Adventure to Boggy Hole and Beyond

Just before 9am on Saturday 28^th September 2013, a convoy of 7 vehicles left the Muster for a 2 day camping adventure to Boggy Hole in the Finke Gorge National Park.

Our first 130km was along Larapinta Drive to the town of Hermannsburg.  This historic town is National Trust listed and it was established in the 1880s as a Lutheran mission.  The Aboriginal settlement was the home of Albert Namatjira and prints and originals of his works can be seen there.  Many of the mission buildings are still within the historic precinct.  We took the opportunity to stop off for morning tea and several of us had delicious scones with jam and cream at the tea-house.

Then it was back into our vehicles and we said goodbye to the bitumen until Sunday afternoon.  As we bounced along the corrugated red dirt road towards Ellery Creek we saw plenty of evidence of brumbies and we were lucky to see some horses close to the road.  We had a brief stop to reduce tyre pressures in preparation for the sand and river beds we would soon be travelling along.

We travelled along the Ellery Creek river bed and soon came to the gated entry to the Finke Gorge National Park and proceeded along to the junction with the Finke River.  Travel was slow through the sand and river stones and of course the inevitable happened – bogged in the sand!  Two Toyotas got bogged and two GMCs overheated.  Snatch kits got a workout and after some impressive towing we were underway.

The scenery was spectacular – plenty of flowers, stunning gorges and magnificent trees.  Debris from previous floods piled up against the trees in the riverbed.

Going was very slow so we were pleased to arrive at Boggy Hole about 3.30pm.  We were all pretty tired so decided to camp here for the night. There were plenty of flat sandy campsites overlooked by a magnificent red rocky ridge with a view of the waterhole.  Unfortunately all of the waterholes we saw were stagnant  so we couldn’t have a cooling swim.  Once we had set up our camps, we settled down to a relaxing happy hour.  Welcome after the high level of concentration of the drive.  A couple of the party were feeling energetic enough to climb to the top of the ridge to admire the view – the rest of us stayed at the camp and waved enthusiastically when they reached the top.  Other walkers explored the waterhole area.

Since we stopped at Boggy Hole we planned to leave fairly early Sunday morning to complete our adventure.  At breakfast we were entertained by native miner birds harassing a crow – boy, did they give him a hard time!  Then we packed up and were off along the Finke River once again.  The 25km to Running Waters took us about 3 hours with a stop at a waterhole for morning tea just before we left the National Park.  More fantastic scenery had our cameras working overtime.  Once we passed Running Waters the driving became easier and we were able to speed up to 25kph.

 Our party split up about 11km from Running Waters so our tour leader could get a good view of Mt Caldwell, named for his great grandfather. Robert Caldwell MP was the Member for Yorke in the South Australian Parliament from 1887 to 1902. He then became the Member for Onkaparinga after he moved from the Yorke Peninsula to Woodside. He was an MP when the Federation took place in 1901. He successfully introduced legislation for women's suffrage and women we permitted to vote after this. This was long before such legislation was introduced in other states and indeed in England. He was responsible for assessing land for pastoral purposes and as such made many expeditions into SA interior, which then included Northern Territory. These expeditions were made on Camels from the rail terminals at Beltana, Mareee and Oodnadatta.  We think it was because of this, and his missionary (Methodist) work for aboriginal communities, that Mount Caldwell was named after him.  Mt Caldwell is the flat topped mountain in the photo.

Those not going to Illamurta Springs proceeded to Ernest Giles Road which seemed like a motorway when compared to the roads we had been on for the past 2 days.

Some of us stopped off at the Henbury Meteorite Craters formed about 4,000 years ago when a meteorite hit the earth.  It was easy to imagine the shockwave that would have been created by the impact and there are plenty of impact stones which show the effects of compression in the area.  Only 15km from the Henbury Meteorite Conservation Park we joined the Stuart Highway – ah bliss!!!

Four vehicles met up at the Stuarts Well Roadhouse for lunch – even though it was about 3pm.  We were revitalized by the cool drinks and food before proceeding back to the Muster - a bit later than planned but nonetheless in time to share a drink at the closing Happy Hour.

Our trip leaders did a fantastic job with plenty of warnings when needed and the removal of some pesky rocks – CH38 certainly was well used.  We all had a great and memorable time.