While there were some reservations about venturing into the outback at this potentially cold time of year, it was an opportunity to get away from work for a few weeks and also to try out our newly acquired camper trailer. The agreed meeting place was at our first campsite at Oakden Hill, so we had all day to get there. Bev and I left home on Saturday morning at around 9.20 and while traveling along South Road at Edwardstown, we noticed Gary Hallam and his dad Jack a few cars in front. Len Tonkin was also within radio range as we got further out of town. After a short wait at the servo at Cavan, visitors Bruce and Pat arrived and we continued on in convoy to Port Augusta, where we partook of some Hungry Jack delicacies for lunch.

Arriving at Oakden Hill just after beer o’clock, we set up the camper. Even though we had never set this trailer up before, it all went up quite quickly and easily. George and Herma, as well as Spot, were already set up, having arrived earlier on. It wasn’t long before the first beers of the trip were being consumed around a really great camp fire.

I must say, the reservations we had about the cold nights were well and truly realized and getting up in the mornings was not going to be easy. The nights were freezing! However, the days were extremely pleasant with lots of sunshine and not a cloud to be seen in the sky. This was certainly a change from the wet, rainy weather back in Adelaide.

Next morning and on the road by 9.00 am, we stopped at Spud’s Roadhouse at Pimba for coffee, then had a look at some interesting scenery around Lake Hart before reaching Glendambo for lunch. Arriving at the caravan park at Coober Pedy around 4.00, we set up camp on some barren dirt around the back of the park. These were apparently the unpowered sites. After we set up the camper, a bunch of others arrived and set up their trailers within about six feet of ours. We really couldn’t understand this as there was plenty of open space a bit further away. Anyway, after a pizza tea at the park, we turned in for the night – without a camp fire, it was just too cold to hang around outside for too long. I wonder if the neighbors noticed my snoring during the night?

The next morning, we headed up to the Breakaways. Although it was a bit cold and windy, the sun was shining, which really brought out the wonderful colours of the hills and plateaus. Certainly a huge contrast to the barren landscape of the Moon Plains which we traveled through for the next few hours. We stopped briefly at Mount Barry Homestead after which Len announced he had a flat tyre. It was near enough to lunch time, so we stopped for a quick bite and helped Len get all four corners of the car level again.

On the way to our next camp at Arckaringa, we collected enough firewood for the next couple of days. The nights were not getting any warmer and we certainly needed a good campfire to survive the evenings.

In the morning, just as we were about to depart for some sight seeing in and around the painted desert, I noticed that nothing on the dash of my car was working even though the car was running alright – no radio, no GPS or screen, no battery indicators… nothing much at all. After much searching and pulling things apart, we finally located an offending fuse behind the passenger floor kick panel – one has to wonder why they insist on hiding an ordinary fuse block in such a strange place?

Anyway, we eventually got going and made our way to the Painted Desert. Spot later admitted that he was intending to knock up some signs and sneak them out onto the road leading in to the Desert before we got there, stating something like "CLOSED DUE TO WET PAINT". But alas, he ran out of time before leaving home. There’s one on every trip eh!

The colours in this beautiful stretch of hills, valleys and mesas range from yellow through to red ochre with patches of green and orange. There are walks around several of the more spectacular areas and is well worth the effort. After returning to camp and getting ready for a roast night, Bev and I went back to get some really good shots of the Painted Desert at sunset.

Spot and Gary, cooked a magnificent roast dinner with a little bit of help from the other guys. In fact, the women were pretty well looked after that night and didn’t even have to do the dishes. It was a perfect way to celebrate Herma and George’s wedding anniversary and after a small presentation to the happy couple, we sat back to enjoy a great, warm campfire.

We left Arckaringa at the scheduled 9.00 am and headed towards Barney’s Waterhole, our next camp site. Along the way, we traveled along the top edge of the "Jump Up", a very high cliff face which went for miles. It was very spectacular. The track was little used and quite hard to find at times, with several dry creek crossings and sandy patches. We then proceeded through some quite barren country with gibber tracks and fairly low vegetation. However, by about one o’clock, we reached our destination for the day, set up camp and settled down for some lunch. Barney’s Waterhole is set amongst quite a lot of trees along the Neales River where we managed to find a nice, sandy high spot for our camp site. The day was once again, relatively warm, sunny and quite pleasant.

