Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
We Finally Made It!
When we left Port Broughton, we found ourselves on roads we had previously travelled. Once more driving the Outback Hwy north from Port Augusta with the great Flinders Ranges on either side of us. We stopped that night well off the main road, with an old ruin to the East and the Old Ghan railroad to the West. It rained all around us, which made for some pretty impressive skies. This led to an impressive sunset and an even more impressive full moon rising. The colour of the ranges as the moon rose is accurate due to the sun still setting on the western horizon.
The following day we did a quick detour to Aroona Dam. This countryside never ceases to amaze. After yet another bumpy dirt road, we pulled into the parking area to see this.
From there it was an easy drive to Marree, our kick off point for visiting Lake Eyre (or Kati Thanda, the Aboriginal name). We had no expectations of Marree, which was good; that way we weren’t disappointed. Suffice to say, Marree is not a holiday destination in itself. It is however, an excellent, and necessary, southern base camp if you want to explore Lake Eyre, or if you’re travelling the Oodnadatta, Strzelecki, or Birdsville tracks. Without Marree (and William Creek further north-west) there would be no fuel, no supplies and possibly no way to travel these distances through the interior.
We drove past the first caravan park, Drovers Run, Peter thought it looked a bit sketchy and I for one was not going to argue. That left us with the Oasis Caravan Park. But believe me, an Oasis it was not. We were there for three nights, longer than we would have liked, but this did allow us to put our little washing machine to good use, and to plan our next trip.
This is as remote a town as we have visited to date. Marree has a population of around 150, it is dry, dusty and its’ water source is bore water. The bore water is drinkable but is definitely an acquired taste. You can however, buy desalinated, treated water there which is perfectly drinkable. Except for The Roadhouse, which is busy most of the time, Marree is a very sleepy little town.
On our second day in Marree, we took a road trip to the lake. We had left Chunky Bum back at the Oasis, so we could let Big Ears stretch his wheels and really enjoy the dirt/sand roads. I think it’s safe to say that Peter also enjoyed the drive without having to worry about the caravan bumping along behind us.
We stopped at the campground at Muloorina Station and had a look around, I let out a little squeal of delight when I saw my favourite birds, and I heard Peter mumble, “I guess Lake Eyre will have to wait a bit longer.” He was right. 🙂
Oh, and I should warn you, this next section is adults only.
Once Peter could drag me away from my birds we continued on our day trip to the north-eastern part of Lake Eyre (south,) then followed Goyder channel that connects the north and south lakes. This brought us to Madigan Gulf at the south-east end of Lake Eyre (north). So our little outing had us visit both north and south lakes and the channel between. Even so, this is really just a tiny sampling of the Lake Eyre system. This is no small lake, it’s actually the largest lake in Australia. The south lake is 65 by 24 kilometres, and the north is 144 by 65 kilometres.
The Lake Eyre catchment is huge, it covers a truly vast area of flat land. The Warburton River feeds the lake from the Diamantina River, Georgina River and Cooper Creek. Lake Eyre actually takes in water from as far north as Camooweal (west of Mt Isa)! Check that out on a map of Australia and you’ll see that it’s truly amazing.
For those of you who don’t know; for most of the year, indeed for years at a time, Lake Eyre is nothing more than a dry salt bed. It is rarely full to capacity, only a few times every 100 years, in fact the last time it was full was in 1974. Without continuous rain, it will be completely dry again in about two years. Even though it is far from full, there is a good amount of water in the lake now, that’s why we’ve been so eager to get here to see it.
This link, https://www.lakepedia.com/lake/eyre.html will provide you with a range of stats relating to lake Eyre, if you’re interested.
Our first glimpse of Lake Eyre (south) confirmed that it was already drying up, but it was still a sight to behold. The salty earth was still very damp under foot. The lake stretched as far as we could see, the horizon shimmering with distant mirages promising a hint of water, and the dunes surrounding the lake were awash with wildflowers; beautiful. Once more, the photos do not do this area justice.
From there, we continued to the most southern point of Lake Eyre (north). I have to say, we were both a bit awestruck at what we saw when we climbed to the top of the little sand dune, and we could only see a small percentage of the lake. We could have been standing on a vast stretch of coastline, wondering who had stolen the sea.
After a bit of exploring and fun in the sun, we settled down to lunch. I had been baking a couple of potatoes in our little oven in the back of Big Ears, so all I had to do was re-heat the chilli concarne I had made the day before and lunch was ready. While I did that, Peter found us a lovely spot to eat. As soon as I had taken the potatoes from the oven, I put our desert in there. Chock chip cookie dough, home-made of course. I know, we really do it tough. 😊
We had a truly wonderful day. Each turn in the road showed us the area from a different perspective, and Lake Eyre (north) was simply mind blowing and has only fuelled our enthusiasm to see more of it, as you could see from the map below, we have only seen the tip of the lake-berg.
