Entry 7 - May 2017
We were barely back in Adelaide a week and were already
starting to get itchy feet, with a desire to be off in our caravan experiencing
the pleasures provided by a travelling lifestyle in preference to being at our
base for our last 30 plus years, home!
Even with Mary’s pleasure of having access to a nice kitchen
cooking up examples of spinach soufflé and apple cake.
Our “mixed bag,” prediction for 2017 away from our now
accustomed extended periods of travelling continued.
We refocused our time towards home maintenance duties with a
list of “to do jobs” continue to grow.
There were the added bonuses where we attended a few
functions catching up with friends, some we hadn’t seen since we commenced
retirement. We spent a couple of days with the caravan catching up with Steve’s
brother and family at a caravan park in Adelaide.
Steve's parents & us |
The new dad, Ash with the new grandma, Mary. |
The new Grandpa |
We needed a travel fix to our wellbeing after a month at
home.
We headed north towards the warmer regions of Australia but
had to pull the reigns up tight from continuing onwards a few thousand
kilometres to the beautiful warm climate of northern Australia. Sadly we still
had those ongoing commitments at home requiring attention. It did feel good to
be travelling again even if it was only to be for a short period of time.
For us it has been continually reiterated how enjoyable
travelling with a caravan without a fixed itinerary can be. Just north of
Adelaide we made a slight deviation from our normal route to the Hamley Bridge
region where we caught up with a couple we had mixed with some 30 years prior.
Ron and Val love camping and riding motor bikes about in the
bush. A planned visit for a couple of hours turned into a stay of 24 hours.
Continuing north from Ron & Val’s we drove for nearly 3
hours setting camp at Mambray Creek campground in the southern Flinders Ranges.
Us back in our days with Ron & Val & a young Tim our eldest son. |
As soon as camp was set we were off on a walk along the Davey’s
Gully track. We have always loved the beautiful rugged scenery of the Flinders
Ranges which is reiterated every time we step out in this region walking along
stony red brown dirt tracks amongst magnificent red gum and pine trees. The
smell of the bush with the occasional kangaroo and emu bounding away in the nearby
bush is delightful.
Unfortunately this time of the year also coincides with the
end of the fire ban season. The farmers were busy burning paddocks of stubble,
other people were burning a build-up of undergrowth and we found ourselves
driving through a continual smoke haze along the route north of Adelaide.
When we drove into Mount Remarkable National Park towards the
Mambray Creek campground the sky was blanked out by smoke. Unbeknown to us until
our arrival, National Parks had also commenced burning to eliminate a build-up
of undergrowth starting the day of our arrival which was to continue during the
period of our planned stay. What the?
The presence of the smoke diminished the normal pristine
views which also interfered with the quality of our photo’s.
Looking across Spencer Gulf towards Port Bonython & Whyalla |
Telowie Gorge |
On the drive back to camp we noticed a large smoke area that
looked awful close to where we were camped. We checked the Country Fire Service
website and apparently it was a controlled burn that was under control. It
looked like a large fire front in pretty inaccessible country. We crossed our
fingers hoping we could continue our stay without the risk of having to
evacuate due to an approaching fire or getting smoked out.
Mambray Creek campground was at the base of the hill in front of the fire |
Each day we participated in walking the shorter tracks enjoying the magnificent scenery with the main longer tracks closed due to fires.
We also got to exercise our vocal cords spending many hours
talking with other happy travellers including one couple (Greg & Jane from
QLD) whom we experienced an early afternoon cuppa that lasted for around 7 hours.
On arrival for every visit to Mambray Creek we experience an
instant lift in our personal wellbeing generated by the beautiful scenery and
the wonderful aroma of bush smells. We will never tire from visiting the
Mambray Creek area. We managed 6 nights this trip and could have easily stayed
longer.
View from our awning side with constant company from kangaroos |
View from the other side of our camp with van in middle of photo |
Our incentive to head to Warren Gorge was the possibility
for sighting some yellow footed rock wallabies which we had heard existed at
this location.
Warren Gorge is another great bush location in the Flinders
Ranges with an unstructured camping area scattered amongst predominately northern
cypress pine trees “native pines.” The area is quite undulating with flat
camping spots a rarity.
Whilst walking around the gorge area to assess a suitable
camp location we saw quite a few grey kangaroos moving around and it wasn’t
long before we spotted our first yellow footed rock wallaby. It was very
exciting and we managed to locate a camp spot not far away from our first
sighting of the yellow footed rock wallaby.
We spent a few hours watching about a dozen yellow footed
rock wallabies along the 300 metre stretch of the gorge which was about 50
metres wide. We walked further out of the gorge following a walking track near
the base of the escarpments which are connected with the gorge where we spotted
a few more yellow footed rock wallabies scattered along the escarpment base.
It was extremely satisfying viewing the rare yellow footed
rock wallabies.
Returning to our caravan we sighted two more which we were
able to watch from the comfort of our caravan.
Warren Gorge was very nice but for us Mambray Creek was
superb. We seemed to have had our fix sighting yellow footed rock wallabies and
decided to return to Mambray Creek because we could.
Leaving Warren Gorge |
Tea was camp fire cooked lamb shanks. It was such a chore
lighting the fire, seated around it monitoring the build-up of hot coals for
our camp fire pot oven. “Not!”
What a delicious meal. We seem to eat very well whilst out
bush camping.
Anyone would have thought winter was upon us. We experienced
a very windy night with rain. Steve had to adjust the awning rafters a couple
of times and attach some more ropes. The caravan even rocked a bit with some of
the strong gusts.
# Steve had a chat
with the Ranger one morning; apparently there is a colony of yellow footed rock
wallabies here with best sighting times first light or approaching dusk. Hence about
2.15 pm with nibbles and torches (in case the sun set before our return to
camp) we went for a walk towards Hidden Gorge. Yes we spotted a few there too.
They were more hidden in amongst the trees; the terrain was better suited to
the wallabies than us. However the walk back to the campground was a delight,
there were many grey kangaroos and also some yellow footed rock wallabies. Late
afternoon was a good time for viewing the animals feeding. It was getting dark
by the time we returned to our camp.
We had leftover lamb shanks for dinner, with a side of
savoury damper. Mary added a bit of bacon, onion and garlic into the damper. Oh
my - that was yummy!!
We spent 10 nights at Mambray Creek campground and we could
easily have extended our stay further. This is one of the many unique
Australian locations providing a good soul karma environment. It is a magnificent
setting amongst large healthy river red gum trees with wild kangaroos regularly
seen grazing nearby, at times the air is full of noisy bird chatter and the
choice of many walks through marvellous terrain, from short to overnight hikes
all available from the campground.
For this trip we filled the tow tugs roof rack with timber
from our home garden trimmings which provided the fuel for many enjoyable
nights spent around a camp fire relishing the spoils from camp fire cooked
meals and sharing good conversation into the night with other travellers at a
grand setting of a camp fire.
Unfortunately it was time to return home, to continue with
our home front maintenance obligations.
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