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Just back from a fairly quick trip from Perth WA to have a look at Lake Eyre with water. Since this hasn't happened for decades (until last year anyway), we figure it may not happen again in our lifetimes, so off we went. We copped generally dreadful weather all the way across the Nullarbor, to the extent that the camper being towed did not get a lot of use. South Australia had a huge rain event which then went on to cause a lot of flooding in Victoria, and that's what we followed all the way across. We heard a radio report that SA's water-supply dams were at 97% full!
The hope was that we would be able to go up through the Flinders Ranges, through Marree to William Creek, then get a flight over the lake from there and even get out to Halligan Bay if we could. Well, we got to the Flinders and the Wilpena Pound OK and that was great, but the rain meant that lots of roads were closed and the only way to get near Lake Eyre was to go back to Port Augusta and up the Stuart Highway to Coober Pedy. At Coober we had about the only day where it was fine and sunny for a whole day, so we took the opportunity and grabbed a scenic flight from there. The road to William Creek was closed, and even the airstrip at William Creek was unusable due to the rain. The flight was fabulous - took in the Painted Hills, the Prominent Hill minesite, then the southern end of Lake Eyre. We tracked back via the Halligan Bay viewing area, over William Creek, then back to Coober Pedy. There was water everywhere, and we could see why roads and airstrips were closed. It had not been possible to drive to Halligan Bay for many weeks, and it looked like the road would stay closed for quite a while yet.
The other hope was that we might be able to head north to Uluru, then return home via the Great Central Road. But this too was canned because of the weather. The road wasn't actually closed at the time, but the weather wasn't looking good and we didn't have the time to risk getting stuck anywhere. So it was back down the Stuart and head west across the paddock. We had enough time to divert down the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula to Port Lincoln, then up the west coast to Ceduna. This was a highlight of the trip - lovely country, pretty little coastal towns, definitely an area to spend some time in the future.
Returning across the Nullarbor we spent a night at the Nullarbor roadhouse caravan park, then went to the whale-watching centre a few kms away at the Head of the Bight the next morning. This was another highlight - there would have been up to 20 whales in the bay, and you could easily spend a whole day there watching them. Highly recommended.
I know it sounds like a bit of a disaster because of the weather, but it was still hugely enjoyable - it's always good to get out on the road. But it would definitely have been better if the weather had been a bit cooperative. So if you want to go to Lake Eyre while it has water in it, you might have to plan to look from the air, because it may not be possible to get very close on the ground. If they don't have any more significant rain in SA the situation may change fairly quickly, but it's essential to check the road conditions carefully and often. The ExploreOz website is a good source for this - see http://www.exploroz.com/Roads/Default.aspx.
The Prado never missed a beat (of course
), but then most of the 7200-odd kms were on the blacktop, so it was a walk in the park for it really. The long-range tanks came up trumps again - we never had to buy diesel at the very high Nullarbor prices. In fact our average fuel price for the trip was not much above average metropolitan Perth prices. Love that Prado!
The hope was that we would be able to go up through the Flinders Ranges, through Marree to William Creek, then get a flight over the lake from there and even get out to Halligan Bay if we could. Well, we got to the Flinders and the Wilpena Pound OK and that was great, but the rain meant that lots of roads were closed and the only way to get near Lake Eyre was to go back to Port Augusta and up the Stuart Highway to Coober Pedy. At Coober we had about the only day where it was fine and sunny for a whole day, so we took the opportunity and grabbed a scenic flight from there. The road to William Creek was closed, and even the airstrip at William Creek was unusable due to the rain. The flight was fabulous - took in the Painted Hills, the Prominent Hill minesite, then the southern end of Lake Eyre. We tracked back via the Halligan Bay viewing area, over William Creek, then back to Coober Pedy. There was water everywhere, and we could see why roads and airstrips were closed. It had not been possible to drive to Halligan Bay for many weeks, and it looked like the road would stay closed for quite a while yet.
The other hope was that we might be able to head north to Uluru, then return home via the Great Central Road. But this too was canned because of the weather. The road wasn't actually closed at the time, but the weather wasn't looking good and we didn't have the time to risk getting stuck anywhere. So it was back down the Stuart and head west across the paddock. We had enough time to divert down the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula to Port Lincoln, then up the west coast to Ceduna. This was a highlight of the trip - lovely country, pretty little coastal towns, definitely an area to spend some time in the future.
Returning across the Nullarbor we spent a night at the Nullarbor roadhouse caravan park, then went to the whale-watching centre a few kms away at the Head of the Bight the next morning. This was another highlight - there would have been up to 20 whales in the bay, and you could easily spend a whole day there watching them. Highly recommended.
I know it sounds like a bit of a disaster because of the weather, but it was still hugely enjoyable - it's always good to get out on the road. But it would definitely have been better if the weather had been a bit cooperative. So if you want to go to Lake Eyre while it has water in it, you might have to plan to look from the air, because it may not be possible to get very close on the ground. If they don't have any more significant rain in SA the situation may change fairly quickly, but it's essential to check the road conditions carefully and often. The ExploreOz website is a good source for this - see http://www.exploroz.com/Roads/Default.aspx.
The Prado never missed a beat (of course
), but then most of the 7200-odd kms were on the blacktop, so it was a walk in the park for it really. The long-range tanks came up trumps again - we never had to buy diesel at the very high Nullarbor prices. In fact our average fuel price for the trip was not much above average metropolitan Perth prices. Love that Prado!
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