We drove out of the yard at pretty much exactly 10:30 am-the end of our time allowed window. It had taken us two and a half hours to be ready! The fridge is full ready for four days. How will we ever manage a couple of weeks between shops in a couple of months time?
We took the ring route around the city, and down Torrens Rd to meet up with the northern expressway, deviating past cheap fuel to top up the tank.
Not long after we left the expressway we met a traffic standstill on Port Wakefield road (roadworks don’t mix well with Easter traffic) , and made use of local knowledge and google to exit the main road, heading through the outskirts of Virginia and Two Wells, then Mallala, Balaklava and Whitwarta before coming out again on Highway 1 well past the troublesome Port Wakefield intersection. There are lots of vans on the road, and some choose to travel much slower than others.
We were amused by the number plate “MILUX” on a Hilux Ute and singing along to late 70s ELO as we drove along on an unusually hot Good Friday beneath a pale, hazy sky.
The new, larger and improved version of “Nessy” was being admired by many visitors to the salty Lake Bumbunga at Lochiel
and the windmills on the ranges waved to us as we drove past.
Despite the heavy traffic we were almost perfectly on time to meet Peter Fyfe ( Dean’s brother) for whom we were doing a favour by delivering the compliance plate for his new caravan ( he left town before it arrived). Then we headed up the track just a little more, found a shady spot and settled down to make and eat lunch, washed down with a well earned cup of tea while we wait for our friends to meet us.
We sat looking out at the Southern Flinders Ranges and a lovely forest of old river gums in the nearby creek line, glad of a shady spot and comfy camp chairs listening to the many different bird sounds and wondering who they belong to.
Peter ( the local landowner) came along and we happily chatted for a bit over an hour as we waited for Peter and Belinda Dick to complete their packing and make their way to the rendezvous.
We all followed Peter in through a few gates onto a lovely little area beside a dry creek with some big trees offering shade on the hot afternoon and enough flat area for their camper and vehicle and our camping vehicle. This is where we remained, chatting till late and listening to the Boobooks in the dark.
This is where we chose to go to try to see the “Christmas Star”. Saturn and Jupiter were due to make a “Great Conjunction” and we were keen to see if it looked significant in our sky, so we went looking for a place to go to that would have dark skies. We found Meldanda as a posible campsite. https://www.meldanda.com.au/
We then looked for places in the area and found this little gem, which was donated to the community in the early 90s and is used by the local school and landcare groups.
There are a number of buildings in the property including a locked classroom with kitchen and a rec room (open shed) and toilets and showers, plus a great fire circle. There are also butterfly garden, bush curlew learning area, bat area, fire retardant garden and native bush food trail. They also have a disc golf course. There is evidence of an area where bush for brush fence is growing too – but maybe not too successfully. (Maybe a failed money making project?). The lake and frog pond are dry now but used to be teeming with bird and frog life. (too many dams on the nearby hills?)
The (currently Dry) Marne river runs through the property.
The local landcare are the contact and Aimee was very helpful and happy for us to use the place to camp (donation of $5pp).
The local landcare use the site for a seed growing area.
We chose to camp in the “astonomical paddock” towards the back of the property to have some area not filled in by trees to hopefully see the planets at the appropriate time. I had actually thought they would be in the east, so was a bit taken aback when it was discovered (thanks Julia) that we needed to look south west to see them. This is because they were about to drop below the horizon soon after it became dark.
It was a cloudy day early and we didn’t hold out a lot of hope for a viewing , but in the end were a bit lucky to have a cloudless sky. The view itself was not as impressive as we had hoped. The moon was fairly bright, and the light from the planets was not hugely impressive. Never mind.
Having arrived part way through the afternoon, we had a bit of a chance to wander on the property and see what it had to offer.
A bush tucker art project to go with the bush tucker loop
Bat boxes (for the numerous species of bat that live in the area)
An outdoor classroom “Bush Curlew” sculpture
Disc golf
Dried frog pond and stairs to the dry lake
Beautiful old trees giving homes to many birds
After taking our time to wake and rise the next morning we were well into tourist mode so we mooched in to Cambrai and drove up and down all the streets and out to the sports ground (just to have a look around) .
Then we took the long way home through the impressive Rathjen’s Pass
…and on to the surprise sculpture park where we stopped and had a wander, totally flummoxed by the challenge to use our facebook to enter into an augmented reality experience. We failed at this, but enjoyed trying (sort of) as we looked at the sculptures spread over the hills. Trev went much further than I did – with the shade of the trees and van and the bird sounds and nearby windmill calling for my attention.
