Tuesday 4th August 2009

Tuesday, saw us depart Coward Springs after we said goodbye to some of our new friends. We hoped that we may get to see them again one day.
Our destination was William Creek which was a relatively short trip of about 75 kilometres on the famous Oodnadatta Track which, as I have mentioned, runs alongside the remains of the Ghan railway. I never cease to be amazed at the fortitude of those early explorers, pastoralists, railway construction people and their associated workmates. It is extremely arid and in those days was so far from any assistance and supplies. At least today all transport forms and the roads have improved greatly but that still means it is not immediate whatever assistance is required.
Anyway, we took the road quite steadily due to corrugations and several small bull dust holes. The road had a few vehicles on it and we came across a car and caravan stopped. Most people slow down when approaching so as not to throw up gibbers from the road.
We stopped and had a quick look at several ruins. They are all from the railway. I keep saying that it is a shame that more have not been preserved.
After about two hours on the road, we arrived at William Creek. This is the home of Wrightsair. It is a charter company that provide scenic flights of varying time and obviously costs. We opted for a one hour flight which we took from 2 pm.
After we had booked our flight, we went for a walk from the Wrightsair building towards the William Creek Hotel. It is typically unique with its decoration of women’s underwear and various caps. We had a light snack and checked out the little park opposite that has remnants of rockets that were launched from Woomera Rocket Range many years ago. Woomera’s boundary is not too far to the west.
Then we wandered back to Wrightsair and met up with our new friends, Russell and Julie. They were not going to do a flight but they decided to and like us to stay the evening in the caravan park. The cost for the caravan park was $20.00and we did get a shower in artesian water. It makes the hair stay in place with the hard water!
We took out flights in separate aircraft, Cessna 207, with other people. We were in with a family of three that we first came across in Marree and again at Coward Springs. Our pilot, Richard, gave us a very good commentary during the flight to Lake Eyre North. There is still a large body of water in it but is receding quickly and will quicken as the days warm. On the return we saw young pelicans that are learning to fly and the remnants of the eggs they hatched from.


The whole time we were out we were flying over Anna Creek Station which is massive and the biggest station in Australia. It is 24000 square kilometres which is the equivalent in land mass to Belgium! It is owned by the famous Kidman Pastoral Company. Currently, there are only 5 people on the station as there are no cattle on the place. In a good season, which is quite rare, they can run 1 beast to 1 square kilometre!

It was a wonderful flight and worth the cost. It is a rare occurrence to see water in these lakes and the last time it was full was in 1974.
After we all arrived back, we all had showers. Then we adjourned to the Hotel for a drink. There is no way that one would want to trash oneself as the costs are very high. Prue and I had a Strongbow Original and Pure Blonde beer for a total cost of $13.50. Our dinner was fillet steak, vegetables and a sauce costing a total of $64.00. We all ended our meal with and ice cream then a reasonable cappuccino or flat white.
Then that was the end of a great day in the desert regions of Northern South Australia.