Trip to Northwest and Central Australia

It's the first time I tried to do this, but click here and see if it gives you a slide show of my recent holiday. It takes you to my Google+ page and then you will see a thing with the post title - click on that. I think.

Edited to add - click on the picture with lots of blue sky in it, on the left hand side of the page. NOT the blog post bit.

The Bubbler

My Wordless Wednesday picture produced the comment that The Bubbler sounded like something out of a sci-fi film, and I must admit that it you saw the area and imagined it in black and white it could well have been the setting for one of those 1950s B grade movies.

Here's a bit about it:

Explore the natural artesian springs within Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park, a true oasis in the desert. Blanche Cup and The Bubbler mound springs are the attractions of this park. Water from the depths of the Great Artesian Basin filters to the surface forming slowly bubbling ponds and mounds from the sediments and salts as the water evaporates.

Permanent wetlands created by the spring's overflow provide habitat for a variety of waterbirds. Nearby Hamilton Hill, a large hill in an otherwise flat landscape is an extinct mound spring and another significant feature of this extremely fragile and arid environment.

The park is a day visitor area only and there are no visitor facilities within the park. Entry fee per vehicle applies. Camping is available for a small fee at nearby Coward Springs. This privately run camping area, located next to the bore, provides toilets and showers.

Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park is located 498 kilometres north of Port Augusta, access is via the Oodnadatta Track. The spring's entrance is about six kilometres south-east of Coward Springs. Vehicle access within the park is limited to the four kilometre long entrance road to Blanche Cup and The Bubbler mound springs.

Thanks, South.Australia.com for helpful info.

Here's a few more pictures that I took:

Wordless Wednesday

The Painted Hills, Anna Creek, South Australia

I had never heard of the Painted Hills on the Anna Creek Station until July this year, when we took a scienic flight over them.  This is some official information about them:

THE ANNA CREEK PAINTED HILLS, previously called the SECRET PAINTED HILLS, are a spectacular and recently discovered section of the pristine Breakaways country in the far north of South Australia.

It is a rocky outcrop of large and small hills, which emerge suddenly out of a flat, desert landscape. The hills are approximately 20 kilometres x 18 kilometres in size. It is believed that the Anna Creek Painted Hills are the leftover effects of 50 million years of climate change, with the climate going from glacial to wet and semi-tropical over million of years.

The changing colours of the hills are believed to be a result of oxidisation. The deep red is due to the oxidation of iron in the rocks, while the white sections are where iron has leached away.

"MAGIC OF THE PAINTED HILLS REVEALED"

"Deep in the South Australian outback lies the painted desert a fragile lunar landscape of ochre-red and mustard yellow rock weathered over millions of years and as large as a regional city ... People are already comparing these areas in terms of their tourism potential to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Bungle Bungles".

These clay and iron-oxide formations are estimated to cover an expanse of 20km wide and 10km long. The Painted Desert is according to Dr. Gehling, the leftover effects of about 50 million years of climate change - the climate has gone from glacial to wet and semi tropical over millions of years.

Adelaide University geologist John Foden said the rock formations were extraordinary - it seems to me something to do with deep weathering and erosion of an ancient landscape - the changing colours were a result of oxidation. Station owners were doing their utmost to protect the site due to its fragility and would in no way allow four-wheel drives to be able to go there.

(The AustralianNewspaper 8/7/06 P.1)

Depart William Creek on unique trip to view the Anna Creek Painted Hills set in the outback of South Australia - an area of 30km by 10km of sandstone hills in pristine condition and incredible colours. No roads exist in this area and can only be view by air.
A unique and spectacular opportunity to view one of Australia's hidden iconic landmarks. (Very few have seen these hills in the last 50 years). William Creek is located in one of the most remote areas of Australia.

Flights Depart hourly every day, between 8.00am and 5.00pm.

Join us in viewing this amazing landscape from the air.

Rate Guide: $260.00 per adult; $234 per child. (Duration approx. 1 Hour)

- See more at: http://www.wrightsair.com.au/more-information/anna-creek-painted-hills.aspx#sthash.SymDlFbh.dpuf

If you are ever in the area and have the opportunity, do take the scenic flight.  We did one that included flying over Lake Eyre as well - you can do individual flights that fly over one or the other, but the fully inclusive one is good value for money if you can afford it, and really breathtaking.

Thus followeth many pictures taken by me of the Painted Hills from the plane:

Lake Hart Salt Mine

I loaded up the pictures for this about six weeks ago and have been sitting on them ever since, unable to write another blog post because I wanted to finish this one, but stuck.  I've got lots of other Central Australia stuff to blog about so I need to get on with it!

And I have just been to my first Geelong Fibre Forum and have lots of things to say about that too!

Lake Hart, South Australia, near Woomera.  It was the site of salt mining up until the 1930s and the salt was taken by rail on the Trans Continental Line to Sydney for domestic and industrial use.  It was supposed to be twice as 'salty' as other salt, and free of gypsum.

This pictures show a huge pile of bags of salt (7,00 tons originally, though I;m sure some of that has dissolved and disintegrated) that had just been left in situ since 1931 in the sun (and occasional rain). It is an astonishing sight, similar to an industrial ruin that had sunk into the landscape and taken on an organic form. The hessian bags have largely rotted away but have left their imprint on the salt, and are the reason for the odd drapey shapes in the pile.

The railway line is still there though the trains don't go there any more, obviously.

Amazing skies over a dead flat landscape - taken over the lake.

Salt.  It wasn't until I tasted it that I believed it was salt, it must have melted and resolidified countless times over the decades.

It was a haunting landscape and a poignant reminder of the death of a once lucrative industry.