More rocks, camels and stuff

Up early this morning and jumped on the Ranger guided tour of the Mala walk. Listening to the explanation of how the rock was formed and the part that it has played in the lives of the Aborigines brought a new insight into this fascination culture, a world away from ours. She explained about the Song-line and how the story starts way up north and ends way down south, the only way to hear all parts of the story is to be in the place where that pat of the story takes place. Even if you knew the other parts of the story, you are forbidden from relating it anywhere but where it belongs. Then there is the small complication that you only know the story as it is told to a person of your particular ‘level’ within the aboriginal life. Until you reach the next level through initiation, you will never know anymore of the story than you already know. What is sad is that the elders that know it all are just not able to tell anyone else so it can’t readily be written down and dispersed to the uninitiated, including non-aboriginals. We will only ever know the basic story.  Then as we move around the rock the story unfolds and we see more of the ‘need to know’ law as we pass sacred sites, some where sacred men’s business and some with sacred women’s business takes place. Truly fascinating.

Just for fun we took the Taste of Camel Riding tour where for a few sheckles you get a bit of old chat about camels and a even shorter ride. Enough to convince us that we probably don’t want to take the 2 hour tour!

Went back to Kata Tjuta to do the Valley of the Winds walk but were quite disappointed as we could only do a short part, then it gets way to hard and long, so we retired for the day. 

Snap de jour

Here we are, test driving the camels

 

 

Yulara

Saturday 28 April

Kata Tjuta was our first destination today. This was somewhere I have always wanted to go and OMG,OMG,OMG it was amazing. So totally different to Uluru in shape, texture and formation. We headed to the Walpa Gorge Walk and were totally blown away by everything about it. Sheer red cliffs, lovely waterholes and little streams flowing over the floor of the gorge into little pools. It felt older than time and it was very easy to imagine the indigenous people spending time there. In fact it was hard to imagine them ever wanting to leave this place.  The rock formation looked like it was made of conglomerate with the stones within the boulders perfectly round. Just like Uluru it was an amazing red colour with lush greenery growing along the water courses. It is impossible to choose between Uluru and Kata Tjuta as they are both awe inspiring. We could have spent hours there and will return tomorrow to check out the Valley of the Winds. Brian took a million photos and I wasn’t far behind.

We decided we needed a resort lunch so headed back to Yulara for a chicken burger, chips and coffee. How decadent. I think we were the only people there who had English as a first language, including the staff! Headed back to the caravan so Brian could download the photos and I made some scones for afternoon tea before heading out again. We drove to the mala walk which we will walk entirely tomorrow and walked a short way around the base of Uluru. This is also where people who should know better climb to the top of Uluru. I am absolutely shocked by the number of tourists who still climb the rock. I personally feel it is extremely disrespectful to the indigenous people especially as there are signs everywhere asking you not to climb. It is obviously on the itinerary for the tourist buses full of young people as there a heaps of these buses in the car park waiting for the climbers to ‘do the rock’. Once again, back to the sunset viewing area and it is amazing that the colours today are very different from yesterday. Mind you we still took lots of photos! Back to the van for a dinner of nibbles and champagne.  

Snap of the day

 

Kulgera to Yulara

Friday 27 April

Distances are tending to become a blur, especially when you are travelling 300 kms with basically nothing at all between your departure point and destination. On the upside, the landscape is becoming a tad greener with some actual trees here and there. It is also a little bit hillier so not quite so boring.

About 80 kms from Yulara, you get a small thrill when a very large mountain appears on the horizon. Impressive as it is, you can’t but feel a little disappointed when you realise it is Mt Connor, not Uluru. We continued on with our eyes peeled and when finally around 20 kms from our destination, there it is, Uluru. It is absolutely massive and it’s red colour almost exactly echoes the colour of the land around us.

After we settled into the campground, we had a quick look around the resort shopping complex bought a few needed supplies and then set off to have a closer look at the rock, which is about another 15 kms down the road. As you get nearer, the sheer size of this rock just blows you way.

