Category Archives: Oodnadatta Track

Crossroads

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

These photos need no explanation……same part of the world…different journeys.

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BIG

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Forget Texas…everything out here is bigger…bigger cattles stations, bigger sand dunes, more flies.

This sand dune on Anna Creek Station in the far north of South Australia is massive…well over 30 metres (100 feet) high.

It’s so big that without something in the foreground it would be hard to even guess just how large it is, and this only a small portion of the dune.

Anna Creek station is the largest cattle station in the world, four times larger than the biggest in Texas and about the size of Israel. Sand dunes make up a good portion of the country.

The dune has been shaped by the wind as can be seen on the windward edge.

The sand is so fine and the sides so steep that progress is one pace forward and two back on all but the shallowest of climbs.

Despite the apparent harshness of the landscape, all the rains of recent times have put much life into the shifting sands, perfectly typified by this thriving plant with its single golden flower pointed directly at the autumn sun.

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Strictly Legal

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Try this in the city and get caught by the cops. They’d throw the book at you.

Outback where the bike is an everyday work tool, you can pull a stunt like this and even have a crowd clapping for you.

The recent William Creek Gymkhana and a competition to see who could make the longest mono, and with four police officers looking on too.

The winner went about half way round the horse racing track.

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Afterglow

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

With the smokey grey sky and the leafless bushes, it would not be hard to imagine this was the aftermath of a bush fire.

It’s just scrub country up the Oodnadatta Track after sunset.

I’m not sure where…some distance north of William Creek I think.

It was just something that caught my eye because it was a bit unusual.

Sunsets though are a dime a dozen out here.

Hand held at 1/25th sec, f5.6 ISO 400

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Wheel Barrow

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

This old wheel barrow reminded me of a story told to me by Keith Nicholls, an old chap who lived almost all his life running a sheep station at Warraweena near Beltana in the Flinders Ranges.

Keith was 86 when he died but he remembered as a young lad a bloke who lived in the area who was out of work.

The chap heard there was work going at Broken Hill, more than 300 kilometres away as the crow flies and over some pretty inhospitable country.

As old Keith told the story, the bloke set off with his worldly belongings in a wheel barrow, only to find when he got to Broken Hill there wasn’t any work there, so he turned around and came home.

There’s not too many people who could do that today – we’ve all grown a bit soft.

I believe this wheel barrow was a bit younger than the one in Keith’s story. It looked like it might have had a rubber wheel in its heyday, but I suspect it too had a pretty hard life.

Posted in Old Ruins, Oodnadatta Track | 1 Comment

Chewin’ the Fat

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Faces of the Outback…blokes from stations around William Creek and the Oodnadatta Track……doing what people do everywhere….having a bit of chin wag.

With big distances between isolated stations, an event like the local gymkhana brings people together for some horse events and a beer or two.

Posted in Events, Faces of the Outback, Oodnadatta Track | 1 Comment

On the Road

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

The question is…what’s over the hill?

It all depends on which way you are travelling, but what ever is ahead, it will be a welcome sight.

If you can take your eyes of the road, there’s a vast ocean of green out there and it goes on for kilometre after kilometre.

Travelling down the Oodnadatta Track and through Anna Creek Station, the world’s largest cattle station.

It takes a bit of imagination to comprehend its size of Anna Creek but you could multiply this scene by 50 or 60 times and you’d be in the ball-park

Posted in On the Road, Oodnadatta Track | 1 Comment

A Hasty Retreat

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Having used a shot of a dingo only a short time ago I would have been a bit reluctant to use another one so soon, but I came across this one this morning while coming down the Oodnadatta Track.

He was quite fearless and had no qualms about marching right up to me as you can see from this photograph.

However he had other things on his mind and quickly headed of towards a herd of cattle nearby. I followed along to see what would happen as the cattle were very nervous about his presence.

Things turned into a bit of a stand-off for a while but while the cattle were trying to figure out the situation, there wasn’t much chance the dingo could be anything more than a nuisance.

The cattle soon figured out that, as a group, they had the upper hand and after a quick charge the excitement was over.

I have finished the last of the assignments for R M Williams Outback Station magazine, which comes out in June.

Each of the shoots took roughly 14 days over several visits to get all the aspects of life on the two stations. The pictures turned out well but they’re reservered for the magazine.

When it gets a bit closer to publication time I’ll have some news

Posted in Fauna, Oodnadatta Track, Outback South Australia | Leave a comment

On the Road

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Friends you meet along the way.
The Oodnadatta track almost 1000 kilometres north of Adelaide is probably a place you might expect to meet a very large bull occupying most of the road.
Grumpy he was and not happy about giving right of way.
Things eventually got sorted out and we went out merry ways….me to my destination, he to a nearby waterhole.
More on the recent travels as I get things sorted out.

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Action A Plenty

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Peter MacDonald

Bronco Branding. The action is fast and furious once a young beast has been roped.

This plan is to bring it to a thick steel frame, universal around cattle stations in Australia, at the same time putting a noose around one of its front and back legs.

The plan doesn’t always work and that’s when things get a bit chaotic.

The ground team has to use the leg ropes to bring the animal to the ground where it is given an ear tag and branded.

Of course the young heifer or steer isn’t too cooperative about all this.

That’s the rough and tumble part of the competition but the roping requires a bit of finesse and a lot of accuracy. The success of this initial part of bronco branding can often determine the winners and losers.

And if you thought this was just a a bit of fun for the boys…think again, there were plenty of girls in the thick of the action too.

In fact the winning team down from Queensland were a mixed doubles

Posted in Birdsville Track, Oodnadatta Track, Outback South Australia | 1 Comment