We head back to Coober Pedy to prepare for our next destination, the Anne Beadell Highway (still a track) to Neales Junction and the Connie Sue to Warburton.

Ian stops to help someone with a flat tyre. It turns out to be a child care worker who was at the Oodnadatta races running a playschool for the races who is returning to Port Augusta. The Police pass by and seem pleased that they won't be required to help. These 2 women were hundreds of kilometres from home and couldn't even get the wheel nuts off. It was a government 4wd and the driver kept muttering that "they should really send us on courses for this stuff". It was amusing that the vehicle had 2 spare wheels, one easily accessible on the back door and a second in the back of the luggage area. When we arrived all the playschool gear was out of the back to access to wheel there. The piddly little jack supplied with the vehicle wouldn't even jack the wheel off the ground, we had to use ours.

We have a lot of clothes needing washing and I decide to use the laundrette in town. We return to our campsite out of town to dry the washing.

The Anne Beadell Highway is one of the remotest tracks in Australia. Travelling alone is not recommended as it may be days before someone passes by. We contact a Queenslander named Peter, via HF Radio, who is planning to travel this same track. We arrange to meet him in Coober Pedy and then travel together

Unfortunately our tag along Peter is held up and is unable to meet us at our agreed meeting place. We decide to wait another day for him.

Ian spends the day downloading photos onto the website. I stock up with food for the proposed trip. I have discovered another supermarket in town. This one is far better stocked and apart from a lack of fresh vegetables, meets my needs. Chicken however is not available. The butcher in the deli says that fresh chicken is only available on Thursdays. If it has not sold by Friday he freezes it. If I sold you chicken after Friday you would not buy meat from me again.

After 3 days in Coober Pedy, I for one was ready to leave. The town makes me feel uneasy. It is a town with problems. Groups of aborigines gather all along the main street of town. They are unkempt and appear to have nothing to do or anywhere to go. Thy make no attempt to speak to me but I feel intimidated as I walk by. Signs abound relating to the restriction of the sale of alcohol and it’s consumption. I watched as a group with a cask of wine transferred its contents into empty Franklin Spring water bottles. A man hides bottles of spirits under his jacket as he furtively gets into a car. It is not a town I wanted to be in any longer than necessary.

We wait until 12md again for Peter and when we finally contact him he is still in Port Augusta. We decide to go ahead of Peter who will follow the next day. We leave behind the piles of maddocks and head towards Mabel Creek 50 km away and towards the start of the Anne Beadell Highway. The highway is a misnomer as it is a very narrow dirt track with foliage lining it on both sides. Ian drives slowly as it also has bad corrugations which are hard on the trucks suspension.

We pass the famous dog fence, once again, that runs for 5400km and enter the Tallaringa Conservation Park. If you were a dog you would really be getting the idea by now that they didn't want you in. I read about the wildlife that has been found and is protected here. It includes the deadly Brown Snake. (I really needed to hear that)

We camp beside the track only 6ft away (we have never parked so close to a highway) and watch the sun set. Every night it is different and we never cease to be thrilled by it.

Recipe of the Day

All in one pot Beef Hotpot.

At last I found some sweet potato today so added some to the hotpot.

Chicken has been hard to purchase since leaving Port Augusta. When I enquired at the butcher section of the supermarket in Coober Pedy I was told that chicken was only available on Thursday. He said "If it is not sold by Friday I freeze it. If I sold it to you fresh after Friday you would not come back and buy meat from me again."

Very little vegetables or fruit available in the supermarket. I managed to get some brocolli and carrots but the beans were on their last legs! Apples were the only fruit so that is what we bought.

I awake to the sound of pipits twitering as they fly bush to bush,. The sun is already up. We have a lazy breakfast and then continue along the Anne Beadell Highway. The track is very narrow, lined with trees and bushes. The corrugations increase and become almost impossible to drive over. The truck shakes so badly that Ian finds it hard to hold the steering wheel. Because of the trees and bushes lining the track it is not possible to make a deviation and drive alongside this bad track. We drive very slowly stopping frequently to have a rest from the shaking truck and also to look at plants we have not seen before. We pass survey markings every 5 km that are surrounded by large stones in a cross. Every one hundred kilometres the survey mark is inside a stone circle instead of the cross.

