Day 6 – September 6 2012

An easy relaxing start to the day, the majority of corellas off early & the steady chorus of all the birds around the campsite kept us entertained.  We headed off on the Link Walk first, a pleasant walk that links the campground & the Homestead Creek day use area, along the banks of Homestead Creek.  The creek has had a significant flood recently washing away most of the bitumen parking lot at the day use area & washing away at the creek banks & carrying lots of flood debris in its path.

The next walk, the Thaaklatjika Mingkana was a very easy pathway winding its way into the splendour of the Homestead Creek Gorge to an overhang cave that has a series of aboriginal paintings, one badly spoiled by the overpainting of a triangular symbol by William Wright, one of the expeditioners with the ill-fated Burke & Wills when they passed through Mutawintji.

The walk then blended into the Homestead Creek Gorge walk, again a leisurely walk amongst the river gums, some badly battered by the recent flooding.  The birdlife along this walk got more intense as the gorge started to close in & there were small pools of water around.  At the head of the gorge was a large rock pool, meaning a swim was in order if we wanted to progress any further up the narrow gorge.  A very pretty spot & well worth the walk.

The walk back was again very leisurely & pleasant with lots of birdlife entertaining us along the way.  A mistletoe bird gave us a good song rendition & was kind enough to stay very close to us & give us a great view of its stunning red colouration.  As we got closer to the campground we started to see feral goats in larger & larger herds. They seemed mostly undisturbed by our presence.

We had a relaxed lunch under the shade at our campsite & a very leisurely afternoon reading & relaxing from our morning walk.  Another very pleasant day, with a BBQ of marinated chicken on the great BBQ facilities here at the campground, ending with a long chat into the night with Helen & John before it got too cold & we headed off to bed.

John & Helen are so independent & well organised, they have everything packed in their car, Helen cooks great meals for them.  They have all the clothes for all the weather conditions.  Their tent is functional & comfortable.

This is a great campsite it has flush toilets & solar heated showers also gas BBQ & hot plates for community cooking, where you get to chat to some of the other campers – this is out back in the middle of nowhere!