Lake Eyre Trip, Day 6: To Adelaide, or bust

Brr, or is it Grr … today we had to be up at 5:30am for 6am breakfast, as we had a 700-km drive back to Adelaide. We left Marree at 6:45am and, it being top of the day, we did see some early morning wildlife activity, including an emu family, several little groups of kangaroos, sheep lurking in the scrub, and wild goats, but we didn’t manage to photograph any of them. Sorry!

I must say that as we’ve been driving around, those lines of Dorothea Mackellar‘s – “Boundless plains to share” – have frequently come to mind. I know, a lot of these boundless plains are above Goyder’s line, but surely with human ingenuity some of these spaces can be used so we can share our country with those who need a safe and secure home?

I’ve also been brought to think about a paradox of travel, of one type of travel anyhow. We travel for all sorts of reasons – to experience culture, learn history, see great museums and galleries, follow one’s hobbies and passions (like, say, family history, or love of opera), or see the world’s great landscapes. It’s this last one, particularly, that I realised on this trip can encompass a fundamental paradox. I’ll explain what I mean using our current trip to Lake Eyre as an example. We’ve seen it wetter than usual, and the surrounding landscape greener than usual. How lucky some say, and yes, in some ways we are lucky. But then, didn’t we want to see Lake Eyre because of what it is, of what makes it unique? By seeing it in an unusual state – in this case greener, wetter, and perhaps making it more like other places – we may be “lucky”, because few see it like this, but if we haven’t seen it as it usually is, can we say we’ve “seen” Lake Eyre? I’m still pondering … but I’m not sorry either for what we did see!

Anyhow, let’s get on with the last real day of our trip. We drove through many places, stopping at just a few. This is, of course, the challenge of doing tours, though even on a self-propelled road trip, you can’t visit every place, can you? One of the first places we by-passed, today, was the town of Copley whose pub, tour leader Greg told us, is as iconic as Marree’s pub. We’d love to have seen it!

We did, nevertheless, have some great stops, the first being particularly special because this stop was new for the trip – Aroona Dam – and was suggested by Brian. The dam was built for the township of Leigh Creek. Part of the town’s lease agreement is that it must all be returned to nature at the end of the lease, which will apparently be 2018. Trouble is, the dam’s floodgates have not been opened for 30 years. Will the gates open? If they do open, will they be able to be controlled? That, however, is an issue for another day. For us, today, we had a lovely time visiting a beautiful, peaceful place, albeit it’s a dam. The hills and trees are beautiful, and the large expanse of water added another layer to the experience. This was our morning tea stop.

From here, it was a longish drive to our lunch stop. First, though there were very brief stops at Lyndhurst to refuel, as we had on the way up, and at Parachilna for Greg to pick up the “surprise-me” lunch he’d ordered. Some time after this, at Hawker, we left the road we’d traveled on the way up to take a new road to us, R.M. Williams Way.

Eventually, around 12.30pm, we reached our lunch stop, Orroroo in the Southern Flinders Ranges. It was settled by white people in 1844, when the first land grants were made. We lunched in Pekina Creek Park on the surprise from Parachilna – wraps. When Greg discovered, on picking them up, that this was the surprise, he was a little perturbed as we’d done wraps (gf ones for me) on our Oodnadatta Track drive! Can’t have that duplication, thinks Greg, so en route to the park he organised for Brian to take us through the township of Orroroo where he could buy an additional surprise. All this was revealed to us at the park … and the additional surprise was the famed saltbush lamb pie (half a pie, pre-cut, per person). Everyone pronounced them (and the wraps) delicious. For me, there was a lovely fresh ham salad from Parachilna and, would you believe, a whole gluten-free lamb pie. Such care and attention.

From here, as we kept moving south, the landscape became more agricultural, from cattle and sheep, to more wheat and grains. We passed through many little towns, including Jamestown, birthplace of RM Williams. Afternoon tea was at the historic little town of Burra (established around 1885), where there were more lamingtons, which were becoming a little tour in-joke, as well as muffins from Parachilna.

We finally arrived in Glenelg around 6pm, some 30 minutes after schedule due to the un-regretted decision to detour into Aroona Dam. We all met for dinner at 7pm, comprising a decent and generous buffet which included crab, oysters, prawns, smoked salmon, antipasto, hot dishes such as a tasty moist barramundi. We loved the food, and were all thrilled with our spacious, seaview rooms. It was a happy, convivial final evening.

Entertainment en route

Because this was our longest day of driving, some over familiar ground, we were provided with some entertainment, both of which I’d seen or heard before but both of which happily watched/heard again:

• Len Beadell‘s Shepparton talk. If you’ve never heard this talk, do try to. Beadell who surveyed much of Australia’s interior, including setting up Woomera and Maralinga, is a wonderful raconteur. You do have to listen to him in the spirit of his times, particularly regarding his frequent comments regarding surveying places where no-one had been since the world began. He only qualifies this once, and late in the piece, with where “white man” hadn’t been. If you accept this, you’ll be rewarded.
• The Back of Beyond documentary about mailman Tom Kruse. I love this film, but just like re-re-reading a favourite book I learned something new from this umpteenth re-viewing: how well-accepted, how much a given, was the centre’s multicultural make-up back in 1954. Afghan people, indigenous people, Catholic missionaries, along with white farmers and townspeople, are all naturally included in the story. I also loved hearing, again, the poetic narration (which was partly written by poet Douglas Stewart). Lines like “Who passes or perishes, only the dingo knows” resonate simply but powerfully against the gorgeously composed imagery. It is “romantic” in style, but like Len Beadell, representative of its times!

Tour highlights

There were many but here are some:

• The effort Greg and Brian took to make the trip special – their flexibility, their keeping us informed of what was happening particularly when plans were threatened, their senses of humour, and their care, without making a fuss, for various special needs and interests.
• The two flights over Lake Eyre
• Our congenial tour group, and the fact that we were only 14 (plus leaders)
• The food, which was better than I expected. There was not one set meal that had just one course or alternate service. It was either buffet service or we had menu choices. And my food intolerances were treated with respect, and care was taken, without over-fussing, that I never missed out on decent eating.

Quote of the day

“We aren’t leaving here [Burra] until you eat all the lamingtons” (Tour leader Greg who had promised at the start that he’d put a kilo on each of us per day, and by golly, he nearly did it)

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