South to Cape Jervis

This walk completes the walk south from Sellicks Beach to Cape Jervis.

Yoho Road to Cape Jervis

Walking the Cliff Tops of Second Valley

I'd been looking forward to this section of the our journey south to Cape Jervis. I've always been fond of Second Valley and Rapid Bay for snorkelling and fishing. I'd sat on the rocks at Second Valley gazing up at the cliff tops high above, the numerous headlands standing sentinel. Pretty special place.

South to Cape Jervis

Walking along the cliff tops from Second Valley, we could see the jetties and quarry works of Rapid Bay. There are two jetties, one dating from 1940 and in poor condition - it was closed about a decade ago due to safety risks. It was recently replaced by a new, shorter jetty, popular with recreational fishers and divers/snorkellers. Last fortnight, we walked south from Rapid Bay passing the quarry. Rapid bay fascinates me for it's multiple jetties, company-built vacant town, disused quarry, it's place in the State's history and not least cos of it's large beachside camping ground.

Colonel William Light made his first landfall on mainland South Australia at Rapid Bay on 8 September 1836. The site was named after his ship, the brig Rapid (162 tons). To mark this historic landfall the captain’s initials, W.L., were carved into large boulder – a replica is visible in the township, while the original is stored in the South Australian Museum, in Adelaide. The first European child born on mainland South Australia was delivered at Rapid Bay on November 7, 1836. His name was John Rapid Hoare.

For a short time Rapid Bay was considered a potential site for the new state capital, but with the discovery of the Adelaide Plains it faded into quiet obscurity. -- Wikipedia

The quarry was an open cut mine operated first by BHP and later Adelaide Brighton Cement. Limestone was mined and shipped from 1942 to 1988.

BHP built the town of Rapid Bay which consists of two areas of houses separated by a sports oval. The houses are all more or less the same, and in one section they are all vacant.

The jetty was opened in 1942, consisting of jetty and T-head wharf at the end. As early as 1958 the wharf's structual integrity was comprised due to shipworms and sections were rebuilt. The wharf is not a continuous wharf, but small jetty sections joined by a walkway. During reconstruction, one of these sections was found to have just three of the 25 piers either still fixed to the seabed or with enough diameter to carry a structural load. I fished off this section in the mid '90s, I remember quite clearly how much the jetty and wharf moved with the waves and wind, many piers could be seen to have rotted to such an extent that they no longer even reached the surface of the water. No wonder it was later closed.

(Wharf history source: www.rapidbayjetty.org)

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Stats	South to Cape Jervis
	Sunday
	14/03/2010
	Wirrina Cove to Rapid Bay via Second Valley
Distance	7.7km
Start Time	8.35am
End Time	11.30am
Moving Duration	2h08m
Stationary Duration	41m
Moving Average	3.6km/h
Overall Average	2.7km/h

The Windiest Walking Ever

This is the windiest walking I have ever experienced, even beating my July 2008 walk along the Mt Arden ridge.

South to Cape Jervis

It was so windy climbing Mt Rapid that our sunglasses were ripped off our faces. We had planned to do the tougher Rapid Bay to Yoho Road via Mt Rapid first, then tackle the easier Wirrina Cove to Rapid Bay. However with the strong wind, it seemed unwise to tackle the clifftops between Wirrina Cove and Rapid Bay.

Near Second Valley forest we passed a dam, quite long and filled with reeds. The farmer had said it contained platypus, but we couldn't picture them living in a typical farm dam until we saw the extent and natural-like state of the dam.

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Stats	South to Cape Jervis
	Sunday
	28/02/2010
	Rapid Bay to Yoho Road
Distance	8.8km

Can't help but be excited about water

Another blog entry about water near Arkaroola to add to the one from last week.

It really is very encouraging to see good rains after so long without. Exciting personally because we will be walking through here in April, so we'll be able to drink, and the land will look fantastic after six months of rain, but excited too for the land itself.

This guy's blog @ www.thesentimentalbloke.com really is a good read, fab photos.

There's been a bit of scattered rain around lately that has brought mixed fortunes over a lot of South Australia's Outback. Some were good falls - other places almost missed out.

This section of the Arkaroola Creek down from Barrarina Gorge is accessible by foot but like many other places, vehicle access is not an option.
... all the waterholes of the creek are full once again - well worth visiting in the coming months.