We arrive at Tallaringa Well and remove the grating and wood boards covering it. It is a dry well.

We have our morning coffee from the flask I make up every morning. This is the flask Allyson bought us for Christmas over 2 years ago. It has been a remarkable flask as it keeps fluids hot for about 8 hours. Unfortunately a rubber seal has worn and now our coffee only stays warm for about 2 hours. We will have to replace it when we reach Alice Springs.

Near the dry well we see a Len Beadell track marker. These markers are now famous and have unfortunately been stolen from all over the place. His wife Anne (the track we are on is named after her) and his daughter Connie-Sue are now replacing them with replicas to preserve the originals. Len's aluminium metal markers are stamped with a punch by hand with his initials and date of the latitude and longitude fix of that point. They can be found at junctions, survey points and other important sites. This one indicated the natural Tallaringa well and the distance back to Mabel Creek and forward to Emu. Distance is in miles.

We continued slowly along the track. The only relief from the corrugations was when we cross sand dunes and the track is sandy and soft beneath the wheels. We met couple towing an older style caravan behind a 4wd. They had come from Western Australia and we were amazed to see the caravan. We asked how the track was ahead and if they had seen any other travellers heading the same way as us. They described the currugations as 'intense' (good discription) and a group of two were about an 1 or 2 ahead. They had taken 10 days to travel 1300 kms.

We arrived at one of the original camera sites, Camera 0, close to the bomb test area and we decide to take a side road that leads 54km to Dingo Claypan. The track is not much used and is mostly sandy. Trees and bushes hang over the track which scratches the truck's body but there is nothing we can do to avoid them. The claypan when it comes into view is a pleasant surprise. It is large and brown. Large and hard enough to land freight carrying aircraft of the era. We drive around the edge of the claypan - some idiot has driven straight across and marked the surface. We are looking for the 300 mile marker on the far side of the claypan. It was a weapons range marker that designated a straight line from Woomera to Eighty Mile Beach south of Broome in Western Australia. There were various distance markers that could be identified on aerial photography. This marker had to be moved about 300 metres as later calculations based on more recent information on the curvature of the earth made the original mark inaccurate. Sounds a bit like Camerons Corner. We left a message in a drum. The visitors book had been removed as it confused or offended some aboriginal communities. You really got the feel of Len's work on this trip to the claypan and the isolation of his task. This claypan allowed air support for the initial development of Emu.

We set up camp for the night on the edge of the claypan and watched the sun go down. Every night we ooh and aah as the sky seems to catch alight. Tonight's sunset was brilliant. An amazing shade of red I have never seen before. Of course, once again, we took lots of photos.

Quite a cold night but nice and fresh start to the day on the claypan. The actual surface seemed a hard as concrete. It was nice to imagine it wouldn't have changed from the time early explorers or Len Beadell had seen it. We set off back the 50 odd kms to reach the main track. The track has been made following someone's original tyre tracks avoiding trees, bushes and every other obstacle. Ian said with satisfaction "this is real 4 wheel driving."

We took lots of photos with the sun now behind us.

Once on the main track it was only 5 km till we reached the turnoff for the memorials to the 2 atomic tests conducted here in October 1953. We had expected there to be long term residual damage, but apart from the surrounding land being relatively clear - probably the reason it was chosen in the first place - the only signs were radiation warnings , the memorials and evidence of cables to the control centre about 8 kms away. By each memorial were some bent and twisted metal remains showing the force needed to distort it. I would have thought they would have been vapourised. The first bomb was 10 kiloton and the second (in case they weren't looking the first time) was 8 kilotons.

We drove to the small rise that overlook the detonation area and found it did have a commanding view of the area. We could see a straight track to the Camera 0 position. There were various artifacts about. Sardine tins from Norway. Some of the original structures had been demolished and bullbozed into an adjoining ravine. With the ravishes of time some of the material had become exposed. It showed that some of the structures were made with scaffolding.

Next on the itinery was the airfield with was east of the town of Emu named after Emu footprints on the claypan. The airstrip had been laid adjacent to the claypan and had been made all weather. There were 44 gallon drums and remains everywhere even an old set of heavy duty scales ( to weigh the passengers on and off!!). The airstrip would have been much more convenient than landing on Dingo Claypan. The town of Emu had been laid out on a small rise above the airstrip and housed about 400 men in its short heyday.

