On the Road Again - Extra Casualty

First day on the road with Russell was a good sight to see. His Toyota Landcruiser 75 series 05’ model and Northstar slide-on is now a definite member to our QueenslandCruiser(s) team. One thing Dave and I will need to get use to is dad’s 9.30am call on the radio “cuppa tea time?”.

 First stop was Roxby Downs to fill up on all essentials like grog, fuel, and possibly food after our 3 month bludge at the farm. The whole idea of not having Megan’s insanely epic cooking and resorting to my very basic pre-packaged sauces was something of an issue. Knowing the homemade pikelets at morning tea time, the bbq lunch’s out in the fields, and large family roasts (not just on Sundays) for dinner weren’t coming did make me cry at little. For that lifestyle I was punished with an extra hole in my belt.

 The first day out on the road as QueenslandCruisers didn’t honestly go to plan. The caravan park wanted to charge $38 p/n, the free rest area actually didn’t exist, it was very, very late in the afternoon, and Dave and I were still hung-over. I don’t think dad was all that impressed with our organisation skills. Making home on the side of the road hoping we wouldn’t get mugged; it was a rushed dinner and an early night in bed. That night, it also reached 0 degrees...not so good.

Next stop was along the Borefield Road north to Oonadatta Track then along to Marree. This was a definite stop for us for two reasons: 1, who doesn’t want to see the Marree Pub and 2, we’d did sorta have a flight booked over Lake Eyre.

We casually camped at the back of the pub (note: dollar coin for hot showers) and chilled with the mob from HEMA maps. Dad was more interested in the Ghan Railway history at the town. It was an important stop along the track because the rail line changed from 3”6’ to standard gauge, 5”3’ (dad has his head over my shoulder making sure I say it right).

The town of Marree isn’t much of a town only consisting of a pub, roadhouse, police station, and one airstrip. Even though the lack of entertainment, the pub was a certain highlight.

Our pilot was Vicky from Cashmere Brisbane who flew a blue Cessna 210. It was a comfortable little four seater but Dave was convinced on seating in the co-pilot seat. I was concerned as Dave’s knees were within centimetres of the oxygen-fuel ratio nob, the joy stick, and the rudder pedals; one slight move and something could have gone wrong. Besides that, it was an amazing flight seeing the lake full which at its deepest is only 2 metres deep. The early morning flight gave us the opportunity to view the pink tinge on the lake formed by the salt water algae which did make nice photos with the sunrise in the background.

LAKE EYRE FLIGHT – TICK!

At Lake Eyre South

 



Touching Lake Eyre North