Farina station to Beresford dam ( ruins )

The birds were chirping but it was drowned out by another family and their noisy kids at 6am , not that it was an issue as we had a reasonably early night and were well rested.

I opted to make the cuppa this morning and already the boys were up and clambering on the rocks above camp towards the war memorial .

It was great to have egg and ham toasted sangas for breakfast while some had avocado egg and ham or toasted cheese with homemade sauce.

Pack up was short and sweet and within the hour we had a quick stop at the John McDough stuart memorial made from local boulders , then through Marree  but didn't stop to toil as we had been here only a few years ago .

The first real stop for the day was at the sculpture park at Alberrie creek home of the Ghan hover bus and plane henge not to mention meany quirky handmade art forms from leftover scraps of metal and assorted supplies.

The kids enjoyed playing on the Hover bus for ages before we urged them on .

Not long after we were sightseeing over lake eyre south from several vantage pints not far off the Oodnadatta track and ran into another family travelling oz who ewe into their tenth month and were staying at Farina tonight .

After the lookout we came across the mound springs area (Wabma Kardabu ) where the great artesian basin forces water under pressure to the surface depositing minerals which form mounds with ponds forming on top which trickle or flow all around the area bringing greenery and birdlife to the area , it really was quite nice to see in this harsh environment .

At the climb to one of these mounds called Blanche cup we actually found a desert gobi a small very well camouflaged little fish smaller than your little finger on the edge of the warm pool of water .

Coward springs was only a few Kms further north so we partook in a customary dip in the spa to refresh and wipe of some and from our pores, as we did I spied a brolga in the wetlands only metres from us .

We had decided ( well I had decided !) on a late lunch then setting up camp here at Beresford ruins in the old dam site only a short distance from the old spillway .

Apparently spring was upon us as Shahla and I were both angrily swooped by a nearby magpie , the new no go zone for us all  , lol.

There was quite a bit of firewood here along with some of the old Ghan railway sleepers I had scavenged along the way so tonight's fire was a rippa as Etienne and mum made tuna pasta and toasted tortillas for tea.

Kids schoolwork was done via headlamp and a little bit of gameplay for them before we scampered into bed , it had been a massive day yet again