Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Our package at Arkaroola includes a continental breakfast in the restaurant, so we headed down there at about 7.15am so that we could eat breakfast before our scenic flight today. With the All-Bran and Coco Pops containers right beside each other I chose the Coco Pops but made them healthy by having them with Greek yoghurt, ha, ha. Followed by a door stopper slice of raisin toast. Honestly, when did raisin bread become so super-sized?? One slice is so thick it’s like having two slices.
We had time to return to our room to clean our teeth before meeting our pilot, Cameron, at reception at 8.15am. Cameron drove us out to the airstrip with me saying to him, it was dark last night for the Cosmos show but you’re not the same Cameron are you?? To which Cameron replied – it was actually Caleb who ran the Cosmos show last night. Oops, both of us were so sure it was Cameron last night.
Just the two of us on today’s flight. On the plus side, a private charter, on the downside, if more seats had been sold on today’s flight the price per person would have come down a bit. Bernie helped Cameron push the Cessna over to the bowser then we waited while the plane was fueled and Cameron completed pre-flight checks. It had gone 9.00am by the time we were in the air.
We flew north over Mount Painter, Mount Ward and Mount Freeling with Cameron pointing out the dingo fence, Lake Blanche and the Strzelecki Track and gibbous stone stained red and purple with iron and manganese. When we reached the point where we could see Cooper Creek flowing from the north-east, Cameron turned westward to fly towards Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. As we followed Cooper Creek we could also see the iconic Birdsville Track, box coolibah trees and fossilized sand dunes.
We flew over the edge of Lake Eyre (North) near the Cooper Inlet which is delivering water from Queensland to the lake. Cameron also pointed out the Warburton Creek Inlet, before flying us over Brooks Island, Jackboot Bay and Belt Bay, the lowest point in Australia. It took us about half an hour to fly all the way across Lake Eyre North and then we started heading towards William Creek.
By 11.30am we were coming in to land at William Creek. While Cameron queued up to refuel the Cessna, he pointed us in the direction of the William Creek Hotel. On the other side of the airstrip we could see that it was a tent city. This is because our visit has coincided with the 2025 SA Variety Bash being in town. It was party central in William Creek today, so it was lucky that Arkaroola had a table booked for us for lunch.
After bush burgers for lunch, Cameron managed to cadge a lift around to the gymkhana grounds on the other side of the airstrip to check out the Bash with Wrightsair pilots, Anna and Abby, who were also keen to have a look at what was going on at the gymkhana grounds. Phew, it was crazy over there with a huge sausage sizzle going on to feed the masses.
It’s a Big Bash this year to celebrate Variety’s 50th anniversary in Australia. Although each state has its own Bash, this year there was a National Bash Party in Adelaide on Friday the 8th of August. Today, the South Australian participants were enjoying a layover day in William Creek so we got to wander around taking photos of their crazily decorated cars.
After that little sightseeing diversion, it was time to head back to the plane. Cameron was warming up the plane by 1.35pm and we were back in the air soon after, flying over the largest cattle station in Australia that covers an area approximately the size of Wales! This afternoon our route took us over the Painted Hills before we started heading eastwards again to fly over the Oodnadata Track and the old Ghan rail bridge at Margaret Creek, before reaching Lake Eyre (South) which is still dry. Water will only flow from the northern section of the lake into the southern section when it is more than 50 percent full.
Next, Cameron flew us over Marree Man a huge geoglyph that appeared mysteriously in 1998. It is an image of an Aboriginal hunter etched into the surface of the red dirt near the town of Marree. It is over four-kilometres long and 28-kilometres around its circumference and, to this day, no-one knows who created it. Soon after we flew over the township of Marree and once again, over Birdsville Track.
As we neared Arkaroola we encountered rain. Cameron said that was a first as normally he will encounter rain elsewhere on the flight but it’s ALWAYS dry at Arkaroola. Not today! Fortunately, it was only a shower and by the time we landed at 4.00pm it had fined up again. Bernie helped put the Cessna away, then Cameron drove us back to Arkaroola Village. What a day! Probably a once in a lifetime experience for us to fly over Lake Eyre with water in it. Extravagant though, with it being our third scenic flight in the last three months!
Steps: 6,263 (4.29kms)
