Trekkin

Day 9 – September 9 2012

A very pleasant start to the day, the wind has dropped, the sun is shining & there are no clouds.   The drive to the Flinders Ranges was easy with each unfolding mile giving us better & better views & scenery.  The trip from Orroroo to Rawnsley Park Station, butting up against Wilpena Pound, is around 150km so we arrived around 11.30am, set up, lunch, then embarked on the Clem Corner walk.  This walk starts at the campsite & follows the northern base of Ulowdna Range with magnificent views across to the majestic ramparts of Wilpena Pound, a truly impressive site.  After around 2km we turned south through a pretty gully & walked along the southern side of the Ulowdna Range.  This gave us magnificent views across the hills of Arkaba to the Elder Range.  We stopped many times to admire the striking scenery & watch the birds, kangaroos & even a couple of shingleback lizards.  At the Kangaroo Gap lookout we turned north again & followed Kangaroo Creek back to the campground.  This creek has a very impressive stand of very old river gums, so full of character & charm, looking glorious in the late afternoon light.

Back at camp we sat down to some nibblies & wine chatting with Rose, Mike, Helen & John when a mallee ringneck bird flew into the back window of Rose & Mikes motorhome.  This stunned the bird so Mike picked it up & nursed it for a while until it recovered & could fly off again.  We made good use of the great camp BBQ facilities, the six of us sat & ate our meal at the tables & planned tomorrows excursion & chatted with the other campers before another hot shower (yes, unbelievable) & bed.

This place is so unbelievable – the views of the mountains are so beautiful, the camping ground is very well kept, we have powered sites.  The community BBQ, kitchen so well equipped & the bathrooms are very clean, like new.  At the information centre they are friendly & informative about the places we should see.  The shop has lots of souvenirs & basic groceries, fresh fruit, vegetables & wines at such a reasonable prices.  Hard to believe that this is in the outback.

Day 8 – September 8 2012

It was a cold night but turned out to be a nice sunny morning – shorts & T shirts today.

Packing this morning for the next leg of our trip to the Flinders Ranges.  A chat with our neighbours & exchanging information on places to go, stay & see, a visit from a friendly kangaroo, then on the road again.  The trip out of Mutawintji was uneventful, apart from having to slow down for lots of different flocks of emus who seem to want to run across the road in front of us, then some kangaroos that wanted to stay on the road.  I have never seen so many emus in such a relatively small area, there were easily over 100 emus that we went past on the way out of Mutawintji.  Unfortunately, also a few dead emus that mistimed their runs in front of other cars.

We stopped when the road turned to bitumen again & re-inflated the tyres.  Fortunately no punctures on the way out. We stopped for a quick food shop at Broken Hill, not too much as we still had to pass through the quarantine station in South Australia, so no fruit & vegetables.  We had to open up the Karavan so the fridge contents could be checked at the quarantine checkpoint at Oodla Warra.  The quarantine check was uneventful, we made sure we had eaten all our fruit & vegetables beforehand, the fine can be many thousands of dollars.  The temperature at this place was freezing, only 11C.  Shorts & T shirt was definitely a bad choice of clothing.

Next stop was Peterborough for refuelling & a brief departure from our friends John & Helen, they have decided to have a night of luxury in a hotel before the next week or so of camping under canvas (it was so cold & they didn’t want to bother with unpacking just for the one night). The fruit & vegetables were also restocked here, the girl serving said that a lot of people get caught out by buying up in Broken Hill, only to have it all confiscated at the quarantine station, then they have to stock up again at the next large town on the trip, Peterborough (their prices are very high because they have a desperate clientele – or it could be because we are “out back”).

Finally our destination for the night, the nice little township of Orroroo & the one & only caravan park.  Our friends Mike & Rose were already there & greeted us as we arrived.  Now the only friends missing, (who were going to travel with us) are John & Sue (they were the ones who travelled with us last time) but unfortunately they couldn’t make it – we hope that Sue’s back is better.  A quite chat with some cheese & bikkies, plus a glass or two of red while watching the sunset & the massive flocks of corellas searching for a night roost was a pleasant way to relax after travelling 466km today.  We soon said good night as it got very cold.  We have the heater on while writing the blog as it all has to go tonight (we have mobile coverage tonight) because we will be out of mobile range for quite a few days when we get into the Flinders Ranges, then the desert.

