Part 1 - Written by Pat and Helmut. Only the first portion of the trip is covered as we left early.
The
following attended:
Advance Party – arrived at Lake Gilles CP on 13 April.
Kim McCoole with his 80 Series Toyota diesel Landcruiser and tent.
Kathleen and Alvin Whittle with their Nissan GU 3.0L turbo-diesel and tent.
Garry Wright with his GU Nissan 4.2 L turbo-diesel and Phoenix caravan.
Pat and Helmut Bohn with their 100 Series Toyota diesel Landcruiser and Jayco wind-up camper trailer.
Main Body - arrived at Lake Gilles CP on 14 April.
Denise and Stuart grant with their 80 series turbo diesel and Phoenix caravan.
Leonie and Greg Young with their 90 Series Toyota Prado 3.0L turbo-diesel and Phoenix caravan.
Bev and Gerry Paay with their 100 Series Toyota turbo-diesel Landcruiser and Island Star off-road caravan. (Our Trip Leader.)
Jenny and Ian Williams with their Nissan GU 3.0L turbo-diesel and Coromal off-road caravan.
Lyn and Frank Klinkert with their Nissan GQ turbo-diesel and their Viscount off-road caravan.
After coming
together on Friday at Gilles National park. We set off in glorious sun-shine for
the Gawler Ranges National Park. A rest stop at Kyancutta gave Leonie the
opportunity to visit her former home away from home way back in her early
teaching days at Wudinna. After a fuel stop at Wudinna
the group stopped to investigate an oil leak in Frank and Lyn’s engine. Luckily
after mass male collaboration the problem was deemed minor and we were soon on
our way. The track into the Gawler Ranges was very
good and first views of the park were lovely. The chosen campsite at Waganny was
Phoenix friendly. The evening gathering was fun but brief due to the cold.
Sunday – 9.00 am saw us off for the day. Firstly to Pondanna Outstation. The tracks again were good but the dust stirred up asthma for Lyn. The station site was very dry but the buildings in good condition and worth the visit. We lunched under shady gums at the entry to the Organ Pipes walking track. The unusual pipe like rocks were very colourful – orange, black, brown. Onto Pildappa Rock – quite a climb – great views, but nasty March flies fed on quite a few of us. Poondana Rock was similar but an easier climb and hosted a short game of paddy melon red rover.
Monday – RAIN RAIN RAIN. An enforced rest day was enjoyed by all.
Tuesday – 9:00 am we set off in cool dry weather for a guided tour of the
old shearing shed, kitchens and shearers’ quarters. SA Parks have plans to
attract tourists by developing this area. While there Gerry gained permission
from the Ranger to have campfires for the rest of our stay.
After an easy climb
to Kolay Mirica Falls (No H2O.) we lunched at Old Paney Homestead –
pioneers to the area in the late 1800’s. A lonely grave of 2 young children
nearby reminded us of the harsh life these people
lived. Nearby a stone dam built by a member of the Paney family was the backdrop
for an impromptu performance of unsynchronized water ballet by some very amateur
performers. With a collection of firewood we set off
for camp to prepare for a roast to be remembered – lovely!
Wednesday – 9:00 am we set off on a PAR track to the Buckleboo Stock Route.
Further on the initial sand hill required deflated tyres but the track was mostly good with few areas of soft sand. Much of this area has suffered bushfires and the landscape was eerie with blackened bush on white sand. The track was tricky in places with low projecting branches scratching side panels. We lunched on Corrobinnie Hill just before a dust storm followed by heavy rain and wind struck. We took some great photos of the area and the approaching storm front. Sadly here we learnt that Bev Paay had received news of her father’s death and they would need to return home on Friday.
Thursday 20th – 9:00 am the group drove off for another dusty day on the tracks. Helmut and Pat set off for home. As first timers on such a trip we (Helmut and Pat) wish to acknowledge with thanks the friendship, camaraderie and helpful advice freely offered by all.