We found ourselves driving home at sunset, and as we talked about the day, we decided that Muloorina would be our next destination. Lake Eyre (north) would have to wait for just a few more days.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
We made it back to Port Augusta in time for our car service, but we actually stayed 25 kilometres southeast of Port Augusta at the Spear Creek caravan park. This is situated within a 21,000 acre working sheep farm in Woolundunga and is a lovely spot to stay. Unfortunately, there were severe wind warnings while we were there and that made it hard to explore the area fully. It was so windy that it blew my beany right off my head! Worse than that, poor Chunky bum was a rockin’ and a rollin’, and we woke up one morning to fallen branches and the wheel chocks scattered around the camp. That’s right folks, the wind had literally blown the wheel chocks out from under the wheels. I’m not bush walking in wind like that!
Alas, we still couldn’t leave the area as I was waiting for some mail to come to Port Augusta, so we decided to explore a little to the south, Yorke Peninsular to be exact. We drove to Port Germein for a bit of a look-see. This is a small village on the Spencer Gulf, which used to be a major wheat shipping port and has one of the longest wooden jetties in SA; one of the longest in the southern hemisphere. Of course, we had to walk its length.
But not before a yummy bacon and egg roll and a surprisingly good coffee at the local café, well…everyone needs a good solid breakfast.
After that we drove through to Port Pirie and stopped overnight at Clements Gap. Now the distance and estimated travel time from Spear Creek to Clements Gap is 123 kilometres, 1 hr 28 minutes. We left Spear Creek at 09:30 and made camp at Clements Gap at 15:10 – That’s 5 hours 40 minutes. So, why’d it take so long? Because… Peter likes laneways, small country roads, and going places he probably shouldn’t. We do circuits of little towns until we’ve seen all there is to see, and yes, on occasion, we get lost. But above all, we enjoy every single minute of it.
The next day we explored Fishermans Bay, a tiny town made up of fishing shacks, then drove to Port Broughton. This was an embarrassingly short drive even by our standards, but Port Broughton was such a pretty spot we just had to stay there. One night turned into two, then three, then the mail arrived, and we had no more excuses to stay longer.
We used Port Broughton as a bit of a base camp and travelled a bit further south. Pretty much all of the peninsular is agricultural, which means there must be a way to process and transport the produce. It seems like Wallaroo is one place this is done.
The crops are mainly wheat with some canola. Seas of green on green, it’s a shame the canola wasn’t in bloom, that vibrant yellow amongst the green would have been something to see, all with the Spencer Gulf as a backdrop.
The coastline is rugged in places, most of the beaches are shelly, and not bare-foot walkable, though some are white sandy beaches, perfect for wriggling toes, and they are all oh so pretty. The beaches, not the toes. 😊
Had Lake Eyre not been calling, we would have been quite happy to spend a week or two here and fully explore the Yorke Peninsular. East, west and all the way up the middle. We will be back here to spend more time in the south of SA, until then we are heading north. Lake Eyre here we come!
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Brachina Gorge
We left Wilpena Pound and started our way back towards Port Augusta (we had the Ranger booked in for a service). We only drove for about ten minutes when we had to stop and climb a hill. The landscape surrounding the Pound is as different as it is beautiful.
It didn’t take Peter long to find more dirt road (a mere three days after he had just washed Chunky Bum and Big Ears) after a gruelling forty-nine minute drive, 😊 we decided to call it a day and made our home for the night in the Brachina-East Gorge campsite. Once again the landscape had changed from rolling hills with jagged peaks in the distance to steep ravines and gorges.
There’s really not much to say about this except, the scenery just keeps getting better!
We camped that night at the Brachina East camp ground, and the scenery is simply stunning. The photos just can’t do it justice, it really is a ‘you have to see it for yourself’ kind of place.
A few days ago, I posted photos of some wallaroos. We had never seen them before and that made the sighting exciting. Driving through Brachina Gorge we were lucky enough to see a Yellow-footed rock wallaby. Again, neither of us had ever seen one of these, and with good reason. With population numbers around 2000, these pretty little creatures are considered to be vulnerable in SA. In NSW their numbers are between 20 and 250 and are listed as an endangered species. QLD has the same classification, but the population of the Yellow-footed rock wallaby are unknown.
You have to admit they are gorgeous. The unique markings, pretty face (complete with eye shadow) and that tail; now that is one impressive tail. The good news is that their numbers are on the rise. Great steps are being taken by conservationists to protect and preserve their habitat, their food and to eradicate predators (feral cats and foxes). Let’s hope that in the years to come, these wonderful creatures can bounce back in numbers and once more reclaim their territory.