We “bummeled” our way home via Lobethal, Lenswood, Basket Range and Uraidla before coming down the top of Greenhill Rd to the east of Cleland CP and home in time to get some tea ready for our visitors.
Christmas Decorations on the way home.
It was a great opportunity to share an evening with the Lloyd Family on (almost) home ground for them and to investigate another SA treasure.
We’ve love to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas for 2020
It’s been an interesting year. In SA we have been largely sheltered from the social disadvantages of COVID-19. It has meant less orienteering and walking and more time at home with each other, but we are lucky to have each other and there is nothing like this to make us appreciate that. In a year where travel has been restricted we seem to have managed to do a fair bit in SA as you will read.
The year started with Thom and Laura already visiting from the UK.
As always it was lovely to have them sharing our home and to accidently run into them at breakfast time and idly chat or share a hug just because we could. Thom returned directly to UK and Laura went via Cambodia, the focus of her current project focusing on prosthetics. Since then they have continued to live in Southampton. If we had realised then what we know now the parting would have been much harder. They have had a tough year, with lots of lockdown and isolation, but remain safe in their little home as another damp winter approaches.
January was also the month to enjoy a day of paddling with the Dicks at Clayton, catch up with Pam and Peter (friends from our European trip in 2019), spend a day at the Tour Down Under and share our traditional BBQ tea with the Carter relatives (Trev’s Cousin Judith and family) at Aldinga on their week holiday from the farm.
In late February we headed off with our camping gear packed into the Prado. We took the road to Broken Hill and enjoyed some time looking around there, before heading onwards via Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Moree and the Granite Belt, near Stanthorpe.
We dropped in to visit Erica’s cousin Pip (and family) including Aunty Mary and Joc before heading on to O’Reilley’s Retreat (on a mountain top surrounded by Lamington National Park) in the Gold Coast Hinterland for a week of bird watching. We hadn’t really spent any time birding, so we were well out of our depth, but enjoyed this immersive experience, which left us with a thirst to learn more. We were talked into this week by Trev’s Sister Jan and Ross and it was a great experience. They continue to patiently nurture our interest in this activity.
We then headed north again via another night in Brisbane, before travelling a little further to see Trevor’s Uncle Murray and family near Caboolture (half way to the Sunshine Coast). The load of two extra couples filled the house and we enjoyed the catch up enormously, especially since Murray and Ann are excellent tour guides. They took us touring the magnificent scenery of the glasshouse mountains and to see Ruth and Charlie and their kids.
As the second week of March approached we headed homeward, taking our time. We had intended to take the outback roads but there had been so much rain that many of those roads were closed. Instead we went via Toowomba (stopping at a Motel for a very rainy night) , before camping at Yarrie Lake and deviating to see the amazing Australia Telescope Compact Array just to the west of Narrabri. On the same day we came across an amazing warm spa pool in the middle of nowhere (The Pilliga Bore Bath) and stopped for a refreshing dip before going on our way.
This is the sort of surprise that makes “taking the road less travelled” so worthwhile. We camped our way home, via a number of national parks, finally arriving via West Wyalong, Hay, Tooleybuc and Pinaroo having travelled just over 5000km.
Trevor commenced treatment for his Achilles issue that had lingered since last September, while Erica had her first shot of Cortisone for a troublesome shoulder injury. Both of these are continuing as I write (though neither is as bad as they were at that stage) – proof that we are ageing I suppose. It wasn’t long before Australia was hit by COVID19 and Orienteering and Walking were cancelled, along with various plans to catch up with friends. Plans to travel to the West Coast of SA also fell apart, so we are saving up a trip to Googs Track, The Gawler Ranges and Hiltaba Station for another time. (Maybe next year?).
Then finally in Mid May we started to be encouraged to travel within the state (carefully) so we took a little time to head to Owen to see our friend Rodney for a belated Birthday visit, and to do a little caching with him, Julian and Janine.
and then go on to Melrose, where we spent time roving around at the base of Mount Remarkable and at the Showground, where we checked out the permanent Orienteering Courses to make sure the markers were in place.
At the start of June we headed to Victor Harbor for a few days, and had a chance to go to Tolderol to see some wading birds with Ross and Jan. They are slowly teaching us – but unfortunately we forget almost all that we have learnt between sessions.
We were finally called up to volunteer for Meals on Wheels. They had lost more than thirty volunteers from our local Meals on Wheels with the COVID crisis, and urgently needed to have some new people helping, so we had a very quick orientation (one round) and were then left on our own to sink or swim. This is a fortnightly commitment at this stage and we are getting to know “our people”. We take a lot less time to do our round now and can anticipate each of their foibles.
