We're off!
What a night! It was windy, which is not all bad - means it's drying out the Track too! However, the day dawned clear and sunny, so we optimistically started packing up, then headed into town to the police station to check what the "vehicle under 3 tonne" limit, as Greg cleverly thought it might only be the tow vehicle! Sure enough, that is the case so we packed up and hit the road just after 11am. We didn't get far (5km) before it was time for 'elevenses' because we had heard good things about the quandong pie in Copley. The cafe had closed, but the bush bakery at the caravan park did coffee and quandong pie so we enjoyed that.
So, this will be our last live update for just over a week. We plan to get into Birdsville on Saturday the 2nd so Greg will be a year older by then! Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine and good road conditions - because we will be!
Update from the editor
There's a whole heap of new posts, after several days without internet. And I've updated earlier posts with photos.
However, I have now got a post out of order and at this hour of the evening, I can't figure out how to fix it. So please just note that the Prairie Hotel (Parachilna) day was Tuesday 21 June, Blinman was Wednesday 22 June, and that Thursday 23 June was Flinders Ranges to Leigh Creek.
Weather update - it's still raining :-(
Flinders Ranges
The wind started to pick up again in the night, and we heard Neill get up to put his awning in very early in the morning. Shortly afterwards, the familiar sound of rain on the caravan roof was heard again.
Come daylight, the rain had well and truly set in and the wind was blowing. So much for the clear skies of the night before. As we had a cuppa in bed, the likelihood of doing our 6 hour walk today was diminishing. Neill had planned to light the campfire at 8am for our breakfast fry up, to fortify us for the big day's walking. 8am came and went and let's just say it wasn't fry-up weather.
After breakfast, I went to the Bushtracker to revise our plan of action (after wishing we had an intercom or handheld radios in the vans so I didn't have to get wet). It was agreed that we weren't going to be walking today and that perhaps we should do our lunch plans (originally scheduled for
tomorrow) today. However, the more imminent problems was that Neill's caravan power supply was insufficient and he really needed to charge the batteries, seeing as there wasn't enough sun to use the solar to charge them. The Station rules say no generators but given we were so far away from other campers, we thought it would be OK, but Neill went to check. He came back with bad news and instead, upgraded bookings to powered sites within the main caravan park. So, in the rain and mud, we packed up our vans, hitched up, engaged low range and headed out. Very disappointing.
Re-set up on two long side by side sites in the caravan park, we had morning tea in Cafe Patriot (our van) then booked in to the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna for our lunch. An hour and a half drive there, we arrived to the well known pub to find quite a crowd there. Good thing we booked!
It was lovely and warm, and the famous "feral mixed grill" - listed as one of the top 100 gourmet experiences in Australia - sounded appealing so we all ordered it. We also had mobile service so we were all checking iPads and uploading blog entries! Our mixed grill appeared with a kangaroo fillet, an emu mignon and a camel sausage and it was all very tasty.
We got chatting to fellow Melbournites on the table next to us and swapped 4WD and camping stories before ordering quandong pie for dessert and coffee. Three hours later we came out to find it was still raining, which is really starting to worry us. The road between Lyndhurst and Maree (only about 150km north of us - almost the start of the Birdsville Track) is closed again. We may have to wait somewhere around here for a couple of days to allow the roads to dry out before we can try the Track.
Neill had some optimism in trying a gravel road back through the Flinders Ranges to our Station so we turned off the Outback Highway but after a kilometre or two of dancing down the very muddy and slippery road, we abandoned that idea and turned around to go back to the bitumen. Especially as neither of us had a satellite phone with us!
We got home before 6pm and headed to our respective vans for a night of R&R in warmth and dryness, without the need for much dinner given we ate so much for lunch. It's still raining so the likelihood of spending some extra days around here is becoming more and more likely. While we had service today, we saw some photos of the Birdsville site for our concert. It really does have blue skies and red desert dirt so we can't wait to get there - assuming we will in the not too distant future! We have time up our sleeve so it's just a matter of some patience.
Flinders Ranges to Leigh Creek
The morning dawned clear with high clouds, so we took that as a good sign. It was pack up morning so there was the usual arrangements to be made. However, we were on the road by 10:07am - a pretty good departure time for us!