Day 7 – September 7 2012

This morning was a short 6km drive to the Mutawintji Gorge car park area then a splendid walk across some rangeland country with feral goats everywhere.  The ranges either side were very pretty in the morning light with clumps of spinifex dotting the hillsides.  As the gorge closed in on the creek, again the battered gum trees were full of birds & proudly bearing their scars from the recent flooding.  This gorge had more water in it than the previous one at Homestead Creek, though it was a little easier to navigate with large slabs of exposed sandstone making easier walking.  Near the end of the gorge a large pool & some difficult climbing made it hard to reach the largest deep pool right at the start of the gorge.  This pool was flanked by towering rusty red cliffs with a few guardian bonsai cypress pines clinging precariously to life up the cliff faces.  The mouth of the gorge had a very narrow deep chasm that seemed impassable as it wound its way deep inside the towering cliffs.

We stopped at this beautiful spot & had our morning tea, it was very peaceful & relaxing.  As we were finishing some further groups of walkers made their way up to & past us.  We headed back & again had a very enjoyable leisurely stroll as the gorge opened out & enjoyed the beauty from the other direction.  Another very pretty spot we enjoyed immensely.  My knees are so far holding out very well, Ron is a real sweetheart & helps me over the rough parts of the path.  The last few days life has been simple, a time to unwind.

Back home for another nice lunch & a relaxing afternoon, sitting in the sun watching the birds & some of us had a snooze. The nights have been cold but the days are beautiful & sunny, perfect for walking.  The emus just walk around the campsite totally unconcerned by us.  The mallee ringneck parrots feed on the ground only a metre from my feet, simply amazing & beautiful birds.

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!

Day 5 – September 5 2012

The wind steadily built through the night & by morning it was strong enough to blow a dog off a chain.  The lake had waves about a metre high crashing through the trees in the water then onto the sand, spray flying everywhere.  The wind wasn’t cold at all.  We all enjoyed this place, the waves were mesmerising. We decided to leave seeing it was so windy (we couldn’t really go for walks) so after packing went for a drive down to look at the main weir. There were rivers of sand being blown across the road, an amazing sight, I have never seen anything like it before.  Down near the weir in the sheltered areas there were multitudes of water birds, plus a few more nice free camp spots.  We stopped to re-inflate the tyres for bitumen road use, then off to Broken Hill.  We were punching straight into the wind, it must have been blowing at least 100km/h, with tumbleweed blowing furiously down the road & a huge dust storm whipped up.  It felt surreal, driving into the dust storm with a very strange colour filtered light, the low salt bushes & native grasses looked silver & gold, so beautiful.  We drove along behind a convoy of three Eco-Tourer vans, travelling at about 80km/h.  It was too dangerous to travel any faster, the wind gusts were extreme. If us grey nomads wouldn’t be on these roads they could close them.

We stopped at Broken Hill to refuel, both cars & people, then headed out the Tibooburra Road towards Mutawintji National Park.  The wind slowly swung behind us & made driving a little easier, still only 80km/hr though.  We had a great drive on the bitumen for about 100km, seeing lots of emus by the roadside feeding.  Then onto the dirt again, so tyre pressures down again, for the final 80km into Mutawintji.  We were travelling along nicely at around 60km/hr when the warning message came up on my dashboard telling me I had a flat tyre, so I stopped to check & sure enough, the driver’s side rear tyre was hissing air out.  It looked like a very sharp rock had pierced right through the tread.  So unpack the back of the car, out with the spare, fit it, then repair the tyre with the tyre repair kit I have.  The tyre took two plugs to fix as it was a decent gash.  When I pumped the tyre up again it appears that the leak has been fixed.

