Shakedown Trip- Arkaroola (South Australia)

ARKAROOLA- Amelia's new favourite word. She says it with such passion and fun.

 

She loved the place; and not just for the chocolate icypoles to be found at the Lodge. Other favourites included finding Ocre and painting with it, bushwalking and discovering a myriad of weird and wonderful flowers, the bold emus who wandered through our camp, finding some pink clothesline string that someone had left behind, using the porta potty (note to self: we have to move her away from this fascination!), cooking dinner on the campfire and the wonders of the constellations and night sky. She's finding it a bit strange that "Milky Ways" don't just belong in Nanna's pantry.

 

 

 

The road North from Yunta was rough- beyond any we'd experienced to date and at one point we were travelling crawling through the dust at 20 kms an hour. Mind numbingly and bone jarringly horrendous. We ran out of "I Spy" topics after about 30 mins and the rest of the almost 5 hour drive was tedious. Not helped by following some slow (frustratingly inexperienced) drivers in front of us who refused to pull off the road to allow us to pass. But this allowed for some creativity and we invented necessary variations on the "What am I?" game, which has allowed us to pass the time. (Amelia tended to want to play "Imaginary I Spy" which was a touch confusing.)

 

 

I found these floodway signs very funny given the dry conditions- but I'm sure it does rain sometime.

Also we must have crossed "Tea Tree Creek" a dozen times so we're guessing they're just called that after the vegetation in the area.

 

 

Along the way we saw some interesting ruins from a mine, Amelia luckily being quiet enough to follow a tiny skink along a broken brick wall and we arrived at the wilderness sanctuary by 5pm. We try to never finish our travels this late as it leads to some grumpiness as we set up camp. We set up the bare minimum, just leveling and lifting the Jurgen's roof so we could sleep. Dinner that night was at the Arkaroola Lodge, where we competed with a seniors tour for the buffet offerings. They were some hungry tourists that was for sure, full of jokes and good humour after a days sightseeing.

 

 

 

 Lucky our billy's in better shape!

 

 "But this car won't go- it has no wheels!"

 

 

Waking up we decided to move to the bush camping area and after a few interesting manoeuvres we found the perfect site and settled in. A few other campers were scattered around- but we had plenty of room to play. The next few days were filled with exploring the area- finding amazing rock formations, beautiful gullies and a remote mine (which was actually quite successful for awhile).

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the photos...

 Home Sweet Home

 

 

 Our neighbours- not happy!

 

  Proof that life can grow anywhere

 

 

 

Lively's Gold Mine (abandoned last century)

 

 

 

 Dinner Hulonce style!

 A fresh fruit loaf- yummy.

 

 

 Ocre Painting at camp Hulonce.

 

Shakedown Trip (Mildura, Pooncarie, Broken Hill)

From our miserable (wet, windy and generally dreadful) Halls Gap experience we determined to get warm we obviously needed to head North. The first night we travelled as far as Mildura, testing out the camper and vehicle on the river road (along the Murray, which has seriously risen since our last bush camping trip to Robinvale in around 2008/ 2009) as we found the APEX riverside caravan park. Our trusty GPS was once again very creative in determining the best route! The caravan park (and sunshine) was a welcome sight and Amelia could hardly be dragged away from the huge jumping pillow. After a couple of days exploring the area and feeling very comfortable with the palm tree scenery we once again packed up and moved to warmer climes.

Following a few very bumpy hours of corrugated roads, Lake Mungo (a dry lake in NSW) was a quick stop for lunch. This is where the oldest known proof of man outside Africa was found, the "Mungo Man" covered in Ocre, in 1974. It's estimated that human inhabitation in the area dates to around 50,000 years ago. Also found (in 1969) was the aptly titled "Mungo Lady"- she had been cremated around 40,000 years ago. Stone tools were found that are older than Mungo Man. Unfortunately our little explorer was asleep so we were unable to get out and walk around too much.

 

Pooncarie (NSW) was where we determined to stop and pitch camp. A real (free) bush camp, complete with delightful river views and very few neighbours (the nearby golf course was obviously used very infrequently) it looked perfect. Out we stepped and began the routine set up. And along came the mozzies... We were simply swarmed by a barrage of the blood sucking insects. Being dramatic (I nearly wanted to abandon the camp completely) the air almost turned black! Fortunately we'd come prepared with a dozen or so mosquito coils, which we methodically distributed around the campsite. Combining the approach with liberal doses of "Bushman's" insect repellant, we survived. It did feel a bit sad to be applying such an effective and worryingly nail polish removing lotion to such a perfect face as Amelia's but it did the job. (And the nail polish is a brief testament to my belief that camping can be glamorous, although I think I'll need to modify my viewpoint and let go of my glamping aspirations!) Happily installed inside the annex we were free to marvel at nature and the beautiful vista.

The following day provided an outdoors shower experience, complete with relaxing mozzie coil citronella aroma, quickly followed by our quickest pack up ever. I think we did the whole disassembly in under 45 minutes!

Onto more civilized territory (and an indoors bathroom, albeit shared in a Caravan Park) we travelled to Broken Hill, a large historical and current mining town. The streets are purposefully and appropriately named; eg. Sulfide, Iodide, Gypsum, Oxide, Chloride, Bromide- you get the idea. The weather was much warmed and we were able to dispense with Amelia's singlets and wear short sleeves. The wind blew up a bit and our fellow caravan park residents goodnaturedly blamed us for bringing "Victorian weather" North. We passed a surprising number of grey nomads in very expensive caravans all heading south- so I guess the season is over for travelling comfortably.

 

 

Some suitably Australian images for our international friends...

 

 

 

Shakedown Trip- Halls Gap (Victoria)

Setting off with much excitement we ended up in a Halls Gap caravan park due to rough weather. A touch disappointing (going with a powered site along with many others as apposed to a proper bush camp) it did give us a chance to see how our rig would work in severe storms. We didn't flood, we didn't leak, we didn't blow away and we didn't sleep much. But we survived. And there was a playground!

 (Wonderland Walk)

 

We did some nice walks in the Grampians, across streams and rocks and up slight hills with Daddy and Mummy taking turns carrying a tired explorer who seriously claims "my tummy doesn't feel like walking anymore". Venus Baths walks was closed due to flood damage so we made do with some of the others. We smelt flowers and collected rocks and generally got a feel for our new life.

 (Boroka Lookout)

The scenery was gorgeous and air crisp, until the rain and windy conditions returned.

 (Wonderland carpark to the Pinnacle)

 

 (as above)

Mummy trying to be arty playing with a camera that really needs a expert to use it!

 

 

Finishing our time in Hall's Gap we ventured down the Mt Difficult track minus the camper and Daddy had a chance to test out the car's endurance. The track was rough, at times requiring 4WD to be engaged. The GPS lost us entirely. It was good fun- although a little explorer slept through most of the excitement!

 (Halls Gap- from Boroka Lookout)