Part 2 - Written by Jenny & Ian
Thursday 20 April
Helmut and Pat had to return to Adelaide this morning so the task of trip reporter fell on the shoulders of Jenny and Ian Williams.
Every one woke to a beautiful day, specially groomed
for the group photo prior to the day’s activities. The
five-minute horn
blast sounded earlier than was expected and caught everyone out,
Denise
still cosily in bed, Leonie washing dishes and many others of the group
cleaning teeth etc, not expecting the warning for
another 40 or so minutes. We all
scurried around thinking Gerry was keen for an early start only to find Kath had
accidentally knocked the horn of her vehicle.
Everyone surrounded her tent site to say they
were ready for the day’s activities with the new self imposed trip leader. Gerry
once again took the reins as we said our goodbyes and wished Helmut and Pat a
safe trip back to Adelaide.
A school of small red fish appeared on the back of Gerry’s rubbish bag attached to the spare tyre on the rear of his vehicle. They were looking for their mum (a red fin) who had previously been there and disappeared along with the 2 red crabs (obviously Christmas Island crabs that had lost their way).
Willy’s Nissan had sprouted a tiara crest as princess of the fleet.
On the way to Mount Wudinna a sheep was rescued from under a fence line and over the radio and at morning tea a lesson was held on the benefits of docking and mulesing. Greg gave a detailed lesson with stick drawings in the sand on sheep husbandry including the different methods of castration. TC, Penelope and Fluff made sure the group did not stray.
Mount Wudinna had magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. It is the second largest monolith in Australia after Uluru and it is the same age as Uluru and the Olgas. There are 3 distinct steps identified, near base, half way up and just below the summit. On its surface many erosion drains (riffins), small caves (tafoni), flared slopes, water holes (grammas) and buckled slabs of rock (A-tents) were explored by the group. Early settlers had built a low wall around the base to collect the water coming off the rock. This wall was broken in a number of places and therefore did not collect any more water.
Polder Rock was the next stop. It was another area
that was well preserved with the wall at the base
of the rock in very good order and still able
to collect water; evidenced by the dam at the lower end of
the rock. Gerry should have packed his inflatable boat to
allow him to do some fishing to enable him to add to his already very good haul
of fish on the back of his vehicle.
It was during this trip that Spot smelt petrol in his cabin - rather odd seeing that he was driving a diesel vehicle. At one time or another many people started to smell petrol fumes in their own vehicles.
We lunched at Wudinna with Kath, Al and Spot visiting the soup kitchen prior to joining the rest of the group in the local park opposite the bakery. Denise and Greg got stuck into two rather large kitchener buns. During the lunch break Denise performed minor surgery on Gerry’s neck. After lunch the convoy left Wudinna to return to camp via Sturts Track. Initially the track winds around a salt lake and at one stage the track traversed a part of the lake. The convoy stopped mid lake and walked to an area that had a lot of ironstone and quartz. Many interesting discussions were held on how the ironstone and quartz had been deposited in this area. Further on we detoured to a look out and on return to the to the main track there was a breakaway group which finally found its way back to the main group and in time to conquer the sand rises of the of Sturt’s track. Around the camp fire after tea Greg and Leonie said their farewells as they were leaving early the next morning.
Friday 21 April
A lay day, so every one rose late and the remaining
group said their goodbyes to Kath and Al, Bev and Gerry (with their many fish
stored carefully in the back of the vehicle) wishing them a safe trip to
Adelaide. When packing up their tent, Kath and Al
found that a friendly mouse had made a nest under the floor of
their tent,
whilst Stuart went to the toilet with another friendly mouse.