33 kilometres down the road, we were back in Hawker. Neill needed fuel so we pulled up alongside the servo to wait when Neill noticed that one corner of our stone stomper was drooping. We had lost a bolt out of the shackle so I went into the service station to see if I could buy a new one. This perplexed the workers in there who were all most helpful in trying to come up with a solution. At one point, they asked me where we were heading. When I replied "Birdsville" they ruefully replied "no, you're not". The road from Lyndhurst to Maree is still closed - which we knew. We just thought we would try and get closer to be ready when the road does open. Anyway, we soon had a solution to our shackle and that was fixed, so we drove around the corner for morning tea.
Over the last few days I have been on a mission to find the best local quandong pie. Quandong is a native fruit a bit like a peach. I bought some quandong jam yesterday in Blinman and enjoyed that for breakfast! In hawker, I again had a quandong pie but it wasn't the best. I still enjoyed it!
Back on the road again, we started heading north. The blue skies were expanding, the clouds becoming high and fluffy, the temperature warming - we were quite optimistic. We did have a river crossing to contend with, but nothing like the other day. We got to Parachilna and decided to stop for lunch - in our vans. Neill got talking to a fellow traveller in the carpark, who had just come out of Farina - which is just north of Lyndhurst and hence on the closed section of road. This guy said the road was improving, so again, we were buoyed by this news.
Another hour up the road, we arrived in Leigh Creek. Last year, when we stopped here for morning tea, the town was a bustling town with a population of several thousand, most of whom worked in the nearby coal mine. However that mine closed at the end of 2015 so the town is down to a population of 200. A lot of the shops have closed. Apparently the whole town is up for sale, if anyone is interested. The purchaser would probably have to come up with a new industry to sustain it though.
We filled with fuel, then headed around to the caravan park, which is pretty good for this part of the world. Quickly setting up, we headed into town to stock up at the supermarket - which had most of the things we needed. It is amazing how quiet it is through the streets though.
Back at the caravan park, it was time for pre-dinner drinks. No campfire tonight, but there was a lovely sunset and it was looking like a cold night with clear skies.
We did enjoy our lovely homecooked meal in Café Patriot (our caravan), washed down with a bottle of red wine (just no campfire tonight, Dave!). Over dinner, we checked the road status on the SA Govt website, and the first section of the road has opened today! Hooray, we thought - until we double checked and saw that it was only for 4WD vehicles under 3 tonne - with our vans on the back, we are well over that. Still, we thought we'd wait until the morning and see what tomorrow's conditions are like. If that is still the road status, we can only get another 41 kilometres up the road. It's a real waiting game - will we? won't we? - but now as I write this, the rain has started coming down again. It looks like we might be hanging out in Leigh Creek for a bit longer yet......
Flinders Ranges
It's amazing how much impact the weather can have on travelers. We awoke this morning and after dropping the blind, I could see blue sky and sunshine! Sure, there wasn't a lot but it sure does improve one's outlook on things.
We still didn't rush into the day. It was cold and the sun did come and go. After doing the breakfast dishes, I noticed action outside the Bushtracker and deducted it was time for our vaguely planned BBQ cleanup. Yep - we sure know how to have a good time - it was time to have a joint cleaning party of Weber Baby Q's!! A couple of buckets of boiling hot water and some scrubbing later, it was time for morning tea. Over delightful goodies Jude baked a couple of days ago, we planned the rest of our day - around food! We decided to head up to Blinman, after Greg and I had such a good experience there last August.
We arrived in time for a Cornish Pasty at the general store (a genuine Cornish pasty with meat and vegetables at one end and apple at the other end for dessert) although there was only one true Cornish pasty left (we let Neill have that), two normal pasties left and I had a beef pie which was also very good. Neill and Jude then left on their tour while Greg and I finished our coffees, walked around town, and spent the better part of the hour talking to Mary in the mine shop. She was an interesting character, although not a local, having only lived in Blinman for four years. She, and the busload of tourists who arrived in town because they couldn't do their original scenic flights due to wet airstrips. Apparently, they had rung ahead to say they were coming so the general store could make enough coffees. We had been talking to the girl in the general store over lunch. She had only just arrived in town, being a Portueguese backpacker. I wouldn't have picked Blinman as the ideal location for a backpacker and even she admitted she didn't know how long she would be staying. She must have busier than ever this afternoon though!