In late July we headed for Mambray Creek for a few days camping with our friends Al and Zita. We enjoyed the beautiful campsite with the large river red gums and tripping around the lower Flinders Ranges, including a loop walk through Alligator Gorge – incredibly spectacular.
Then in mid August we were off again, heading for the mid north for a weekend of orienteering. We took an extra night either side of the competition days, and towed the portable toilets on a trailer from Jamestown to the event and then back again on the Monday following. This was a dastardly plan as it also meant we had a toilet at our disposal for our whole camping trip. (😊)
In September we were able to head to Normanville for a walking camp . Here we rented a house for the week with Al and Zita, and commuted to walks in the local area (from Myponga, down to Deep Creek). It was a pretty intense walking time. Erica took one day off to rest , but Trevor pushed on through it all.
We finally found a camping vehicle that we think will suit us very well and bought it. It’s a Hilux (two seater) with a box on the back, which contains a huge king sized bed (big enough for us to actually sleep) and a sink, seats, table, fridge and storage. Outside there is a flip down bench that has a built in stove to cook. It’s still a 4×4 that we can take on the rough tracks, but is sheltered and a bit more private. It’s great to be able to hop inside and make a cuppa or eat a meal when the weather is lousy, and we can still sit out and enjoy the outdoors when it is nice.
We immediately took this vehicle off for a week or so in the Flinders Ranges to coincide with a long weekend of camping and orienteering, taking a few days beforehand to camp with friends Craig and Evelyn, and then a couple of days afterwards with the Dicks in Port Pirie to help with some work on their kitchen. The vehicle worked pretty well for us, given the fact that we had virtually pulled out our camping gear from the Prado and put it in bags into the new camper in a haphazard fashion wherever it would fit. This will slowly get organised over time (but hasn’t had much effort put into it yet). Somehow I need to find plastic boxes to fit the spaces.
At the end of October we were heading north again. Erica managed, at last, to attend a quilting camp at Melrose, while Trevor spent another weekend with the Dicks in Port Pirie. Erica managed to virtually complete a fleece backed quilt for the camper over the weekend (the most quilting that she has done for a long time). This one was completed and a slightly larger twin was put together in the following few weeks so that we at least have covering to keep us warmish in the camper when it is colder.
Late in October, at lunch with Ben and Jasmine they told us that they are expecting a baby in May next year. Yes – we are going to be grandparents at last!!!! This is very exciting news and it has been great to share in the expectation and planning that goes into making a place for a child. Not to do things by halves they have also brought a puppy into their family – a shaggy cutie called Molly (she is a Groodle- a Golden Retriever/ Poodle cross) and is learning quickly. She is going to be a big girl.
The start of November saw us heading for Victor again!! This time we were there for a whole five nights. We spent the time catching up with friends and relatives, making the second quilt and also went on another bird and orchid spotting jaunt with Jan and Ross. We’ve been enjoying spotting native orchids and learning about them in the last couple of years, and have a chance to keep an eye out and see some as we do our Tuesday walks in the bush. On this trip we managed to see a rare duck orchid that we had heard about, but never seen. We were extremely happy with that. About a month later with Ross and Jan, in another area we managed to see a small duck orchid (much smaller and harder to spot) .
In mid November we had a brief lockdown after a cluster of virus took off in the SA community. This again put paid to another planned trip to the Wilmington area and cancelled some planned talks and walks that we were hoping to go to along the Coorong area. We still ended up going camping there for one night along with Jan, Ross and another of Trev’s sisters, Raelene. In our three camping vehicles we braved mighty winds in exposed campsites at Parnka Point. Not the most restful of nights, but another experience to chalk up. The views across the Coorong were still lovely. This was also the trip where we discovered the Pangarinda Botanic Gardens at Wellington East. Very impressive native gardens with lots of paths and lots of birds (including some very cooperative Rainbow bee eaters).
We have one more planned trip before Christmas arrives – on the 21st of December apparently Venus and Saturn will be converging and will be providing the experience of seeing “The Christmas Star” like the Kings and Shepherds did so long ago. We are planning to camp the night in a dark spot near Cambrai in order to get a good look at this phenomenon. We are hoping for clear skies that night.
Trev’s Mum continues to live happily in her retirement unit, and Erica’s Dad continues to travel all over the country with his partner Peg, while maintaining two homes of his own and helping with hers as well.