How about another roast? Yeah, why not… we had a great selection of beef, pork and lamb along with a huge range of veggies and spuds. There’s no doubt that we eat better while we’re away than we do at home! Another nice camp fire, a few more beers – what else could one wish for?

While Pat was over at their trailer, she suddenly called out, "Hey Gerry, are there dingoes in this area?" to which I replied, "Yeah, I expect so." Well, says Pat, I think there’s one over here!" By the time I got my torch and raced over there, the beast was toddling off into the bushes. It was definitely a very healthy looking dingo which had wandered in to camp within a few metres of Pat, obviously looking for scraps and not a bit scared of humans. We made sure we put everything away that night!

There was a slight delay the next morning when Len discovered yet another flat tyre on his car.

The track from Barney’s Waterhole to Todmorden Homestead was fairly easy and we made good time. We called in at the homestead and had a chat with Janet the cook, who expressed a real desire to jump in to Spot’s car and come along with us. Not sure what went wrong, but Spot ended up leaving without her. Further on up the track and after having lunch at Barney Bore we headed north through the Pedirka Desert. We arrived at the Hamilton Homestead later that afternoon, where we met up with another Janet (also a cook). However, this one didn’t show much interest in tagging along with Spot. She did, however, suggest that we camp at Eringa Waterhole, which turned out to be a beautiful campsite for the usual evening’s activities.

The following morning, I actually braved the cold to get up early for some sunrise photos over the waterhole. The nights were still very, very cold and it was not until the sun had risen for a while that things started to warm up a little. However, the days up until now had been very pleasant indeed. Later that morning we reached Mount Dare where some topped up with fuel and everyone had a nice hot shower. While here, we decided to have morning tea in the new pub/shop facility and left an ORVC stubbie cooler hanging from the ceiling, amongst scores of others. The proprietor suggested we should tape up our rear windows to save breakages due to the rocky tracks we were heading out on. This advice was taken up by some of us, but later proved to be unnecessary as the tracks turned out to be better than what we had experienced so far.

From here, we headed out towards Mac Clark Conservation Reserve with a lunch stop near the Finke River. We stopped a little later at Old Andado and checked out an amazing old homestead in a beautiful setting between the sandhills. It is actually still the home of Molly Clark, who now only comes to live there for about three months a year. However, it is fully furnished, the bookshelves are full of old books and the place is a huge collection of memorabilia which Molly has collected over the years. Yet, she leaves the place completely unlocked and open with a welcome sign on the door and a note to say that any donations can be left in the tin on the kitchen table. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to be this trusting in the big city?

We reached the Mac Clark reserve in time for beer o’clock. The reserve is the natural habitat of the Acacia peuce, or waddywood, which grows only in two other places in the world, near Birdsville and further north near Boulia, Queensland. It is one of the tallest acacias at up to 17 metres and can live for up to 500 years.

Waking up to a beautiful sunrise, it was noted that a week had already passed – time certainly flies when you’re having fun! Herma and Bev began walking while the rest of us finished packing things up. They had probably covered a couple of k’s when we finally picked them up. The track from here ran parallel to and in between quite large, sandy ridges. It was a very pretty and scenic drive with the red sand hills as far as the eye could see.

Getting close to morning tea time, Spot was looking for a suitable place to stop. However, shortly afterwards, he announced in a firm voice "…we are stopping Wright here!" He had reached a weed control point which stated that there was no stopping for the next 20 km’s – just a little too far for a thirsty mob.

Later that day, we set up camp at Mitchells Bore located along Phillipson Creek. Near the camp was a very large, rocky hill, which a few of us climbed to experience a truly fantastic view of the surrounding countryside. This was yet another really great camping spot.

