The nine-day 8-night tour will depart Epping on Monday 28 March 2011 to connect with the Outback Explorer departing Strathfield station at 6:32am and arriving Broken Hill at 7:10pm. This train trip will let us appreciate the changing Australian landscape, from the green of the Blue Mountains, to the grazing areas on the slopes, to the wheat fields of the Golden West, to the flat arid plains of the far west. On arrival in Broken Hill a coach will transfer us to our motel for dinner.

After breakfast on Tuesday 29 March we board our 4WD coach and travel west into South Australia. At Yunta we leave the bitumen of the Barrier Highway for the unsealed road into the Flinders Ranges and our overnight stop at Blinman. This was a copper mining town in the 1860’s with a population of 1500 but when the copper ran out the people moved on. Today’s population is 22.

On Wednesday 30 March we continue through some of the most ancient and fascinating formations on Earth and enjoy magnificent views of the Ranges and the vast red desert plains. We travel through Leigh Creek and Lyndhurst before arrival at Marree.

Thursday 31 March is what we are here for – to see Australia’s greatest salt lake system from the air. The scenic flight of more than two hours will take in Lake Eyre and Cooper Creek which feeds into the Lake. In the afternoon we travel to Muloorina Station for a look at the Lake close up before returning to Marree for our second night.

On Friday 1 April our red heart adventure continues as we take the Oodnadatta Track to Lake Eyre South for another ground view. On our return to Marree we visit the old Ghan railway siding at Curdimurka.

We depart Marree on Saturday 2 April and take the Strzelecki Track through the Strzelecki Desert, passing the Moomba gas fields, to the Cooper Creek and Innamincka, with a population of 12 people, for our next night.

On Day 7, Sunday 3 April we venture out to the famous Dig Tree where the tragic death of Burke & Wills occurred, and will visit Olive Downs Lookout before overnighting inTibooburra, the most remote town in NSW.

Monday 4 April will see us travelling south through the Barrier Ranges via Milparinka and Depot Glen. We pass a number of sheep stations on our way into Broken Hill for our final overnight stay.

After breakfast we board the Countrylink Outback Explorer at 7:45am and will have time on the train to reflect on and admire our pioneering forefathers for their ability to survive in the harshest of conditions. The train arrives at Strathfield at 9:25pm.

The cost of the 4WD tour from Broken Hill is $2790 pp twin share (single supplement $450) and includes all meals from the time of arrival in Broken Hill. Train travel to Broken Hill is an additional cost and is free for Centrelink pensioners and $134.26 return for NSW Seniors.

• Tickets for travel to Broken Hill on the Countrylink Outback Explorer and return, need to be arranged at Epping Station, quoting Booking Reference FSL977. This will ensure we are seated together. Pensioner Concessions or NSW Seniors Cards must be presented. The fare is free for pensioners and $134.26 return for seniors.
• Accommodation on this tour is mostly motel style with ensuite. The exception is the one night at Toole’s Family Hotel Tibooburra where some of the rooms share shower and toilet facilities.
• Deposits ($100 per perspon) are needed by the November meeting with payment of the balance at the February meeting. There will be a discount of $340 per person for those not taking the flyover of the Lake.
• In view of the significant cost of the tour and the possible condition of the roads in the outback if there is rain, it is recommended that members seriously consider taking travel insurance.

On Day 1 we departed Epping in the early morning for Strathfield, where 32 of us boarded the Outback Explorer, bound for Broken Hill. The thirteen and a half hour train trip gave us the opportunity to appreciate the changing Australian landscape, from the green of the Blue Mountains, to the grazing areas on the slopes, to the wheat fields of the Golden West, to the flat arid plains of the far west. Due to good rains in recent months the landscape was much greener than we expected. On arrival in Broken Hill our two 4WD coaches transferred us to our motel for dinner.

After breakfast on Day 2 we boarded our coaches and began our journey west into South Australia. At Yunta we turned off the bitumen of the Barrier Highway and headed north on unsealed roads to travel via ‘Koonamore Station’ into the Flinders Ranges and to our overnight accommodation at Blinman. Unfortunately the larger of the two coaches became bogged on ‘Koonamore’ and a large part of the day was spent waiting for the coach to be pulled out. We had to forego the planned inspection of the station homestead and a good part of the Flinders Ranges was travelled in the dark. We reached Blinman, which was founded as a copper mining town with a population of 1500 in the 1860’s, late at night. Today’s small population of Blinman caters for tourists visiting the Flinders Ranges.

On Day 3 we continued in the Flinders Ranges through Brachina Gorge along the bed of the river and saw some of the most ancient and fascinating rock formations and river gums, to Parachilna for lunch. It was then on to the modern township of Leigh Creek and after a visit to the enormous open cut coal mine there, it was on through Lyndhurst to Marree for our next three nights accommodation.

Day 4 began with a morning tour of the places of interest in Marree, which is the starting point for two of the great tracks of northern South Australia, the Birdsville Track to Birdsville and the Oodnadatta Track to Oodnadatta and Marla. In the afternoon we each had a scenic flight of two hours over Australia’s greatest salt lake system. The flights in six and seven seater aircraft followed the Birdsville Track as far as the single vehicle ferry over the Cooper Creek, then followed the Creek into Lake Eyre and returned to Marree across Lake Eyre and Lake Eyre South.

Day 5 continued our red heart adventure as we took the Oodnadatta Track to William Creek and return. We crossed over the ‘Dog Fence’, stopped at Lake Eyre South for a close up ground view of the lake, and had lunch at Coward Springs, an artesian hot spring and site of one of the sidings on the old Ghan railway from Marree to Alice Springs. After a refreshment stop at the William Creek Hotel we returned to Marree, visiting Strangways Springs, another bubbling spring, and Curdimurka, another historic Ghan railway siding.

On Day 6 we were to take the Strzelecki Track through the Strzelecki Desert to Innamincka, but as the Track was closed to traffic we turned south to re-visit the Flinders Ranges and made for Hawker where accommodation was arranged at short notice for the next two nights. This proved to be a most interesting day with stops at the abandoned ‘township’ of Farina and then the Ochre Pits, a site of aboriginal significance, and arriving in Hawker late afternoon.

On Day 7 we went further south to Quorn and return. First stop was at Kanyaka Homestead Historic Site, another abandoned collection of stone buildings. Further on we ventured into the Warren Gorge, an outstanding example of rock formations and river gums in the creek bed. After an ice cream and a look around Quorn we returned to Hawker on the bitumen.

Day 8 saw us turn for home, travelling via Cradock and Orroroo to meet the Barrier Highway at Peterborough where we had lunch and visited perhaps the best railway museum in Australia. Peterborough is on an intersection of railway lines of all three gauges and has a turntable fitted with all of them. After lunch we continued on to Broken Hill for our final night.

After breakfast we said goodbye to our tour guides and boarded the Countrylink Outback Explorer for our trip back to Epping and another interesting day. An end to a fantastic trip well enjoyed by all.