We drove home carefully, as there were kangaroos everywhere and Neill was a bit scarred, after making contact with a kangaroo tail on the way up which damaged his foglight. Home just before dusk, we started the campfire, which prompted our new neighbour to come over for a chat (a common trap in caravan parks). Turns out he and his wife are heading to the same concert in Birdsville so we chatted for quite a while, until they went out for dinner and we settled in for the yummy casserole Jude had made earlier in the day in the DreamPot.
It was a pleasant if cool night in front of the campfire. We kept warm with the rest of our firewood, washed down with Baileys. We felt a little guilty for scarpering when we saw our new friend from next door returning but we were quickly tucked up in our warm caravans and planning to move on
tomorrow morning.
Flinders Ranges
When planning this trip, we envisaged blue skies, red desert sand, maybe some wildflowers coming out from the recent rain, cool nights and bright sunny days. The arctic winds, lack of sunlight and persistent rain showers were not part of the deal.
I was awakened in the night by what sounded like someone trying to gain entry to our boot (which is just under the head of our bed). At first, I thought it was animals or something as we are so far away from any neighbouring campers. But the sounds went on and as is always the way in the dead of night, I was convinced there was someone out there. I was peering out the door curtain, ready to yell for Neill if need be, when I saw the awning flap at the same time as the sound was made. Relief swept through me and I went back to bed, safe in the knowledge it was just the wind.
At 5:30am, we were both awakened by the caravan rocking as a bigger gust of wind really flapped the awning. I got dressed to go out and bring it in. It's not the same as our last caravan so it took me a while, as I got more and more frustrated at the weather.
A few more hours in bed and then we started the day proper. But it was really quite cold, and the wind was still blowing. Mid morning we headed into the main part of the caravan park, for a load of washing and to check internet at the one spot where there is some feeble signal - the camp kitchen. Back to the van for lunch and some talk of walks. Jude and I activated our sat phones but then I discovered a problem with ours so while they went for a walk, I headed back to the camp kitchen to try and get online to fix the sat phone. I was also on dinner duty so I promised Neill and Jude a campfire and afternoon tea by the time they got back. Greg and I pottered, reading, a bit of housekeeping and generally relaxing.
Optimistically, I lit the fire at 4pm and had a very warm, cheery fire going by the time the walkers returned.
So we had afternoon tea and Neill strung up a tarp to protect our campfire from the still cold wind, as I planned to cook dinner on the fire. As the sun went down, Neill found some leftover wood, the wind eased and the stars came out. This was what camping was all about! We had a beautiful dinner in front of a roaring, hot fire, washed down with a good bottle of red. We were convinced the bad weather had left us, so we planned a big walk for tomorrow and went to bed full of hope for our original vision to be realised.
Port Augusta to Flinders Ranges
We're back with nature - camping in the bush, with a roaring campfire, the odd shower of rain, stars and a full moon, and brisk night air. Even with the rain, it's sooo much better than a caravan park!
Our location is Rawnsley Park Station in the Flinders Ranges. Every other time we've been here (which is a few now) we've stayed at Wilpena Pound, so we wanted to try something different this time. This is a former sheep station turned tourism - although they still run sheep and you can even buy them in the caravan park shop or eat them in the restaurant! We've chosen bush camping so we're away from the main areas. It's quite beautiful, looking out over the Pound. Our campsite is in the shadow of the rock walls and we're completely by ourselves. This is camping our style.
We left Port Augusta at about 10am and headed out to Quorn. Today wasn't a big driving day which always makes me happy! We stopped in Quorn for morning tea. Regular readers of this blog may remember our fairly hectic dash to Quorn last August in order to see the Afghan Express steam train pull into Quorn. No steam train today, and apparently I missed the diesel heritage train as we drove along, but we went to our favourite (dare I say, our regular?) cafe for coffee and quandong pie.
Back on the road, we drove north to Hawker and then towards the Flinders Ranges. The countryside is fairly sparse and flat so it didn't take long to get here for a late lunch. You can tell there's been a bit of rain which still worries us for the drive up the Birdsville Track but we shall see. We even put the Landcruisers into low range to get out to our campsite! A bit of work to level the vans but we were soon set up and sitting in the sunshine for lunch. The weather changed a bit over the afternoon, including the first shower of rain just after we lit the fire. Despite the odd dash back under the awning for shelter, we eventually got the fire warm enough and enjoyed our dinner and toasted marshmallows washed down with Baileys. In order to preserve some firewood, we headed into the diesel heater warmth by about 9pm. Hopefully the weather will improve over coming days.
