Today was a massive day! We only travelled 250km, but it was all on gravel of varying quality and there was so much to see!

We started by heading back to Marree and topped up fuel and water supplies. Along the way we discovered that after my maintenance on the car aerial 2 days ago, the tools were left on the bullbar and had proceeded to distribute themselves along the bumpy road after we left. Karen and Kieran announced they’d picked up a shifter on the road and the realisation dawned on me. Bob is particularly unhappy about the loss of his favourite pliers. Oops…

Once sorted at Marree we embarked on the Oodnadatta Track. It was a fabulous day. We followed the Old Ghan railway route and there were numerous old filling tanks, ruins of sidings and rail bridges to keep us interested along the way.

We stopped in at some sculptures which were particularly impressive in scale!

The landscape was surprisingly ‘unflat’. Not hilly, but we were expecting nothing but flat earth in all directions. This definitely was not the case. It was a bit exciting when we started seeing the salty crusts as we passed artesian springs leading to South Lake Eyre.

We stopped at South Lake Eyre for lunch and headed out for a walk on the salt. There was no water where we were, but it is expected to be inundated in the next couple of months as the Queensland floodwaters make their way to the basin. A tiny little snake was the only wildlife we encountered on our explore. The salt was expansive and it felt like being in the snow (except it was 25 degrees).

After lunch, the afternoon was spent at more springs, the last of which was Coward Springs where we cooled off with a quick dip.

Our last stop for the day was at the Mesa lookout. The scenery was stunning and the shadows were getting long.

Finally, we rocked up to William Creek, where we are camped for the night. Dinner was at the well known hotel – we forgot to bring our own business cards to add to the collection though.

Tomorrow is Bob’s birthday and we have all booked a morning flight over Lake Eyre. Can’t wait.