Day 14 - Dalhousie Springs to Arkaringa (inc Oodnadatta)

Thur 27 Aug 2015

 

Without delay we packed up and headed for Dalhousie Ruins. The location of the ruins can be seen from a distance thanks to two date palms thought to be planted by early settlers in the area. The ruins are within the Witjara National Park which was formed in 1985 and in 2007 an agreement between the Lower Southern Arrernte and Wangkangurru peoples and the South Australian State Govt was signed to co manage the Park.

Historical information suggests Dalhousie Station came into existence around 1873. Mr Edward Bagot won the contract to build the first 500 miles of the Overland Telegraph Line. In its day the station had stockyards, a blacksmith’s shop, workman quarters, a shed and the actual homestead. The station was abandoned in 1925 and over the years the buildings deteriorated.

Pedirka Siding lies just outside Witjira National Park and is south west of Dalhousie Springs. This siding was one of many along the Old Ghan Railway Route. The ruins of this siding are in pretty good condition.

Fogartys Claypan was named in honour of the Fogarty family and their connection to the Northern Territory / South Australian outback, their businesses and contributions to the area.

The road to Oodnadatta was a mix of corrugations and gibber stone just for something different. We arrived about 2.00pm, fueled up and grabbed a burger and some supplies from the one and only Pink Roadhouse. We also took the opportunity to send off some texts to family however they didn’t go through. It seems Oodnadatta is OPTUS only, we couldn’t access the Telstra network so we sent some postcodes. The town was happy to have service of any kind but the question was will Telstra match Optus’ service and put a tower up? Pretty crook that what was a Govt service only appears interested in high volume service areas and not our outback regions.

Back on the road and heading southish toward Ceduna we decided to turn right off Kempe Road and take the Painted Desert Road. This desert is a very impressive site to see however we were too early to view it at sunset and we could only imagine what a colourful display it would have been. The Painted Desert is an ancient inland sea recorded  to be over 80 million years old. Mother Nature created it through rain, weather, erosion and time.

A bit further along we saw a sign for Arckaringa Homestead accommodation and decided to check it out. It’s only 11 kms south west of the Painted Desert. Camping fees were $20.00 per car and they had hot showers, toilets, souvenirs and plenty of room. We spent the night enjoying a lovely evening as the sun colored the sky as it sank. Arckaringa is well worth checking out when you’re out this way.

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