Day 17 Coward Springs to Arckaringa Station

After a very warm night we said goodbye to our German neighbors and continued the Oodnadatta track. It wasn't long until we made it to William Creek where we were introduced to the very steep fuel prices in the outback.

Nevertheless it was nice to see some civilization, even if the population of the town is only 12!

We had a talk about the weather with one of the 12 and then continued our journey.

Although the whole Oodnadatta track is unsealed  it was in a pretty good condition and the corrugation was only bad in a very few places. The road itself seems never-ending and there sure is a whole lot of nothing out here. Unless you see it for yourself it’s hard to imagine what it looks and feels like. We just had to think of the first settlers here that built the road and the Ghan rail track. Let alone the aboriginal people who lived here. The heat, the sun, the distances, the flies and the dust… unbearable!!

All in all it is very impressive to experience and unlike anything we have ever seen before.

There were less interesting stops along this part of the track than the part we drove the previous day. The two highlights were the railway bridge over the waterhole and the lookout over the desert.

We arrived in Oodnadatta around lunch time. The famous Pink Roadhouse was hard to miss. We decided to have lunch here. It took for ever to be served and wasn't very tasty. Oh well… maybe we are a bit spoiled as Melburnians J

There wasn't much happening in Oodnadatta and even the Roadhouse seemed to have lost it’s magic after it changed owners. So we got some more fuel and drove on to Arckaringa Homestead.

On our way there we passed the Painted Desert. What a beautiful and impressive place! Besides the view, the other thing to notice was the strong wind, it was hard to stand still when taking pictures.

It turned out it was very windy at the campground too (located at the homestead nearby) so setting up a tent was impossible this night. We sat in the shelter of our car the rest of the evening and the van felt like a rocking horse most of the night.