Brian went crazy taking heaps of photos as just about every corner you turned, the aspect changed to reveal a different view of Uluru. It isn’t smooth and even but full of crevasses, fallen rocks and different textures where there has been water cascading over the rock. We did a walk to a sacred site, the Mutitjulu Waterhole.  The walk is along the base of Ululru where there are some caves with  paintings made by the families that would shelter there in times gone by. We meandered along a very tranquil path until we came upon the water hole which looked like a sheet of glass. There was a trickle of water flowing over the rock into the pool. It is a permanent water supply for the local Anangu people

As it was getting on towards 6ish, we drove back to the sunset viewing area and joined the 27000 other cars, motorhomes, buses and 4 wheel drives waiting for the change of light on the rock. The changes were very subtle as the sun started sinking, but changes there were, until finally Uluru seemed to be glowing. As it got darker the horizon behind it started picking up a lovely pink and mauve tinge that accentuated the red and orange of Uluru.

Snap of the day

 

Coober Pedy to Kulgera

Thursday 26 April
Another day of driving along the great road of nothingness covered in grey saltbush and not much else. Even when you come across the odd tree on the landscape it must be too hot in summer for it to have real leaves, instead it has what looks like needle shaped leaves. We made the obligatory stop on the SA/NT border and continued on to Kulgera about 22 kms further on. We stopped at the roadhouse along with a lot of others. Facilities not too bad considering where we were but unfortunately Telstra didn’t reach us there. Had a drink at the pub/roadhouse during happy hour and considering a glass of wine was $4.50 for chateau cardboard, I‘m glad it was happy hour!

 Snap of the day

Might officially be the middle of nowhere

 

 

Glendambo to Coober Pedy

Wednesday 25 April

A straight run through into Coober Pedy. The scenery along the way isn’t quite what we had imagined. Even though there is absolutely nothing to be seen anywhere, the road is not dead flat and meanders occasionally over gently undulating hills.  The only excitement we had was an ambulance flashed us as he passed and we didn't know why, then about 400 metres further on we could see a flock of emus on the road. Brian slowed right down and gave them a toot on  the horn which made them scurry all over the road.  Brian was very busy watching them pass across to our right before we started moving again and just as he began to move another idiot emu ran across from our left, got a bump on its rear end and did  forward roll across he road. Don't worry he was OK, quickly jumped back up and joined his mates over the other side of the road. Mind you it did feel like us 1, emus 0! 
We arrived in Coober Pedy around lunchtime and it is nothing like we expected. The town itself is very dirty and doesn’t have a nice feel to it. It is a little bit sprawling over treeless hills and maybe because you can’t actually see any houses as most are underground, it is difficult to feel that you are actually in a town.

We decided to do a bit of sightseeing after lunch to the odd opal shop, museum and underground house – these are called dugouts – but the highlight had to be the underground Serbian Orthodox Church. They only have 2 services a year as the Serbian population has declined over the years. We headed north about 35kms to watch the sunset over the breakaways. A group of mesas of varying colours that pick up the red rays of the setting sun.

  We think we have pretty much covered everything we want to see here, so have decided to leave tomorrow and give ourselves another day to play with late.

 Snap of the day

 

Woomera to Glendambo. SA 24/4/2012

You pull out of the van park in Port Augusta right onto the highway to Perth. 100 metres down the road is the sign where you turn north – to Darwin. Now we are definitely on our way. Our first stop is at Woomera, described by all as ‘an outback town’, so it’s official, we’re in the Outback!

The country is vast more than flat. There’s just so much of it. You drive for an hour and at the top of a slight rise there is s photo opportunity, a view over one of the many dry salt lakes.

Woomera had an interesting display of all the rockets and unmanned jet aeroplanes they buzzed about with. It’s a pretty big town, and hard to tell if there’s actually anyone here apart from the info and museum staff.

Pulled into Glendambo for the night – our first van park behind a roadhouse. Its just huge, must hold a hundred vans and twice as many campers. Today it’s just a big empty patch of dirty gravel, but as the sun sinks slowly in the west the dawdlers are all pulling in off the highway. Bit safer than driving at night with emus, roos, cows, trucks all out to get you. At least we have power and a loo. Going to have a nice glass of wine in the pub before dinner.

Snap of the day

Hang a right and head north for the next month - Darwin here we come!

 

Port Augusta, SA. 23/4/2012

Disaster! While pulling out of the van park at Hawker, I turned in too early and the van brushed up against a tree. Unfortunately one of the branches ran along top part of the side of the van, dug in and poked a 20mm hole right through the side. I knew I was in trouble when I backed away and the branch broke of and stayed sticking out of the side of the van. Grrr. I guess it had to happen. Oh, well, bought some gaffa tape and covered up the hole on both sides. No point in getting it fixed until we get back. Who knows how many other little surprises are out there?

