Well two weeks ago Judith and myself found ourselves racing against the sun to return to camp before dusk fell. Today, we found ourselves wandering off the pathway and attempting to find our way safely down from Mt Cavern.
Mt Cavern trek, Mt Remarkable National Park
The second time in as many weeks we had found ourselves in a challenging situation. We needed to complete today's hike within a tight timeframe, but that mattered for nothing once we found ourselves off the pathway and lost. We backtracked a little but for a while, were certain we were still on track. Later, of course, it was obvious we had stumbled off the track, so we spent 30 minutes more or less in silence navigating our way down to the safety of the valley below. A really fantastic hike though, despite the rain, mist and cloud on the way up to the peak of Mt Cavern, the views would be very good on a clear day. Despite what the signs said, I think there would be views from the peak. The walk down the other side of the Mount was truly breathtaking.
Mount Cavern Trek (11 km return; 6 hours return. Or 3.6 km return; 2 hours return to Black Range Lookout only) From Mambray Creek day visitor area, a demanding trek crosses the high ridges of the Black Range to the summit of Mount Cavern and then descends steeply into Mambray Creek. The view from Mount Cavern is restricted by tall trees but there are fine vantage points along the route. If your time is limited, an hours walk along the Mount Cavern Trek trail will lead to the Black Range Lookout. This lookout provides magnificent views of the plains and towns of upper Spencer Gulf. Return along the same route to Mambray Creek.
We had camped at Mambray Creek campground on Friday night, a stop-over for our drive up to Parachilna. Saturday afternoon, after our Mt Cavern trek, we drove up to Parachilna for the Shorts Outback film festival, held at the Prairie Hotel. Ideally, it is held under the stars with a gourmet feast, but due to heavy rains and wind over much of the state over the last couple of days, they went to plan b, using a marquee. On Sunday we explored Blinman a little. This cute little one flew over the car almost immediately fluttering between each of the side mirrors in a seemingly unending obsession. Name it? Narcissus perhaps. Very cute.
31km each day, pack carrying. Yeah. A little too far perhaps.
Heysen Trail - Burra to Black Jack Shelter to Mt Bryan East
It was Graham's doing. I blame him. I don't want to talk about it right now. A couple of long days of pack-carrying. Met someone who went to school with my mum. Hurt my feet. Got to wear socks with sandals to work for 4 days. Not a good look.
Wanted to do this hike back in last August, but missed out.
Bunyeroo Gorge, Flinders Ranges National Park
Bunyeroo Gorge. Pretty dry. Ate some flies. Indeterminable end of the trail when you are meant to turn around. Who doesn't love this place. Pretty special. Breathtaking still, even though I have been there numerous times before. Stopped by Yanyanna Hut to leave some goodies for Kate and Tim, who were hiking from Parachilna Gorge to Wilpena Pound. I learnt all about Jude's exercise routine whenever she sees these cute little camping/picnic platforms.
It was pretty straight-forward. Ride along a fire track, a dirt road, the Mawson Trail, then back to camp along another fire track. What could possible go wrong?
Aroona Valley to Angorichina (Heysen Trail) to Blinman (road) and return (on Mawson and Heysen Trail)
Well of course, you aren't meant to ride bicycles on the Heysen Trail. As if I don't know that having walked the entire trail. But from what I recalled on this, the final walk on the Heysen Trail, it was all fire track. As it turned out, it wasn't. It was mostly, but the rest was single track walking track, steep hills or creek beds. So our ride was truly some mountain biking, which was slow, but which we both enjoyed.
From the end of the Heysen Trail, as Parachilna Gorge, we rode along the dirt road, first to Angorichina then onto Blinman. Perhaps here, I underestimated how this would be 18km of uphill, and very, very dusty as drivers drove past us. Only a couple slowed sufficiently to not leave us breathing heavily in a cloud of dust.
In Blinman, we caught up with someone who had left a comment on my Mawson Trail blog, whom Judith knew quite well, and whilst talking to them in the main street, I heard my name being called out from the darkness under the Blinman Hotel. An old workmate. This ride was taking longer than we thought, and with these people we had seen, it was 3pm before we left town. Blinman, btw, was only just over half way through the day's ride. Don't get me wrong though, I wouldn't have not stopped and chatted away to our friends, so delightful is it to meet up with people in random places.
