The Great Australian Tour '05 - Jump on the wagon and have a happy ride

Day 15 - 31/07/05 Kulgera, Northern Territory (NT).

Most of our afternoon and the evening yesterday was spent with Dinesh and Geeta, the doctor couple from India who are at the Coober Pedy hospital. So we hadn't actually seen the sights around town. We decided to spend the morning taking a quick look around before heading off to Alice Springs. We went up to the Big Winch which is a lookout point and took in the views of Coober Pedy. With all the mounds of earth in conical piles scattered around the area reminded us of ant nests. If you can remember how ants make a conical pile of earth outside their underground nests, and then imagine you were much smaller than the ant, and surrounded by these huge piles, that's what you'll feel like in Coober Pedy.
We did a round of the underground churches in Coober Pedy. We visited the Catacomb church, an underground Anglican Church. It was Sunday and so a congregation had met. Later we dropped in at the underground Catholic church. This is a nice and cosy church and here also a service was in progress. So we sat down. Everything was going like normal until the priest came forward to give communion to the people. He came forward and stood at the edge of the altar. Beside him nonchalantly trotted and then sat a little terrier! He sat there patiently while communion was being given, supervising the procedure. Then when the priest returned to his usual place behind the table, the terrier went to a side and sat there watching the proceedings. After the service when the priest walked down the aisle to leave the church, the little fellow dutifully trotted out with him. Never seen a deacon who was a terrier before! Coober Pedy is definitely not your everyday place!
After the Underground Catholic Church, we decided to drop in at the Serbian Orthodox church. Here too a service was in progress, and as it was in Serbian we couldn't understand a word. It is an Orthodox church, and all the priests and celebrants were dressed in grand glittering clothes. The Church itself was so much more grander than any of the others we had seen that day. It had a high ceiling, with a tri-foil vault. And the altar had a wooden partition and stained glass artwork. It was quite an awesome place.
After the service we drove by the Coober Pedy golf course, which didn't have a blade of grass! It was the same dry stony ground. Around the hole was more moist looking soil, which had been neatly raked, and the hole and flag planted in the middle of this. What a sight it made. And they had the standard 'please keep off the grass' sign too! It was noon, and though we felt like wandering around a little bit more we had to head off. Alice Springs was 785 km away. We needed to get there to have the car fixed. We drove for the rest of the day, and stopped at 6.30 when we got to Kulgera. On the way we passed a dog, which was running towards us in the middle of the road, looking lost and anxious. We stopped, and he stopped too and looked back at us. We called to him, but he just stood and looked at us uncertainly. Then deciding that we weren't who he was looking for, he continued, but kept looking over his shoulder at us. We got into the car and started to drive but couldn't bear to leave him there and went back to try and give him some food and water. By then he'd got off the road. he was the same colour as the earth and we just couldn't spot him. I think he might have been abandoned by his owners. he was a big dog, and maybe they couldn't manage him.
The landscape along the way had a lot more vegetation. Its greener, but not the same green as comes to mind when one things of plants. These plants are much paler, the green more an ash colour with a green tinge. But the creeks were all dry. The soil at times was very sandy, and a rich red-orange. The temperature was very pleasant though, which is because of the time of year, Inside the car its starting to get hot and sweaty though, on long drives.

Day 14 - 30/07/05 Coober Pedy.