Having done the damage, I felt no concern with towing it down a dirt road to have a look at the ruins of Kanyaka Homestead started in the 1840’s and abandoned in 1880. At one time it was home to 70 people!

Quiet enough drive down through Quorn and into Port Augusta and into the Big4 van park. Big is the word here! We are already getting a feeling that the adventure trail north will be chock-a-block with nose-to-tail vans. Went to the Wadlata Outback Centre in town and it was really interesting with stories from the dreamtime, right through to stories of the European’s dream time. We were there about 3 hours.

Looking for an early start on the morrow to get a jump on the mob and spend some time in Woomera.

Snap of the day

Wilpena Pound, revisted

Today we started by visiting Yourambulla Caves, the site of Aboriginal rock paintings. It's a fair old climb up the rocks and then there were the ladders! The paintings don't look anything like those we have been led to expect. They just looked like random marks with charcoal.

Back up through the Flinders Range National Par, past Wilpena with a side trip to Stokes Hill lookout and then up to Binman, site of copper mining in days gone by. Took the scenic route through Glass Gorge back to the main road and a 'town' called Parachilna, didn't even see the horse, if it had one. Turned of the main road and went back through Brachina Gorge but this time from the west. The colours and light are so different every day, every corner you go around. The thing that strikes you most second time through is the width and size of the dry river bed you mostly drive on. Fabulous.

Back at camp I wandered off to take some random snaps waiting for the sunset, which was brilliant yesterday...

Snap of the Day

EMU! Look at him go. We were following him when he suddenly turned and sprinted back past us

 

Flinders Ranges

Saturday 21 April – Flinders Ranges

Oh my God or for you nerds -OMG- an amazing day. It was a lot cooler today around 23 degrees and overcast, so as far as I was concerned a good day for a walk. We started by driving the 50 kms to Wilpena to have a look at the must see Wilpena Pound. Picked up some useful maps from the Visitor’s info centre, packed our water and trail bars and off we went for an 8 km return walk to the Hill’s Homestead and Wangara Lookout which gives a panoramic view over the pound itself from the east wall. A lovely walk through giant river gums, past lagoons until we reached the old homestead built in the late 1800s and is still in good condition. Well we just had to push on to Wangara Lookout and even though it is only another kilometre on from the homestead it is all uphill! Brian said it was similar terrain to Mt Tennant with us walking on very large sloping rocks to reach the top. I might have been a tad slower than Brian could have been, but I made it. WOO HOO!! Mind you it was worth the climb as you could see the entire pound floor from end to end. I have to admit though that about 2 km from the end my knees, hips and shoulders were making their presence felt. Oh well what’s a bit of pain anyway.

We had a bite of lunch at the visitor’s centre before we set off again, this time in the car for a bit of 4 wheel driving through Brachina Gorge Geological Trail. Almost impossible to describe the feeling of antiquity as we made our way along dry creek beds and the odd wet crossing with towering cliffs of red, black and grey striations of sandstone, siltstone, slate and quartz. It definitely had a spirituality about it. The info signs along the way indicated that most areas were between 550 and 650 million years old. Every time you turned a corner the scenery changed, each scene as breathtaking as the last. I think Brian took about 200 photos, just couldn’t help it.

I’ve become very adept at dirt road driving now, up and down hills, through wet crossing and along dry shaley river beds, so watch out who knows where we might end up!  

Brian will be uploading new photos very soon

Burra to Hawker

Friday 20 April Burra to Hawker

We pulled out of Burra around 10ish as we had a fairly short journey today to Hawker. Stopped in Peterborough for fuel and decided to have a look through the visitor’s centre as it was in a first class sleeping carriage of an old train. The lady there told us there was a really good steam train museum just down the road, so of course we had to stop in for a look see. We spent the next hour and a half on a tour of the old railway works yard where there were the three different rail gauges that were in use by three different states at the one time. Seems pretty strange that the governments couldn’t agree on just one national gauge but I guess that’s governments for you.

There was a very extensive variety of locomotives and various carriages including remote health carriages where nurses used to travel to different locations for a week or so to tend to the children of the area, workers accommodation carriages, breakdown carriages and an amazing restored first class club car, complete with lead light windows, leather lounges and a tinkling upright piano.

They had a roundhouse full of trains straight out of Thomas the Tank Engine. For a minute we thought we were in Tidmouth Sheds. They even had a steam tram called Toby!

