We started day 8 of our trip with an early morning dip in the hot spring.

The unique bark of the red mulga not far from the springs at the o'clock creek camp ground.

Opossum Waterhole. Also not far from Dalhousie.

A welcome swallow.

 After Dalhousie Springs we headed out towards Mt Dare stopping first to have a look at Federal ruins.

The ruins were mainly the remains of stockyards.Here we found the prints of a dingo.

 Once we got to Mt Dare, we filled the cars and went in for a drink. It's one of those outback pubs with character having stubby holders hanging from the rafters. For a $10 donation to the Flying Doctors you too can hang up your stubby holder. There were also alot of stickers on the petrol pump.

On the side of the bar was marked the flood level for 2011. And Old Andado was our ultimate destination for the night via Binns track. We still had a long way to go.

First we took a wrong turn and went onto a very dusty track on Aboriginal land.

And then we had to cross over into the Northern Territory.

 The drive along here is on the fringe of the Simpson Desert and there were a number of red sand dunes.

Lunch was near a very dry bore and it was here that we lost the bash plate for our gas tank. The corrugations were so bad that the clips holding the plate on came loose and broke. 

Don't forget to shut the gate...... or just go around it.

And it's left towards Old Andado. Alice Springs is still a couple of days away.

The view from the sand dune was well worth the stop.

 Finally we arrived at the Old Andado Station, once home to Molly Clarke, a true pioneer of the Australian outback.

" Molly Clark arrived in the Territory in the 1950s to take over running Old Andado Station, about 330 kilometres south-east of Alice Springs.

She later became involved in tourism and founded the National Pioneers Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, one of only three museums in Australia dedicated to the role of women in history.

Current President of the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, Lynne Peterkin, says it was a visit to a stockmen's museum in Longreach that inspired Molly to open her own. (http://www.abc.net.au/)"

 Molly passed away in 2012. Her final years were spent in Alice Springs but she has been buried at the Station.For a small fee, it is a nice place to camp for the night. Various caretakers stay throughout the year to look after the place. The current caretaker ,"Cobbie" was a true outback character, a bush poet and one time drover, he had plenty of stories to tell us.

                                        Molly's house has been well preserved, just as she left it.

The place is home to a large number of finches.

The meat house was where the meat was prepared and stored. It was salted to preserve it then hung to dry until needed. No refrigeration back then.
There are two such buildings, the other being a storeroom for saddlery and other equipment.

 As the sun set the colours of the sand dunes changed to a deep red. It was a lovely evening around the campfire listening to Cobby's poems and tales, a fascinating man. Unfortunately, this is where I tripped and hurt my knee. Because of this I was unable to do alot of long walks later in the trip.

Cobby was a very animated story teller which is why he is out of focus.

Our early morning view from the tent.

 

The next morning we said farewell to the waterhole and headed off to have a look at the bridge from the other bank.It really is a marvel of engineering being built to withstand a raging river in flood.

 The fruit of the saltbush, edible but very salty.

A lonely grave near the Mt Dutton ruins in the midst of a gibber plain.

 We also stopped to have a look at the bridge crossing the North Creek floodway. The creek is a gravel one which is a rarity in the area. On the right is what's left of the train track.

 Next stop was Oodnadatta and the iconic Pink Roadhouse.

 Run by Adam and Lynn Plate for many years, Adam passed away a few years ago. The town has its own Aboriginal community and it's not a bad idea to walk up to the Railway museum. Even in the outback one can find an example of "yarn bombing"

The community house.

This poem was written for aboriginal mothers and children who were forcibly separated from each other.

The Angle Pole memorial recognizes the great achievement made by the completion of the overland telegraph, a feat of hardship and determination in a harsh environment.

Soon after Oodnadatta we reached the turnoff to Dalhousie Springs at the edge of the Simpson desert.We were looking forward to a swim in the warm waters of the springs later that evening.

After crossing over Fogartys Claypan and carefully passing cows who wanted to cross the track, we reached the next turnoff to Dalhousie near the Hamilton river.

    the Pedirka Siding ruins and time to relax. :)

The next set of ruins that we stopped to explore were those of the  Dalhousie station.For more information on the station look up this site:
http://www.ausemade.com.au/sa/destination/w/witjira-np/dalhousie-ruins/dalhousie-homestead.htm

There a number of unknown graves at the station.

The yards were constructed from local wood by the Aboriginal stockmen.

Not far from the station ruins there was a lookout over the hot springs, a patch of green in a barren                                                                                         landscape.

                  Swimming in the hot spring was like being in a bath where the water never gets cold. Heaven.

Though a lovely place to camp, make sure the fly protection is used as the mossies are really bad here.