IN WILD AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 50, 22 November 1930, Page 20

IN WILD AUSTRALIA

Motor Tour Through Desert

A tour in the shape of a motor trip from the eastern States to South Australia and through to Darwin was recently made by some Australian women, and one of them, writing to a friend in Wellington, says:— a “At Port Augusta we left civilisation behind, and that night had our first camp on the edge of the gibber country—a gibber is a small stone. It was quite an exciting camp, as we were all nicely settled when a squall of wind and ram came and we found our heads outside and our mouths full of dust. We were some days in the gibber country-—nothing but stones, with a little salt busn interspersed. It was quite a relief to come to Coondamba Station, where the kindly folk made us welcome and gave us morning tea. They don’t consider they live outback, but really in the suburbs, for a train passes their property twice a week, so they can get fresh fruit and vegetables. Leaving there, _we continued west, crossing and recrossing the transcontinental railway line until we came, to Kingoonya, and then -we went north. One night we camped at Bon Bon Station, and several of us accepted an invitation to spend the evening at the. homestead and have hot baths. Round Bon Bon were miles of pink everlasting flowers under the grey-green mulga trees. Next day we had a long run across more gibber to the opal fields, where everyone lives in dug-outs. Even the bank, and post office are in them. There is no timber for about twenty miles, and it is two hundred miles from the railway station, and the temperature in summer isr 128 degrees. Our tents could not be erected, as there was nothing to sling them to. We slept on the floor of a garage composed entirely of flattened-out kerosenetins. To go down a mine, I had to put my foot in a rope lo£p and hold a wire while I was lowered about thirty feet. I was thrilled when 1 was permitted to dig a bit of opal for myself. “After a day and a-half’s run to Oodnadatta we were in the cattle country, but all the cattle we saw Were dead. They were lying about in hundreds. One man said he shot three hundred horses last year, to put them out of their misery. There has been no rain in these parts for ten years! “Next morniSg we were on the outskirts of a. severe dust-storm, and that day and the next were the two worst of the whole trip. We called at New Crown Station, where they told us how, earlier in the year y a tremendous wall of water came up the river, doing tremendous damage, yet disappearing almost as rapidly as it came, owing to evaporation and soakage. Yet they had not a drop of rain. “Soon after leaving this station the fun began, for the bed of this river had to be crossed three times. The first crossing was the worst, for it took two hours, and the baggage car had to be unloaded to get it up the further bank. The banks were steep sand and the bed deep sand, so coconut matting had to be laid down. We camped that night near a deserted homestead, and their oven came in handy for scones. We saw lots of these empty homes, the people having walked out and left everything. Transport is so expensive, and in all probability they would not have anywhere to take their goods and chattels, “A pleasant run through country well timbered with desert oaks and quite grassy, thanks to recent rains, brought us to Alice Springs. It is a dusty little town, but quite well laid out, with wide streets. The atmosphere, is clear and dry, with sunny days and frosty nights. We left there for the Mission Station and Palm Valley, 90 miles west, on a road running more or less parallel with the rugged and beautiful Macdonald Ranges. We had our tea that night bathed in the light of a magnificent sunset. The sunrises and sunsets were always wonderful. We reached the. Mission Station about 11 o’clock next morning, andthe car was immediately surrounded-by a swarm of nigger children. Many of them were orphans, their parents having died in the drought. We saw about thirty of them in school. “Proceeding north, the country showed a decided improvement; it was nice to be among hilJi again. Our next excitement was a corroboree at the blacks’ camp at Tennent's Creek. It only a small one. There were twelve blacks and about as many gins. Of course, the women take a very minor part; they help with the chanting and do a sort of ‘shimmy’ as they keep. time. But the men were wonderfully got up, their bodies decorated with stripes and patterns from grass. They had tall head-dresses made of sticks, string, and feathers. Round one ankle was tied a bunch of leaves, and there was much stamping of this foot, presumably because the corroboree was illustrating the birth of a maiden with a club foot. “At Katherine we took the train to Darwin, because there are 370 creeks to be crossed in 200 miles. However, I am sure that even they -would have been preferable to that train journey—it defies description! lit was terribly hot, and when the oil lamp was brought in the cockroaches came out and prowled round in hosts. Darwin is not much of a place, but the surroundings are lovely. A special carriage was attached to a goods train to take us back to Katherine. Our road lay through the same country again as far as Newcastle Waters, where we turned east. We crossed the Sturt Plains, a desolate, treeless, waterless waste. We had just crossed when a dreadful apparition hailed the car. He could scarcely speak to ask for the water he so badly needed, having had none for twelve hours. We gave him all he could drink, filled his ‘billy,’ and gave him another of ours full. We met a lot of these ‘down-and-ouits’ on the ‘wallaby,’ looking for work. Our wireless at night used to attract all sorts of people camped in the vicinity, and they all told the same tale of hardships. Just before reaching Anthony’s Lagoon we had some fun with a swarm of grasshoppers—greait big fellows, with vast sword-like protuberances down their hind legs, and they really could hurt. We had to stop the car several times and empty them out. “We passed through pant of Burnett and Alexander Downs. Stations. The former is 14,000 square miles, larger than Switzerland. Geese, turkeys, and ducks were plentiful here and made good eating. There were also thousands of little love-birds flying very swiftly and making such a commotion in their small way. The galahs were lovely, too. We would see them on the ground, a grey patch, then they would rise in a swirl of rose-pink.” From then the journey was continued into Queensland and on to N.S.W.