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 housed, 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 an house combined. The mine was rediscovered when the underground house was being discovered and still contains thousands of dollars worth of opal. Instead of dig 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 kilometre 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.

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 refuelling 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, numberplates, drivers licences caps badges, letters, photos, post cards etc.

From Berseford Ruins and William Creek

from 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

From Kinchega Natonal Park to Broken Hill 12th and 13th of August 2010

We left the Park for Broken Hill via Menindee on the 12th of August.
Broken Hill looks like quite a thriving place, the town centre remains pleasantly similar to when I was there 28 years ago.
Unfortunately we chose to stay in a dive of a caravan park - passable hot showers the only upside.

John and the kids toured Daydream mines and learnt about the hazards of mining in the early days - an early death at 35yrs due to bleeding on the lungs (caused by inhaling mica shist)
The use of opium eased the pain to some degree.

Millie and Maggie enjoyed viewing the Outback Art Award at Broken Hill Regional Gallery the next day.
Maggie also discovered a great set of op shops where she was able to procure trackies, beanies and pj's for a couple of sons who thought it was going to be hot, hot, hot!

Beside the Darling at Menindee Lakes

This was our first proper bush camp. Driving down from Wilcannia to Menindee, we caught glimpses of lakes swollen with flood waters and Menindee Lake also looked full, but the Darling was just yellow - most of it's water being diverted into the artificial lake system. Still, it was lovely to camp by the iconic Darling, seeing new birds and animals. I pulled out the folding solar panel and hooked it up to the auxiliary battery for the first time. It seemed to do the right thing.
The boys started fishing enthusiastically but caught nothing but a couple of shrimp which promptly got used as live bait. As Fabe had spent hours fruitlessly searching for earthworms, I decided to jog to Menindee to buy bait. It turned out to be a pretty gruelling 8km return run in the cold windy drizzle. My knees got sore and I had to walk part of the way home but paid dividends that night when Fabe caught his first silver perch.
Next day we drove to the old sheep station where we learned the familiar story of ambitious expansion resulting in devastation of country and massive loss of stock. The shearing shed was well set up as a museum, plus there were hot showers! On the way there we saw lots of kangaroos and emus. There were so many of them in Kinchega National park.
That night we fished again in the outlet channel from Menindee Lake and the boys caught more silver perch. The all got thrown back because there is a ban on taking silver perch from the Murray Darling.

On The Road To Lake Menindee

We left Armidale at about 8:30am on the 8th.

On the way, we stopped at Thunderbolt's hideout and Milly, Bro, and Fabian climbed to the top. It was an excellent view.

Armidale to Lake Menindee

At our first rest area next to a river, we saw lots of Zebra Finches. Another bird for our list!
At our next stop at a park in Coonabarabran, also near a river, there was a group of geese that crossed the road.We saw lots of Canola fields, they were dramatically yellow amongst the green.

We spent the night at a rest area 6km north of Warren. We made a fire and toasted lots of marshmallows. When it got dark, the stars were spectacular. View more photos by clicking the caption of the photo below.

Newtown to Armidale

Having ditched our original itinerary and head for Lake Eyre, we decided to still visit my parents, Jim and Isabel, in Armidale even though it was a bit off route. So at 7:30am, we headed off. But the first stop was my office at Resource 88 in Redfern to get a data file from my computer which I discovered could not be accessed by VPN. That made us just late enough to meet peak hour traffic northbound on the bridge. Ah well.

Bro and Fabe pull a face for their sister.

Just for a change, and to avoid stop-start driving, we headed out to Windsor and then up the Putty Road to Singleton. At 9:00am Bro asked when we would get there. That's when the first maths lesson of the trip began. If google maps estimates we will take 7 hours driving and we want to stop for 1 hour en route, what time will we arrive?

The Putty Road is a beautiful drive with very little traffic. However, the combined weight of the Landcruiser and Camper Trailer is about 4 tonnes, making hill climbing very slow and scenic. So we took a bit longer to reach Armidale than normal. On the plus side, it is nicer to be passed than having to pass other vehicles, and you see more and can stop easier.

Pre Travel Preparations

We had a lot of preparation to do in a short period of time.
Firstly the house. To be able to afford the trip we had to rent out our house, and that meant fixing the worst of it's problems and finding tenants. Luckily Judy who also has an office at resource 88 needed a place over part of the time we were away, and by some miracle Maggie, through sabbatical homes, found a family to rent the house for all the weeks that Judy wouldn't need it. Talk about serendipity! So we scraped and painted the bathroom, replaced the toilet, replaced the kitchen cupboard doors, and generally made the place presentable. Finally, I wrote a house manual including amongst other things, an explanation about the risks (small as they are) of drinking rainwater, and how to maintain the rainwater harvesting system if they had the inclination.
Then there was choosing and buying a vehicle. We chose a 95 diesel manual landcruiser wagon for their space and reliability. I knew we would be traveling very slowly up the hills, but there aren't that many hills in Australia.
We bought a second-hand off-road camper trailer to minimise the time spent making and breaking camp. It's built like a brick outhouse and weighs almost a ton without our gear, but should go just about anywhere.
We wrote to the department of education to get permission to take the kids out of school, took Cyprus our dog, to stay with my brother in Canberra, upgraded our NRMA roadside assistance, got Millie's orthodontics started, redirected mail, wrote a draft itinerary (for the DOE)
I finished any jobs I could, bought a laptop which could handle all the work software I needed to run, bought a wireless modem, an antenna and cradle for the phone, an antenna for the modem, fixed up the dual battery system, bought power supplies and power splitters to run  everything off the car, bought a solar panel to charge the second battery. I got VPN access set up to my office computer and copied all the documents and contacts from that computer to a new potable hard drive.

Fabian had a farewell party with his friends, we had farewell dinners with neighbours and with with school friend parents.
After some deliberation, I bought a new portable compressor fridge, 4WD recovery equipments...Ozi Explorer GPS mapping software and maps for Australia....
If we hadn't run out of time, I might have run us broke. But, after a poor night's sleep during which I thought up a long list of things to pack, which luckily I managed to remember none of, we headed off for ... Redfern.

The Caley Stein Cruise Concept

In about April this year, I suggested over the family dinner that we could take the kids out of school for the final term and travel around Australia. Fabian declared "I like this sort of talk!" The reasoning went something like this:-
- the timing was good to disrupt the kid's schooling. Fabian in year nine, Millie in year 6 and Broughton (Bro) in year 4. After this year, there won't be another good time for another 8 years.
- there was never going to be a good time for me to leave my work and there's no long service leave to wait for.

What we settled on is a 4 month cruise around Australia, August to November with an option to extend. We made the start earlier to avoid traveling in the worst of early summer heat. That meant taking the kids out of school for most of two terms, but the school principals and the department of education were accommodating. It also meant leaving my office at the busiest time of the year, so I planned to take my office on the road with me.