Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge -West Macdonald Ranges
28 8 2010
This is the most pleasant camp we've stayed in yet. The dirt road from Kings Canyon to the West Macdonalds was not nearly as bad as some people warned. It would have stopped most 2wd cars though. The camp sites are small so it was a real squeeze fitting our camper trailer tent and car on the site but we managed. No camp fires allowed but the ranger talk on the first night was around a big fire.
Another fine dry day - yay! We had resolved to do the Pound Walk despite the warning signs that there was a 50 m swim through cold deep water. We went well prepared with an empty peanut butter plastic jar for the camera, two air mattresses. Once again, it was awe inspiring scenery – different rock, different plants and differently spectacular. The compulsory swim through the gorge was the best bit. I loaded all the backpacks onto one lilo, and we all swam except Millie who took the other lilo.

Once we reached the other end we had a bit of a lie on the sand before rockhopping down the last bit of the gorge to the picnic area. Lovely day. We saw rainbow fish, bony bream and some spangled perch. Next day, Fabian managed to catch some fish to confirm that they are Desert Rainbows.
New Birds – rufous whistler, spinifex bird, peaceful dove, and grey headed honeyeater, pied honey eater, mistletoe bird, Port Lincoln Ringneck Parrot

From Ormiston Gorge

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon – Watarrka National Park
Thursday 26 8 2010

This was the site we had to see because people said we just mustn't miss it. We had even decided we would go to one of the other gorges which were less touristy – something without helicopters and camel rides. But the recent rain had closed the roads beyond Kings Canyon so it was Kings Canyon or Alice Springs.
After a misty sunrise, we got our first sunny day for a week. So out came all the towels and bedding before driving the 34km to the canyon. We chose the the walk which circumnavigates the canyon. It started off straight up a steep ridge then ambled along the top of the plateau , between the iconic domes. (as featured in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and the Qantas advert.) The formations and the canyon really are striking. The boys and I had a chilly but wonderful swim in Kings Creek at lunch time.

From Kings Canyon

New Birds – Spinifex pigeon (really pretty and tame), peregrine falcon

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

After a camp day to catch up on work, emails, washing and shopping, we made the 50km drive from Yulara to Kata Tjuta – again in the light rain. I thought we would be somewhat immune to spectacular scenery after Uluru, but no – it is an awesome sight in the true meaning of the word. Beautiful curved massive rock, with little waterfalls coming off it. We hiked happily along in the drizzle, marvelling at the geology, the flowers and the lush growth in the canyons.

Maggie and Millie in the Valley of the Winds, Kata Tjuta

From Kata Tjuta

Another of the kid's must -see boxes ticked but I was glad we did. The forecast for the next day was rain clearing. We could have stayed another day to get the classic Ulluru photos, but we all wanted to move on.

Yulara and Uluru

Uluru
All the way from Agnes Creek, we were dodging between the showers of rain. Mostly we missed them. We saw lots of wedge-tail eagles along the way – especially around Mt Ebenezer Road house. There is also a great little gallery at the back of the Roadhouse and a studio for local artists from the aboriginal community. The artwork was beautiful, but we just bought a sticker.

We checked out the free rest area camp site about 50km before Uluru but decided it would not be worth all the extra driving, including driving to Kata juta. So we ended up in the Yulara Resort Campground. Disappointingly, the forecast was for a few days of rain.
As soon as we had our camp set up, we headed up the dune behind our camp to wait for the much vaunted changing colours of Uluru as the sun set. We got no sun or sunset, but it was pleasantly communal being up their chatting with the other campers.

Overnight it started raining and was quite heavy while we ate breakfast. We decided to go and walk around Uluru anyway. It was windy and wet, but the water streaming down the crevasses of the rock was a rare sight well worth the discomfort.

Rainwater streaming off Uluru

From Uluru

So we splashed our way coldly around the base, shoes getting steadily soaked, but learning lots from the information board and enjoying the moving and spectacular presence of the rock.

From Uluru

It really deserves it status as our premier natural tourist attraction. Another benefit of the rain was that no-one was able to climb on the rock. It really was a special day, 13km walking plus an hour looking and learning about the local Anungu culture. That night , Broughton took to sleeping in the forward compartment of the trailer.

From Uluru

New Birds – spiney cheeked honeyeater, red backed kingfisher, pick cockatoo

Coober Pedy and on to Agnes Creek

From Lake Eyre, we could have continued up the Oodnadatta track through Oodnadatta to Marla, or headed West to Coober Pedy. We opted for Coober Pedy hoping to see some underground housing, and fairly early in the day, we drove in through the outskirts of town past piles of mine tailings - contrasting white or cream against the mostly red gibber.

Piles of tailings adorn the landscape

From coober pedy

We opted for a tour of a really old opal mine and house combined. The mine was rediscovered when the underground house was being discovered and still contains thousands of dollars worth of opal. Instead of digging it up, they converted both into a museum. 

We also got a demonstration of mining equipment and a chance to ”noodle”. That is the term for searching through tailings looking for opals. We all got to have a rock sucked from our hand by a blower truck which seems to be the main way mine tailings are taken from the mine - very energy inefficient but very labour efficient. All up, is was a fascinating place.

