and birds sing far and wide. There are two main types of sandstone, Mereenie on top and Carmichael below. Water soaks into the Mereenie sandstone over the centuries and tends not to pass through the Carmichael sandstone which contains compressed mud. Animals and plants thrive where the water seeps out. The black colour comes from algae on the face of the rock.

Material deposited about 400 million years ago

Rock domes formed through millions of years of erosion

Rock pool on top of the canyon

Day 41 – Hermannsburg – Home of Albert Namatjura

Friedrich Kempe and Wilhelm Schwartz undertook a significant task in establishing the Lutheran Mission at Hermannsburg on the Finke River in 1877. Their dedication to their cause and their care of the aboriginal community was quite remarkable. Today the Finke River Mission still functions although the original buildings house museum exhibitions and a few private homes.

They brought with them german building methods and standards. The stone pavement and side drains look like they have been lifted directly from Germany

They followed the local custom of using calico to line the ceilings.

The isolation ward built in 1974 follows more of an Australian style in its construction technique.

Isolation Ward at Hermannsburg

Day 38 – Alice Springs

There is so much to see and wonder at in Alice Springs. We started with two days, extended to four days and could have stayed a couple more. We started by reminding ourselves how much good John Flynn’s Royal Flying Doctor Service does in Australia. It is a great example of cleric giving both spiritual and practical support to the community.

The goal houses the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame, an extensive tribute to Australian women who have achieved significant things. It was created in 1993 by Molly Clark of Andado Station in retaliation to there being no mention of women in the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach.

Another character of Alice Springs was Molly Pink who set up a botanic garden. She would name trees she planted after politicians of the day. If the politician displeased her she refused to water the tree which would wither and die. There were many dead saplings. On another occasion she refused to speak to her aboriginal gardener for over 1,200 kilometres of a journey because had made a negative remark about a plant.

The telegraph station gives an insight to life around the late 1800s before even reading the plaques. The investment in setting up and maintaining the telegraphic link from Darwin the Adelaide was considerable. The station operated 24 x 7 with two telegraph operators initially and later four due to the volume of traffic. There was also a battery maintenance person and a cook. None of the telegraph operators had time to hunt for food so all the supplies for the station had to be transported from Adelaide in the dry season and last through the wet season.

The men who surveyed the line must have developed significant navigation skills. Just walk away from the station out of sight of civilisation and imagine surveying a patch of land over 1,000 kilometres from Adelaide. Not only do you need to find a place within 100 miles (160 km) of the previous repeater station but it needs to be near a water supply but not in flood plain. You then have to record and mark the location so the people building the telegraph station will be able to identify the spot and to build in the right place.

A scene the surveyor would have seen

Telegraph Station

Alice Spring - or a dried up water hole.

It is amusing to note that Alice Springs was originally named after Lady Alice Todd, who never visited the place. It also refers to one spring which was not a spring but a water hole which dried up after the telegraph station was built. The township was actually called Stuart but was renamed the Alice Springs in 1933 because of confusion between the two. One small dried up water hole became famous indeed!

Day 37 – Daly Waters & Devil’s Marbles

Daly waters has to be home to the daftest pub in the Territory if not Australia. It is a delightful spot and the landlord obviously has a great sense of fun.

Daly Waters Pub

The Devils MarblesThe Devil’s Marbles are every bit as spectacular as we had heard. One of the notable characteristics of Australian natural features is that they tend to be on a grand scale. These gigantic rock spheres are strewn over a wide area which adds to the impact.

On a more prosaic note the long drop toilets by the information panels are quite the best we encountered. No need for breathing apparatus or gloves. Clean, odour free and almost a pleasure to use.