Day 11 - Itirkawara (Chambers Pillar) to 40kms north of Aputula (Finke)

Mon 24 Aug 2015

We left Itirkawara heading to Aputula (Finke). Not long after leaving Itirkawara we stopped and took more photos of animal tracks; signs the desert is full of life. On the way out we pulled in at Maryvale Station to top up the tank and grab some brunch. Finke here we come – via another corrugated road; to be fair it did have some smooth sections.

We travelled the Northern Territory section of the Old Ghan Route. This railway line was important as it opened up the Red Centre, assisted with transporting cattle and played a role in supporting our defence forces during WWII. There are information boards at each siding along the way giving a little bit of historical information about each site. We stopped off to look at Rodinga Siding, Bundooma, Engoordina and Rumbalara. These sidings were in various states of disrepair as time has taken its toll.

With our sightseeing out the way we continued on toward Aputula (Finke) but it was slow going due to the weather and tack conditions. Even though were only about 40kms from Aputula we started looking for a spot. Some of you know it can be hard finding a good spot to camp especially in Desert regions. Thankfully a few kilometres further on we found a little pull off with a tree to pop the tent under. As we made camp we noticed the winch support bracket had snapped despite the temporary repair we made earlier. Once again the corrugations have caused the bracket to snap. Oh well we’ll look at it tomorrow. We settled in for the night.

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