Al salaam a’alaykum from Arkaroola,

After a 5:30 alarm, I was away just before 7, heading east along the William Creek Road, driving directly into a rising sun. Thankfully, once the sun was above the horizon, a low cloud cover shielded me from the worst of its effects.

When I arrived in William Creek near a quarter of 8, I refuelled and provisioned, and commenced the third section of my Oodnadatta Track odyssey, 205km south-eastish, to the endpoint at Marree, partaking of an early morning coffee along the track, ’round 9:30. I reached Marree at about a quarter past 11, then headed south towards Leigh Creek. I was glad to be off the Oodnadatta Track. It’s currently in great condition, allowing speeds in excess of 100km/h in most places, but for most of it there’s lots of loose gravel. Whilst I slow to 80km/h on encountering oncoming traffic, it’s disconcerting when the majority of the oncoming arseholes tear past in their 4WDs at breakneck speed, resulting in stones flying into one’s windscreen!

At Copley, a hamlet 4km shy of Leigh Creek, I refuelled, had a lateish lunch, and headed east to Arkaroola. As I was now heading into the northern part of the Flinders Ranges, the scenery changed dramatically, and there were hills, and corners in the road! I arrived at the Arkaroona Wildnerness Sanctuary at 2:15.

Today’s run was close to 650km,  most of it on gravel roads. I took no  photos today, but I expect I’ll be taking a few tomorrow. Here’s the route in Google Maps:

Cheers,
Julian