Oh, and the little lady we saw had a tiny Joey in her pouch, 😊 I think she’s going to be a good mum.
If you’d like more information, you can check this link. https://www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/yellow-footed-rock-wallaby/
As we drove out of the gorge Peter and I were having a debate. We couldn’t decide if we were driving along a road or a river bed. Turns out it was both.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Wilpena Pound is one of the locations on Peter’s wish list. I’d never even heard of it, but before we had even arrived, we were in awe of the scenery we passed. Low rolling hills bordered with high rocky escarpments. Just beautiful.
Still within the Flinders Ranges National Park, Wilpena Pound (Ikara) is an extraordinary land formation. When seen from the air, you could be forgiven for thinking it was an ancient volcano, or it could be the sight of a meteor strike. But its formation is not as dramatic as that. Simply geological and extreme climate change over an inexhaustible period of time.
My summary of the formation is this: Around 800 million years ago the entire area was covered by a sea. This sea dried up and returned many times and over a period of about 300 million years eventually filled with layers upon layers of sediment up to ten to fifteen kilometres thick. After the sea had disappeared, the weight of all this sediment caused the centre of the pound to collapse under its own weight, and then geological pressure caused the layers of sediment (now turned to stone) to buckle like big waves. Wind, rain, floods and even glaciers did the rest. All this change is still happening to this day, so the pound is still changing. In fact it is getting higher.
The result, strikingly beautiful landscapes.
We didn’t have the opportunity to do a flyover, but if we had, this is what we would have seen. A natural amphitheatre, seventeen kilometres long, eight kilometres wide, the crowning glory of the Flinders Ranges.
There are many walks that allow you to enjoy the Pound, as well as 4×4 tours and of course flights over the area. We only had three days here, still not quite match fit, but we did manage to do the Wangara Lookout walk via Hills Homestead. This walk took us inside the Pound and though it wasn’t that far, under eight kilometres return, it had plenty of uphill, making it a good stretch of the legs. 😊
Wilpena Pound was a fantastic place to visit, and is super popular with all ages. And for good reason. Take into account the views, the facilities, an IGA, bottle shop and fuel. The resort, restaurant, and swimming pool, not to mention a family of emus wandering through camp, we’d highly recommend it. Even the tricky caravan parking due to poorly marked sites and a multitude of trees didn’t dampen our enjoyment of this visit.
INSERT IMAGES CAMP AND EMUS
Oh, and if you were wondering where the name came from, wonder no more. The Adnyamathanha people know the area of Wilpena Pound as Ikara, meaning meeting place. The word Wilpena is also Aboriginal, meaning ‘Place of bent fingers’ and Pound is taken from an old English term for an animal enclosure, usually made of stone. In 1851, the pound was leased and used to breed horses. They were simply confined within the Pound and left there to do what comes naturally.
Of course, with all of this stunning scenery around we had to try to find the perfect sunset spot. It wasn’t really that hard. But as always, we had fun on the drive and enjoyed the show.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
I’ll start this post with an emotional, “You have got to be kidding me!”
And this is why: Peter has come down with a case of the flu, and I, with my stupid one-up-manship, just had to catch Covid. Now for those of you out there who would say,
“Maybe this is a sign love. Maybe it’s time for you to come home.” (You know who I’m talking about mammy).
This, I will say to you…NO! Never. We have a dream, a deep desire, nay… a desperate drive to continue our explorations of this great land. Besides…there are people in our house so we’ve got nowhere else to go. 😉 Anyway, we are having way too much fun to quit now.
When we left Port Augusta we were feeling pretty ordinary. We hadn’t driven very far when we found a lovely spot to spend the night in the shadow of the Flinders Ranges, so decided to call it for the day.
The next day we were determined to get back into the swing of exploring, we haven’t really been able to do that since last November so when we saw a sign to Kanyaka Homestead we thought, why not? So pleased we did, we spent a lovely hour exploring the extensive ruins of this once impressive station established in 1826. However, it was deserted in 1852 after a series of tragedies, drought and the expansion of wheat farming.
Later that day I was feeling quite unwell, and Peter wasn’t much better. So, when we stopped in the little town of Parachilna, we both took a RAT test. Mine came back positive, Peter’s, negative. We had just booked to stay at Mt Little Homestead, which sounded lovely, but self-isolation was to be our new destination.
Who can complain about self isolation when it’s in country like this? The Flinders Ranges almost defy description – Stunning, spectacular, beautiful. It really is quite unlike any country we’ve travelled through to date. Extraordinary and endless.