Along the Mawson Trail, mainly along a dirt road, we made quick progress, which was good since we could see the time when we could well be riding in the dark (or more likely, walking our bikes in the dark). From where the Mawson Trail crossed the Heysen Trail, we returned back to camp along the Heysen. Opps though. It was a single track route, once again I had selectively remembered it as fire track. There behind me, Jude's words summed it up, "due to information not previously known to me, I know determine the ETA to be ... ". Classic.
Amazing views though. Wonderful sunset. And we made it back to camp after the sun had just set, maybe within 5 minutes we would have been forced to ride our bikes. Back just in time to have our turn at preparing dinner for the rest of our crew. They had spent hours wondering where we had got to, but let's not forget they set that precedent for us the day before.
St Mary Peak is THE iconic hike in Wilpena Pound. So the Rawnsley Bluff hike held a little surprise for us, incredible views of Elder Range, Red Range and the Chace Range, not to mention the views back up inside Wilpena Pound from the Wilpena lookout.
Rawnsley Bluff, Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges National Park
The hike starts from Rawnsley Park Station, and indeed most of it is on their property and not within the national park. At the Wilpena lookout we saw some of Judith friends, and on the way back down from the bluff we met up some friends from our Heysen hiking club.
We were camping with Kate & Tim and Andrew & Candice up at our fav spot, Aroona Valley. The others set out on the St Mary Peak hike, this being Andrew & Candice's first trip to the Flinders. The following day Jude and I rode 70km, and the following day we hung around a bit and did the Bunyeroo Gorge hike.
A three day canoe trek down the Glenelg River through the Lower Glenelg National Park with Alex and Bec. Highlight (apart from canoeing down an isolated, natural river) was seeing a platypus.
Friday March 6 to Sunday March 8, 2009 55km, Pines Landing to Nelson, Glenelg River, Victoria
The platypus is notoriously shy. We saw it one morning as we were packing the canoe the kayak. The river was still, dead smooth, and the platypus emerged amidst bubbles about 8-10m from us in front of the landing, before diving down again. "Shhhh!" as I pushed Bec in the back, this was no time for talk. The platypus surfaced twice more for another look around, before disappearing. Btw that's not my photo, I didn't want to loose the magic of the moment by mucking around with a camera, but this photo is the closest to what we saw that I could find on the internet.
We took Friday off work, driving down through Mt Gambier on Thursday night after work. We camped at the beach campsite at Piccaninnie Ponds. Next morning we drove into Nelson, and left our car there as the canoe hire guys drove us out to Pines Landing, from where we would paddle back to Nelson over four days. Pines Landing is where we started this little adventure last time I did it. I was struck by how much this place reminded me of that day four years ago, and of Stephen. From here we paddled 20km to Skipworth Springs, seeing almost no-one. It took a little while to get the canoe technique right, and we each tried out the kayak and canoe to see where we might fare well. The following two days we improved our technique, improving our 5.0km/h average to 5.5km/h. We paddled hard, only stopping to rest at landings, and not, as previously, at random spots to drift. I think was because this time we had the benefit of the GPS unit, so were able to estimate how much longer we needed to keep up the paddling before the next landing. Friday was planned to be our longest day, at 20km, with Saturday to be 14km, Sunday 7km and Monday 14km. We had booked the campsites late, not knowing it was also a long weekend in Victoria. So the short 7km day was unavoidable. But on Sunday, we reached our planned campsite at Bowds, 14km downstream. Since it was only 3pm, we decided to paddle the additional 7km to Lasletts, where we had planned to stay Sunday night. Even though we were only staying at canoe campsites, where space was more limited than the car-based campsites, it seemed likely there would still be space for our two small hiking tents.
Friday night we spent at Skipworth Springs, and had it all to ourselves. Small tents are an advantage at this campsite, as the sites are small since the campground is on a hill. Like all the campsites, there is a toilet, picnic table and at least one fire place. These facilities aren't always marked on the official map, not sure why. There is also rainwater available, except here where there is a natural spring. We hunted down some dry wood, from some dead fallen and not so fallen trees, for a campfire. Victoria is different than South Australia in that fires are permitted during the Fire Danger Season (except on days of total fire ban) and collection of firewood in a national park is permitted. We were visited by the ever fearless possums, who came to our picnic table to clean up our crumbs. For a few moments it looked like we might have a stand-off between two possums, but they resolved their differences and chased each other up a nearby tree.
