Where to next??

Originally we had planned to head to Kings canyon and then onto the Western McDonnell ranges before heading into Alice Springs and then across the plenty Highway to boulia in Qld. 

BUT there was a wildfire went thru our near kings canyon in Thursday so it was evacuated and road closed so we had to sit down and stay thinking about alternative options. 

Thought about going back around the Owen Springs reserve and looping back to Western McDonnell ranges via Owen Springs and continue as planned. Also decided to take a look south and see if we could get back to QLD that way. Turns out there are some really interesting things like the Oodnadatta track which you can link to Strzelecki track and come back in to QLD via Cameron's corner or Innamincka. We could also add a loop down to Arakaroola which has a wildlife sanctuary and a national park with an unprounceable and unspellable name. We also would pass South of lake Eyre AND it would be 1000km less traveling then the original route (so 3000km vs 4000km). So we frantically applied for South Australia covid border passes late yesterday, got approval and then last night made a decision to do the South Australia option as it looks like great fun and adventure. 

Ironically this morning we found out the thunderstorms and rain must have put out the fires at Kings canyon and the road reopens tomorrow so we could have actually stuck to the original plan but the new plan looks awesome. Fingers crossed no-one in SA gets delta variant but too late for that now as we just crossed the border to South Australia. Wahoo!! Pretty boring crossing mind you with no cool sign to take a photo of. There have been thousands and thousands of budgies flying around us on the Stuart highway which is a bit crazy. We might have budgie kebabs for dinner freshly fried on the bull bar the way they are flying so close!!

Tonight we have just decided to stay at Arckaringa station in the painted desert (which we only heard about a day ago cos we have literally only just considered SA as an option) so we miss the first 200km of the Oodnadatta but tomorrow rejoin it. From there Arakaroola then Strzelecki and Cameron's corner then QLD!! 

Not sure how much we'll be posting so don't be worried if we're quiet we're just heading home the interesting way!!