Thom and Laura are in the UK until about November 2021 at least and we hope that they will then be able to come home, but who knows? Ben and Jasmine remain at Paradise with their growing family.
In March next year Erica hopes to leave the Secretary post for Orienteering SA which she has held for seven years. This will free up some time for other activities (including coaching) and reduce stress levels. It also means that we can take off in June and return in September without the need to be focussed on getting to some coverage so that Orienteering business can keep on going. We are planning to head north with the other Grey Nomads in our camping vehicle with friends and finally see the Bungle Bungles, Broome and Karinjini National Park as well as revisiting Ningaloo Reef . We hope to make it to the Stirling Ranges in the South West of WA in time to coordinate with the blooming of the remarkable Queen of Sheba orchid. Then we will come home and take up Grandparenting and the next phase of life more seriously.
How thankful we will be to share Christmas with some family. This year we truly feel that we are fortunate, with the ability to meet together, move freely, and enjoy exploring together. We wish you a very Merry Christmas as we think of all our friends and family spread across the world.
Summary of 2020
Biggest News:
Baby Diment arrives in May 2021
New camping vehicle
Meals on Wheels volunteering
Trips in 2020:
Birding at O’Reilleys in Qld and the drive up and back
2 Holidays at Victor Harbor
May trip to Owen and Melrose
Mambray Creek Camping
Four days near Whyte Yarcowie (North of Burra) camping and orienteering
Normanville Walking Camp
Flinders Ranges camping and orienteering
Melrose Quilting and Port Pirie
Coorong trip
Dark Skies for the Christmas Star near Cambrai
Next Year:
Venture to North of WA and a loop down around the coast
Hopefully Tasmania in September/October for National Orienteering Champs (Bay of Fires)
Learning to be grandparents
More walking, orchids, birds and (or course) orienteering.
If you would like to keep up with what is happening for us, or read more about these trips – you can also find our blog at https://luvapuzzle.travel.blog/
We went on a bit of an orchid search near Kuitpo to see if we could find duck orchids there.
Parking in a safe spot, we ventured up the hill , enjoying the cries and antics of the yellow-tailed black cockatoos on the way. These guys are great characters , but very messy eaters. There was one who thought we should hear the whole repertoire of noises, which was fantastic.
How does this big guy sit up here so happily?
We got a great close up view of a couple of white throated tree creepers who didn’t care that we were nearby and I had an extremely close up view of a gray fantail, which I thought was going to land on me as it flitted right around my head as it searched for bugs. Luckily it decided I wasn’t a bug. Too close to photograph!! Thanks Jan for capturing the moment as best you could.
best photo of tree creeper
We took it easy on a quite warm day, and were lucky to be with Ross and Jan as Ross noticed the horn orchid by the side of the track and called us back to have a look. We hadn’t seen any of these before and were happy to see the few of these in the area that we noticed.
There were also some onion orchids around
Some hyacinth orchids are budding, but not yet in flower.
Jan noticed a couple of large duck orchids on the side of the track later on (well done Jan) I didn’t get a photo of these as I was busy picking the brains of Trent and Klaus, who we ran into on the track.
These guys have been looking at orchids for 40 years and had just seen some small duck orchids (the ultimate aim of our search today). They kindly showed us where these tiny little creatures were to be found and we marvelled at the much smaller versions and attempted to take some photos (it was a terrible day for photos) to help preserve the memory. Definitely something to look out for again in the future.
Then it was time to traipse back down the track to the cars and enjoy a well earned cuppa after nearly 5km of amble, while we watched a couple of horses being readied for a ride.
Here are another few things seen on the walk that were part of what made it an excellent way to spend a few hours.
trigger plant. You can see the trigger loaded on the right hand lower flower. If you tickle the centre of the flower that tiny little trigger jumps inwards.
Our plans changed a little from the original ones, but a short post is still warranted.
Coorong National Park is Park of the Month for November and they were offering free camping at some of their campsites for the month. We still needed to book, but didn’t need to pay as well. This news had us somewhat interested and then more news turned up…
They were offering ranger talks for free as well…. On Saturday afternoon they were offering a guided bird walk at Parnka point with the local ranger in charge and also the President of Birds SA (John Gitsham). We were hoping to gain some local knowledge of the birds and the area. On Sunday morning there was a ranger guided walk to Ocean Beach from 42 mile crossing (a little further up the Coorong).
