Googs Track-North Flinders,
Sun 19/9/27~Sat 2/10/27.

This year we’re running a shorter
extended tour in South Australia. The main attraction of the trip is Googs
Track. Hear stories and anecdotes from Jenny Denton’s book on bulldozing the
track from their back paddock to the trans-Australian railway line. We met
Jenny previously and heard of the building of the track with her late husband,
Goog and their son, “Dinger”. It has 362 sand dunes, rock-holes, Googs Lake and
Mt Finke. First noted by John McDouall Stuart in his 1875 expedition, Mt
Finke’s 270-metre summit provides views of the Yellabinna Wilderness Protection
Area.

We’ll explore the northern end of
the Flinders Ranges along a little-known 4WD pastoral route that winds its way
through spectacular country. This track has numerous washouts to negotiate, an
abandoned homestead to camp at and a spectacular rock hole where wildlife congregates.

We’ll also see the Flinders Ranges
from the rarely-seen eastern side, on the Innaminka Track.

Other trip highlights may include:

·        
From Port Augusta checking out an old stock
route notorious for its soft sand, exploring rock features with spectacular
lookouts and camping at ‘South Australia’s Wave Rock’.

·        
Exploring the beautiful Gawler Ranges before
some back road touring into Ceduna, the ‘Oyster Capital of Australia’, for our
last bit of civilisation

·        
Seeing the excellent display of rockets launched
from the Woomera Rocket Range and the Woomera museum’s Len Beadell display,
Australia’s last explorer (and Marcus’s hero).

·        
At Roxby Downs visitor centre experiencing a
video/virtual tour of the Olympic Dam mine, the single largest deposit of
uranium in the world, the 4th largest deposit of copper in the world, together
with gold and silver. We’ll also travel the arid Borefields Road following the
pipeline that supplies water from the Great Artesian Basin to Roxby Downs.

·        
At the rustic Andamooka opal mining town seeing historic
machinery and quaint 1930s miners cottages. There is an option to stay at the
unique Bottle House Hotel, parts of which were built using discarded beer
bottles.

·        
On part of the Oodnadatta Track seeing the
enigmatic ‘Planehenge’ art installation, the abandoned Bopeeche railway station
and historic Marree with its monuments to the the original Ghan railway line,
the pioneering Afghan cameleers and outback mailman Tom Kruse.

·        
Camping at Farina, another old railway town,
abandoned when its last inhabitant passed away in 1960. It has since been
restored by a volunteer group, with a recent addition of ANZAC Hill, a tribute
to the locals who served in both World Wars.

·        
Possibly meeting the somewhat eccentric artist Talc
Alf, whose talc rock sculptures and world views can be quite entertaining.

·        
Staying at Arkaroola Echo Camp and Rawnsley Park
resorts where guided 4WD tours are available.

·        
Exploring the ruins of Waukaringa, an old gold
mining town with impressive remnants of a mine that ran from the 1890s until
the hotel and Post office closed in 1964.

This 14-day trip starts in Port
Augusta and finishes at Wentworth, NSW. Allowing 2 days before and after the
trip it can be fitted into the September school holiday period.

The cost of the trip will be
$1100.00 for the 14 days exclusive of food, fuel and accommodation. A couple of
optional tours at additional cost also may be available.

Participants will need a 4WD with
high ground clearance and low range and the vehicles should be mechanically
sound and equipped with recovery gear and a UHF radio.

Led by Marcus, the trip leader
will have First Aid Kit, Satellite Phone, Flying Doctor Radio and basic spare
parts for emergency repairs.