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Cadney Park on the Stuart Highway is 151 kms north of Coober Pedy and 81 kms south of Marla. Cadney Homestead, the wayside inn, includes roadhouse, motel and caravan park.
It's Outback cattle station country with a sparse population. Cadney Homestead is on Wintinna Station, Mount Willoughby.
Cadney Park is the gateway to the Painted Desert, through the beautiful Arkaringa Hills on the road to Oodnadatta and the Oodnadatta Track. The road is unsealed.
The Painted Desert has been described as surreal. The hills with their multicoloured hues are spectacular and similar to the Breakaways, just north of Coober Pedy. Once part of the inland sea, erosian over 80 million years has weathered the hills to reveal a myriad of colours from reds to browns, yellow and stark white. The scenery is especially stunning at sunrise and sunset – a photographer's delight.
Road Conditions
“The Dog Fence” (Dingo Fence) is the longest fence in the world, stretching some 5,300 kms across 3 states. It protects Australia’s south eastern sheep farms from the ravages of the dingo, Australia’s native dog. The fence is a 1.8m unbroken barrier from the cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain, through New South Wales to the Bunya Mountains in Queensland.
The dingo is a highly intelligent inquisitive animal, is mostly golden in colour, but can also be black. Dingoes breed once a year, unlike dogs that breed twice a year. Dingo mothers regurgitate their food for their puppies. The dingo has a melodious howl – often heard in the outback. Dingoes can kill cattle and many cattle stations do not use dogs so cattle don’t become used to them. The best defence a calf has is an angry mother and her cattle friends.
When settlers introduced sheep, dingoes found an easy food source. Farmers built fences enclosing their properties, that were eventually linked and extended to become the dog fence. Whilst sheep graze in relative safely, south of the fence, other effects are felt. Foxes and feral cats are not kept in check to the detriment of Australia's small native animals, some of which have become extinct.
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