The following morning, after remembering Dean and Ruth’s birthdays, we headed off towards Alice Springs. We arrived around lunch time, giving us plenty of time to do some shopping, fuel up, put through a load of washing and clean ourselves up, ready for a night at the pub. The Heavitree Gap Outback Tavern was just at the end of the street and within walking distance – perfect! They even had a couple of floor shows on, a reptile bloke followed by Chris Callaghan, country and western singer. The shows were good and made for a very pleasant (and warm) evening indoors.

Monday morning saw us heading out at a leisurely 10 am to the east Macdonnells with the first "tourist" stop at Emily Gap. We also explored Jessie Creek and Corroboree Rock before driving in to John Hayes Waterhole. All truly interesting and worthwhile places to check out. Earlier that morning, we rang Dean for his birthday until his phone battery went flat, so we then rang Denise to get the latest goss on the AGM and the various committee placements. Trephina Gorge was next on the list. This was a very spectacular site with quite a long walk into the gorge.

We camped at Arltunga that night and visited the bush pub near the camping area for a few beers and some games of 8 ball. However, at $5.50 for a can of VB, we didn’t stay too long before heading back to our campfire.

Next morning, we left our trailers at arltunga and back-tracked our way to N’Dhala Gorge. We had planned on doing this the previous day, but ran out of time. We walked through the gorge for an hour and a half and got some great photos of budgies and finches at the waterholes. There were a surprising number of different butterflies fluttering around also. Lunch was had in the dry bed of the Ross River, after which we visited the Ross River Homestead. The homestead is a magnificent old building incorporating a great pub, shop and restaurant with a really friendly atmosphere. Next time we’ll definitely be staying here in their campground! Fuel is also available here at $1.84/L which wasn’t much more than other out of the way places. On the way back to collect our trailers, we stopped at a memorial for a biker named Terry "Fish" Gill who was killed in the area on his bike. The memorial was an old Harley made up of odd bits and pieces and decorated with bottles and beer cans.

After picking up our trailers, we made our way to Ruby Gap, where we managed to find a spot large enough for all six vehicles. The track was a tad rough on the way in and Pat was rumored to have wished for a "Jesus bar" to hang on to. The evening was very calm and we had yet another great camp fire in a carefully crafted fireplace created by master stonemason, Gary – and we thought his talents were all in plumbing – it even had rock paving around the outside!

We watched a slide show of some of the trip photos and a DVD of some very "unusual" Jerry Springer episodes. The ladies got stuck into some bottles of white stuff that night and Pat, feeling a bit seedy, was seen taking a bucket with her into the camper at bed time.

Fortunately, the next day was a sleep-in day and most didn’t surface until quite late. It was also Pat’s birthday, which I guess was a good excuse for the activities of the night before. After Pat arose, she emerged from her toilet tent looking most perplexed. Apparently, the hole she had dug the previous day, had mysteriously become overgrown with couch grass during the night, making it hard to find. All kind of explanations, including alien visitors, were offered but no firm conclusions were reached. Someone even suggested a newspaper headline along the lines of "Woman in toilet tent attacked by rogue couch grass – saved by man with whipper snipper!" – yeah right!

That night we had yet another roast dinner and watched a DVD of Andre Rieu, a classical dutch musician. It really was a very good show, until Jack tripped on some of Gary’s stonework and almost fell on the fire. Had Jack been drinking did I hear you ask? No, of course not… well, no more than usual anyway.

The next day, we decided to drive further into Ruby Gap. The first few k’s were fine until we reached a sign recommending no further access. However, one is still allowed to go further, which of course, we decided to do. From here on, the track become quite rough and rocky and threw a few challenges at the lower sprung vehicles.

On several occasions, we had to carry out some significant track maintenance to ensure the safety of our vehicles. Some distance further on, we reached a sign stopping further vehicle access, so we walked from here for a further 4 k’s or so. It was absolutely magnificent and the gorge just kept on going. We collected a lot of rubies (actually garnet) before making our way back to the cars. We had some excitement on the way back, when Bruce stepped into some quicksand and suddenly sank knee deep. It all happened so quickly, he hardly had time to react. He managed to support himself on his other knee and both hands and slowly extract himself from the bog. This really took all of us by surprise (especially Bruce!) and served to demonstrate just how treacherous the quicksand in this area can be. I certainly wouldn’t like to drive into it!

