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1887 pub festooned with photos, business cards, old licence plates and money stapled to
the walls. There's also a dusty campground and modest cabins and motel rooms. Also on
offer are fuel, cold beer, basic provisions, all-day meals (mains $16 to $32) and spare
tyres.
William Creek is also a base for Wrights-air ( 08-8670 7962; www.wrightsair.com.au ;
William Creek) , which runs scenic flights over Lake Eyre (per adult/child $260/234).
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Coward Springs to Marree
Some 130km shy of Marree, Coward Springs Campground ( 08-8675 8336;
www.cowardsprings.com.au ; unpowered sites adult/child $10/5) is the first stop at the old
Coward Springs railway siding. You can soak yourself silly in a natural hot-spring tub
(per person $2) made from old rail sleepers, or take a six-day camel trek (per person $1500)
to Lake Eyre from here.
Next stop is the lookout over Lake Eyre South , which is 12m below sea level. For a
Lake Eyre water-level report, see www.lakeeyreyc.com . About 60km from Marree is the
Mutonia Sculpture Park ( 24hr) F , featuring a jaunty car-engine hitchhiker and
several planes welded together with their tails buried in the ground to form 'Planehenge'.
Marree (population 100) was once a vital hub for Afghan camel teams and the Great
Northern Railway, and is the end (or start) of both the Oodnadatta Track and Birdsville
Track. The big stone 1883 Marree Hotel ( 08-8675 8344; www.marreehotel.com.au ; Rail-
way Tce; unpowered sites free, pub s/d $90/110, cabins $110/130; ) has decent pub rooms,
brand new en-suite cabins and free camp sites! Marree is also a good place to organise
scenic flights (1½ hours around $270): try GSL Aviation ( 1300 475 247;
www.gslaviation.com.au ) or Aus Air Services ( 08-8675 8212; www.ausairservices.com.au ) .
From the air you'll get a good look at Marree Man , a 4.2km-long outline of a Pitjant-
jatjara Aboriginal warrior etched into the desert near Lake Eyre. It was only discovered
in 1988, and no-one seems to know who created it. It's eroding rapidly these days.
From Marree it's 80km to Lyndhurst, where the bitumen kicks back in, then 33km
down to Copley at the northern end of the Flinders Ranges.
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Birdsville Track
 
 
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