Wandering the west of South Australia. Part 1.
We headed out early Sunday morning, on the road by 0715. This trip had been in the planning for months, with the last few concentrating on having the truck and camping gear prepared.
So the road we hit, planning to be away for a couple of weeks. A familiar drive out, heading north from Adelaide. Ticking off the ports on the way up, Port Wakefield, Port Pirie, stopping briefly at Port Germein to check out the Sunday market. Before making our way to Port Augusta. Here we turn due west, following the Eyre Highway across the top of Eyre Peninsula.
We first took this route back in 1999 as a pair of fresh young backpackers from the UK heading out on our first Australian road trip. Back then we were in a metallic blue Ford Falcon station wagon. Now, we are still in a metallic blue station wagon, just this one is shaped like a 105 series Toyota Land Cruiser. Like last time we stopped at Iron Knob, as our sense of humour hasn’t really matured in the 18 years since we last came this way…
Not much about the mining community has changed either. We pressed on, the road following the side of the mine and onto Kimba, a nice little country town. Having one of its grain silos painted, which is a trend I can get behind.
Then onto Wudinna for a top off of the Long Ranger sub-tank, before finally leaving the bitumen at Minnipa to head north to Gawler Ranges National Park. The first 30km being freshly graded smooth dirt roads, then about 5km from the park must have been as far as the grader got. Instantly the road became very rough with severe corrugations. No skipping over the top of these beasts, especially with the Cruiser well over three tonnes, fully loaded with water, fuel and camping gear. Time to let some air out of the tyres and just bobble slowly into the park.
Pulling into the first campsite, Yandinga, as it was getting late in the day.
We quickly put up the OzTent, lit the Trangia and while the bread was still fresh I knocked up a couple of quick steak sandwiches.
While N made our new bed set up, with the megamat, camping quilt, etc. With the temps in low single figures the new bed set up was great, when it all stayed together... A bit of tweaking to be done on this. In all honesty the last few hours had been a bit more rushed that I would have liked, plus the big drive. I was keen to get out of the ‘weekender’ type mentality… We lit a fire, stayed up with a couple of drinks and started to relax.
A new day brought fresh perspective.
With nothing to accomplish today except exploring our local area, our pace definitely slowed appropriately. Bacon and eggs for brekky (which we normally have when we go away, aware that having that for breakfast everyday for a couple of weeks probably wasn’t the healthiest option, meant this would be just an odd treat).
Back out on to the corrugated main track, the red earth contrasting with the ethereal blue/grey green of the Pearl Bluebush and then the vibrant yellow of the small trees coming into bloom.
In fact this (late August/early September) is a great time to be exploring outback South Australia, cool nights, enough sun in the middle of the day (I may come to rue this judgement in a few days…) and still some water on the ground, lots of wildlife and everything that can, coming into bloom.
Our first stop was the ‘Organ Pipes’, the name given to many of the columnar jointing rock formations in these ranges (which were formed volcanic activity 1.5 billion years ago) with very angular and geometric looking shapes. The red rock covered in grey/white algae. This gorge, as with many here would be home to a spectacular waterfall when the rains would eventually come.
During the 10km-ish drive out to the Organ Pipes, we saw much wildlife. kangaroos of all sorts, emus, and a large amount of bird life. Possibly capped off by the vibrant flash of aquamarine of the ring necked parrot. I’ve only ever seen these birds in this type of country and they are spectacular, coloured like a tropical inhabitant, they draw the eye like little else. However, as we spent the next few hours trying to, I would suggest they are very difficult to photograph. Even if you can see where they went, you’ll be lucky to get within 100m of them on foot before they take flight again, well away from you. We just need a few to hang around the campsite…
We wound back into the park, just following our noses and a few trails that intersected the main southern and northern tracks. A stop for a tailgate lunch, just enjoying being out in the bush. Plus seeing the sights and sounds of nature all around us (these more remote national parks are particularly good for wildlife, as you would expect).
A detour to check out Kolay Mirica Falls, was a worthy side trek. Similar to the Organ Pipes area, but more accessible and more ground water. Including a well shaded pool at the top, home to many fat looking tadpoles. In a good spot to see out their aquatic time before all the ground water dries up.
A treat as we headed back from the ‘waterfall’ N spotted something about 100m off the track, a wombat! Neither of us had ever seen one in the wild before, yet there he was, in the middle of the day. Stayed still enough to quickly stick on the long lens, get a couple of photos, and then a couple more when I got out of the truck before he decided I was close enough and sprung into action.
Looks like he might have been on the losing end of a fight over Mrs Wombat, maybe that’s why he was out up here and not further down the hill where the wombat holes were.
We meandered back to camp, passing three vehicles as we went, all within about a kilometre of each other. There was one other couple staying at the same campsite as us, and apart from that these were the first people (all Grey Nomads, who else gets to be out here on a Monday? Well us, I guess!) we had seen since leaving the highway, good stuff.