Out of Emu on the track to Vokes Hill we come to Anne's Corner, the start of the track to Mt Davis and Giles in Central Australia. This I believe is the start of the original Gunbarrel Highway. Thesedays it is very hard going and permits are not given very often. We had lunch and discovered the another of the brackets holding the roof rack water tank had broken again, the fire extinguisher mount was half off and the aluminium support for the internal bed had come adrift. Lunch was extended with a little session of repairs.

On once again towards Vokes Hill named after a Bill Voakes, a member of the 1901 Maurice's exploration party. Typical Australian always shorten a blokes name, lucky they didn't add "ie" as well. The Len Beadell marker is not at the top of the hill as we could find the marker but not the top of the hill. At the marker was a vistors book and details on native flora and fauna. Pat went through all the details. In the vistors book was an entry signed by Connie-Sue Beadell who passed through on 16-05 heading east with a group of Russel Guests tag-along tourists. We had seen him in 1989 in Ayers Rock with Len himself. Her group must have just left the track at Coober Pedy before we started. It would have been nice to have met her.

The track through the Great Victoria Desert was much the same as through the Talliringa Concervation Park and needed all of Ian's concentration and skill. The track was narrow and closely lined with trees and bushes mostly Mallee and Mulga. As we neared Vokes Hill Marble Gums were evident. Tall and magnificent they gave a majestic air to the low growing plants around. We also saw Christmas Trees Mulga trees which stood up to their name. Varieties of saltbush continue to cover the red soil. In areas it has grown to about 50cm high and in the sun the silvery leaves sparkle and I thought at first it had flowered. One species has turned yellow adding colour to the desert. Spinnifex`circles and rings lined both sides of the track for quite a few kms. So pretty and deceptively soft. Also saw a group of Native Orange trees with fruit. I wish I had a desert plant book with me. It is frustrating to see plants and trees and not be able to identify them. I saw a book in Port Augusta but it was $35.00. Wish I had bought it.

We have not seen much in the way of wildlife since joining the Anne Beadell.. Just two large Roos and lots of camel footprints on the track.

Birds too are not seen. We did see a wedge Tailed Eagle and also a Brown Falcon. The Falcon was perched on a tree quite close by and we had a good view of him before he flew away. Groups of green Mallee Parrots and also the brilliant turquoise blue bird similar to the one we saw in the Arckaringa Sanctuary. A Ranger said this was a Ringneck Parrot but we are not convinced.

When Ernest Giles visited the area in 1875 he said "I have never visited any part of Australia so devoid of animal life." Not much has changed in 130 years.

We set up camp just 20 metres from the Len Beadell marker. A surprisingly warm night

A warm overcast day. I haven't talked much about the weather because apart from two days it has been glorious. The sun has shone out of a cloudless blue sky day after day. Day temperaturehave been between 25 and 30 degree C. A few nights have been cold but mainly warm enough to sleep out under the stars.

We set off towards the Western Australia border 183 km west. The track did not improve and the corrugations made the journey uncomfortable. To break up the journey we stopped off to take photos, look at trees and plants, had coffee and lunch.

We found some new trees - to us anyway - including the Desert Oak and the Desert Karrajong, a tall tree with a solid even trunk and maple shaped leaves.

A bush fire had passed through a large area and the burnt, black stumps of once large trees told the tale. they looked as if they had been caused by lightning.

About 30km along the track we see a fully loaded trailer left on the side of the road. The suspension had ripped away from the challis. 40 lt of fuel were still in the jerry cans and a 200Lt fuel container was half full with a brand new fuel pump. The trailer had the name of the owner and phone number in Sydney and the date 15^th May - just 6 days ago. If they had had welding gear with them they could have mended it then and there and continued on their way. Whether they intend to come back for it all and whether it will all still be there intact is a mystery.

Further along the track a second broken and abandoned trailer we see has the message written on it "If you had been driving for the road conditions, this wouldn't have happened."

We stop for a lunch break of soup, bread and cheese. While Ian checks out the truck I decide to walk along the track for some exercise. It was quiet and peaceful. A group of Thornbills are searching for insects in the tree bark. After they fly away and there is silence . I notice an area of yellow bushes which could be a type of Wattle. It is not a hot day and I enjoy the walk. All too soon Ian catches me up in the truck.

