ATV on Andamooka Station

ATV Followed Old Vermine Proof Fence for 17 Kilometers

ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) on Andamooka Station

Bega Photographer Follows Old Fence Line to Lake Torrens

On the advice of the Andamooka Station manager, I checked out the map and followed an old vermin proof fence which led me to Sketching Pile, the spot where I wanted to access Lake Torrens.

Vermin Proof Fence

The fence, constructed of a mixture of myall timber posts and star pickets with wire netting, is 1.5 meters or 5 feet high. I came across an old 4 foot farm gate with an extra foot welded on top. Although much of the fence is still standing firm, long sections have fallen over, the posts rotted and rusted off at ground level. Collapsed fence

In its day the fence would have kept the sheep in and the dingoes and rabbits out. Fence standing

Rough Terrain for ATV

The going was pretty rough for the ATV and more so for the trailer with it's little wheels. At times I went for several kilometers in first and second gear over loose, square cut rocks as big as house bricks and besser blocks. Picking a track through this desolate region with the ATV, I really didn't know how the trailer was traveling on the roughest country. I couldn't look behind!

ATV Camp

As was the case on many a night's camp, I found a suitable spot just on dark, by necessity more than choice, and set up camp by the ATV headlights. Understandably, tea was a feed, rather than a meal, but it kept me going. Sketching Pile

Apart from the bed of Lake Torrens, the spot where I pitched the tent was the only reasonably flat, sandy spot for miles. The sandy spot was not much bigger than the tent and I still hit rocks when pushing the pegs in. Lake Torrens View

I didn't realize it in the dark, but under the tent was a dry salt bush. It soon flattened under my weight with crackling noises. The salt bush has a myriad of small thorns. The cattle seem to eat them when green but when they dry, the fine spines become very hard and sharp. When I broke camp in the morning I found dozens of these spines sticking through the plastic floor of the tent. No doubt this is why my air-bed now goes down a bit overnight. From then on I put my rug under the air-bed rather than on top of it.

Sketching Pile

The spot where I camped is Sketching pile. I don't know the significance of this name but will find out one day. I had seen Sketching Pile marked on the topographic map as a piece of high ground about 40 meters above Lake Torrens and falling fairly sharply to the the lake edge. Gate

Sketching pile turned out to be not a very exciting photographic subject, just a rocky hill, in parts, too rough for the ATV. I managed to find a route up to the top and enjoyed the view but that was about all.

Lake Torrens Photographic Images

However, the arm of the lake, overlooked by Sketching Pile, was another matter. The vermin proof fence crossed this three kilometer stretch of salty mud flat to the other side of the arm of the lake. All the way across, the fallen fence posts lay in a line, half buried in the mud and with sandy, salty mud built up against them. Here was the image I'd come so far for, laid out before me in the golden, dawn light.

Laurie McArthur is an outback traveller, writer and wilderness landscape photographer, based on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Laurie's images may be viewed at http://www.southimage.net/

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