Tuesday 27/7/2010 Purnie Bore to the Lone Gum Tree

(Purnie Bore to the Lone Gum Tree)
All slept in till 0830hrs. Awoke to sunshine and an orchestra of bird sounds. Wow, amazing sound! It's the warmest day yet. We are wearing T-shirts and shorts, and the flies are thick.
The kids played on the dune again while I had that shower. It took a full 35 minutes for the hot water to get there!! Lovely once it did.
Well we didn't leave untill 1100hrs. Big mistake! Got to the Lone Gum Tree at 1830hrs. It was a long day. Up down, up down, up down. Absolutely beautiful though. So many flowers and much greener than we expected. No plain red dunes, but plenty of partial ones for pretty photos.

The dunes started off small, at about 5m along the French Line.

The signage was very good. It would be hard to get lost if you stick to the tracks out here.

We headed south along the Rig Road and had lunch in the swale before heading east along the WAA Line.

The swales were pretty big on the WAA line, especially just west of the Erabena Track (about 20 to 30m).

It was much wilder in there. About 3 of the swales had water across them and we had to make our own way around.

Then there was another smaller puddle on the track that looked OK, but we sank and got bogged. Col had to dig and use low range to get out. I think we should have been playing with diff lock sooner. We didn't use it at all until after we were home from this trip.

We learnt our lesson. Deffinitely stay in the well used ruts, even if the water is deeper. The mud is compacted rather than like quicksand if you veer off. It's either the main track or a much larger diversion. Our next step would have been using our fire wood to cover the mud behind us, but luckily we didn't need to.

Had to add a bit of drama to the day!
We only passed 2 groups today. First was a single man in a single vehicle. Col and Jordan new him from the Kalgoorlie car park!
Next were a group of 4 cars. One of them had a 5yr old, a 2yr old and a newborn (very brave)!
This group had been stuck in Innamincka for 2 days with a broken chassey. The mechanic kept puting them off so they borrowed a welder and reinforced it themselves.
We won't be able to continue along the WAA Line east of Erabena, as it is covered by a lake at the other end according to this group.
Everyone updates each other as they pass, learning from each other's stories. It's also quite entertaining.
The final trip south to the Lone Gum Tree was in the dark. It didn't take long as travelling south is flat in the swales.
Our average speeds today were about 15km/hr most of the way (while heading east) and getting up to 50km/hr (when heading south) in the swales. I had fun driving some of the French Line and Rig Road, but the WAA Line was the most impressive.
There were so many white wild flowers mostly topping the dunes, while the yellow flowers seem to cover the east walls of the dunes.
It was a quick setup, tea and dishes, then relax around the campfire with a glass of wine. The full moon came up at 1910hrs, huge and orange.
There is one other family camped here, about 100m away. They have little kids and went to bed early, so we didn't try to socialise.There was no wind and it wasn't cold. Col, Jordan and Jack all went to bed early but I enjoyed reading by the fire for quite some time.

Monday 26/7/2010 Mount Dare to Purnie Bore

(Mount Dare to Purnie Bore)
Up at 0800hrs. Much warmer but the wind persists.
Bought some extra sugar, margarine and milk at Mount Dare (having not factored in Col's damper cooking). Topped up with fuel (84L) then said our farewells to Roger, Di, Peter and Glennys, leaving by 0930hrs.
Driving through flat "nothing".
There's clay, rocks and ground cover only, for 360 degrees to the horizon. The track is quite corrugated and we're travelling at 40km/hr.
Closer to Dalhousie there is a small salt pan and behind that Mesas to the NE.
Dalhousie is a little oasis of water, trees and wildlife that I feel is a bit ruined by the Desert Park's buildings and fences. The camping is forced too far back from the water to enjoy it. The site allocated is more like a gravel car park.
We arrived there at 1100hrs and decided on a long soak and lunch and to then continue on rather than camping here. Those that prefer facilities would have stayed.
Dalhousie are naturally fed springs from the artesian basin. Water from Queensland from millions of years ago that is seeping up through fissures.
Wow! So lovely and warm! The temperature ranges from 34 to 38 degrees. The main pool is about 30m x 15m, surrounded by a thin layer of bushes. Lots of birds in the trees.

Col, Jordan and I could mostly reach the bottom with at least our toes, there was a shallower area where Jack could stand and it was deeper to the western end.
Soaked for about an hour in the warmth and natural minerals all the while being exfoliated by the unique spring gobey (3cm long fish).

A true "day spa"!
We ate lunch there and left by 1250hrs to push on to Purnie Bore. We will now have an extra night up our sleeves which is a handy safety margin.
East of Dalhousie were more mesas that looked like big piles of dirt. There were rocks everywhere like giant gravel (including on the road), and corrugations.
We hit sand halfway between Dalhousie and Purnie Bore, but it was pale orange and on a firm base.
Now passing a flowering claypan.
Came upon a part of the track that is now a new waterway, complete with young trees and finches.

We had to make our way around this by heading off track to the left where we had to also circumnavigate a claypan. Wow! it was beautiful. Covered in wild flowers including the poached egg daisy, north of the French Line Junction.

A kite.

There were so many flowers and so much vegetation, it was difficult to find the orange sand dune look that we had been expecting, so it was pretty exciting to come across this..

We arrived at Purnie Bore at 1500hrs. There are signs and a modest toilet and shower block near the track, but you can drive in, well past these along the lake (made by the bore) to a lovely scenic bush camp.

There is no spring to soak in as the water is cold by the time it settles in the lake, but we have beautiful views of a water oasis, surrounded by orange dunes.

It is a birdwatchers paradise. Pluvers, budgerigars, zebra finch, crows, black chickens, a falcon, a white spoon billed water bird (huge), small black water birds living in the reeds, heaps of galahs and even a dove. There are also several dragonflies.

Jordan and Jack followed me around with cameras for a while, and Jordan is now across the water playing on top of the red sand dune with her camera.

Jack and I went for a walk around the lake. He then joined Jordan on the dune.
Originally miners bored down 1800m to the artesian basin. Eventually the cap eroded and water poured out at 18L/second creating it's own lake which went on to support a plethera of flora and fauna. The water is 85 degrees celcius when it first shoots out but settles and cools in the lake.
This disrupted the flow to Dalhousie Springs, so it was re-capped but with a slow flow left to maintain the now flourishing wildlife.

You can see the steam where the water is flowing out of the pipe, amoungst the reeds.
I think I will walk back down to the shower, fed by the naturally hot bore water. It gets there under it's own pressure and some is stored in a tank so that it cools to be used for cold water (nah, maybe tomorow).
After tea I downloaded photos and videos. There were a few mosquitos after dark, but they seemed to only hang around for about 30 minutes.
Very mild weather. No fire tonight. It looks like it might rain though. It has clouded over very quickly.
Off to bed to read. I fell asleep at 2245hrs to the sound of raindrops. Not what we were expecting in the Simpson Desert!