Unfortunately both of the ranger walks were cancelled when COVID escalated in SA, and although we had booked the campsites for two nights, Friday night would have been terrible as the hot north wind would have been desperately unpleasant for sleeping, so we decided not to camp then.
Eventually, with the weatherman promising much nicer temperature for Saturday afternoon and Sunday, we continued with the early plan to camp for one night on Saturday night at the Pelican campground on Parnka Point.
The family birding and camping group had become three vehicles and five people with Raelene, Jan, Ross, Erica and Trevor all making the trip.
We all met up at the Botanic Gardens at Wellington, before heading onwards to the campground.
The campground is only small, with seven campsites in total. We had number 4, which was small and fairly exposed to the open water (and wind), but scenic, whereas the others shared site 1 (more sheltered, but less scenic).
By the time we arrived at the campsite, it was steadily, but lightly raining, and this continued until after dark, so we all made use of our camper to sit together, chat and snack, before dispersing to our separate vehicles for the night.
Unfortunately the night got windier and it was pretty hard for any of us to sleep. It felt like a group of energetic teenagers were rocking our vehicle all night. There were some bleary eyes in the morning (and reluctant risers). The wind dropped at about 6am, but that was way too late for us to sleep well.
It was Rae’s birthday so it was good to sing happy birthday and share yummy carrot birthday cake together, as we battled the march flies at the campsite.
We also had the chance to try out fitting the awning to Rae’s vehicle, Tilly, and found it to be a fairly easy procedure (although probably not easy for one person alone).
We broke camp, going our separate ways as we headed back to our various home locations and other weekend activities. I took the opportunity to capture the view from our spot once more before we made the requisite trip down to the end of the point (1km away) where the closest toilets are located.
On the way out from Parnka Point we stopped to photograph the pink lake and pink salt collecting around the fence posts and wires , before proceeding towards home.
Lunch was at Tailem Bend, beside the river, where we sat and watched the ferry travelling across the river and back again as we ate our sandwiches and considered our route home.
We decided to cross using the ferry and travel up the south western side of the river to Murray Bridge, and then homewards via the freeway. As we came close to the freeway (just near the old puzzle park and butterfly house – now a hotel) we came across a new and unusual building and stopped to investigate.
It turned out to be a new waste water treatment station (Nankeri Tapatawangk- place of good water), which has won a design award. It is decorated to reflect the local aboriginal stories and the water is recycled to water local plantings which also reflect the aboriginal history. Two huge black swan eggs (mosaic by the local kids) are part of the artistic offering here as the Black Swan is the Ngarrindjeri Ngartji (totem).
Then it was homeward once more, and time to clean up our camping gear ready for the next trip.
We stopped in at this little Australian botanical garden on our way to our camping night at Parnka Point. Our entire trip took us 370km, but Wellington is about half of that from the city. Not a problem for a day trip.
It is a stunning little spot with lots of birds and flowering natives.
You find the garden on the Eastern side of the Murray river, not far along Pangarinda road. You can’t miss it – just look for the fancy entrance.
This is where we met up with Jan (Trev’s sister) and Ross, and Raelene (another sister). I got a bit of a buzz out of seeing the 3 family camping vehicles all parked next to each other , peering over the fence and waiting for the next leg of the trip. (Rae’s Tilly is on the left, Jan and Ross’s Troopy in the middle and our Hilux on the right of picture).
The highlight of the visit was the sighting and photographing of rainbow bee eaters. (well done Trevor). What beautiful and cooperative little birds.
There were a lot of other birds around, but, apart from wattle birds, Red rumped parrots and New Holland Honeyeaters we were unable to identify any of them.
There was even a list of sighted birds to help us out!
The plants alone were worth a visit. It really is a photographers dream and I had a ball trying to capture the lovely blossoms.
It’s hard to believe that there was nothing here in 1993 and a dedicated group of volunteers has made this dream into a reality.
They have carved out a number of differently themed areas through the 30 hectares of former sand dune. Area A,B,C and D show plants from
drier agricultural regions of SA (including Mallee, Coorong, Murray River and Kangaroo Island)
Northern Sand plains of WA
Southern Sandplains of WA
Arid inland species (WA, NT and northern SA)
Local plant species (honouring Paraympian Katrina Webb)
plantings of rare native ground orchids
Some of the areas are remarkably well signed – making it very easy to identify the various plant names.
We enjoyed the delightful display of WA Kangaroo Paw. Their fuzziness and unusual structure always fascinates me.
The Prostrate Banksia was also a favourite. (how unusual!!!)
Banksia Blechnifolia
We highly recommend this terrific spot for plant spotting, bird spotting or both.