Parachilna is a blip on the map at a two-way junction. We turned off the main drag, the Outback Hwy, onto Parachilna Gorge Road heading toward the little town of Blinman, in the hope of finding somewhere half decent to stay for a few days. What is it they say about the roads less travelled? That right. DO IT! The scenery was stunning as the gorge rose around us, as for camping spots, we were spoiled for choice.
There is a section of the Parachilna Gorge which has been well used for bush camping. There are heaps of spots to choose from, and the scenery…Wow! That’s all I’ve got to say about that (sadly, you all know that’s not true). Peter chose our spot and got us settled in for our stay while I went to bed.
I spent the first couple of days here in bed, while Peter took care of me, checking my temperature, making sure I drank enough water, and saying things like, “You’ll be ok in a couple of days.” Sometimes he didn’t sound so sure, so when I saw him walking past the window with his big shovel, I began to get worried, but no need, he was just clearing out some of the old ash from the fire pit. Whew! Peter made a few modifications and I think it’s safe to say we have the best fire pit in the Parachilna Gorge.
Ten days later, we’re ready to move on. We’re both feeling better, but as seems to be the case with Covid, it is taking a while to get my energy back Don’t ask me how Peter managed to dodge it, but we are both pleased that he did.
I’ll finish on a super cute topic. Just have a look at these lovely wallabies. I haven’t seen these ones before, and I haven’t been unable to identify them (I sent an email to bushheritage.org to see if they can help) but they are the cutest things ever. They are so different from the Pretty Faced Wallabies we are used to seeing around home. The next evening, we spent a very pleasant couple of hours “hunting” them to give you these photos.
I just received an email from bushheritage.org and what we saw are not actually wallabies. They are a Wallaroo, a Common Wallaroo to be exact. New to me too! Apparently, the main difference between wallabies and wallaroos is size. Wallaroos are smaller than kangaroos, larger than wallabies. Also, they have a squarer snout, almost canine, and their fur is quite shaggy. FYI the name ‘Wallaroo’ comes from the Aboriginal Dharug language ‘Walaru’, (thank you Wikipedia) and not a combination of the name’s wallaby and kangaroo. You learn something new every day.
After seeing these for the very first time it got me to thinking. How many different types of Kangaroos and Wallabies and Wallaroos are there? I don’t know. But, when we get into an area where we have internet connection, Peter has a new task. He is going to make us a Kangaroo and Wallaby Wallaroo Spotting Check List, (KWWSCL) so that we can check off each type we encounter. Hey, if it’s good enough for the Twitchers…
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Port Augusta is not a pretty town, it is rocky, arid, and finding a patch of green grass anywhere is near impossible. It is heavily industrial and though it’s no longer a shipping port, it is a key hub for rail transport and a major player in renewable energy. But don’t let that stop you from coming to visit.
The country here is unlike any I’ve seen so far. Scrubby ground growth, the majestic Flinders Ranges, just begging to be explored, and salt pans from the edge of Spencer Gulf, nestled in the very heart of Port Augusta. As we drove past these, I had to convince myself that I wasn’t looking at an icy lake.
Before you explore the Ranges, there’s plenty to do in town. In the centre of town you can find the Wadlata Outback Centre. This is well worth a visit and is one of the best presented information centres we’ve visited. Even Hugo enjoyed it.
A ten minute drive from the Wadlata Center is the Australian Arid Botanical Gardens. I was surprised at the variety of plants that grow, flourish and provide food for the wildlife in this harsh environment. I would love to see it in spring!
From there it’s a good stretch of the legs, or a short drive to the Redcliffe Lookout. This gives wide views of Spencer Gulf and back towards Port Augusta.
But I think that the thing we enjoyed the most was our ride on the Pichi Richi railway up to Quorn (pronounced corn) on a beautifully maintained steam train. Not many of you know this, but when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a steam train driver. Just like Casey Jones! Although I didn’t get to drive it, I did get to go into the locomotive, let me tell you, there’s some heat coming off that furnace!
It took us two and a half hours to get to Quorn, a few days later we drove there, and it took us thirty minutes. Well, there were a lot of hills for the little train that could. 😊
We only had an hour and a half to find somewhere to have lunch along with the other passengers (it was a packed train) and then explore Quorn, but that was more than enough time. Quorn is a lovely little town with super wide streets and a lot of old buildings. There have been seven Australian films made there, including the Shiralee, Gallipoli and the Water Diviner.
It was a great day out and if you only had time to do one thing while in Port Augusta, it would have to be the Pichi Richi Railway and not just because its fun to say, ‘Pichi Richi Railway!
Now we are off to explore the Flinders Ranges. No, we haven’t forgotten about Lake Eyre, but I’ve been told that there is more water coming from the north so we’re just giving it a bit of time to get there.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
