After flying over Lake Eyre from Marree, it was time to get back on the ground and continue north.
Waiting for us was a road we’d been looking forward to driving since we started planning the lap.
The Oodnadatta Track.
This wasn’t just a day trip in the Patrol either.
The Great Escape was coming with us.
Our home, everything we were travelling with and the Y62 were about to head along one of Australia’s best-known outback tracks.
Leaving Marree
Marree marks the southern end of the Oodnadatta Track, and once we left town the bitumen disappeared behind us.
Ahead was dirt, corrugations and a lot of open country.
This was exactly the sort of travelling we’d built our setup for.
The Patrol was loaded with our full touring gear, the caravan was behind us and everything we needed was travelling along for the ride.
We dropped our tyre pressures to suit the conditions and settled into it.
There was no reason to rush.
Corrugations, Dust and Plenty of Nothing
The Oodnadatta Track isn’t technically difficult 4WDing in normal conditions.
But that doesn’t mean you treat it like a highway.
Conditions can change, corrugations can be relentless and you’re travelling through remote country where you need to look after the vehicle, caravan and tyres.
For us, that meant finding a comfortable speed and letting everything work.
The Falken Wildpeak A/T4Ws were aired down, the iCheck TPMS kept an eye on the caravan tyres and the suspension got plenty of opportunity to earn its keep.
And everything got covered in dust.
A lot of dust.
But that’s part of it.
The Old Ghan Is Everywhere
One of the things that makes the Oodnadatta Track so interesting is the history running alongside it.
Much of the route follows the old Ghan railway, and reminders of it appear throughout the landscape.
Old railway infrastructure, sidings and ruins sit out in country that today can feel almost completely empty.
It gives the drive another dimension.
You’re not simply following a dirt road through the desert.
You’re travelling through a corridor that once played a huge role in connecting Australia’s interior.
For the kids, it was another chance to see the history we’d been talking about throughout the trip sitting right beside the road.
William Creek
Eventually we rolled into William Creek.
Calling William Creek a small town almost feels generous.
There’s not much there, but that’s exactly what makes it such an iconic stop.
We stayed at the campground and headed across to the William Creek Hotel for a pub meal.
After a day travelling the Oodnadatta Track, sitting inside an outback pub in one of the most remote little settlements we’d visited was pretty hard to beat.
It’s one of those places we’d seen countless times in photos and travel videos.
Now our caravan was parked there.
Life in the Middle of Nowhere
Places like William Creek really put distance into perspective.
Back home, you don’t think much about where the next supermarket, fuel station or mechanic is.
Out here, you do.
Fuel stops matter.
Water matters.
Tyres matter.
And you start paying a lot more attention to what’s happening with the vehicle and caravan.
It’s one of the reasons we’d spent so much time setting the Y62 and Great Escape up before leaving.
When your entire home is travelling along a remote dirt road behind you, you want confidence in the setup.
The Gear Got a Proper Workout
The Oodnadatta Track was also a good test of a lot of the gear we’d fitted before leaving.
Our Bushwakka awning, MAXTRAX, tools, Bushman fridge, 12V setup and recovery equipment were all travelling through the same corrugations we were.
The gear mounted to the roof rack stayed exactly where it should.
The fridge kept doing its thing.
The drawers and tools survived the punishment.
And the caravan followed along behind us without drama.
That’s the sort of testing we care about.
Not how something performs sitting in the driveway.
How it handles thousands of kilometres away from home when you’re actually relying on it.
The Y62 Was Made for This
The Patrol continued to impress us.
It’s a big, comfortable vehicle on the highway, but out here the combination of its capability and our touring setup really started making sense.
We could spend hours travelling rough dirt roads, pull up somewhere remote, open the back and have our fridge, water, tools and everything else immediately available.
Then hitch the caravan back up and keep going.
This was exactly why we’d built it the way we had.
More Than Just a Dirt Road
Driving the Oodnadatta Track had been on our list for a long time.
And we’re glad we didn’t simply treat it as a road to get from one place to another.
The history, the landscape, the little outback stops and the sheer remoteness are what make it.
You don’t need difficult obstacles every five minutes to have an adventure.
Sometimes it’s just you, your family, your 4WD and caravan travelling along a dusty road with almost nothing else around.
That’s enough.
Back Towards the Bitumen
From William Creek, we continued on before eventually making our way towards Coober Pedy.
We didn’t spend time exploring Coober Pedy on this run. It was a fuel stop for us before we kept moving.
Our next destination was further north.
We were heading towards the Red Centre.
But before Uluru, we had another stop planned.
Curtin Springs.
We thought we’d stay for a couple of nights, have a look around and then continue on.
The kids, however, were about to meet a cockatoo named Peek-a-Boo.
And apparently Peek-a-Boo had plenty to say.
— All 4 Good Wins