The rest of the trip into Mutawintji was uneventful so we selected a spot in the campground & set ourselves up.  Then off to the showers, amazing, this out of the way place has solar hot showers, so Tereza & I indulged & washed off five days’ worth of dust – sheer luxury.  Dinner & bed with the sound of the galahs & cockatoos squabbling for roosting sites amongst the many trees at the campground.  Emus are just wandering amongst the campers.

Day 4 – September 4 2012

An early start as the birds were rising & singing out their various tunes, we were away by 8.30am on the road to Pooncarie, 58km of fairly recently graded dirt road, so recent we stopped & had a chat to the grading team as they were having a cuppa at around 10am.  They told us about finding a grave nearby of a lonely traveller that died of thirst on the road in 1914, whilst walking between stations.  A poignant reminder of how harsh the country can be.  Again a lot of saltbush country before turning onto the bitumen of the Mildura-Pooncarie Road for the next 28km.  We saw a bit of flood water on both sides of the road as the Darling River is close to the road in places.

We stopped briefly in Pooncarie to look at the site of the old wool wharf, no wharf to see but a few notes & photos put up by the Pooncarie Historical Society.  A lot of fellow travellers decided to do the same thing, there must have been 8-10 campers there at the one time.  Another business opportunity – if there was a coffee shop there it would have done a roaring trade.  Goodbye bitumen, another 123km of dirt road to Menindee, again in reasonable condition courtesy of the same grader team.  A stop at the Menindee Information Centre for some local knowledge, then into Kinchega National Park.

We called in to the place we planned to camp, Emu Lake, but Tereza was very unimpressed – there were a few emus there though.  We went on the next 500 metres to Kinchega Woolshed & the National Park Visitor Centre.  The Kinchega woolshed is very large, again made from local cypress pine, but only half the size now of what it was in its heyday.  A very interesting walk through as it was left largely as it was when finally abandoned as a working concern in 1967 when the ceremonious 6 millionth sheep was shorn in it to mark the handing over of the property to the National Parks.  While sitting on a bench in the shade of the old shearer’s quarters, we looked up & saw Helen & John Miller, our friends from Canberra arrive, whom we were going to camp a couple of nights with at Emu Lake.  As Emu Lake (dry saltbush only, no water) did not look particularly attractive (not one person was camped there, for obvious reasons), we decided to head off to try & find a camp where the helpful bloke at the Menindee Information Centre suggested was a good free camp, along the edge of Lake Pamamaroo.

A short Drive out of Menindee, a right turn & after a short drive we found a campsite right on the edge of the lake – perfect, all was forgiven.  We set up camp with Helen & John on a nice spot about ten feet from the water’s edge & joined them for some cheese & bikkies with a glass of wine watching the large numbers of water birds & the sun setting through the semi-submerged trees in the lake.  This is such a delightful place we sat & chatted after dinner enjoying a beautiful starlit sky the waves & shadows of the trees & shrubs.  I am so glad that Ron & John decided on a plan “B” after the terribly disappointing camp site at Emu Lake.  Now to bed with the gentle noise of the waves lapping onto the sand next to us, after 265km of driving today with a pleasant 27C temperature.

Day 3 – September 3 2012

This morning after a leisurely breakfast we were at the Mungo Lake Visitor Centre by 8.45am just as it opened to pay our camp & vehicle fees.  The display was small, yet interesting, explaining the history of the lake from 120,000 years ago until now, with the various stages of drying up & filling over the centuries.  The nearby Mungo Woolshed was impressive, made of local cypress pine & still standing after being built in 1869 & withstanding the ravages of time.  The original steam engine that drove the 30 stand shearing line is still sitting where it was left inside the shed after it was replaced by the newer, smaller engine to drive the new 5 stand shearing line after the new shearing technology was introduced.