Port Augusta
It's always a more relaxing morning when we don't have to move on. However, it dawned pretty cool and has been raining a bit overnight. We're starting to get a bit worried as some of the roads we are planning to travel on to get to Birdsville have closed because of the rain. There's still another week until we get close enough to make those decisions but according to the Bureau of Meteorology, there's more rain forecast over the next week. We have enough time to sit and wait but our vision of warm sunshine, red dust and wide flat dirt roads is starting to look a little unrealisitic!
Today we had planned to spend at the Wadlata Outback Centre. We've never been on any of our visits here but Lisa and family enjoyed it two years ago, and Neill and Jude were keen to see it after 20 years since their last visit. So we started the day there with morning tea in their cafe - very hot coffees which was ironc given the recent media about how hot drinks can lead to oesophaegal cancer! The centre was very good, with lots of stories about the Aboriginal Dreamtime, white settlement, the coming of the rail and then the mining and tourism booms. There was lots of tactile and audible exhibitions so Greg enjoyed it very much too.
We spent so much time there we had to take a break for lunch back in the cafe - kangaroo burgers! We finished up mid afternoon, then headed to the supermarket to stock up for the next while before a couple of hours of housekeeping and rest.
Tonight we caught up with Greg's cousin Belinda and her husband Miles. We see them everytime we come to Port Augusta and tonight we shared a really enjoyable meal at the local pub. We had lots of laughs, the two school teachers swapped stories, Miles tried to spook us with his local knowledge of the Track in the wet until eventually we were the last ones left in the pub! It was a great night.
Cadell to Port Augusta
After a beautifully quiet night on the banks of the Murray, we woke to an overcast morning but as soon as I opened the blinds, there were my favourite pelicans!
It was a slow, relaxing morning riverside. Cuppas in bed, breakfast, showers, pack up, morning tea - all before 10:30am! Then it was time to provide entertainment to our fellow campers. They all gathered under the awning of a fifth-wheeler to watch the two chicks reverse the vans out from our unique campsite. I got Mighty Merlot and the Patriot out, then Jude reversed the LC and Bushtracker out - to a round of applause from the watching audience!
We drove around the corner to the ferry, singing the song "don't pay the ferryman". He loaded us first, and then squeezed the Bushtracker in alongside. There wasn't much room in between!
It was a weird sensation to be moving but not doing anything. In a short few moments, we were on the other side and powering Mighty Merlot up the ramp and onto the Goyder Highway. An hour or so later, as the scenery changed from saltbush to open paddocks, we arrived in the historic town of Burra - especially for a Cornish pasty. Fortified by the delicious pasty and a coffee, we headed off to Port Augusta, climbing some winding hills through the towns of Spalding and Crystal Brook out onto the main highway.
We commented on the "renovator's delight" stone houses that littered crop paddocks. Greg told us the story of why these houses no longer have roofs: The Cornish moved out here back in the day, buying one square mile (640 acres) of land. however, after several years of drought, they were forced to move away. Enterprising purchasers bought up the land for a song, but in order to avoid paying rates (which was calculated on every dwelling, and the definition of a dwelling was that it had to have a roof), they removed all of the tin roofs. The stone houses minus the roofs are still very evident.
Afternoon tea was in the quaint seaside town of Port Germain, with a fuel top up for Mighty Merlot from the jerry can because apparently, it's been 13 years since they have had an operating petrol station!
We arrived in Port Augusta at about 5 o'clock, then queued at the caravan park just as it started to rain! Pre dinner drinks were under the ensuite verandah (because it wasn't cold) and then dinner of steak and vegies in the Bushtracker. Washed down with port and chocolate, maybe it's not so bad being in a caravan park while it's raining outside!
Merbein to Cadell
The sound of rain on the caravan roof overnight was very soothing - especially when I realised we could have been collecting rainwater from our clever collection system! Waking this morning to the silence of the river, I opened the bottom window to look out to the river and saw a pelican sail by! Pelicans are my favourite bird, although Greg laughingly teases me that they are penguins after I once confused them (don't ask!).