Back to camp in plenty of time, I had a quick afternoon snooze as that is what old men do, right?
Then started making a fire. We had a Moroccan marinated chicken in the fridge and that bad boy was getting cooked over coals tonight. That was perhaps the best chicken and salad we’ve ever had. A day in the outdoors makes everything taste better.
The next day saw us moving on. Despite some claiming I was setting some sort of standard for being organised beforehand, to be honest, that kind of went a bit to shit in the last week. The pile of stuff still to go in the truck kept getting bigger and I lost that nice feeling of everything having its place. Anyway, this would be the first test, packing it up and fitting it all back in. Well, maybe I was being too hard on myself, and it all went back together pretty well. We were already making some changes as to what went were, etc. This I was expecting, and is just part of the normal process of being on the road. What may seem like a good idea back at home might for any number of reasons not work out when you are actually doing it. All good, it is all a learning experience.
Before heading out there was a quick detour to the local ‘waterfall’. Where there were many wildflowers blooming.
Driving out, on the rough and corrugated main track. Again we saw a ridiculous amount of wildlife. Two good reasons for taking your time, 10-30km/h was a good speed here. As we exited the national park and back onto normal council roads, there was a sign.
“It says we have should have two spare tyres” N said. My hearing isn’t great at the best of times and it let me down again, just at that moment…
(for the record, I’ve chewed this one over extensively. The VAST majority of vehicles you see in the Outback have two spares, I saw one with three! And twenty years or thirty years ago you probably couldn’t carry enough spares. However, knowing the importance of tyres, and only ever buying the best means I have been lucky enough to never have had a failure on a tyre I bought in the bush [careful wording there kids…], not even a puncture. I check my tyres everyday off-road, and am forever messing around with tyre pressures to suit the changing road conditions. For this trip I invested in a comprehensive tyre repair kit and two inner tubes. Saving the weight of not only the extra wheel and tyre, but also the hardware to mount it to the rear bar, not to mention the $ involved. A compromise? Sure. But you have to start making them at some point. We are already at GVM, and I’m keen to get that down. So that was my ‘risk analysis’… Although I wasn’t quite willing to verbalise that, lest it come back to bite me…).
We pushed on. The roads out here are great. You really get that ‘outback’ feeling. Big, empty and varied landscapes, give me that same feeling I got as a young man from the UK, driving that Ford Falcon, discovering the real Australia for the first time, a country of wilderness and adventure.
Open your eyes, there are many things to see in this nothingness.
Sturt Desert Pea. This vivid flower is the state emblem of South Australia, once widespread it says all you need to know that this is the first time either of us had seen one in its native environment, despite the many thousands of outback kilometres we have clocked upper the years. And, just here, these two on the outside of this bend in the road, that was it. None off in the scrub around here, none further down the road. So, a rare treat. Confirmed by the multitude of footsteps around this otherwise lonely and indistinct section of outback road.
Onto to Mt Ive Station, this was to be our second destination on this tour. This was there only thing I had ‘booked’. A two night stay, camping with powered site. As with most things we can get by without power, but it is nice to give to have it there, no need to worry about running anything down. Plus top our water back off, showers, wash a few clothes, etc.
Mt Ive on first appearance appeared to be the perfect outback retreat. Sheds with various trucks and machines being worked on. Old farm equipment now historical art displays. A young French women called Melanie greets us, drawn here through the wonders of an advert on Facebook, working here to get her visa and see a real slice of Australia. Asking where I’m from in Australia, picking up on the remnants of my English accent. She explains about the pet kangaroos, Rocky and Leo.
With the run of the place we set up camp next to a bbq ‘hut’, just setting up the basics. No need to unpack anything that is already to hand.
As we are settling in, and settling into the idea that we might be the only ones here, a coach rolls in… Many elderly tourists disembark for a spot of lunch, maybe we don’t have the place to ourselves. I chat to one of the old boys looking for birds with his binoculars. They are on a coach tour and this is just a lunch/bathroom stopover.
Next up we meet a chap in a hired 70 Series pick up. He’s a geologist, and warns in the next couple of days the place will fill up with workers coming in to complete a gravity survey, looking for density in the rocks, which in turn could be copper or gold. I’m not worried. One we are only staying a couple of nights. Two, it is interesting for us city folk to see outback industry in action.
Getting to know the locals.
Enter stage left a Defender, with a young couple and mother in law (!) from Byron Bay, on the east coast, taking a (large) detour on their way to Kangaroo Island south of Adelaide. Where the mother in law’s parents used to man the lighthouse, when they first emigrated from Scotland.
Another mining marked 70 rolls in. This one towing a trailer with a side by side on board. The gold exploration team is starting to take shape. Busy place this middle of nowhere...
Thanks for reading along. More to follow, cheers.