Springs have sprung

 

Tuesday 9 August 2022 – Springs have sprung

We had a leisurely start this morning as we only have about 70km or so to cover to our next camp spot so it was a cooked breakfast of pancakes and bacon.   Whilst yesterday had been more about following the line of the old Ghan railway line, this morning was more about the original overland telegraph line which ran through here on its way to Darwin and ultimately to London and was originally constructed in 1872..  There was a sign just out of William Creek with a couple of the original Cypress pine while a lot of the rest of the line poles were replaced with wrought iron “Oppenheimer” poles. 

We continued on with a lengthy morning stop at Strangway Springs which was the original repeater station for the line before it was rerouted to following the Ghan railway line in 1891. Strangway Springs has had some money spent on it with a tourist box full of pamphlets telling you all about the place and clearly marked signage telling you what all the ruins were.  Larry thought it particularly funny that the old police station was the most ruined of all the buildings wondering how many people had a kick at the stonework over the years!  Strangway springs is so named because it sits on a giant artesian water mound from which water gurgled up and provided a reliable water source (albeit needing some treatment  as it was quite hard).  Unfortunately since European settlement and the sinking of a large number of bores most of them have now dried up but there was still evidence of there being some water with mounds having a salty crust around them and some reedy vegetation on the tops.

We had our morning tea and then continued on with another short stop at another Ghan railway siding ruin.  This one named Beresford siding.  It had the same water and water treatment towers and some store/siding buildings but no evidence of housing this time even though it was in a much more attractive setting with trees and a large dam still holding a reasonable amount of water.  I know where I would have lived given the choice between Edward Creek and Beresford!

Continued driving through the fairly featureless countryside and then saw a little oasis in the distance which turned out to be Coward Springs.  This had been a stop on the railway line with a general store etc and the government dug a 400feet borehole here in 1886 but the salty water corroded the borehead and flooded to form a large pool and local residents and railway passengers used it as a place to cool off.   In the 1990’s the bore was relined which reduced the flow rate and the camping operators built a ‘natural spa’ to imitate the old pool.  The campground has plenty of trees and also date palms and the little coffee shop sells an array of date related products – from plain dates  to date slice, date scones and date icecreams.

After we had set up in our own personal two plus parties campsite “Spa” we had a lunch of two minute noodles and then treated ourselves to a coffee and date (for Jenny) and vanilla and date (for Larry) icecream which were very yummy. 

We all then hopped in the Cruiser and drove the 5-10km down the road to the other mound springs in the area – one called Blanche Cup (owing to its salty white top) and the other called the Bubbler and we had flashes of being back in New Zealand as we watched the giant bubbles break the surface of the very clear water.  Once again this was a place of special significance for the Indigenous people as before the Europeans came it had had a lot more pressure  and used to shoot geysers of hot water into the air. Now it has been reduced to big bubbles only but is still pretty special to see especially in the middle of this completely arid landscape.

We headed back to camp and donned bathers for a soak in the campground ‘natural spa’.  The water wasn’t particularly warm but a nice enough temperature to be happy to stay in for a long soak particularly as getting out meant getting hit but the very chilly wind!  We eventually hopped out when some other campers came for their turn and we left them to it and rushed back to our vans for hot showers and some warm clothes.

We took advantage of the old gas cylinder fire pit to build up a nice campfire and after H&M had produced another yummy salmon dish, Jen made up a mixed berry damper to cook on the hot coals.  It was perfectly cooked being crusty on the outside and not at all gluggy on the inside and we all had second helpings with custard, cream or butter and honey depending on preferences.

There were surprisingly a few mozzies around given the temperature so the Thermocell got its first outing of the trip which is probably just as well as we keep saying if things in the van don’t get used they don’t come next time (unless of course it’s something needed just in case like spare tyres and wet weather equipment).