Again, we were planning to stay at least a couple of days but after a night of big trucks driving past in the wee hours, we decided to head off. Not before Maggie got to check out the local Op-Shop (which wasn't really an opshop as it turned out) The piles of mine tailings continued to litter the plains for many kilometers after we left Coober Pedy. The extent of the opal mining is phenomenal. No wonder it is a buyers market (or so we are told).

That night we camped at a rest area at Agnes Creek. It was much nicer than the caravan park at Coober Pedy with a series of campsites strung out along the bank of the dry creek bed. The kids decided to go and sleep in the dry creek bed. I know you should never do that, but I was pretty confident there was no rain coming to the little catchment upstream of us. In the middle of the night, I heard Bro outside the tent. He needed to go to the toilet and was looking for the shovel. I felt ashamed, sorry for him and proud all at once. Anyway I got up and helped him, and he headed off back to the creek. 10 minutes later he was back – he couldn't find the place they were sleeping on the creek, so he joined us in bed for the night.

From coober pedy

New birds – correllas, budgerigars
John

Lake Eyre

Lake Eyre
Going to lake Eyre was the main reason we headed west instead of up the Queensland Coast, so it really felt like an achievement to walk out on the salty mud to where it started getting sticky. This was at Halligan's Bay about 67km east of William Creek. The kids kept going out past the frames of small fish, grasshoppers and mice to the edge of the water – maybe one km from shore. I was content to watch them dwindle until they were just specks in the distance. They returned covered in grey mud to above their knees. There was no water apart from what we brought with us so the clean up was of necessity cursory.

From Lake Eyre

We had planned to stay a few days at lake Eyre but the campsite really was fairly desolate – just a flattish sandy turnaround space behind the fore-dune and no fires permitted to avoid leaving scars. Still it is a very special place and we were glad we went. The approaches are also quite interesting. The section just before the lake shore is something like a moonscape. It also held a surprising number of birds.
New Birds (Lake Eyre)– sea gulls, red capped plover, orange chat
(On the way out) - , brown falcon, black fronted plover, red necked avocet, singing honeyeater, pallid cuckoo, crested wedgebill, black faced wood-swallow, black winged stilt, white breasted wood swallow

On the road to Bereford Ruins and William Creek

We loved our time at Wilpena but it was time to head north along the old Ghan Rail route towards Lake Eyre.

From Wilpena to Leigh Creek

Not long after Maggie had suggested we might run into someone we knew, we did. While refueling at Angorichina, Maggie was spotted by Nat, a friend from Sydney.

From there we continued on through Parachilna Gorge and up to Leigh Creek where we stopped to look at the original open cut mine pit and a retired walking dragline. The kids enjoyed sitting in the dragline operator's seat and moving the levers.

From Wilpena to Leigh Creek

This was the start of their rapid education about mining in Australia.

At Marree, we headed up the Oonadatta track towards William creek. We had hoped to camp at Coward Springs but they were full so we kept going to Beresford Ruins where we found a nice campsite beside the waterhole, just before nightfall.

From Berseford Ruins and William Creek

  Our bird list was growing steadily, and we were able to add a few new birds there. We almost felt like staying a couple of nights but as the wind got up in the morning, we packed up fairly leisurely and headed on up the track.

Somewhere before William Creek, we got close to Lake Eyre South. Like much of the trip, it was cold and windy when we got out of the car to have a look. By William Creek, a roadhouse, camp ground and airstrip doing a brisk trade in flights over lake Eyre, it felt a little warmer. There were a few interesting sculptures beside the road enroute and a collection of old machinery and rockets at William Creek. Then there was the interior of the Roadhouse itself completely covered in business cards, number-plates, drivers licences caps badges, letters, photos, post cards etc.

From Beresford Ruins and William Creek

Broken Hill to The Flinders Ranges 13th to the 17th of August

After leaving Broken Hill we traveled as far as Peterborough and camped at a rest area east of the town. As we'd headed to SA we had to forfeit our fruit and veg including one of our home grown (unripe) avocados. At least we found some friendly people to pass it on to! Somewhere along the road we spotted Amelia Park - so that was another photo opportunity! ( below left)

Saturday 14th August we did a big shop and headed to Hawker for lunch before the last stretch of driving to Wilpena Pound.
We decided to stay at the Wilpena Pound campground which has very nice facilities. There were lots of emus and wallabies roaming around much to the kid's delight.
On Sunday the 15th we did the Mount Ohlssen Bagge walk which took us up some steep terrain to breathtaking views.
After sitting in the car for a few days the 7km walk was quite bracing.

Above left the kids can be seen in a huge River Red Gum at the beginning of the Ohlssen Bagge walk. John, Fabian and Milly did a big run/cycle along the Hills Homestead track the next morning and later on the same day I was able to do a short walk with Amelia  (milly) and Bro along the Drought Busters Trail.
Bro and I both did a linocut of a grass tree of which there are many lovely examples along the track. See more photos by clicking on the photo below,

Maggie

Wilpena Flinders Ranges