We headed off on the self-guided drive tour across the 4km wide dry bed of Lake Mungo to the lunette side of the lake named the “Walls of China”.  They are certainly dominant rising around 30 metres & multi-coloured signifying the differing periods of the Lake’s history.  The erosion is very pronounced & there are thousands of fossils lying around exposed by the erosion.  The rough dirt road went over the lake dunes with stops at varying places of interest.  One of these was Vigar’s Wells, a natural water soak that was used by the Cobb & Co coaches in the late 1800s.  Amazing the hardships these people endured travelling outback, I would hate to think what it would be like here on a hot summer day.  It is in the middle of absolute nowhere.  The next stop of interest was the ruins of the old Zanci Homestead, complete with a dugout to escape the summer heat & store provisions.

Finally back to Mungo Visitor Centre & camp after 70km of rough dirt road.  A quite relax & read, then a walk of the Grasslands loop again.  We had an emu wander past as we were sitting having cheese & some more “Favourite Son” red wine, it was totally unconcerned about us.

As we arrived at Lake Mungo I was taken back a bit!  NO WATER just a big flat round area covered with saltbushes mainly, in the distance some sand dunes – so I asked IS THIS WHY WE TRAVELLED 2 days through mostly desolate country?  The drive & walks turned out quite pleasant, peaceful & interesting. When we reached the Lunette area it was like seeing through the “Curiosity” as it probes around Mars.  The erosions look out of this world.  We had a very pleasant time but I am very glad that we are not here in the middle of summer.  This is the problem with Australia – it is such a big country & most of the time you have to drive for a long way before you get to the most unreal places.

Day 2 – September 2 2012

An absolutely cold night but cosy in the Karavan.  A freezing start to the morning at Birdcage Reserve.  The birds didn’t seem to mind as they went about starting their day.  Our first breakfast of the trip we watched the sun filtering through the trees & the reflections off the river, and then we were away by 8.45am.  Suddenly the phone rang, James called to wish his father a happy father’s day.  That call made the day!  Ron phoned his dad & we had a chat with him.  Amazing, when you are on the road how good it is catch up with loved ones (we only left home a day ago).  We turned off the highway into Hay to see what it looked like, a huge improvement on my last visit 30 years ago.  A U-turn at the end of the main street & a stop for fuel then off again.  The land has now turned even flatter (if that’s possible) from horizon to horizon with a scattered small trees & lots of saltbush.  There are lots of cotton farms on either side of the road, getting irrigation water from the Murrumbidgee River.  We were planning to turn off at Balranald for the trip on the dirt road up to Mungo Lake, but with all the rain recently I thought it may be prudent to head on to Mildura before heading north.  We stopped at Mildura for lunch & refuelled, plus buy a few fresh fruit & vegetables now that we were inside the fruit fly exclusion zone (no fruit or vegetables allowed into the fruit fly exclusion zone).

We had about 20km of bitumen road then we let the tyres really down before proceeding on to the final 88km of dirt road to Mungo Lake National Park. It is a World Heritage listed place because they discovered Mungo Lady & later Mungo Man.   Some parts of the road were good, some parts bad.  We travelled at around 60km/hr, kicking up small & large stones behind us, slowing for all oncoming traffic.

Arriving at Mungo Lake we turned into the Main Camp & set up for the night.  Once settled we sat down with some cheese & red wine (Favourite Son 2006 cabernet merlot to celebrate father’s day) before heading off on the “Grasslands Walk” from the camp area.  This took us about half an hour, stopping & reading all the information signs on the trackside.  We saw some nice parrots, emus but no kangaroos. The temperature is a very pleasant 22C & the walk was a nice way to relax after 502km of driving today.

Day 1 – September 1 2012

A 7am start & all of the last minute things you can only do just before you leave home for 2 months.  We had the car & the Karavan mostly packed from last weekend with all of the dry foods in the Karavan plus all the tools & bits & pieces in the back of the car.  By the time we left home (at last) it was 10.30am  (we planned to leave 2 hours earlier but it was so cold, minus 6.5 C, so it was very hard to get out of bed & running in & out of the house to pack wasn’t pleasant).  A stop at Murrumbateman to check everything over, next stop Wagga Wagga to visit Tereza’s brother, Arpad & wife Shirley for a cuppa.  The countryside is amazingly green with water everywhere & all of the creeks flowing, so strange after so many years of drought.  After leaving Wagga Wagga the landscape changed to flat sheep country & cropping farms. The day was absolutely glorious & the drive uneventful, past Narrandera & finally stopping at the Birdcage Reserve Rest Area around 5pm to camp for the night.