Last night as we were preparing dinner a cyclist rode into the caravan park, with a small bicycle trailer in tow. He was bearded and dusty, and came looking for a tent-site. We looked at him, wondering where he had cycled from. We'd heard at William Creek that a cyclist had been on the Oodnadatta track just a few days ahead of us. Could this be the man?He set up his tent, unhitched his trailer and set of into town on his bike. He returned later with a Pizza box and sat eating it in the dining area.
“I've heard there are opals around. Have you seen any?” he asked, his eyes looking bright and eager.
I initially thought he was asking about 'apples', and wondered what was going on! We asked him where he'd come from. He told us that he'd come on the bus from Alice, with his bicycle, in search of opals. He was a fossicker and asked us if we knew where the public fossicking spot was. This is a patch where people can look for opals in the dirt that has been discarded from mines. No tools like spades or shovels are allowed. People can search with their hands or a little stick to help them. This is called noodling. Someone had told him that even if he didn't find any opals himself, he could buy them cheap in Coober Pedy and sell them for almost 5 times the price in Alice Springs. He'd even got information about which was the cheapest place to buy them in. Later as we were going to bed he said he just couldn't wait to go and start searching, that he wouldn't be able to sleep, and he might end up going and searching by torch light! He was so full of enthusiasm and hope. He was up and off by 7.00 am this morning.
We had breakfast and then went to try and get the car sorted out. There were 2 work shops. One could only take a look tomorrow. So we went to the other one. The old chap there had a look and explained the problem to us (which was that the vehicle had been quick-fixed earlier and had only one muffler in place of two). He tightened some bolts and we decided we'd push on and get it fixed in Alice.
We walked into town and stopped at Dreamtime Gems, Outside was box of stones in which one could noodle for opals. The owner of the shop came and showed us how to look for them. Later we went in and a lady showed us around and explained about opals and the various qualities. She also demonstrated how they were cut and polished. There were many newspaper aritcles on the walls about Coober Pedy, and opal miners, which made fascinating reading. There were also some live native snakes and lizards on display. We spent some time in the store and got chatting with the lady. We asked her if there were any Indian families in Coober Pedy. She said that the two doctors at the local hospital were a couple from India. She encouraged us to call the hospital and get in touch with them. We did and found ourselves invited to dinner.
We also took a tour of the Umoona mine. This was a guided tour of an opal mine and also of a dugout house. Temperatures in Coober Pedy reach the 50s Centigrade in summer and so many houses are built into the hill sides, so that most of the house is actually underground. The temperature in these houses is a constant 24-26 C throughout the year and required no heating or cooling ever. It was fascinating to go through the house, which even had different levels. Most rooms have a vent which is a pipe which sticks out from the side of the hill, and provides ventilation. The rooms felt quite fresh and cool, and were cosy and pleasant. Of course, they had to have an electric light on whenever they were in use. After the tour we spent some time browsing in the underground bookshop. Most of things in Coober Pedy are underground – hotel, motel, shops, cafes, churches etc.
After dinner with the only Indian family in town, we returned to our caravan park. Our fossicker was back, still in good spirits, and said he had found plenty of stones!

Day 13 - 29/07/05 Arkaringa Homestead to Coober Pedy

Although we got up early at 7.00 am today (by our recent standards!), it wasn't until 10.00 that we actually got started.
We had a small distance to cover about 150 km and most of it was going to be on the sealed Stuart highway. The drive continued through country similar to yesterday, but there was more vegetation, and short stubby trees. We saw quite a few cattle too. It never fails to make us wonder how they survive and thrive in this harsh environment. Last night we were chatting with our hostess at the homestead. Thrice a year the cattle are mustered and penned for branding, ear tagging, castrating the males etc. Sometimes they are moved from a paddock with very little feed to one with more feed. On the whole they look after themselves without much intervention. They tend to keep the cows and sell the bulls or male calves. The cows are allowed to breed from stock bulls which are bought for the very specific purpose of breeding. We asked how many such stock bulls they had. She said that there was a specified ratio. One stock bull was supposed to service 500 cows in 7 weeks. Some quick calculation and we found that this meant 70 cows a week. or 10 cows a day, or one cow every hour in a 10 hour work day! Well, he had to work very hard indeed.
There were more hills like the Painted desert. These were called Copper Hills, and there was a Copper Hills HS (homestead) nearby too. Once we got onto the sealed road, the drive became quite boring. After the challenge and stimulation of the Oodnadatta track, this drive seemed so mundane. The scenery on either side of the road looked different too....it was much more vegetated along the road. About 40 km from Coober Pedy, we crossed the Dog Fence. It is the longest structure in the world, longer than the Great Wall of China. It runs continuously from the coast of the Great Australian Bight to the Queensland coast, and was built to keep dingoes out of the sheep rearing districts. South of the fence there are both sheep and cattle on the properties, while north of the fence are only cattle. Dingoes will attack and feed on sheep, but cattle are too big. Occasionally they will manage to bring down a calf though. The fence is patrolled and maintained to ensure that the dingoes are kept out.
Closer to Coober Pedy we turned off the road onto a dirt track to see the Breakaways, which is a much advertised Coober Pedy attraction. Again, it was not as exciting as it was made out to be. It was very similar to the Painted desert but on a smaller scale, and less dramatic. I suppose it was a sort of consolation prize for those who could not make it to the Painted Desert. It is a very stark lunar landscape, and apparently a setting for many films. Driving through it made one feel like one was on another planet. The road then came to the Dog fence and followed it for a short distance before turning South and leading into Coober Pedy.
Coober Pedy was surrounded by mounds of pink earth from all the mining activity. The town was practically sitting on mines. Driving down the main road felt like driving through a shanty town. Many of the buildings were of corrugated iron. It is very touristy, and has many boards advertising tours, accomodation, attractions etc.
The rattling from yesterday hasn't gone away, only gotten worse. So I had another look under and think I've found the problem. I had the muffler and exhaust job done in Adelaide and things seemed fine. But after about 800km on unsealed tracks, the vibrations seemed to have caused the exhaust pipe coming out of the engine to come loose and the whole exhaust system was rattling. It could easily come loose and fall off on the next rough road we took. It was too late in the day to get anything done today. Will have to get it fixed first thing tomorrow, since it is Saturday and not many places may stay open long.

