AUSSIEPICS

Coober Pedy etc 2013


Some shots from a run up to Coober Pedy and then back to Melbourne via the back roads.





5013
The molten-metal effect as the sun just tips over the horizon marking the start of the trip back from Coober Pedy.




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5023
One random bit of grass that's been blowing every which way but loose for some time it seems.




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5030
One of many dry lakes on the Williams Creek rd.




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5048
The Mars-like surface in a dry lake bed. There's plenty of rocks but a lot of this looks like layers of mud that have dried as hard as a roof tile and cracked into sections.




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5071
Galahs at Williams Creek. Being Galahs.




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5096
whatever they were looking for, they seem happy to have found it.




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5089
Eagle shot




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5109
One small step, must have been wet that day.




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5112
Drying mud at a brigde site where the Ghan crosses Warriner/William creek south of the town.




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5115
Dog prints in the mud. I wonder if with the climate changing we'll be laying down some new fossil-records but I doubt humanity will leave much undisturbed for long enough.




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Water birds footprints.




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5123
Galahs in the old Ghan bridge. Warriner/William creek crossing




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5129
Outback crossroads. No sign needed. If ever two vehicles approached at the same time they'd probably stop and have a chat anyway.




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5134
The dam at Beresford. Just smelly enough to imply it does sometimes hold water.




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5138
Corellas on the water tank at Beresford.




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5145
Beresford Corella, just one by itself.




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5146
The 'fettlers cottage' at Beresford. In other words, the railway station. the next half dozen and probably more further down are all of the same design.
Fettler: a person who does repair or maintenance work on a railway.




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5148
Under the verandah at Beresford.




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5157
Why would someone have painted the name of the station like that? It looks far too modern to have been of use while the original line was open and the new railway is a hundred kilometers away on the wrong side to read this. Still, it was unfortunately not the only place we photographed carefully to avoid graffiti.




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5160
..and by the way, the water tank at Beresford no longer holds water.




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5164
Not the only car on the road!. Oodnadatta track in really good condition.




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5166
A pocket of life. At one of the 'mound springs' which dot the general path of the Oodnadatta track (and the reason for the tracks existance and location).




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5170
this one was "The Bubbler" and the sediment is so fine that the rings around the water constantly bubbling up kept changing hypnotically. If not for the flies you could get quite distracted just standing here.




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5177
The bright green life of the mound springs slowly blends through desert plants and back to the arid landscape. There are signs here describing unique forms of life that only exist in mound springs and sometimes only in individual springs.




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5179
The newest great threat to the outback is us, the tourists. Hopefully the boardwalk here will prevent millions of years of creation being worn away in a few decades by the booted feet of the curious.




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5181
Looking away from the mound spring, it's dry out there.




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5182
A shot of Blanche spring, looking over at The Bubbler.




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5185
Plant life at mound springs along the Oodnadatta track.




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5188
Probably Stuart creek, I didn't take enough notice. If you know the track you'll also notice I completely forgot to take a photo at Lake Eyre so just imagine brilliant white from your feet to the horizon, and flies.




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5207
at the Oodnadatta track art gallery, a friendly if metallic face after a long drive.




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5210
The first (or last, as we were headed South) destination on the Oodnadatta track. There's a sign saying 'leave money' but nowhere to leave it. I'm assuming whoever is responsible for this doesn't do it for a living but it's amazingly Australian and I'm glad it's out there.




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5215
An eagle in hiding




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5227
This guys too absorbed in his lunch to give me too much attention initially.




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5237
Eventually it's time to go, probably to return after we've driven away.




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5243
The grader at Farina. Always seem to arrive here late in the afternoon. This time we camped here and it's a suprisingly good set up. Recommended even.




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5256
diminishing windows at Farina




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5259
Farina house




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5272
Posts at Farina




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5273
Bakery and hotel at Farina




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5281
The North Flinders Ranges from south of Maree.




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5288
Back on the bitumen for a few minutes.




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5292
Emu by the river




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5299
One of heaps of 'Stumpies' we dodged along the way. They move suprisingly fast so it's better to slow down and go right around.




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5307
On the road East into the North Flinders Ranges.




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5310
Traffic was so rare we tended to shoot it (with camera's of course).




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5311
Scrub and red hills (a)




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5315
Scrub and red hills (b)




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5340
The last ridge eastbound across the Northern Flinders ranges. Great view




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5341
Somewhere way way down the back there is Lake Frome.




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5347
Dried sentinel




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5364
A long way south, Waukaringa. The ruins of a small gold mining township.




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5367
Tree hog. or "how to make the best nest in a small bush".




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5370
At the Waukaringa hotel




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5372
Best arty shot of the trip. Hope you like it.




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5373
Looking back at the ranges.




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5374
More of 'this thing I have with old windows'.




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5378
Westerly view through the hotel window at Waukaringa.




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5380
Looking back at the hotel from the smelting operation at Waukaringa




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5382
Don't ask me how a smeltery works but it obviously involves this tunnel-like arrangement as I've seen it in other places as well.




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5384
More Flinders Ranges lizadry. This fella's not so stumpy, more like dangerous.




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5389
The obligatory Ute shot, there would have been a furnace here and the pits were probably to leach gold.




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5391
Another variation of the theme.




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5394
The plains to the west behind the chimney, somewhere behind all that would be the Barrier highway, which is as good a definition of where the outback starts as most Victorians would ever need.




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5395
Broken Hill; It wasn't even on the agenda when we left home, that's just how we roll.




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5396
Everything you need to know about Broken hill in one shot, except you have to pay to drive around 'the living desert reserve' which aside from some non-historic carved sandstone is identical to most of the last couple of hundred kilometers, so we didn't.




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5402
Some earlier buildings around the mine that dominates the township. If you ignore the mine and the pretence of culture (everything else is an art gallery) the town has a very comfortable feel to it.




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5406
part of the dominating grey wall of tailings at Broken Hill.




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5412
The road out from Broken Hill to Menindi is just a bitumen strip but when you turn South toward Pooncarie it gets interesting again. Bulldust and Goanna's. I'd already put the tyres up at Yunta but this was another unplanned diversion so we just took it slow and enjoyed it.

The fella here ran away from the road but seemed to think he was hiding in plain sight twenty meters away so we just walked over and bothered him briefly.




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5421
After a couple of close-ups he gave up on us and ran over to a hole in a tree and disappeared.




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5429
This fella was a bit bigger and probably got that way by taking more care of his safety as he went straight for a tree as soon as we pulled up.




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5432
just sitting in a tree, probably thinking 'piss off you bastard' at me.




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5440
That's a well built nest. Fair effort by someone there.




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5441
Heading back to the main road, the Pooncarie motors sign is hard to ignore.




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5458
..and back at the Murray again. Not a bad lap.




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Out There 4x4 Warragul Mark A. Biggs, Author