Photo of Arkaroola Creek down from Barrarina Gorge. Taken by Peter MacDonald, 18 February 2010 (Source: www.thesentimentalbloke.com -- an excellent blog about the Flinders Ranges)

Three Weeks Hiking in New Zealand

As I have said, five hikes. It was all we were here for. Interspersed with a few rest days, we tackled the Abel Tasman Track, Milford Track, Kepler Track, Humpridge Track and the Routeburn Track. None were too difficult, this was an introductory tour of New Zealand’s trails.

That said, I wanted just average weather, I wanted to experience the wet feet I so deeply feared (due to that little friend in the fridge so to say.) It was, like I said, wet, so I guess my wish was granted.

It's mid February now, it's taken me a while to update my blog, an entry for each of the five walks can be found below or on previous pages, but here are some quick links, since I've been doing some hiking since I got back from New Zealand:

• The Abel Tasman Track blog entry
  
• The Milford Track blog entry
  
• The Kepler Track blog entry
  
• The Humprdige Track blog entry
  
• The Routeburn Track blog entry
  

Here are some of the best photos:



Here are some awards for our NZ walking experiences:

• The best walk - the Routeburn Track
  
• The highest ascent - the Humpridge Track
  
• The wettest walk - Milford Track
  
• The muddiest walk - Humpridge Track
  
• Best animal encounter, swimming with wild dolphins at Port Craig on the Humpridge Track
  
• Sunniest walk - the Abel Tasman Track
  
• Best beaches - Abel Tasman Track
  
• Best free upgrade - a heli ride through Clinton Valley on the Milford Track
  
• The coldest walk - the Kepler Track
  
• Best friends made on a walk - the Kepler Track
  
• Most anticipated Iced Coffee - after the Humpridge Track
  

For reasons - perhaps somewhat inexplicable, perhaps not - I took few photos. In the first week I realised that the photos I were taking were lousy. I had invested in a soft plastic casing for my camera, which makes it waterproof, sandproof and dustproof. I figured a very useful item for a wet New Zealand climate. It's been very hard to see through the plastic to see the photos on the digital screen, and now, I release, it has also been very hard for the camera to see through it as well. Most of my photos look like they have been taken on a densely foggy day, blurring, low contrast and little shadow detail. I wish I had read this review here prior to buying it. Unless you want the case for water use (snorkelling, kayaking) or to take photos where it would not normally be possible (extreme weather), don't bother.

Now I realise -- well for one thing, I shouldn't have bothered with the camera casing -- I should have taken more photos, to show friends and family. Now that it is mid February, I can say one thing, I'm back in love with taking photos.

Sample photos taken with Aquapac case (not corrected in Photoshop):

Carrickalinga to Wirrina Cove

Only 13 people did today's walk, down from last week's 21 people. Evidently we scared them off...

South to Cape Jervis: Carrickalinga to Wirrina Cove

Yes, we also missed a bit, from Myponga Beach to Carrickalinga. Too tough? Too inaccessible? Maybe, but will need to return to do that one.

Today's walk took less than three hours, a little bit of everything: wide sandy beach walking, beaches with seaweed and rock, old overgrown grassed tracks and some rock hopping. Such a short walk, even though it was 14km, we were able to enjoy a nice cafe meal at The Old Courthouse Cafe in Normanville.

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Stats	South to Cape Jervis
	Sunday
	14/2/2010
	Carrickalinga to Wirrina Cove
Distance	14.2km
Start Time	8.50am
End Time	12.15pm
Moving Duration	2h54m
Stationary Duration	29m
Moving Average	4.9km/h
Overall Average	4.2km/h

Another 24mm of Rain

We've been monitoring the rainfall in the northern Flinders Ranges since mid November. Our plans for the next instalment of our Beyond the Heysen trek from Angepenna Station to Arkaroola in April depends on good summer rains. Without the rains, we have no water as water drops will be too difficult.

Another 24mm of rain fell yesterday at Arkaroola, in addition to the good rains in late November, Christmas Day and a considerable fall in early February.


Photo of Boolcunda Creek, between Hawker and Quorn on the Wilochra Plain. Taken by Peter MacDonald, 12 February 2010 (Source: www.thesentimentalbloke.com -- an excellent blog about the Flinders Ranges)

Date	Rainfall
Nov 19, 2009	1mm
Nov 21, 2009	16mm
Nov 22, 2009	12mm
Nov 25, 2009	32mm
Nov 26, 2009	8mm
Dec 18, 2010	3mm
Dec 25, 2009	22mm
Jan 2, 2010	2mm
Feb 2, 2010	1.8mm
Feb 3, 2010	44.1mm
Feb 3, 2010	34.9mm
Feb 9, 2010	1.0mm
Feb 12, 2010	23.8mm
Feb 13, 2010	4.6mm