Saturday night we camped at Lasletts, this time sharing the campsite with a group of eleven and a group of five. So we didn't get in on either of the fire places, but then we didn't actually have a booking for this campsite anyway. Bec's idea of bringing along a picnic rug, as we chairs were too cumbersome, was a real winner. We set up camp in the corner of the campsite, looking over the river and cliffs. These were the same cliffs that us boys had scaled last time to walk into Nelson to collect Julie's car so she could go home for work a day earlier than the rest of us.
We decided a swim was in order here, yet Alex stated he was off to test the water first. "What? Test the water? Whatever dude." You see, you just don't do that. You decide to swim, if it's nice then that's just a bonus. So Bec and I chatted, and a few moments later Alex emerged soaking wet. I was shocked, he was totally wet. He was surprised as neither of us had heard him bomb it in off the landing. Alex and I returned to the landing where I ran off the end. It was cool, but not freezing, and we both avoided touching the bottom. That night we used my little gas lantern I had found by chance on Friday. I car-camping size gas light with a 2-3kg gas bottle was too big to bring, but this tiny one fitted onto a 300g hiking gas canister, and was much better than a torch.
Now I include a random jaws video, it seemed it wasn't only platypus that occupied the waters of this river.
Australia being in drought, we weren't sure what to expect with the water level. We were surprised when we arrived in Nelson on Friday morning to find the river high, indeed, very close to some riverbank buildings. The canoe guy told us the river mouth had silted up just a few days previously, so the river wasn't flowing and was backfilling. At Skipworth Springs, the water level was a mere 10cm from the landing deck. Sunday lunchtime we had trouble finding Forest Camp North, another canoe only campsite. The shorter canoe camp landings can be harder to find, as they are simpler structures than the higher car-camping landings and boat ramps. This particular one even more so, the landing deck being about 10cm below the water surface. Last time we were here, I recall Julie rolling around in the mud beside the landing. Throughout the canoe trek we found a few other landings beneath the water surface.
Monday we paddled the last 14km into Nelson. We stopped at a cliff near Princess Margaret Rose Caves, and climbed part of the cliff to a cave entrance. It turned out this is part of the Princess Margaret Rose Caves network, but has been separated from it by cave-ins. At the main caves landing, we walked up to the shop to grab a cool drink and some food. We hunted around for a while to find a water tank that wasn't contaminated with too much eucalyptus, as Lasletts had also been contaminated.
I recall the stretch from the caves into Nelson as being particularly long and boring, there are not many landings to break up the day. Despite the head wind along Taylors Straight, which slowed us considerably down from 6-7km/h to just 4km/h, bringing our moving average down to 5.2km/h.
Back in Nelson a day early, I took Alex and Bec on their first tour of Mt Gambier's lakes and sink holes, before we returned to Piccaninnie Ponds to camp. We had the campsite to ourselves this time, or so we first thought, before the late night disturbances began. The pubs/nightclubs of Mt Gambier must have closed around 12-1am, as after that until dawn the car park near the beach was hoon central.
After a quick swim in Piccaninnie Ponds on Monday morning - well it was cold and Alex was a poopy head and didn't want to come for a swim so it's a pretty short one - and some yummy pancakes with Nutella, we returned to Adelaide. We stopped off at Bool Lagoon for a look-in, perhaps we could return here and camp for a weekend and do some bird watching, but despite the apparently recent photo on the RAA map, the lagoon was dry with no surface water. We wondered if it might fill a little in winter?
Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit
Nelson Boat and Canoe Hire Chris and Cheryl (08) 8738 4048 www.nelsonboatandcanoehire.com.au The canoe hire was $45 per day, and the kayak $40 per day, with a $40 drop off fee to Pines Landing - total cost $295. My car was securely stored in Nelson.
It was Jude who gave us the tip. Butlers Beach. A privately owned campsite offering bush camping along 7km of spectacular coastline.
Hillocks Drive bush camping, Yorke Peninsula, Australia Day Friday 23 January to Monday 26 January 2009 Alex, Bec and myself
After some google efforts we had it tracked down, Hillock Drive at Butlers Beach. We drove down after work on Friday night, Alex bought me tea to make up for the $9 I wasted on parking my car in the multi-level next to work to save time, I had return home to get something he couldn't bring from his camping list.