Late afternoon we crossed the border to WA. At the border and by Len's marker is a book to enter any comments about your trip, which way you are heading and your name and home town. We enjoy entering our comments it makes you feel part of a travellers club

We had been told that quarantine regulations existed on travelling from South Australia to Western Australia. Not wanting to part with our vegies, fruit and nuts.we have been using them up first when I have prepared dinner. Consequently for the last 2 nights we have had stir fry with any vegetable we had. We ate the last of the apples as we drove towards the border. I was pleased when we passed the border with no request to dispose of vegies. I didn't really expect to see a little man sitting in his hut waiting for us to come along. But nothing surprises us out here. If a notice had said to do so, then I would have felt obliged to comply. We are having Chilli Con Carne tonight and we will finish eating the nuts we have, just in case.

10km on we found a shelter, toilet and a tank of rain water. We were Ok for water so left it for others in more need. Lonely Planet said there was a very pleasant woodland camp ground 1500mt along a side track. We followed the directions and they were right, it was very pleasant and we set up camp. About half a kilometer further on was a saltpan, looking attractive in the evening light.

With all the corrugations causing intense shaking of the truck, Ian does frequent maintainance checks. On this occasion one of the bushes on the lower end of the shock absorber had failed and was disintergrating. When he removed the retaining nut he found the cap washer was present but the seat washer wasn't. This had allowed the bush to be gradually destroyed by the chassis arm. It wouldn't have broken. It was obviously not put in at the time of installation. Now we need to contact the installer in Brisbane to get some new parts sent out. In the meantime metal spaces were used to take up the tension on the lower shock absorber. It remains drivable.

Inspection of the engine bay looking for loose nuts and bolts showed one of the bolts retaining the main battery had worked lose and Ian replaced it. Apart from the engine appearing to run warm because of a whole day of low gear driving, every appeared normal. We have crossed a small amount of spinnifex and frequent inspection of the radiator for spinnifex seeds caught in the radiator, is made, as this can cause the same problem.

Now I am sitting having a cup of herbal tea and relaxing and I have to ask myself why I have put up with the discomfort of driving for 2 days over some of the worst track corrugations I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

I love this country despite the heat, the flies, dust and the corrugations. This is an amazing country. Where else would you be able to visit such remote areas without a guided tour. I enjoy following in the footsteps of great explorers such as Sturt, Stuart and Len Beadell. I enjoy the wildness of the bush. It is as nature made it, prickly saltbush and all. Finding out about the plants, trees, wildlife is a huge learning experience for someone like myself who came to this country as an adult. I love the anticipation of the unexpected as we head over a sand dune or round the next bend. I find it fun. I enjoy gazing at the night sky full of more stars than can be imagined. I especially enjoy the silence that’s to be found here.

Ernest Giles wrote of this area "the silence and the solitude of this mighty waste, were appalling to the mind."

I think it is sad that he failed to appreciate those things that I enjoy so much.

Using the Satellite phone and standing in the truck to get a good reception, Ian phoned John in Brisbane about the missing washer and the broken bush. After a few failed attempts and broken connections he arranged for replacements to be sent to Warburton for us to pickup.

Ian has been teaching me to enter waypoints in the hand held GPS. While I wait I enter the next two positions successfully and feel very pleased with myself. It is a useful little tool as not only does it tell you how many km to a set point but also the estimated time of arrival if you keep to the same speed. It is an alternative to our moving map GPS setup.

We pass large areas of high growing Spinnifex which is very attractive and reminds me of the wheat fields around home when I was a child.

We find a smashed stainless steel kitchen unit from a camper trailer by the side of the road. With the shaking from the corrugations it has obviously become free from its housing in a camper trailer and has slid out on its rollers and hit a passing tree.

It looked as if it was quite new and someone will be missing it come dinner time. If the lady of the group didn't hear the mind numbing crash when it hit the tree she will certainly know when she goes to pull it out to do the washing up.

We stopped for coffee under a beautiful white Marble Gum tree. To this point we hadtravelled 794 km along the Anne Beadell Highway.

Although we have seen lots of evidence of camels - prints in the red sand and broken branches on the track, we have not seen any so far. Other tracks we have seen look as if they may have been made by Emus but again we have not seen any. We are so keen to see any wildlife that we become quite excited when a lone Dingo ran across the track in front of us and then looked back at us from a safe distance.