The remaining group busily undertook mundane duties of washing clothes (Kim’s had his flag flying - jocks as usual), cleaning up caravans etc prior to sitting around the campfire for morning tea. We all devoured the great scones Denise had cooked in the camp oven using ingredients from Spot and Jen. No one could face lunch after such a great morning; Kim and Spot went for a walk to conquer the half of the hill overlooking the campsite that had not been climbed previously. Jen went ½ way up the hill to do some painting of the Gawler Ranges. Kim found that he was sharing his biscuits with a mouse. Stuart had a very friendly mouse making a home in his engine bay and it didn’t matter how much he tried to dislodge the boarder it decided to stay put. Spots shower broke down and he has a major overhaul of the system when he returns to Adelaide.
Mid afternoon it was decided to have a drive around
the base of the hill close to the campground. Kim was trip leader and in no
time had taken off like a shot out of a gun
leaving every one in his wake. A couple of tracks were traversed and we ended
back at camp ready to stoke the fire for happy hour and tea.
During happy hour a four wheel drive Toyota Surf decided to camp close by. The single occupant of the vehicle turned out to be a German lass, Hilltrude, shifting from Sydney to work in Perth. She had decided to see some of Australia during her shift and thought the Gawler Ranges a good place to spend a night. She had got lost twice that day prior to spending the night at our campground. After tea she joined us around the campfire with her bottle of port. Kim and others sampled her good bottle of port. Spot lent her a jumper and made sure it was returned before she went to bed. It was interesting to find out how naive some traveling people are as she did not know how to let the tyres down in case of being bogged in sand. To add to our amazement she had driven to Lake Eyre with such shallow knowledge of survival.
Saturday 22 April
It was pack up day as 5 vehicles headed for Lake Gairdner. Hilly, as Kim called her, donated excess water as she was traveling back to the main road prior to saying her goodbyes to the group. Denise and Stuart had trouble in packing up the new toot tent and in the end Stuart left it up to the ladies of the group. We traveled without a hitch to the lake via Yardea Station stopping off at the Poondarie Ruins for lunch before driving the last 32 km to the campsite. We all set up the campsite, lit the fire and enjoyed Denise’s chocolate pudding prior going to bed.
Sunday 23 April
A lazy day prior to the trip home. Jenny made
pikelets and everyone decided to have some on top of a full breakfast. After
we all cleaned up the breakfast dishes we trooped off to inspect the cairn on
top of the hill that had been placed there on a previous trip by members of ORVC.
Denise and Stuart placed a
cache
close to the cairn on behalf of Dodgey Bros. It will be interesting to see how
many hits are received on the site. It was contemplated to place the cache on
the island in the middle of the lake. However it was considered that more people
would visit it on top of the hill. The view from the top of the hill was
spectacular, one over the bright white salt lake with a number of small islands
scattered throughout the lake and in the other direction a magnificent valley.
We walked back via the lake with Jenny and Lyn picking up bones for grand
children and students.
Throughout the latter part of the trip at both the Gawler ranges and the Lake Frank had trouble with the electrics of his van. As in many cases of failed electrics in the past Spot came to the rescue, diagnosed the problem and undertook a quick fix for Frank so they could have power for the rest of the trip. A more involved fix will be made at a later date. Stuart lent his generator for the second time and was amazed to find his new purchase worked for about 11 hours off the initial tank of fuel.
Stuart decided to explore the salt lake in the afternoon walking 2km out onto the lake and returning for happy hour. Frank was downcast at the final result of the Crows v Freemantle game. The night was finished off with Jenny producing a cheese cake with a slice for everyone.
Monday 24 April.
Everyone was packed up by 9.30 am and we all left for Pt Augusta and beyond via Iron Knob. Ian had a puncture in Nonning Station, having to change the wheel and catch up with the group. Lyn and Frank stayed in Port Augusta, Kim dashed to Adelaide, while Spot, Denise, Stuart, Jenny and Ian stayed at the magnificent campground at Mambray Creek prior to heading for Adelaide on Anzac Day.
On behalf of all fellow travelers, I would like to congratulate Gerry for organising such a fantastic trip and to Stuart for taking responsibility for the group after Gerry and Bev had to suddenly return to Adelaide.
