A day at Arkaroola with Afternoon Ridge Top Tour
After another cold night, we had breakfast in our cabin, and at 8 am I drove down to the mechanics shed to get my new tyres fitted. The tyre man was opening up as I arrived and we set about fitting the new tyres.
Throughout the process of removing the old tyres and fitting the new ones, we found that out only 3 of the 5btyres on the car had sensors fitted to the valve stems. As my model does not transmit the data to the Ford Sync system, I still found it interesting that all tyres had the valve stems that we equipped to have a sensor attached. Two of them had sensors, which I have kept, two had no sensors attached and one had a grub screw to attach the sensor loose inside the tyre but no sign of the sensor. I remember from the tyre I replaced in Hawker that there was a sensor attached to that tyre,. So it seems that out of 5 tyres, 3 had pressure sensors and 2 did not. These tyres were fitted by Ford Australia, not by the factory in Thailand, so I look forward to their explanation.
Within an hour or so, all new tyres were on and the service here has been terrific. Costs were reasonable and I now hope our tyre woes are behind us.
The rest of the morning was taken up catching up on communications with family, doing some laundry etc, publishing the blog and having lunch.
This afternoon we have booked to go on the Ridgetop Tour, which is closed to public vehicles and is conducted as a guided tour by Arkaroola using their dedicated Land Cruiser modified vehicles. It takes 4.5 hours and is a 21km very challenging 4WD trail to one of the highest points in Akaroola. At $195 a person, it seems expensive, but we will only be here once and it s rave reviews from those who have done it.
There are 11 of us who are willing to take on the afternoon tour which departs at 1 pm, (or thereabouts), and at around 1.15pm a modified V8 Landcruiser set up to carry 10 passengers on bench seats on a covered tray on the back ( and one in the front next to the driver), arrives to greet us, apologise for the delay and load us up to head off on what they described as a 4WD adventure.
Closed to the public this tour takes us through some incredible country that you would be insane to take your own 4WD through. Obviously all of the people on this tour had 4WD’s, so people were curious about tyre wear for example. The best tyre wear they get is 3000km, with the current brand of tyres they are using, a big improvement from around 1600km with their previous brand and much better than 800km from the worst brand they have tried.
It is a grueling trip for the vehicle with amazing scenery and the incredible roads that were carved through this area in a search to explore early indications of uranium deposits. The road carved through to the summit at the end of this 21 km route defies belief. Apparently the bulldozer driver is a local legend having never dropped over the side of sheer bluffs that he carved the road through.
The promise of finding Uranium ore was funded by US company, Exoil, who not only funded the track, but then fitted out a Centurian tank to transport the drilling rig up the precipitous pathway to carry out exploratory drilling. It turned out to be a futile exercise as commercial levels of ore were never discovered. More about this later.
However, it opened up a track that now offers tourists an amazing opportunity to explore this incredible piece of Australia’s geological history.
Access to the track is through a locked gate to ensure that public vehicles are kept off the track. Initially it is reasonably flat as we travel along the creek bed, but soon the climb begins.
Our first stop is Coultard Lookout. The Coultard’s are a local aboriginal family that were involved in the development of Arkaroola.
Getting photos as we bump our way along with limited movement in the back of the Land Cruiser is a bit of a challenge, but I grab a shot here and there when there is a chance.
We stop at our next lookout , now about halfway up our climb to the summit of our final destination. Here, despite another great view, we are given a bit of a geology lesson on the amazing variety of rocks and minerals that occur in Akaroola.
The monument above is made up of examples of many of these rocks
This one contains hematite (iron ore) and is very heavy
The scenery continues to be stunning, and how the sparse vegetation survives is amazing as it has been many years since there has been substantial rain here.
So what became of the quest for uranium. Despite the Herculean efforts of Exoil , to carve this treacherous 21 km track (and many side tracks) through this inhospitable country, no commercial quantities of uranium were found. Exoil had decided to quit the exploration below the summit where the lookout is. Apparently Reg Sprigg convinced them to continue to track to the top with a promise that the lookout would be named after the chairman of Exoil, and today it bears his name. Siller’s Lookout.
Uranium was later discovered on the flats between the lookout and Lake Frome. The photo below shows the now operating Beverly Mine and their airstrip. Arkaroola’s property ends at the bottom of the foothills. Arkaroola covers 600sq km.
A second mine, the 4 mile mine can just be seen as the small white buildings in the centre of this photo
It is pretty precarious on the lookout with not a lot of room for vehicles but we are told that yesterday they had 5 toyotas up here as 2 bus tours had arrived. It is hard to imagine where they parked.
The incline to access the lookout is 30 degrees, so certainly a bit of exciting 4WD action descending from the lookout.
There are plenty of areas along the track where inclines are in the mid 20’s.
It is getting late, so the trip home does not include any stops and we hope to get back before it gets dark.
Almost back to the village, we see a few yellow footed wallabies coming out for a drink at a watering spot, one of many that Arkaroola have located around the property, to provide water for fauna during this extended drought.
Back before dark, at 5.45 pm we have enjoyed what was an amazing experience. Not the most comfortable ride in the back of the Toyota, but certainly 4.5 hours of adventure for 4WD enthusiasts, not to mention the amazing scenery and history of this place.
We dined at the restaurant tonight and it becomes clear that they need the supply truck to arrive soon. Some items are not available on the limited menu, and they have run out of shiraz !!!!!
Off to Maree tomorrow.
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