We don’t have a long way to travel today, but half of it is back over the unpaved Arkaroola road that has eaten a few tyres over the last few days. I head down to the main building to get internet access to post the blog where I overheard a story from a recently arrived couple who were there without their car. It seems they had to get a tow truck to take it back to Leigh Creek. I am not sure of the detail, but it sounded like they ran out of spare tyres.
Anyway, we are feeling much better now with our new tyres, and pretty sure our woes are behind us.
The 135 km of unpacked road was covered comfortably in around 2.25 hours, without incident. We stopped to take a few photos of a the scenery along the way, and of a bit of livestock we had to give way to.
Once back on the Outback Highway, we headed North to Lyndhurst, where we plan to stop for lunch. I am not sure what we expected when we arrived at Lyndhurst, but what we found was a service station on the Outback Highway, and if you turn right onto the Strzelecki Track, about 200 m down on the right is the Hotel, which is also the Post Office and also has accommodation.
Lyndhurst Hotel
A surprising amount of accommodation
Once inside, there was a large group just ordering their lunch at the same time, so we expect a wait, but are in no real hurry.
Eventually the steak sandwiches arrived and they were very good
After lunch, we turned back onto the Outback Highway going North for only a short distance as we had been told to stop and look at the ochre pits that the aboriginals had sourced their ochre from for many years.
The pits were quite deep and the range of colours amazing
Onward now to our next stop, the ghost town of Farina, now lovingly being preserved and restored by a dedicated group of volunteers, some of whom were there working when we arrived.
The town is now famous for the “underground bakery “ which only functions for a few months a year and unfortunately we have missed its reopening this season by only 2 days.
The Main Street of Farina
Once a hotel this building was converted to a bush nursing hostel
The underground bakery
The renovated Patterson house now houses a cafe selling the wares from the underground bakery
There are lots of old ruins and a very interesting history, as well as a large camping ground just out of town.
Finally, we set our sights on Marree, our overnight stop. We arrive in town and decide to fill the fuel tank for the modest price of $2.90 per litre for diesel. Fortunately I still had over half a tank, so the pain wasn’t too great. Within sight of the service station/ caravan park operator we could see the Marree Hotel.
It was a short drive before we checked in and it seems to be a very interesting place. Lots of history and a bit eccentric.
The Marree Hotel
Our cabin is very comfortable and can park right out front
All settled in, we decide to have a look around Marree, which is probably not going to take long. At our hotel we have a swimming pool, a bit of an added bonus.
, but not all that popular at this time of the year.
Across the road is the old railway station. In its heyday, Marree was the end of the line for the “Old Ghan” railway. It eventually got extended to include William Creek and Oodnadatta before closing.
Old Marree Railway Station
An Old Engine remains at the station
There isn’t a great deal else to see in town, so we have a bit of a break before going into the pub for pre dinner drinks and a meal. It is not that busy tonight so there should be no problems with food service.
The layout of the hotel is interesting as the owner has put a lot of work into the renovation of this old building, but it has a number of dining rooms, one themed around Tom Kruse, a famous mailman on the Birdsville Track
Not sure how everything works we start at the bar for a pre dinner drink. There is isn’t a huge crowd, and most of them seem to come from the caravan park nearby rather than being house guests.
The bar is decorated with all sorts of paraphernalia.
Next we try to order dinner, which we have now worked out happens at another part of the bar, based on a chalkboard menu in that area. We are quite interested in the goat curry, above the normal parmies, burgers etc. However, it seems goats are elusive this week, and the goat curry is not available, so sadly it is back to the usual pub food.
The dining room most people chose
We ended up having a good chat with a couple from Streaky Bay who have the same model Everest as us and are towing a van. We seem to be heading in the same direction although our plan will probably put us ahead of them.
Tomorrow we go to William Creek where we have booked an afternoon flight over Lake Eyre.
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