Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Day 28 - The Centre of the Middle of Nowhere

07/05/11

Next morning the rest of the crowd set off for the rock.  We were packing up to do likewise when we had a chat with another couple we met yesterday - Peter and Heather who were going on a trip to the centre of Australia.  We'd read about this place and decided we would stay at Kulgera another night and do this 300km side trip leaving the van at the campsite.  We travelled 150km on a very good gravel road to a place called Finke.  About 30km before the town we come across this sign.  Hadn't given this any forethought so ended up taking our bit of wine and couple of beers from the fridge and hiding them in the bush to pick up on the way back.


Then into Finke itself (also known as Aputula) - another casualty of the old Ghan railway closure in 1980s.  A sad looking place with no particular purpose other than a stop on this remote stretch of road.


This place does have notoriety as the finishing line for the Finke Desert Race held in early June - would be interesting to see it then but we'll be higher.\

Backtracking 30km from Finke we hit the turnoff to the Geographical Centre of Australia - a 14km trip up a mildy rough road gets us there where we meet up with Peter and Heather.
 


Quick sign on the visitor's book then a spot of lunch before heading back to camp at Kulgera and an early night.


The Campbells



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