I contemplated returning to the Track from Coober Pedy and enquired about the condition of the road surface . Alas , parts were still closed with rivers running high and most of the Track would need to be regraded before being suitable for two wheeled traffic . Well , if I couldn ’ t go on two wheels , I ’ d go on four . So I booked on the Mail Run tour departing from Coober Pedy and visiting all the outback cattle stations along the route to Oodnadatta and William Creek .
Peter Rowe does the twice weekly 600 kilometre round trip , usually in his OKA truck with 13 paying passengers along for the ride . Our tour was conducted with just four passengers in his 4WD which made it a far more intimate and personalised journey . Peter has been doing the Mail Run Tour ( www . desertdiversity . com ) for 20 years and managed to keep up a running commentary for the entire 12 hours . His well-rehearsed patter was never tedious or boring – he was incredibly knowledgeable on a wide range of topics including dinosaurs , geology and Australian history . We learned all about the formation of the landscape from the Inland Sea 190 million years ago and the exploits of explorers like Giles , Stuart and Gibson .
The snail mail was delivered to four cattle stations each consisting of several thousand square kilometres ; Mount Barry , Peake , Nilpena and the largest in the southern hemisphere , Anna Creek Station which is bigger than Belgium . We received a typical Aussie outback welcome with Helen Williams from Nilpena Station laying on a wonderful home-made spread for afternoon tea . A gold coin donation has enabled Helen to raise over $ 10,000 for the Cancer Council from Mail Run passengers alone .
Heading south down the Oodnadatta Track towards William Creek , I was surprised to see how good the road surface condition was . The Main Roads had managed to close the road and stop all traffic for more than a week after the rain and consequently the road is unscarred . Mo could have handled this without a problem .
However , we soon came to some river crossings which , even after more than a week , were still running quite deep , and some of the bogs would also have challenged Mo and his passenger .
We returned to Coober Pedy in the dark and I can honestly say it was one of the best tours I have ever done and I finally got to visit the iconic Pink Roadhouse . One day I shall return and introduce Mo to the real outback .
Outback welcome me-made spread r afternoon tea