Half-lap Day 76: DeGrey -> Indee Station

I was up at 6, just as it was getting light, to get all the food we’d bought yesterday organised into tubs so we could pack the car and the trailer and move on. It was beautiful working in that early morning light amongst the trees. The others came out as they woke up, and we had breakfast then the kids went back up to see the sharks again. Tony discovered some green stuff at the bottom of one of our water containers, so he spent a bit of time cleaning that out and sanitising the container. I had wanted to get away early and was starting to worry that we didn’t ever seem to be able to do it – then realised it didn’t matter. We have relaxed evenings and mornings, there’s no stress and little rush, and we can do this trip at our own pace. Just because most people are up and out between 7 and 8 doesn’t mean that we need to do that as well. And if there is ever a day when we really DO have to be gone that early, I’m sure we will manage it at the time.

So we got away by 10, feeling happy and relaxed and still not sure what our plans for the day were. We’d been thinking of going straight to Karajini (about 400km) but were slightly worried about getting a campsite unless we got there early, and the girls really wanted showers – after 3 days without one here, and with no showers at Karajini, they wanted a shower stop in between. I’d been told there were free public showers near a beach in Port Hedland, so we decided to shower there and then figure out the rest of the day later. We stopped at the railway bridge again because the digger was up on the sand pile and I wanted to get a photo of it – then we jackknifed the trailer as we attempted to back out of our spot. Looks like it’s only cosmetic damage though so it shouldn’t impact on our trip. We reached the beach and it was a beautiful spot, with a creek winding in from the ocean and gorgeous sand hills either side of it. The showers only had cold taps though and no one wanted a cold shower. We filled up all our water containers at the drinking tap there, and Tony rang a station stay we’d heard about to see if we could get in there with our 2WD car – no problems, they said, so we decided to stay there tonight and head to Karajini tomorrow.

We popped back into Woolworths to get bread and cash and petrol, then back out over the railway bridge for the last time, then out of Port Hedland. We only had another 70km or so to go to get to the station, so it was a short days driving today, but makes the trip to the National Park easier tomorrow. On the way to Indee Station we saw more 4-trailer road trains than we have seen on our entire trip so far, they’d be coming past 2 or 3 at a time. I counted the wheels – 84 altogether! They are amazing – although often quite disconcerting as the back 2 trailers often wriggle about a bit as they drive. They always stay well within their lane, but it looks a bit scary as we approach.

There was a big road train in the driveway as we turned off to the station, so we were able to have a good look at it. We drove the 9km in off the highway quite easily. This is dry country, red dirt, sparse trees but with lots of magnificent white gum trees. We saw a few areas where mining workers are obviously staying, and I think there are several mines on the station. Eventually we reached the homestead and were taken out to the camping area. It wasn’t flash, but as usual once we’d put the tent up I felt right at home. The kids played under a big gum tree, LiAM did a magic show, the girls ground up some of the rocks to use as makeup, and we wandered around and explored the place a bit. There were calves wandering through the campground although after LiAM’s cow incident earlier the kids all avoided the cows. They met some people with a dog and chatted to them, I talked to a guy who used to work here and had come back to get his swag which he’d left behind. He said the station was bigger than the whole area of Perth!

Later in the afternoon we drove another 9km into the property to see Red Rock. We had a map to get there, but a couple times we seemed to cross trails that weren’t marked and it was a bit sobering – it would be easy to get lost in country like this. The kids were joking that we were going to see Uluru – and when we saw the rock it felt like we were! It was nowhere near as big, but is a large red rock rising up out of the ground, a similar shape in profile to Uluru.

At the end of the rock was a beautiful rock pool, full of water and reflecting the big rock in it, as well as reflecting the rocks all around it’s edges. The water was freezing! Caitlin had found a path up to the top of the rock, and then saw an easier way up, which LiAM took. Tony followed them and Millie and I walked around the back of the rock looking for the Aboriginal engravings that we’d heard about. Millie decided to go and join the others, so we headed up to the top. The view was fantastic – most of the country was flat with the occasional large rocky hill, and a couple of small mountains in the distance. There was a river which wasn’t flowing but there were many many water holes. The white gums stood out amongst the spinifex and lower vegetation. We could see the big road trains traveling along the highway in the distance. The sun was getting low in the sky and the light was amazing. There was a flat, grassy area about halfway up the rock that Millie thought would be great to build a cabin on – a beautiful, peaceful place to live.

