Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre

My reason for venturing so far into South Australia's far north, began months ago with floods in Queensland. That water has been flowing into Kati Thanda for a few months.  

Lake Eyre South remains dry, white-crusted with salt.

But Lake Eyre North, the largest part of Kati Thanda has filled to an estimated depth of 3 metres.

Some parts are green due to algae and silt.

The northern inlet creeks. The Warburton Groove.

There are birds down there. A few pelicans, not many as they somehow seem to know the water will not remain long enough for their chicks to hatch and mature. How do they know? 

We also saw flocks of Arctic Terns and black ducks but they were too small to show in photos.

The shadow of our plane on the water below.

Sunshine glistens on the surface.

In places the water is developing a pinkish tinge due to increasing salt levels and salt-loving bacteria.

In other places the water appears very blue.

It is massive. Over 9000 square kms. Lake Eyre North is 144kms long and 77kms wide.

Also massive is The Marree Man. The world's largest art work, according to our pilot. 4 kms long, 28 kms in circumference, carved into the landscape by persons unknown, discovered by a pilot in 1998. It would have required someone with a bulldozer, a gps system and a lot of diesel to create. 

Our plane. A Cessna fully loaded with 14 passengers. Everyone had a window seat.

Thsnks to Arid Air and pilot Teck for a fabulous, probably once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After two hours of flying, I refuelled Sally and we headed south for a few days with my granddaughters and then home Tassie.

Five days

It has taken me five days to drive back across the Nullarbor and up into the north of South Australia.

On the way, I discovered the town of Norseman is named after a horse which pawed at the ground and unearthed a gold nugget, starting a gold rush. The horse was called Nosreman because he belonged to a man from the Shetland Islands who was a proud Norse(North) man. 

I camped on the Bunda Cliffs again.

There was a lot of ordinary scenery, several music cds played as I drove, and also lots of interesting sights. 

North from Port Augusta, I headed towards the Flinders Ranges. Interesting stone ruins. This one built by the third son of an earl who came out from England to create his own empire.

And more modest cottages along the original Ghan railway route, closed in 1981. Workers had live along the line to maintain it. A tough isolated life.

Sally did some real outback camping beside a dry creek. They are almost all dry.

And she did some gravel road driving.

Saw lots of emus.

Including this papa and his chicks.

Lots of corellas. Show-off!

Stunning scenery. Greener than expected.

I have skirted around the southern end and western side of the Flinders Range.

I had to get out of Sally and prod this little guy to get a wriggle on and get off the road. He was in no hurry. And a bit grumpy that I wanted him to move out of Sally's way.

Sunset on the ranges.

Wild horses, or livestock? Not sure. I did see a few grazing near the road.

And a pretty impressive rusty one on an old railway platform.

An old water tank in Marree.

Rusty camel in Marree to honour the Afghan cameleers who brought in supplies in the early years.

An oversized road train at the Marree Pub. I am parked behind the pub for the night.

Tomorrow I fly!

Beaches of Esperance

Esperance, the last town of any size toward to eastern end of the WA coast, wins my prize for the best beaches.

The 40km Great Ocean Drive to the west of the town is dotted with splendid white beaches.

Even the town beach is beautiful, lined with parks and Norfolk Pines.

I spent a day at Lucky Bay in the Cape Le Grand National Park to the east of Esperance. Granite rocks and more stunning beaches. My rather nice lunch time view at Thistle Cove, an hour of walking from Lucky Bay.

Whistling Rock, looks like a whale breeching. Apparently the wind sometimes make a whistling sound as it blows around the rock.

An un-named rock, on sentry duty, watching over Lucky Bay.

I stayed overnight  in the campground at one end of Lucky Bay and went for a walk to the far end of the 2.5km long beach, and back.

Too cool for me to swim but quite a few people were in the water.

The white sand is so soft, it felt silky beneath my bare feet 

My camp-site had the best view. The camp host did tell me that it is the one everyone wants.

Lucky Bay is famous for kangaroos on the beach. I didn't see any on the beach, but this mother and joey were happily feeding (and playing in the case of the joey) beside the main carpark. 

Ignoring my presence just a metre away.

A nice farewell as I prepared to begin my long drive back east.