As we continued towards Hawker, the southern end of the Flinders ranges started to come into view so we are looking forward to exploring the area in the next few days.

Mildura to Burra

Thursday 19 April – Mildura to Burra

A pretty easy trip across to the SA border. We knew there were quarantine restrictions crossing the border, so I didn’t buy any fruit when I went shopping yesterday to replenish all my vegetables. Being on the ball we ate our last mandarins just before the border. What we didn’t know was there was a manned quarantine station and it wasn’t just fruit that was restricted. I had to hand over my just bought potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, lettuce, onions, tomatoes etc, etc. Oh well!

We continued on down the A32 towards Adelaide when our turn off to Burra appeared. This was it, the real beginning of our adventure. We had never travelled on this road before or any road from now until July. Woo Hoo

We turned off the highway that was travelling through pretty barren country to a delightful little oasis that is the town of Burra. Set amongst rolling hills it is a heritage village from the 1800s when copper and then gold mining was the way of life. Beautiful old stone buildings are everywhere as well as the miner’s barracks and cottages. There are the remains of the open cut mines and all the old mine buildings scattered around town. Brian was in his element taking pictures everywhere you could look.

We are in a little caravan park – the only one in town – and it is very popular. Even the non powered sites are full of caravans. No wonder at $20 per night! They were actually turning people away later in the afternoon. I’m very glad we booked our spot yesterday.

Mildura

Monday 16 April –Echuca to Mildura

Seemed like a never ending trip today. Had a quick stop for a piece of fruit in Swan Hill and then stopped beside the Murray at Boundary Bend for lunch. Finally arrived in Mildura a little hot and bothered. After we set up our site, we dipped our toes in the swimming pool at the park and it was just a tad too cold to stay in for a swim. Deciding we would really like a swim, we wandered off to the Mildura Aquatic Centre and did a few laps. Felt good. Decided that champagne and nibbles would go down well, we stopped via the bottle shop at the Grand Hotel and headed back to the Caravan Park for the night.

Tuesday 17 April - Mildura

An early start as we were booked on a tour to Mungo National Park. The mini bus arrived around 8.15 with our indigenous guide, driver and caterer all rolled into one, Graeme and off we went to pick up another 5 people at various accommodation houses. 16 kms of bitumen and then we hit the dusty, bumpy, silty corrugated dirt for another 90 kms until we arrived at Mungo. Another 17 people tagged along and we stopped for morning tea at the Lake Mungo Lookout. Headed back to the Lake car park and then headed off into an amazing landscape of sand, petrified tree bits, middens and wind carved clay outcrops. Graeme was an incredibly well educated guide being an archaeologist with a plethora of experience. He was very passionate about his people and culture and was proud of his ancestry which in his words made him one of the last pure blood aborigines in the area. Pure blood being nothing to do with white man but to do with the tribes of his ancestors where he could trace a direct line on both his mother and father’s side for many generations. This also made him the traditional owner of just about every national park from north west Victoria to the Queensland border and east half way across new South Wales.

We had lunch next to the visitor’s centre which had a very interesting display of the history of the area. There was also the shearing shed from the original Mungo station and was built by the Chinese in the 1860s. A very rough ride home as the road was much worse on the return side so the bitumen was a very welcome sight. All in all a great day

Wednesday 18 April- Mildura

A day of taking it easy and a little indulgence. We started the day leisurely then off for a paddle steamer ride on the 100 year old Melbourne through Lock 11 and downstream a short way and return in time for a pizza and salad lunch at Stefano’s pizza restaurant. We decided that we had to go one better than that and headed off to Stefano’s two hatted restaurant for a 6 course degustation dinner. For the foodies out there I just have to let you know what we had –

Started with a glass of prosecco to get us in the Italian mood, then……..

Smoked Wagyu beef with onion , Capers and salad cream – never had wagyu before, YUM

Zucchini flowers with goats curd, capsicum puree and Zucchini and Fennel salad – YUM

Salmon poached in olive oil, smoked butter sauce, saffron fregola (like cous cous), green olives – melted in the mouth YUMMO

Agnalotti of mushroom and ricotta with mushroom sauce – also YUM

Venison with potato puree and blueberries and other stuff, who knows what, once again never tried venison before- double YUM

Banana, banana icecream, chocolate ganache, crumbled gingerbread and candied nuts - YUMMO

Picked Brian up from the floor when he received the bill and rolled back to the car! Worth every cent!