The track suddenly widened and was smooth and corrugation free. For a few kms we enjoy not being shaken around. We pass through areas so dense with vegetation that we cannot see the red soil. The various shades of greens and yellows of the acacias and eucalypts that line the track makes for an attractive scene. The sandhills we pass over, we navigate with ease - they are very small compared to Big Red! . The high cloud we have had all morning breaks up and the sun comes out again.

We stopped off for lunch at another campsite that has a shelter, toilet and watertank. Someone out there is thinking of us! Apparently it is the Tjuntjuntjara community have provided them. Thank you.

For about 3 days Ian has been a black tracker observing tyre tracks, newly vacated camp sites, as well as the camel footprints on the track but we have not seen sight nor sound of them. Then suddenly they were there in front of us. Six of them completely blocking the track and determined not to let us pass. They were quite mangy looking and the biggest of the group was obviously in a bad temper. The big one was obviously hawing at us. I'm not sure how to describe the noise that angry camels make but his facial expression was very like Gidgee's at Oodnadatta. They expose their teeth and look as if they would bite given a chance. I quickly put my window up. I read an article at the Oodnadatta Museum about a man who had his arm bitten off by a camel, and I wasn't taking any chances! As we neared, the group started to run and then gallop down the track. If you slowed down they still wouldn't leave the track. The only way to get them off the track was to drive until along side of one and then he veered away into the scrub. One by one they departed and within seconds disappeared into the thick vegetation of the desert. These camels are feral let loose to roam after camels were no longer used for transportation. I heard a programme on the radio recently were it was said that the number of feral camels is a problem for the environment as they destroy vegetation. I can't remember the number of camels mentioned but I think it was about 30,000 and that they are doubling their number every 10 years. The programme was suggesting that to prevent a environmental problem we should be exporting these camels to the Arab countries who are keen to have them.

Anyway today we enjoyed the presence of the camels, it was quite the highlight of the day and gave us a good laugh. We later read an article by someone else referring to the camels and they had folloed a group of camels for 20 kms.

We met our second caravan being towed along the track. An older couple had a Ford F250 with a newer caravan (and dog) dragging it over the dunes. The new paintwork was getting a pasting from vegetation.

We take a detour to see the wreckage of a Goldfield Air Services plane that crashed landed in January 1993 en route from Warburton to Kalgoorlie. Bill Baker found the wreckage in 1995 after receiving the exact position from the pilot who obviously survived. He had made a good emergency landing coming in at right angles to the sand dunes only 2-400 metres apart. Bill decided to put up a sign encouraging travellers to detour 8.7km and cross the 19 sandhills to view it. Unfortunately the plane has been vandalised by these invited travellers. We found a visitors book in a storage compartment in the wing and added our particulars to the many other visitors.

On the track to the plane we passed many Ooldea Mallee trees. I have often admired this lovely tree with the colourful foliage as we drove through the desert. It was only seeing the many in this area covered in fruit that I realised exactly which Mallee tree it was.

To add to the list of wrecks, we came across a 2 ton caravan that had broken the front A frame in the corrugations and had been abandoned some long time previously. It was at least 20ft long with cooker, fridge and a host of built in cupboards - once. A sad wreck just shows you what some people just have to abandon. Next was another trailer that had broken the welds holding the suspension. It had once had 2 x 44 gallon diesel drums and several spare tyres as well the two wheels from the displaced axle. There had been 250 litres of fuel originally when left behind, now all gone fuelling some happy traveller. The hopeful owner of the trailer left a message offering to sell it for $600 but I don't think he would get any offers.

We tried to confirm by satphone with John in Brisbane about the replacement parts for the shock absorbers but were constantly frustrated with the signal dropping out. We had made such good progress on the track that we felt that if the parts were posted to Warburton we would be hanging around for them all week. We finally got a good connection in the early evening and got him to send them to the Post Office in Wiluna at end of the Gunbarrel Highway and start the Canning Stock Route. Yes that’s where we're headed.

As we head west the clouds that have been threatening all afternoon shed half a dozen drops of rain

And then we head into the evening sunshine. We look behind us and in the east the sky is almost navy blue. Someone, somewhere will get some rain tonight.

(Week 1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)

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