It is always good to have an excuse to head off, and this was no exception.
I had agreed to attend a quilting camp just out of Melrose for the weekend, so we thought we would head off a little early and spend some time getting there and getting back.
We had offered to fill in for Meals on Wheels for Thursday, so we did that (a whole set of lovely new people we have never met before- some of them live just around the corner from us!) and then packed and headed off.
We had found that the 12v charging point was not working in cab the day before (since the reversing camera has been installed) and had ruled out a simple fuse issue so this remains a mystery, waiting for a solution at present. Trev’s new birthday present of an ultrai jump starter had arrived that morning and charged while we delivered so we could run the tyre dogs and navigator from that and charge the phones.
We arrived at Rodney’s ( via the Northern Expressway) in Owen in time for a cuppa before a meal at the pub and parked in his driveway overnight, happily camping there and using his facilities.
View out of the back window of the camper.
He was off on council business early on Friday but we made ourselves at home eating toast from home made bread for breakfast and taking the rest of the fresh loaf with us (with permission).
Nice looking crops along the roadside on the back road to Halbury from Owen
We took a less travelled back way across Robins Crossing, through Halbury, stopping for a short explore at a roadside reserve . You could happily stick the nose of the van in here and stop for a break.
We also took also quick look at the old stone goods shed in Holyleton – at the terminus of the old Port Wakefield to Hoyles Plains tramway line from 1870. Here we learnt that this was the first entirely agricultural line to be built in SA. The trucks were pulled from Port Wakefield by horse, and returned by gravity. Hoyleton also sports a quaint but tiny post office and unusual loo by the CFS shed.
We decided to try to meet with Geoff and Liz who are house sitting out of Clare and met at a bakery, sitting in the camper as we drank our tea/ coffee/ chocolate and ate buns. (eating area was not open due to COVID restrictions)
Some of the views of cut hay in rows on the hillside were breathtaking
We had been due at the camp at 2pm, but arrived at 3:30. We weren’t the only ones to arrive later than the appointed time, so it was all fine.
I had booked for a single room, knowing that my frozen shoulder usually makes sleep a challenge at the moment, and expecting uncomfortable beds. I had been allocated a room with 3 bunks and chose to sleep on the double at the bottom of one. My own bathroom and toilet made this a luxurious weekend indeed, and it got even better when I realised that it was a pretty good mattress as well.
The weather was pretty bad by now and Trevor headed off down towards Port Pirie via the Germein Gorge route. Sadly, when I started to do my work I quickly realised that my bag of cutters, cottons, pins etc was still in the van and he eventually received my message about this at the bottom of the Gorge about 40 minutes later. Being the excellent husband he is he then turned around and came all the way back to deliver them. (not happy Jan). His arrival at Port Pirie with the expected lasagna that we were contributing to meals was delayed by almost two hours and he had to suffer through way too much driving in terrible weather that night. Once again, I say sorry Trev.
Trevor spent the weekend with Peter and Belinda and the kids, watching sport, attending church (where Peter was preaching), working on the new kitchen project with Peter and generally catching up, and headed back across the range on Monday morning to pick me up.
I spent the weekend sewing away, listening to a lot of banter and advice from quilters, eating meals planned and made by someone else and doing a bit of a mystery jigsaw.
There were lots of inspiring quilts shown over the weekend.
A quilt for the camper was very nearly completed. This was completed the following day and presented to Trevor with my love. It is called “Sunburnt Country” and reflects the colors of the outback sky and land in blues, reds, browns and oranges. It reminded me of the Poem by Dorothea McKellar which starts “I love a sunburnt country”. This has no batting under the machine pieced top, but has a polar fleece backing. I’m hoping that it will be light enough for him to use and will take laundering easily.
We “bummeled” our way home from the camp via a number of stops (as we often do).
Our first stop was a visit to the Willowie Forest trails just a few more km north of Melrose. Here, there are three different walking trails, The Echidna Loop (1.7km), The Possum Loop (4.2km) and the Monitor Loop (6.5km). Since we had a long way to go, were feeling lazy and the weather looked like it might start to rain at any moment, we opted for the shortest of these. There is a lot of birdlife around here but we only were able to identify a mistletoe bird out of all of them. The trail was easy walking and pretty flat and we were back fairly quickly. Here we tried out Trev’s new jetboil for a quick boil of water for a much needed cup of tea together and sat at the table provided with a map to think about our route home.