We wandered back down and Millie and I saw a sign that said ‘etchings’ so found one of the engravings in the rock – large emu tracks we think. The boys walked the rest of the way around the perimeter of the rock. Caitlin wanted to go for a quick swim and went to get changed, and found some more etchings – a couple of lizards this time. They were quite cool to see. Caitlin spent a short amount of time getting wet in the rock pool. I put my feet in and felt quite refreshed.

We headed back to the campsite, seeing more cows and a couple of kangaroos on the way. We went over to the homestead for happy hour at 5.30 – byo alcohol, and they provide nibblies. It was fun to sit around a large table and chat to the other campers – most of them were heading north and had just come from Karajini, so we had tips for the northern part of Australia for them, and they told us lots about the National Park. There was a lot of talk about football too – there was enough signal for Tony to watch the Collingwood game on his phone, and everyone was interested in the progress of the game.

LiAM and Millie and I headed back once they’d had enough, and Tony and Caitlin followed soon after. The girls and I went over to have our showers – nice and warm and good water pressure, everyone was happy. We had cup-a-noodles for tea and then set up the beds. Tony watched the rest of the game (with a disappointing result) in the camp kitchen. It was a very cold evening, possibly the coldest we’ve had since we headed north. We got everyone snuggly into their beds and read a couple of chapters and the tent warmed up a bit with us all inside.

Half-lap Day 25: Alice Springs

Millie was the first one awake and she got up and went out of the tent and got herself some breakfast (dry cereal, as she couldn’t get into the car to get the milk out of the fridge). I had a little bit of a sleep in – I was still up before 8 but it was the latest I’ve stayed in bed so far on the trip. I felt much better than I had the night before, and happier about staying here for a few days.

We had a very relaxed morning, catching up on some computer and internet stuff, playing with Millie’s animals, eating breakfast, reading about Alice Springs and surrounding areas, sorting out our stuff a little (there’s still more to be sorted, the car has been having stuff thrown into it lately and it all needs to come out and be repacked).

Late in the morning we all went to the pool for a swim. It was hot and sunny and even though the water was still cold it refreshing and felt great to be in there. A group of younger people who were camped near us were also swimming so we stayed more in the shallow end and tried to make a whirlpool, and LiAM and I had a water karate sparring session – it’s easier to kick in the water but harder to block as all our movements were so much slower.

We came back to the tent for chicken sandwiches then headed in to town. We parked near the library, Tony, LiAM and Millie went to check it out and Caitlin and I walked through town to do some shopping. We wandered along the Todd Mall and looked at some art shops and admired an old low stone building, which was the first hospital in Central Australia. We were approached by a man with a painting, which I loved, and chatted to him about his country (around Broome) and he offered us the painting for $20 – I wasn’t sure about the protocol or the ethics of buying from him and so I declined – I’ve talked to a couple of people since and I think if I see him again I might buy it.

We found one op shop which had closed at 1pm, so we walked to the far end of the town centre to the Salvation Army op shop, and found a couple of things that were on our list (replacing clothing that has fallen apart or we’ve found we need more of, and a hot water bottle as mine is perishing inside – hopefully this one is sound). We also bought some neck coolers that Caitlin has been eyeing off for a while, and the guy gave us a discount on them too. From there we walked back into town, explored a new and 2^nd hand clothing and toy store, then checked Vinnies out and found a couple more things. Then to Kmart and then Target to complete our list. We also popped in to a couple of sports stores to try to find new swimming shorts for LiAM. I love walking around towns that I don’t know, starting to get a feel for them and become more familiar. I’m still not sure whether I like Alice Springs or not, I remember feeling the same the last time I was here.

Tony and the others had spent some time at the library and found that the wifi wasn’t a strong enough signal to watch videos, so LiAM played games and Millie and Tony played with blocks for a while, then they went and found a cool playground before coming to pick us up. We grabbed food for dinner and headed back to the caravan park. The kids went for another swim and I watched them while Tony cooked burgers on the BBQ. I sat with my feet in the water which was lovely and refreshing – it was still quite warm even though the sun had gone down.

We ate our burgers at the BBQ shelter and the kids had showers and we tidied up for the night then headed into bed for Brisingr and sleep.

