10-Jun-2007 --

Ten 4WDers from two local clubs, left Adelaide on 25 May 2007 on a trip that would take us into the Simpson Desert, and to three unvisited Confluence Points. On 9 June, four of us, all Members of the Central Hills 4WD Club (based at Mt Barker, South Australia), departed Alice Springs, and travelled south

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Saturday 9 June - On Saturday we breakfasted at an open air café in Todd Mall at 7am. We left the business and excitement of the forthcoming official races and drove down the main road to Kulgera where we filled the vehicles and turned onto the Finke road. Finke was quite busy with spectators waiting for participants in the race to arrive, with others watching the local teams play football. Joining the Old Ghan Heritage Trail we continued on our journey south through New Crown Station. It wasn’t long before we started seeing Pink Roadhouse signs. The journey was interesting with dingoes each side of the road and considerable bird life. We stopped briefly at the ruins of Charlotte Waters homestead, a settlement for the Overland telegraph. The area had recently undergone a facelift with new fences and signs telling the story of the settlement. Signs of the recent rains were evident with sheets of water along the road and short detours around muddy areas. After crossing the Northern Territory and South Australian border we were on Mt Dare Station. With a quick stop at Abminga railway siding for photos, we continued on the last part of our journey in the late afternoon to Eringa waterhole a most beautiful camping area and a very welcome stop. One other vehicle was camped there

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Sunday 10 June - The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise over the waterhole and busily started taking photos of the wonderful reflections. After breakfast and packing up our camp we walked to the ruins of Eringa station one of Sir Sydney Kidman’s properties after which his property at Kapunda was named. Leaving Eringa waterhole we continued our journey along the heritage trail. We stopped to view the stock yards a wonderful old structure built from timber in the area. One marvels at the accomplishments of our early pioneers with their limited tools. We travelled along the long straight smooth road viewing cattle and occasional water tanks past Hamilton Station homestead. After this station the terrain changed once again to a wooded area. Rob and Helen stopped to speak with a lone cyclist from Tasmania who had ridden approximately 6000kms. We continued through the wooded areas which had been ravaged by camels, winding our way around the narrow tracks onto a well maintained road to Todmorden station. After our lunch break at Birthday Bore we tackled the task of finding our second confluence point of the trip – bold textS27/E135. Our vehicles were left and armed with our GPS units and cameras we had an easy walk to the confluence. After photographs and documentation we drove to the main access route towards Todmorden homestead. The owner had planned to meet us but informed us over the radio he was unable to because he was out on the property checking bores putting molasses out for the cattle. We contacted him by radio and informed him of our success. He directed us to a campsite at Wallridge Creek approximately 30 – 35 kms away

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We then went on to visit one other Confluence Point, and returned to Adelaide on 14 June

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