This is a very pretty spot, right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River with lots of big old gnarly flooded red gum trees full of nesting hollows & birds everywhere.  The sunset was blood red & very pretty filtered through the trees reflecting off the flowing river. We had a bit of a walk around admiring the scenery & taking some photos.  The birds quacked, twittered, whistled while the frogs didn’t want to be out done  so they croaked – what a wonderful serenade to eat our meal by.  As we finished dinner the beauty of the horizon to horizon stars were overshadowed by a huge red full moon filtering through the red gums as it rose.  A fitful end to a 468km drive for the day.  We didn’t reach our planned destination of Balranald – but forget clocks & planned destinations, we are on holidays.

Day 56 – June 10 Friday

A more casual start today – reluctantly it’s our last day in Europe – so a tidy up & repack of our luggage before another fabulous breakfast.  It was drizzling with light rain, so on with our coats & off we go.  We went on our own into the centre of Pest today, a short walk to catch Bus 105 & we got off at Heroes Square.  This is a huge remembrance statue series of all Hungary’s kings & looks very impressive.  The extra large bronzes have great detail & below each statue is a bronze memorial featuring some action that king was remembered for.  The rain had stopped by the time we finished at the square & we managed to get some good photos amongst all the different bus tour groups coming & going.

Back to Bus 105 & next stop was near Saint Stephen’s Basilica.  This is a huge cathedral & inside the opulence of the Catholic Church surfaces again.  The beautiful marble, the elaborate gilded carvings, the magnificent painted ceilings, with life-like cherubs – all stunning.  This is one of the nicer cathedrals, it is clean & tidy with very neat lines.  Each of the chapels is elegant without being over the top & the stained glass windows are simply beautiful with the light behind them.  The high domed centrepiece is again another magnificent work of art, photos do not do it justice.  One of the highlights is St Stephen’s Chapel at the back of the church.  In this chapel is the preserved hand of Saint Stephen, enclosed in an elaborate silver wireframe church, with a special light (pay for it) to light the enclosure up.  Another very significant religious Icon that we have visited.  We could call this trip the “Euro – religious – Trek” with the number of churches of different religions we have been in & the number of very significant religious icons we have seen.

We wandered out into the square & followed our noses looking at one magnificent streetscape after another – Budapest is a really beautiful city, the old buildings with elaborate carvings & statues are being well restored & preserved (not all) & the park settings & pedestrian areas are well done.  We took photo after photo before visiting the Church of St Ann.  This church is undergoing significant restoration & a previously unknown fresco has been uncovered during the restoration.  This church is beautiful inside as well, but pales behind the St Stephens Basilica.  We wandered around a little more, stopped for a hot chocolate & coffee in a famous coffee shop called Auguszt that has been in the same family for five generations.  Back to Bus 105 & back to Bela’s house without any drama at all.  We were relieved it was this easy (Bela & Gyorgyi gave us very good directions).  Gyorgyi had again prepared a wonderful meal for us, she is such a good cook & enjoys it as well.

We left for the airport around 3.30pm for the 30km drive & had no hassles with check in.  The British Airways flight took a shade over 2 hours to get to London, then by the time we got the transit bus to the Qantas terminal & walked to the gate it was time to board.  The take off was delayed by around an hour due to a severe storm that hit the airport a shade after we landed & by the time we took off, there were around 16 planes lined up behind us waiting to depart.

It was great to see & spend time with Bela & Gyorgyi they gave us 5 star treatment, looking after us all so well.  Thanks to Bela we managed to see the most important sights to see in both Buda & Pest in such a short time.