Dreams in ruins ...

The previous 2 nights we spent at Lake Mungo National Park. This was a bit of a follow up from when we were there in March 2022.

As we were leaving Lake Mungo, the people near said … if I see you coming – I’ll pull over and let you through … very thoughtful!).  They left.  As we turned onto the road (unsealed and rough as guts!) another campervan pulled out about 400m in front of us.  We let them get some space so as to not wear their dust.  After about 20 minutes of travel we noticed people in the distance standing on the road.  The two vans ahead of us were parked on the side of the road.  They had happened upon a roll over.  A Ford Ranger Ute was lying on its side and the attached camper trailer also on its side with a wheel sheared off and wreckage strewn about the road.  The occupants stated that they were ok and that they had tried to swerve to miss a roo and its joey … who suddenly changed direction… carnage … 2 very lucky people!

After that bit of excitement the drive to Renmark was uneventful.

We did a major restock of food and water; a big spend up at Woollies; filled the water tanks which were at about 20%; charged various batteries while overlooking the Murray River … very impressive ... the houses directly opposite the caravan park perched on the ochre and white cliffs looked sensational … at $1290 a night – they would wanna be!

Today, left Renmark and travelled to Morgan which was about 100kms of bitumen then the glorious dirt for the next 280km – we only saw only one other vehicle!

The road (or as the Garmin calls it … the “street”) went through large sheep grazing properties most with old sandstone homestead and outbuildings.  Lots of floodways … many several times the height of the car … but all dry!  Some are very difficult to see the bottom … and some have a double ditch in the bottom that are even harder to see!  All makes for a very interesting drive.

After refuel at Yunta we hit the dirt again enroute to Arkaroola which is some 290km up the track.  We are camped at Waukaringa Ruins behind the deserted ruins of the old Hotel.  In the distance are the ruins of what was once  a bustling gold mine complete with huge chimney stack up on the hill.  It was once the home to 750 fortune seekers and was abandoned in the 1950s. We initially followed a couple of old knarly tracks to get up to the chimney stack but ended up back down at the old Hotel due to the wind being somewhat annoying and the huge bullants were not in keeping with having quiet Gin!  We are the only ones here!