6/7 From Halligan Bay to Oodnadatta

Before leaving Halligan Bay I went and took some sunrise photos on the lake and then we proceeded to drive into ABC Bay, which is a short distance away.  We also confirmed that Lake Eyre is below sea level by checking our Garmin GPS.  It does have negative elevation numbers, so it could report that we were -12 meters below sea level!

We drove back to the main road, but stopped at the memorial to Caroline Grossmueller who perished on that spot on the 11th of December 1990.  She and her boyfriend came to Halligans bay at that time.  They got bogged and during their attempt to get free, her boyfriend twisted his leg and couldn't walk.  They had advised the young boy at William Creek that they were going this way and he had written it down into their log book so if they didn't report within a few days they would check.  So they waited a few days as they had plenty of water, shade and food.  After no rescue party showed up, Caroline decided to walk back to William Creek to get help.  She took as much water as she could carry and then intended to only walk over two nights and rest during the day.  At this time of year the daytime temperatures reached 50 degrees.  Caroline only got about 30km away from their car and then simply died due to the heat.  There is no shelter in this area.  Later it was discovered that the young boy at William Creek had written their details into an old book, not knowing that they had a new book that was checked every day.
I suppose this is one of the reasons they close down this area over the summer time and no one is allowed in there or to cross the Simpson desert.

Of course we stopped at William Creek and had a look around.  They have a new dingo caffe which wasn't their the last time.  Next to it is this tree with fake cats hanging off it.  I gather this was a prop from some horror movie!
We then left William Creek.  Along the way to Oodnadatta we stopped as some of the old Ghan railway ruins.  The most impressive one is the Algebuckina Bridge across the Neals River.  It was opened for traffic in January 1892.  Quite an engineering feat at that time.

Towards the end of the day we rolled into Oodnadatta and camped there are the pink roadhouse.  Nothing has changed since we were here the last time!

My shadow is much taller and thinner than I am!

The lake Eyre surface is salty, but pretty

Our Garmin confirms that we are below sea level

At ABC Bay on the way back

The monument to Caroline

Stopped at William Creek

At the bar in William Creek

Couple of Galahs outside William Creek

The Pussy Willow Tree!

The Algebuckina Bridge over the Neales river

Across the bridge

Our rig below the bridge

Coming into Oodnadatta

Camped in Oodnadatta