GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #40 | Page 51

For those of us travelling around Australia, roadhouses provide a number of services for which we are all grateful. Of course, there is fuel, something we can’t do without, but often there is also a hotel/pub/restaurant, a phone, camping on offer, and more. In showcasing our favourites, we have restricted ourselves to outback roadhouses that ‘stand alone’, with nothing else there. The Oodnadatta Track. CADNEY PARK ROADHOUSE As soon as you leave Port Augusta, heading north on the Stuart, you are in the outback. Cadney Park Roadhouse is 153km north of Cooper Pedy and is a convenient spot for a few nights of camping so that you can take a daytrip 92km east to see the astonishing Painted Desert. The 92km track is sandy and a bit rutted, but you probably won’t need to engage 4WD. You can also travel with an offroad van and spend a night at Arkaringa Station to catch a sunrise or sunset over a region that looks like a landscape painting dropped into the middle of an arid desert. Back at Cadney Park, you can enjoy a hearty meal at the roadhouse after a day of exploring. A lifeline to local residents and travellers arriving from Coober Pedy. MARLA TRAVELLER’S REST The Marla Traveller’s Rest Roadhouse is 81km up the road and is the north-west end of the Oodnadatta Track. If you have just finished the track, you will be ready to kiss the bitumen, stock up on basic supplies at the small grocery store and book in for a night or two to relax and have a swim. Speaking of Oodnadatta, The Pink Roadhouse (208km from Marla) is an icon of the central desert tracks. It is funky, pink, and the epicentre of a small community of about 204 residents. The Pink Roadhouse is a lifeline to residents and to travellers arriving from Coober Pedy, Mount Dare and Witjira, as well as the track to and from Marree. Painted Desert.