Driving to William Creek

While in Coober Pedy, we booked ourselves for a flight out of William Creek to see Lake Eyre. The drive to William Creek was fraught with uncertainty. We are, of course, veterans of driving on unsealed roads by this time, but all the indications were that the road was closed because of a rain storm that can through just before we arrived. We certainly did not want to get stuck an hour out of this small town.



After much back and forth with the folks in William Creek, a visit to the tourist information bureau, and watching the weather and the road closing/opening signs, we found the road to be open by the time of our flight, so off we when. the road was in good shape and only in a few places was there evidence of enough water to make things scary muddy. We easily navigated around the bad parts and made the trip safely.

Have a look at the road above and consider this: we are on an unsealed road by ourselves; there is no cell phone service; there is very little traffic (although more than on the Great Central Road); we are on the opposite side of the world from anyone who knows us; no one knows where we are; and civilization is a town of fewer than 4,000 people. Want to go for a ride where you might get stuck? This is why it is called an adventure.

William Creek claims to be the smallest (as in least populated) town in Australia. According to the 2016 census, the population is 10 although other sources cite it to be 6. There is a roadhouse/hotel/campground next to the airstrip for the flights.

The town of William Creek is located on the Anna Creek station. This is the largest working cattle station in the world. The King Ranch in Texas (largest in the US) is 1/7 the size of this place. Anna Creek is slightly larger than Israel. So in spite of the emptiness you see in the photos, there are actually cattle here!