Half-lap Day 11: Flinders Ranges

I woke early and settled into a spot on the rocks overlooking the Flinders Ranges to drink my cup of tea and write my blog. I was up in time to watch the sun rise over the mountains which was quite spectacular. LiAM joined me after a while and we went for a walk down through the hills surrounding our camp. We saw lots of interesting rocks and plants, and 2 wallabies camouflaged into the hillside – their fur is almost exactly the same colour as the grass!

Sunrise over the Flinders Ranges (taken from our campsite)

It was a lovely sunny morning and soon warmed up, the warmest we’ve probably been on the trip so far. Once everyone was out of bed we opened up all the windows in the tent, as there were still some damp patches from Monday. Millie enjoyed sitting up on our bed colouring in, while the sun came in the windows. We spent the morning hanging around the campsite – the kids dug a hole looking for gold, they explored more of the paths leading off from the camp, I sorted out the washing and enjoyed being in the sun, Tony strung up some ropes to dry all our annex canvases on. Caitlin and Tony tried riding their bikes around the campsites but the tracks were a bit rough for Caitlin’s bike. It was so lovely to just take our time and enjoy the beautiful spot.

We saw pairs of wedge tailed eagles a few times – we could see them maneuvering through the air – stopping and dropping backwards then catching another draught of air, and starting dives then pulling out – we see eagles often at home and had never seen this behavior – then realised that we were up so much higher than usual on our hill, and were seeing the eagles much closer to their full flight height so could see more detail. Normally when they are that high they just look like specks to us and we can’t see what they are doing.

In the afternoon we headed out to explore the national park a bit. We drove out to Sacred Canyon – 13km along a very corrugated dirt road, so that wasn’t overly comfortable, but it wasn’t too bad. We saw lots of emus on the way, including a dad (probably) with 2 juveniles. It was amazing how dry the land was, creek beds still dry, hardly even any puddles, given they’d had 40mm here only 3 days ago.

We reached the canyon and headed off on our walk – an easy walk along a dry creek bed between two rock walls. The rock formations were fascinating, including areas of completely vertical layers of rock. My geography is a bit hazy on how they were formed, but it’s something I want to look up when I can. There were a few rock pools in amongst the rocks, and ants everywhere at times. We saw ancient engravings in the rocks – circles and emu tracks and little people. No one knows how old these engravings are – incredible to see something that has been there for so long we can’t even imagine. We reached what looked like the end of the canyon, and there was a little cave to the side – the kids thought it was like a little chapel so they performed some mock wedding ceremonies in there. Then they clambered up the rocks at the end of the canyon, and discovered we could keep walking along the creek. Tony and I followed (it took me a little longer than all of the others…I’m amazed at how agile Millie is on rocks, and she’s not concerned about heights at all. She seems to have Tony’s knack of seeing the easiest path and taking it confidently)

Sacred Canyon

We kept going up the creek until we reached open pasture. There was a giant gum tree in the middle of the creek bed that had long ago split in two, and the 2 halves were growing as separate trees. We could stand in between the halves of the trunk and see where they used to be joined, it was incredible. After playing in the field and creek for a little while we clambered back down to the end of the canyon and had some lunch, while the kids climbed the walls of the canyon (the slopey bits, anyway.)

A gum tree split in 2

We walked back to the car and drove back to the Visitor Centre. We listened to Wild Born and a very exciting battle scene made the drive seem very short. We filled up our water bottles (there’s no water at all at our campsite) and got a National Parks map. We considered doing a walk to the Hills Homestead but everyone was a bit tired. On the way out we stopped at the Solar Power lookout walk and walked out to see the Solar Power setup that powers the visitor’s centre and other parts of the park. The late afternoon sunshine was on the cliffs of Wilpena Pound, the rocks were almost glowing red and it was spectacular.

Back to our tent where we closed up all the windows and then got the fire going. Tony roasted potatoes in the coals, Caitlin cooked donuts (jam and bread fried in pancake batter – delicious!) and the kids roasted marshmallows. It was a cold evening but beautiful sitting up on the hill around the fire. At one point we heard a car (ute?) down below us and then heard a few gunshots – they echoed around the valleys and hills for ages and it was a bit scary the first time, then figured that someone was out hunting and it was quite normal for a country night.

Sunset from our camp

Once we’d all eaten we snuggled in to bed – LiAM tried to wear a beanie and neck warmer to bed to see if he felt warmer, he’s been quite cold – and we read Brisingr until we fell asleep.