Greg kindly put the heater on for me so my towel and the bathroom was warm for my shower, but it actually wasn't that cold today. After breakfast, we were on the road by 9:30am, thinking we would get to Waikerie well before Neill and Jude, especially as we knew we would save half an hour crossing the SA border. However, it was raining pretty hard, there were lots of trucks on the road whch do stress me a little when they are behind, then overtaking me - and then we got to the quarantine station just east of Renmark. The caravans have to line up in one lane (to be checked for fruit and veg), cars in another and then trucks in another. Let's just say there was a long line of caravans - this was my view out my rear view mirror:
We heard some of the truckies on the UHF comment that they hadn't seen this many caravans queue here in quite some time. Their comment that made us laugh the most was "we're just jealous because they've got a life". 38 minutes later, our van got checked and the inspector was quite intrigued that we were heading to Birdsville, although he told us to watch the weather! So any time savings we had anticipated were lost.
Arrivng in Renmark shortly after, we parked and headed straight for a bakery for coffee and elevenses. I also took the opportunity to visit Woolies to buy fruit and veg - now that we can carry it! Stocked up, we were on the road again with the sat nav telling us we were going to be late for our rendezvous with Neill and Jude. Pulling into Waikerie, the rain was coming down so after tracking down the Bushtracker, we all piled into it for lunch. Optimistically envisaging the rain clearing, we then headed to Cadell for a riverside camp. What joy to find this amazing site right on the river, with 30 metre sandstone cliffs opposite, pelicans on the river, the ferry visible from our site and a fireplace. It took some engineering to get two vans in and level (good thing we have an engineer on board!) but before long, we had the fire going and a cuppa underway.
After afternoon tea, we collected some firewood, then it was time for pre-dinner drinks. What a hard life! As the sun set, the moon came out and illuminated the cliffs opposite - what a sight! When I can get the real camera out, I'll try an take a photo. Dinner was cooked in the Mallett van - chicken parmagiana, mashed potato, sweet corn and asparagus. Yum!
As we sit around the fire, with the only sounds the crackling of the wood, pelicans swim past us silently in the moonlight. I love that our day is ending the same way it began. I can't wait for more of the same tomorrow!
Let's hit the road!
The roadtrip has started again! Yesterday we left home at 7:30am but it wasn't really the first day of our trip as we were only going to Bendigo, and were having the caravan serviced. We had to drop it off at 9:30am and then we had five hours to kill before it was ready. So we went to vote (thankfully, the early voting centres opened that day), had lunch, did some last minute shopping, had coffee and headed back to pick up the van. They were just starting to fit our stone stomper (a new purchase to protect the front of the van from stone damage and also the rear of the car) so we checked that out and were on the road by 4pm. We only headed 23km up the road to a free camp in Bridgewater on Loddon and settled in for the night.
A lovely warming dinner of spaghetti bolognaise, some initial issues with the TV which made me realise the service people had kept our caravan book, and a snug caravan thanks to the diesel heater. We slept well although it was pretty cold this morning! Good thing Greg only had to reach out an arm to flick on the diesel heater and neither of us had to get out of bed until it was warm enough!
The very obliging caravan service man got one of his staff to run our caravan book back out to us. So we left at about 10am for what was quite an easy day's drive. Had several stops, including Sea Lake for lunch. We had the music blaring in the car and Greg was monitoring the UHF - rather fortuitously as it turned out when one truck called us up (as the Burgundy Landcruiser - doesn't he know the colour is Merlot?!?!) to tell us I had left the TV antenna up! We got into Mildura at 3pm and had to navgate school traffic as we headed to Merbein just outside Mildura for our campsite on the banks of the mighty Murray.
It was a gloriously sunny day - up to 21C in Mildura! It's very peaceful here on the Murray although I saw a paddlesteamer go past as well as a few other small boats. Plenty of birds around, who wanted to share our beer o'clock chips. Went for a walk along the river banks before it got too cold as we now settle in for the night - with the heater!
More travels are imminent!
After what has been a horrendous start to this year with the passing of two parents, other family members and all that goes with that, it hits home very hard that there is more to life than work and money. memories, experiences, sharing with loved ones - these things always stay within you. Money and material goods don't.
So, in a few days we'll be off in the caravan again. We've got a lovely new red car and a lovely new caravan with red splashbacks in the kitchen - should be just perfect for the Birdsville Track!
We'll get out in the desert, take time to stop and smell the wildflowers, listen to the native fauna and wash it all down with a good bottle of red! Follow our adventures as we do so - dependent on service for blog updates.