After an early night, everyone rose early for an 8 am start. This was not easy with night time temperatures below zero and sunrise not until just before 7 o’clock. However, the impossible was achieved with George waking us all up at 6.15. In fact, we were on the road by 7.45, probably in our eagerness to get to the car heater to warm up!

We explored the Arltunga historic reserve on our way and walked amogst some very interesting ruins. The scenery on the way to Gemtree was very spectacular and we stopped for a while, on top of a hill overlooking the Hale Plain, with the Cavanagh Range on one side and the Hart Range in the distance, on the other.

Gemtree was reached around 3 in the afternoon, giving us plenty of time to set up camp. While the place was pleasant enough, we did feel it was a bit overpriced for what it was, especially with the donkey for the showers not being lit until nearly 5 o’clock and then only delivering warm water for the lucky few first. However, we did have the use of a large shelter shed with a wood fired bbq (which took quite some elbow grease to clean before using it). We had a really good campfire, but timber was $5 per night, cut and collect it yourself.

After another very cold night, we left Gemtree to go fossicking for the day. We drove through the spectacular Hart Range and down Cattlewater Pass to a garnet field, where we spent some time with sieves and shovels. We actually collected quite a lot of very good samples which could be professionally cut and transformed into very nice jewelry. From there we traveled back to Pinnacle Road, to a zircon field. Here we spoke to a very interesting couple who spent 3 months at a time here fossicking for gems and then manufacturing them into jewelry for sale. They showed us some of their work, which was truly beautiful and totally professional – very impressive.

It started raining sometime during the night and was still raining when it was time to get up. It was Gary’s birthday today so Herma had organized a special birthday breakfast, prepared by the Gemtree staff, down by the billabong, although we were relegated to a tin shed due to the persistent rain. However, it was a very nice meal, topped off by a nice birthday cake topped with sparklers.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and soon it was time for Len, Bev and I to say goodbye to the group as we parted ways in different directions. Spot, Herma, George, Pat and Bruce all continued north while we began our journey home. I’m sure there will be a trip report forthcoming for the remainder of their journey.

We arrived in Alice around lunchtime as the rain continued to fall. I must say that we were very impressed with the canvas on our Challenge camper. Despite having been packed up soaking wet, dragged to Alice in the rain and then set back up with rain falling for the rest of the day, the inside of the canvas remained completely dry. However, it was still extremely cold and since we had a powered site, we thought we would invest in a small fan heater. Well, Kmart had completely sold out and Mitre 10 only had a few left. At least we were able to warm up the next couple of mornings.

That evening, we joined Len for another night at the Heavitree Gap Pub, where the same reptile show was on again. However, this time they let this huge Olive Python loose amongst the patrons. It must have been at least 3 metres long and weighed in at over 10 kilograms. Olive made her way from table to table never once touching the floor. Rather, she went across the shoulders of one person to the next. When she approached our table, Bev was rather quick to move out of the way, however, I ended up with Olive wrapped around my neck and checking me out. It was great! One of the best behaved and friendliest pythons I have ever seen and obviously very used to being handled by people.

Len left us for home the next day, while Bev and I stayed in Alice another day to check out the Desert Park. This is one place I can thoroughly recommend, but allow a good 4 or 5 hours to get around all of it, watch the birds of prey being fed and watch the movie on the big screen.

The next night was spent at Rainbow Valley as we were hoping for a good sunset. But, alas, it was far too overcast and we neither had a sunset or sunrise worth worrying about. From there, it was Coober Pedy and then home, thus marking the end (at least for us) of another fantastic Club trip.

Congratulations and a big thank you to Spot, who obviously put in a lot of time, effort and research to make it one of the best trip we’ve been on – if only it wasn’t so bl….y cold! And thanks to all the others for their great company.

Gerry Paay