Days 185 - 196

We left Coober Pedy after collecting 120L of waste cooking oil (“WVO”) and headed for the outback. We took a 4WD track to Oodnadatta (known locally as the mail run), stopping off at the stunning Breakaways and Painted Desert (where Mad Max and Priscilla Queen of the Desert were filmed). After stopping for a chat to the owner at the Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse, we followed the Oodnadatta Track to Marree (a total of about 600kms). The track conditions were relatively good considering the amount of rain we had encountered. We took our time and stopped off at small places along the way, including a thermal spa at Coward Springs, which was extremely refreshing in the 40 degree heat. It was a great feeling to be back in the outback again – the remoteness, wide open spaces, red sandhills glowing in the evening light, whistling kites and the deadly silence of the star lit night. Throughout our journey to Marree (which took us 3 days), we saw two other cars. Because of the remoteness, we would pull off the track and camp on the side of the road each night. Our only companions were kites sauntering over and the odd kangaroo. Each evening, we would set up our chairs to watch the outback sky change colours after the sunset. It never disappointed. Ah, life was good again!

We had a slight shock when we came to Marree and encountered traffic (ok, it was only four cars and a truck but still). We checked into a caravan park for a hot shower and to fill up on water and met two other campers; Darryl, who was travelling the outback tracks for a month; and Nick, Cath and family from Sydney, who were travelling for 3 months around SA and WA, not in your typical Troopie like us, but in a Merc (although they have been living in Sydney for 13 years, they are originally from Manchester, UK and are Man United football (“soccer” to you Aussies) supporters so this explained some things!) We chatted to Darryl and he informed us that he had wanted to come to Marree for some time to see Tom Cruise. I nearly choked on my ginger beer when he told me that Tom Cruise was here in little ol’ Marree. He asked Gerard if he knew who Tom was and Gerard said of course, the movie star. Darryl looked a little puzzled and said no, he was the postman for the area between the towns of Birdsville and Marree. We had obviously not done our Marree research. We went back to our camper and Nick and Cath came over for some beers. We had a great night with them and felt slightly better that they did not know who Tom “the postman” Kruze was either.

From Marree, we travelled South through the Gammon Ranges. We thought we had seen all of the landscape that there was to see in Australia until we reached this area. We were amazed by the mountainous scenery and winding tracks we encountered. We were stopped on the road by herds of feral goats and yellow tailed wallabies. It was absolutely stunning. Once again, we did not meet any traffic on the tracks until we reached further South in the Flinders Ranges and enjoyed some remote camping.

Once we left the Flinders Ranges, we hit the tarmac and said goodbye to the remote camping and never ending sky of the outback. We were a little sad as that would be the last proper 4WDriving we do on our adventure. To console ourselves, we headed to the wine region of Clare Valley for some wine tasting. We were told of two wineries that we must visit whilst in the region. We decided to hire some bikes and cycle along the Riesling Trail to these wineries. To take in the wineries, it would be a 55km round trip. The trail was described as “gently sloping” and we thought that this would be no problem for two fine young things such as ourselves. The way there was fantastic. We cycled through vineyards, green rolling hills and saw some beautiful stone chateaus. We got to our first winery, caught our breathe (and in Gerard’s case, wiped the sweat from his face) and went inside to start tasting. We walked inside and heard a couple talking with the wine attendant about the wine being “seriously good” and the “raspberry flavours of the wine coming through”. Oh dear, I feared that my knowledge on wine, or rather lack of knowledge, would be shown up. It probably didn’t help either that in the past 6 months, I had only drunk casked wine – best not to tell that to anyone at the winery. It is amazing how you suddenly become really interested in wine when you are at one of these places. I found myself asking about how the wine was stored, its best year to be drunk, the temperature of the wine etc. I thought I had successfully blagged my way through the wine tasting when the ultimate test was put in front of me – an $85 bottle of wine and an $18 one. Yeap, I choose the $18 one as being “far superior.” Nil points for Rachel.

After indulging in far too much food at a local cafe, it was time to get back on our bikes for the journey home. On the return journey, everything started to feel a bit more strenuous. With about 10kms left, the seat just got far too painful and I had to hover gingerly over it. The “gentle slopes” that we had encountered on the way there were certainly not “gentle” on the way back and the combination of eating too much and wine tasting started to take their toll. We did not have fun on the way back and were very grateful to see our campsite after riding for 55kms.

We learnt our lesson in Clare and decided to take the car around the wineries of the Barossa Valley. We were due to head to the Fleurieu Peninsula afterwards but were told that “schoolies week” was happening and to give the area a wide berth. On advice from a local, we headed to the Yorke Peninsula instead and enjoyed some scenic camping and walking in Innes National Park.

We are heading to Adelaide tomorrow where we are restocking on food and catching up with Noel and Shelia, whom we met at Exmouth in WA. We would usually be restocking on WVO but we hit the WVO Jackpot at Wilpena Pound Resort in the Flinders Ranges. One of the workers drove us around to where they stored the waste veggie oil and we could not believe our eyes. There was close to 600 litres of waste cooking oil sitting in 20L drums. We could not take all of it but spent the morning filtering the oil and filled up our tank and all of our storage. It was the biggest collection we had encountered on our trip so far.

I have included some photos of the Painted Desert, the outback sky after sunset, Gerard and I enjoying a thermal spa we came across in the middle of the outback, the scenery in Gammon Ranges NP, some feral goats climbing the mountains in Gammon Ranges NP, cycling through the vineyards at Clare Valley in happy times on the way, a Kangaroo with a Joey in its pouch and an emu and its children we saw at Innes National Park and the beach we camped by at Innes National Park.

Hope everyone is well and as always, thank you for your emails and comments we have received.

Rachel and Gerard.