Our next quick stop was at a pullover spot about 10km south of Melrose on the road to Murraytown (the B82 or Horrocks Highway). We checked out this spot (apparently called Doughboy Reserve) at the junction of Wild Dog Creek and Pine Creek. (turn off near the junction with Wild Dog Creek Rd and the Horrocks Highway). Here there are a number of tracks which travel around a wide , flat, tree scattered area with a number of excellent looking camping spots well off of the main road. A definite possibility for a lunch spot or possibly even an overnight camping spot on the way north. Coords are -32.896710,138.237732. You can really pick the trees on the satellite view of the map.
We stopped at the Stone Hut Bakery for pies for lunch before heading onwards to Bundaleer forest, where we had a brief break in the picnic area (boiling the zipboil again) and inspected the almost completed community centre which had transformed the area since we were last in this place. Next time we might be able to stop for a fancy gourmet lunch and read all about the area. Apparently this was the first working forest in Australia! We didn’t take the time to walk here this time.
approximate route form Melrose to Spalding area with loop near the reservoir to see the aquaduct
We kept to the back roads as much as possible as we headed for the Bundaleer reservoir, where we took advantage of the fact the SA water are slowly opening up the reservoirs for recreation. This is one that has already been opened, so we went through the gate and took a short stroll. It’s not the most exciting place to walk, but we did marvel at the place and wonder about how it was made in the first place. According to the SA Government Heritage survey: “The Bundaleer Reservoir is a water supply scheme built to provide water to the settled districts north of the Yorke Peninsula. The system includes the main earth walled reservoir in a valley 5km north of the junction of Bundaleer Creek with the Broughton River. Described as ‘one of the seven engineering wonders of Australia’, the construction of this vast scheme commenced in 1898 and was completed in 1902 at a cost of £483,600 during which time 500 men were employed. The scheme also provided employment during the 1890s Depression. It was constructed by an earth bank being built across the creek. Channels totalling over 30km were constructed which fed into the Reservoir by gravity. The reservoir still functions although it is supplemented by piped River Murray water from Morgan to Whyalla.”
There is now a good flushing toilet and a tap at the parking spot (no doubt to encourage people to not toilet in the reservoir area) and it is also a flat, gravelled area which would work well for parking overnight, although it is a pretty stark area despite the view of the reservoir.
We had glimpsed a view of an aquaduct as we drove towards the reservoir, so we then went looking for that, and found it not far away off of Wheal Sarah Road. The Heysen trail goes past here and we were able to walk right to the edge of the aquaduct at water level on the Northern side and to see the great concrete channel that drains into it.
We decided to take some more back roads and investigate the small forest section shown on our RAA map of the area as Leighton Forest.
On the way we took the road that crosses the Frome river and did our first proper river crossing in the hilux. There is a nice little track in along the southern side of the river here which might be a nice out of the way place to bush camp.
From the crossing we followed the aptly named, and very scenic Broughton River Road,
following the course of the Broughton River to the spot which they say is the meeting of the various rivers in this area. We stopped to read about how Eyre discovered this spot and returned to it later.
It turns out there is a gas pumping station at Leighton Forest, nestled in a small patch of native forest. We did a small triangle of drive through this forested area and then headed out on to the Barrier Highway very briefly (slightly south of Burra) before turning on to the Farrell Flat Road. We skirted Farrell Flat and travelled down through Watervale to Auburn, where we found the local recreation ground , and a spare space around by the deserted western riding club and popped the top to enjoy a snack and another cup of tea.
approximate route from Spalding area to Auburn.
By now we had decided that we would head home tonight. It as just a matter of making sure the driver had a good break and relax and giving the traffic time to settle a little before we headed into the final leg of the journey.
We arrived home at about 7:30pm in light rain, unpacked the essentials, had various leftovers for our tea and fell into bed for a decent sleep. We decided to wait and see what time we woke up to decide whether we were going walking at Black Hill the next morning.
After lots of looking we have finally purchased a new camping vehicle that we think might work well for us.
It will allow us to go off track and remote , but sleep inside if we need to , and have two separate beds if required. It will also allow us to hop in to have a cuppa etc if the weather is lousy, without meaning that we have to tow .
Here is a brief overview until I have more time.
This is an ex rental vehicle. It is based on a 2016 8th Generation Hilux workmate ute. 6 speed manual with 193655 km on the clock.
2.4l engine. No diff lock. 80 litre diesel tank, but room to carry four 20l jerry cans in two compartments one designated for diesel and one for water, but both the same size)
There are two gas bottles that you can take out of their little hatch to use – join up to the gas stove on the little shelf on the outside (or we are thinking to take one inside with a burner on top to make a cuppa – there is no stove supplied inside) .
