Living Life: THE LAST LEG

On Tuesday 14/9/10 we left Alice Springs and headed towards the Marryatt Camp Site. We stopped on the way at Stuart’s Well and were entertained by Dinky the singing dingo. He stands on the piano and sings along while someone plays the piano. He also walks on the keys to make his own music if he is so inclined! Dinky’s owner explained that Dinky is fed pretty much what a dingo would eat in the wild but Dinky was a bit overweight, mainly because he doesn’t have to catch his own food (although he has been known to occasionally snatch and eat a bird that strays too close to him). We saw a kangaroo and some emus in an enclosure at Stuart’s Well and across the road there were a large number of camels (there is a camel farm there).

We crossed over the Finke River and noticed the water levels were quite high. The area where we had been walking on our way to Alice Springs was now under water and the river was flowing well. The next river crossing was the Palmer River and where that was bone dry on our way up, it was now flowing as well.

We arrived at the Marryatt Camp Site and set up camp – probably not in the best spot because it was the dry river bed, but it was a lovely spot nonetheless. We hoped there was no water coming our way and hummed and hah-ed about whether we should take the chance or not. In the end we stayed there and I worried all night about flash floods and big branches falling down onto the caravan (we were parked under one very big – and quite lovely – tree).

We were visited by a rather interesting bird. It was very similar in appearance to a magpie but was a bit smaller and its head was completely black. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo. Just before going to bed I heard some noises outside and when Royce went to check he saw a dog (dingo?) scavenging in the rubbish and at the barbecue. It took off pretty quickly but Royce didn’t think it was a dingo because it was a bit on the fat side and its legs didn’t look long enough.

The next morning it started to rain and we had a bit of rain on and off for most of the day. While we were packing up camp a chap who was camped up on the actual camp site came down and said his ‘bus’ wouldn’t start and the starter motor was broken and could we help push start. Once we were packed up we drove up there and with a tyre between the bus and Raymond’s car, Raymond had several attempts at push starting him. It was quite comical – a broken bus, a landcruiser and a caravan – all driving along nose to tail! Eventually Raymond was successful (after Royce advised the bloke to put his bus in third gear) and he headed off to Coober Pedy to try to get the starter motor fixed.

Just south of Cadney Park Royce spotted something fairly large on the side of the road ahead. On slowing we discovered a wedge tail eagle feeding on a dead kangaroo. It flew into a tree right by the side of the road but by the time we had stopped and I got the camera out it flew off to another tree some distance away and was clearly determined to stay there until we left! It was a very large bird!!

We arrived at the Pootnoura camp site and again camped a bit away from the rest. It seemed like a really nice spot until the mossies attacked! Unfortunately for me I seemed to have the sweetest blood. A large number of them landed on Royce’s back and he did get a few bites but I was almost eaten alive! I was wearing long pants, socks and shoes and they bit through the clothing. I ended up with another really bad lot of mossie bites and I seem to be reacting badly to them. Many of the bites came up very red and swollen with a lot of them about the size of a 10c piece. Luckily I had calamine lotion and I thought (mistakenly) that would stop the itching problem.

On Thursday 16th we headed into Coober Pedy. After emptying the toilet and filling the water tanks we checked into the caravan park then went for a bit of a walk. We bumped into Trevor McLeod (Royce’s cousin’s husband) and organised to meet Trevor and Katrina for tea that night. We went to the pizza bar, had a nice pizza and coffee, met up with Trevor & Kate’s son Simon (born on the same day as Rory and at the same hospital!), then went to have a look at Trevor & Kate’s dugout. It was pretty amazing!

My mossie bites were becoming unbearable and I had tried everything – calamine lotion, stop itch, tea tree oil and even toothpaste! Friday morning we went to the chemist and I was given some ointment and tablets and advised if it didn’t improve in a couple of days I needed to see a doctor.

We left Coober Pedy on Friday morning and headed to a roadside camp near Lake Hart. We made our own camp site about 10km north of Lake Hart – it isn’t a designated camping spot – made up a camp fire and chilled out for the night. I mean ‘chilled out’ literally! It was very cold.

An uneventful night except for my mossie bites! I had even resorted to sitting on the edge of the shower and washing my legs with cold water. It did give some relief but it was bloody freezing! I couldn’t wear long pants shoes or socks because they would irritate the bites so was walking around in shorts and sandals!

We left the camp site this morning and drove to Woomera where we had a look around the town, including the museum. We drove to the local park where there are a number of birds in cages, including one very impressive peacock and several cheeky cockies. In one cage there was a sulphur crest and a major Mitchell who were very happy grooming each other. A light pink galah in another cage was really wanting to bite Royce. It started at the back of the cage but when Royce stopped to talk to it, it came to the front of the cage and was raising its crest, fanning out its wings and screeching at him! Another sulphur crest came to the front of the cage saying “hello cocky” and wanted us to stay and chat with it for a while.

Just south of Pimba there were 4 emus on the side of the road and we managed to get some photos.

We stopped briefly at Port Augusta and had intended to camp the night at Mambray Creek but we changed our minds and have ended up at the Baroota Rodeo and Camp Grounds. Seems like a reasonable place and only cost $10 per vehicle for the night. We have started up the generator so we could transfer photos and get the blog written up.

Home tomorrow afternoon. What a wonderful time it has been. We cannot wait for our next one!

Camels at Stuart's Well