Day 187 – Lake Eyre to Alpana Station

We all had a big sleep and took our time getting up this morning, eating brekkie and packing up for another day on the road. It seems that after a couple of days out of the van, the effort of packing up is always hardest.

We set off and the road was so barren with only the occasional historical building popping up. What amazes me is how well these buildings were built – the brick structures are almost perfect and look like new, just missing the roof. It would have been a hard slog for anyone working on the train lines back here in the day – the hear without modern comforts would seem impossible.

When we got to Lake Eyre South it was hard to see any way water in it and we regretted not getting a flight over the northern part of the lake. But it was an opportunity to stretch legs and grab some photos, before we saw a scary looking bee and ran back in the car.
After that it was a whole lot of barren road again. Our next stop was Marree, where Chris enquired about flights again, but was told that the conditions were too windy. This wind has honestly been hounding us for months… very annoying!

Anyway, Marree was a tiny town with some cool camel statues and an outdoor museum dedicated to the pioneers who travelled through it on horse and camel back.

Next we headed further along the Oodnadatta track past the Ochre cliffs, Leigh Creek and towards the Flinders. When the kids got grizzly and started squabbling we stopped for snacks. There’s always a lunchbox of fruit & veg in the car, but sometimes you need to bring out the biccies & dip to calm tempers! Whilst everyone snacked I read out some local history to them, I’m sure they were listening, ha.

Then it was finally time to turn into the Flinders Ranges. There were only about 30kms left to the station site I had in mind, but the road was steep, winding and bumpy, which made Chris very uncomfortable. I won’t lie, the surrounding sites were gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to explore more tomorrow, but I was also prepared to turn around if Chris pulled the pin on this adventure. He persevered, but we had to go slow to keep the engine and transmission temperature reasonable and I was just hoping that there wouldn’t be much more of this tomorrow.

We finally arrived at Alpana station and enjoyed a hot shower and some gorgeous views! There were sheep roaming the fields, a golden light at sunset and we ate our dinner at the outdoor camp kitchen feeling grateful that we had made it and we would be exploring this beautiful part of the world! The stars were also magical at night.