Next to the stove is a cutting board that lifts up and reveals a hole the shape of a basin (for washing up). Haven’t yet managed to find a bowl the right shape for it, but only tried this morning.
Will probably take the one from the back of the prado for this trip and see how we go finding something later on.
House battery in a box of its own (not linked to the one under the bonnet)
Walk in up the stairs to see the fridge right in front of you. Engel 38l. Just a box that is cold. A bit smaller than the one we have been using in the Prado (which I think is 42l)
A little swivelling table big enough for two, and seating for 3 or 4 comfortably. Has heating and cooling that needs power, so we probably won’t ever use that. Not a huge amount of storage space – 3 rectangular storage cabinets set into the outside for bits and pieces, and the cupboard containing the bench and sink, and the cupboard under the fridge, so will need to be still very careful what we try to carry with us.
We are thinking that we will just keep our clothes in bags for the moment anyway.
The bed folds out to 1900 wide. (pretty much square and pretty much king size) so we are hoping to be able to sleep together (maybe) given this space. Will see how that goes.
Table can come off and be put up on the bed if we want, or can swivel.
sink has a 12v pump for the water from the container under the sink.
12v lighting
getting a reversing camera fitted and a 12v charger added to the inside back.
Front cab has comfy seats and hopefully enough space behind them to use for books etc.
In Adelaide it was a grey old morning, but we had agreed to try to achieve our recce of Kinchina conservation park for a walk we are planning to lead in October, so we packed our rain jackets, thermoses and a change of shoes and headed off into the hills.
As we passed through the hills it was very foggy, but as we emerged on the other side it was a clear day (if still a little grey). By the time morning tea time arrived we had a blue sky and sunny day and we were glad to have taken the opportunity.
We had a basic plan for the walk in theory, offering us a good parking spot, about the right length of walk and a pretty good spot for our morning tea, but weren’t really sure of how it would work out, and were particularly uncertain about the crossing back from the other side of the railway line.
We took longer to do the walking than we would if walking with our group (mostly due to bird spotting and caching stops) , so actually stopped for morning tea before our planned morning-tea spot, but were pretty happy to have found some historic relics to show our walking friends which only required a small change to our walk route. As we ate our morning tea we chatted to some spotted pardalotes and yellow rumped thornbills (and swatted at numerous mosquitos).
The crossing spot turned out to be a really scenic tunnel with stepping stones and then a beautiful rocky river crossing.
There were very many twists and turns of the track (which we cut across at times), which seemed to add a little to the real length of the walk, but overall we were happy with the plan. Where we will stop for our lunch break will depend on the time – but there are plenty of possible scenic locations to use.
Although we were pretty tired by the end, we decided to deviate on the way home past Ferries McDonald CP and try to locate some orchids. Jan and Ross had supplied a really good description of the location of a little hybrid orchid that we were particularly interested in seeing, but Trevor spotted a number of different ones as well on the walk in and back along the path (about 100m). A very worthwhile little diversion. There was also a very cute little pea type flowering plant that deserved a photo.
We headed out via main North Rd to take advantage of diesel at $1.03.9c/l at Gepps Cross. Then out via the Gawler bypass, Roseworthy, Hamley Bridge to Owen where we called in on Rodney for a quick cuppa and catch up.
We took very few photos this weekend as we were unpowered and relaxing.
We picked up the toilet trailer from Jamestown and towed it in to Bri Glen. Colwells were there. Zara and Steve Cooper were planning sites for the Aus champs rogaine (now delayed a year) and Phil and Anna Hazell were there too (with some friends). Phil was setting for Mulga Valley and had been putting out controls. Zita and Al arrived with Kiana just as dark was falling.
15th August – Tundarri event
OHOC offered the Tundarri event – middle distance OY- in the afternoon.
We had lots of people at the campsite that night and a fire with fairly good social distancing. We slept in our tent with swags. Little did we realise that this might be the last time.
16th August – Mulga Valley
TT event at Mulga Valley in ideal weather. Not too windy, not too hot. Erica got badly bamboozled on one leg.
We were not responsible for anything except getting the toilet to the event, and back again to the campsite.
Many of the orienteers headed home, but we went back for one very quiet night at Bri Glen before heading for home again.
17th August
We towed the toilet back to Jamestown before heading for home.
A lovely relaxing weekend.
Zita’s collection of metal hanging on the tree as an artistic installment.
Luvapuzzle 