Having found the key that was left out for us, we explored what campsites we could easily see in the 10 o'clock darkness. We shortlisted, and settled on one behind a huge sand dune with small trees sheltering and shading the site. It was a winner. The next day when we spoke to the woman in the shop to pay our camp fees, she declared it was probably one of the best campsites. Yeah! And it was, lots of shade, plenty of shelter from the wind.
On Saturday morning we explored and walked through the sand dunes down to the beach. It ended up being quite a walk as we tried to make a path through the dunes. Eventually, having given up on following others' footsteps, we found Salmon Beach. We had camped behind a headland, so from what we could see there was no easy route to the beach. The water was wild, but warm, so we decided to strip down to our underwear and go for a swim. It was really really good. Bec decided not to join us, but filmed us, then wandered off for a walk as we dried off.
Saturday afternoon we explored the coastline of Hillocks, there were a number of really cool beaches. We drove all the way to the end, only to discover later that beyond Gartrells Rocks it was 4WD only, yeah sure, it had been sandy and a challenge to drive through, but really, it was a private road. At Flat Rocks we discovered a series of shallow warm rockpools, and as we stood near the sea edge we were soaked by the extensive spray from crashing enormous waves.
Sunday we headed over to Edithburgh, going via a wind farm to see how huge those beasts really are. We found a sweet spot near Edithburgh that Alex had snorkelled at during a recent Easter family camping trip. It was low tide though, so we snorkelled under the Edithburgh jetty which was good. A cool breeze and deeper water meant the wetties were welcome. Some stuff to see, and other snorkelers too. Once we were out though, we saw a huge manta ray over a metre wide, if not one and a half metres wide. After a woeful lunch in Edithburgh, we drove to Point Gilbert near Port Moorowie, which was very seaweedy. We had a discussion about the name Periwinkle Reef, Alex argued it was mentioned in the SA Tourism guide, a reckoned it wasn't. A bet was made, an Ice Coffee in it. I won, claiming my prize on Monday in Moonta.
With all the seaweed and yellow water, we decided to check out the third spot mentioned in the guide, Parsons Beach, north of Hardwicke Bay. Nope, looked the same. With all this dirt road driving, we had been around for long enough for the tide to change, so back to our initial spot that was no longer just ankle deep. Saw little, and it was cool, except one small and remarkably stationary ray thing, and Alex allegedly saw a Guitar Shark.
After our swim Monday morning, we made pancakes, of which predictably the first didn't work, then packed up before heading out at 12noon to drive listening to the Hottest 100 up to Moonta Bay where we swam. The days had got hotter over the weekend, now for Aussie Day it was 35 degrees. Lots of people at Moonta Bay, a shallow but warm sea, in which the three of us played frisbee. Upon returning to our bag and towel, which we had left at a safe distance from the water's edge, or so we thought, they were about to be inundated. Listening to the countdown to 1 on the Hottest 100 we arrived back home at 6pm.
A top weekend, pity Jude couldn't make it down as she got into her Groupie thing for Tour Down Under, but still a fab weekend. Not enough photos perhaps, but that was cos so much of the stuff we did was in the water, so not a bad weekend at all.
I love nothing more then experiencing life outdoors by man power - hiking, cycling and paddling. Camping along the way in remote and beautiful locations.
And I like the share what I find, so enjoy! Most trips have maps and track notes with them, and GPS files for downloading onto a handheld GPS unit (GPX files) or viewing in Google Earth (KML files).
The second time in as many weeks we had found ourselves in a challenging situation. We needed to complete today's hike within a tight timeframe, but that mattered for nothing once we found ourselves off the pathway and lost. We backtracked a little but for a while, were certain we were still on track. Later, of course, it was obvious we had stumbled off the track, so we spent 30 minutes more or less in silence navigating our way down to the safety of the valley below.
A really fantastic hike though, despite the rain, mist and cloud on the way up to the peak of Mt Cavern, the views would be very good on a clear day. Despite what the signs said, I think there would be views from the peak. The walk down the other side of the Mount was truly breathtaking.
We had camped at Mambray Creek campground on Friday night, a stop-over for our drive up to Parachilna. Saturday afternoon, after our Mt Cavern trek, we drove up to Parachilna for the Shorts Outback film festival, held at the Prairie Hotel. Ideally, it is held under the stars with a gourmet feast, but due to heavy rains and wind over much of the state over the last couple of days, they went to plan b, using a marquee.
