TRIP REPORTS
The Sandy Blight Junction Road traverses the far
western edge of a 600-million-year-old sedimentary
basin formed under an ancient ocean. This Amadeus
Basin has several lakes mostly dry lakes along its axis,
and, when muddy, Lake Amadeus posed a significant
barrier to explorers including Giles. Today the Amadeus
Basin is well known for its ancient oil and gas from Palm
Valley and Mereenie, uranium immediately south of
Alice Springs, and the world’s largest underground salt
resource which remains undeveloped. However, for us,
it was some spectacular hills of conglomerate through
the Sir Frederick Range that caught our attention and
warranted a late afternoon excursion on a challenging
side track.
A section of the northern Sandy Blight road with grassy
sand plains and steep sandstone cliffs. J Dodson
At the end of the Sandy Blight road, we stopped briefly
in the community of Kintore before turning SE on the
Gary Junction Road towards the community of Papunya
and then the Tanami Track to Alice Springs where we
sought information to determine our next moves. The
Hay River Track was completely unreachable as the
Plenty Highway was closed at Jervois, and the Georgina
River (which empties into Eyre Creek) and the
Diamantina River were still at flood levels, so we
rethought, and took Binns track (also known as Old
Andado track) to Oodnadatta, Maree and then to the
Gammon Ranges in the north Flinders.
The Sir Frederick Ranges are remarkable for being made
up of a conglomerate rock of quartz-rich pebbles. This
made for some planning and then interesting driving up
the steep hill. N Phillips
Rocky gully leading to a waterhole and cliffs. J Dodson
As we left Alice Springs, the vegetation changed yet
again. The desert sheoak will be known to those who
travel through central Australia with its isolated stands
giving shade and pleasant camping; however, there
were far more desert oaks on the Sandy Blight trip than
we had experienced elsewhere in the Centre. Farther
south, they disappeared as Acacia peuce, or the
Birdsville wattle or waddi, appeared at Mac Clark
reserve on the Old Andado track. This is one of three
locations worldwide with this species and each location
fringes the margin of the Simpson Desert. One other
stand of waddi is easily accessible north of Birdsville.
We stopped off at Farina to camp for one night and to
admire the progress made in restoring this ghost town.
In the last two years buildings have been advanced
significantly and information boards offer an excellent
overview of the region. It is not clear whether the Farina
restoration project will become a two-decade blip in the
location’s downward history, or a sustainable project. It
seems that its long-term future will be determined by
whether the current enthusiasts can engage the next
generation or two.