The in-between, just as crucial as the destinations or stops. Through slowness we are fully emersed in the place, people and stuff (architecture). It is through engaging with the broader Australian condition and all it comprises that we are learning the most and blowing many preconceptions to smithereens. Having an in-depth understanding of the value of how place influences in-habitation is crucial to 'good' architecture for people and place.
We're uncovering this bit by bit, blow by blow as you can see below. Traversing the Oodnadatta and Binns track through SA and NT and Dieri, Nganampa, Wangkanguru and Arabunna country to name a few, it was 'peak season', and so we were inundated with dust and traffic from the Finke races and 4x4 convoys.
Check out some of our sketch travel reflections of the in-between non stops 009-011, Marree - Alice Springs (10th-29th June) and the information, data (hard + anecdotal) and knowledge we've collected.
A sketchy travel reflection on moving up the west side of the Simpson Desert. Using slowness and immersion to better understand where we were.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE to see the sketches in more detail.
The salt on Lake Eyre preserves many animals that get stuck on it’s seemingly endless salt plains.
Covering as far as you can see, turning the landscape into a post-apocalyptic movie-scape. Smooth from centuries of sand and wind.
The sweet smell was our companion almost the whole way to Alice Springs
A parasitic plant that grows out of tree hollows and the like, largely spread by bird droppings. It grows sweet delicious fruit that we heard many fond childhood stories of eating so much you would have a sore stomach.
Once used for Ghan Railway…great views
Owen for scale
There was a cool breeze blowing through this section, so having a nook with your back to the wind whilst sitting in the sun was divine
Under the crusty surface of Lake Eyre there is the most amazing array of layers, black oozing mud that smells like decomposition along with others
Possibly the most important geological aspect along this section, the mound springs which bring artesian water to the surface allowed people to traverse this section of the country. There are even a unique species of fish that live in these springs.
West of Oodnadatta is this striking landscape. We tried to draw it and decided it was better to leave it be…
Used for the overland telegraph.
Wire as fixing like many outback buildings, what a cracking corner
A more modern concrete one. Abandoned.
You could spot old white homesteads from literally kilometers away, the ubiquitous palm tree is a dead give away of what was once a grand homestead.
Otherwise known as red mulga. This beautiful tree populates water ways and has continually peeling bark. Some even grow to look like large bonsai’s.
Bull Dust is a fine sand that your tires just sink into. At this stage Owen’s father was with us in a support car. We had to make certain kilometers a day so would ride as far as we could and drive the rest. We were aiming to ride across the SA and NT border, the bull dust was so intense, we had hit our kms and we were so knackered we decided to wait for the car. The border was literally 100m ahead.
There weren’t many cars on the road we took but suddenly a bus pulls up and people pile out including a photographer. It happened to be Andrew Simpsons camel expedition crew who go out into the Simpson desert to do ecological studies. The next year Bobbie went on one of the expeditions, camels and all.
The sky becomes your TV, news and weather all in one. It’s a beautiful channel to surf.