Day 12 - 28/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Peake Telegraph Repeater Station to Oodnadata and Arkaringa Homestead.

The morning was pleasant and the ruins were glowing in the morning sun. The drive back to the track seemed less difficult and less intimidating than the drive to the ruins yesterday. After the rough drive to get to the track, the track itself seemed so smooth and easy. it felt like we were floating over it.
Our next stop was at Algebuckina Bridge. This is the longest steel bridge in South Australia. It was built for the old Ghan to cross the Neales river. From the map we could see that the Neales river drains quite a large area, but never makes its way to the sea. Instead its journey ends at Lake Eyre. There was some water in the river. At the bottom of the bridge was the wreck of an old car. A board nearby related the story. The car belonged to Fred, who tried to cross the river on the bridge when the river was in full flow during a flood and the road was under water. He put railway sleepers in front of the car and drove over them. Then stopped, climbed over the car and retrieved the sleepers at the back to lay them out in front. But while he was toiling away a train came and threw his car off the track onto where it lies rusting today.
The information signs in this area are put up by Adam and Lynnie of the famous Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta. This one also had a poetry box. We had a peep inside and read the few short verses there. Some where in praise of Adam and Lynnie and the Oodnadatta track. One was a clever verse about Fred and his car. It inspired me to sit down and contribute to the literary wealth of this country!
We chatted with another couple who had camped the night at the bridge. They were an older couple travelling with their dog. The man fossicked for gold. He told us about his son who used to work for the railway company for 20 years. Once when they were working on a stretch one of his mates went away to take a leak and found a nugget of gold just sitting there! That's the kind of country this place is. If you keep your eyes open, you never know what you can find.
Our next stop was Oodnadatta itself. It isn't a big town, but there are more people living there. While we were there the mail run tour came through. This is a tour that can be taken out of Coober Pedy, joining the person who twice a week takes mail to the remote stations in the area.
We didn't spend a lot of time in Oodnadatta but went on to Arkaringa. There were fewer people on this road,which led to the Arkaringa homestead, via the Painted Desert.
The Painted desert was a beautiful spot. There were hills with smooth gravel slopes, with colours running over them, like they were some watercolour painting. We parked and walked through the hills. It was steep and because of the gravel quite slippery. At the homestead we met the lady that lived there, who chatted a while with us. Got an idea of life on a cattle station. Theirs was about 2200 sq. km. in area and had about 2400 heads of cattle.
Later as we had dinner by the fire we chatted with another group that were going to go across the Simpson Desert.
We had noticed a rattle under the car and a sound like static on a radio, when the engine revs went up. Couldn't quite figure it out. Had a look under the car and also in the engine bay. Sounded like air was escaping from somewhere. Opened and checked the air filter and other places we could think of, but couldn't find the cause. Hoped it would go away the next day, but it had we worried.

Day 11 - 27/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Cowards Springs to Peake Telegraph Repeater Station.

Entry into William Creek... A traffic light in the middle of the Outback! And a speed camera??











Relics of the Old Ghan at William Creek. The Old Ghan is the railway that linked Adelaide and Alice Springs. The Oodnadata track follows this route. The New Ghan track was relaid and runs through Coober Pedy and Alice to Darwin.












Runis of Peaks Telegraph Repeater Station, on the Overland Telegraph Line connecting Adelaide and Darwin, to connect Australia to England by wire.

Day 10 - 26/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Maree to Cowards Springs.

The road was sealed upto Lyndhurst (pop. 30, most days!). Lyndhurst was where the Strezelecki track went off across the Strezelecki desert to Inaminka. From Lyndhurst onwards the road was unsealed, but in a reasonable condition. It soon became apparent that this was because graders were working on the road. Graders are large machines like earthmovers which go over dirt tracks smoothing them down, removing corrugations etc. There had been some rains about a week ago and many vehicles had been stuck on the road, and chewed up the road where they had got into trouble. So the graders were out. Some way out of Lyndhurst were the ochre cliffs. The soil here was deep red and bright yellow and used by the natives like paint on their body during rituals. Further up the road were the ruins of Farina. Farina was a settlement which was built in the hope that they would be able to grow wheat in the surrounding areas. It was amusing to read it. It was hard to imagine that somebody could dream of growing wheat in such arid, harsh country. And that a whole settlement came up around this idea was inconceivable. But there were the ruins as a reminder. The ruins are in pretty good condition. There are no roofs left, or windows or doors. But the walls are still standing straight and proud, almost in defiance.
At Maree, 79 km from Lyndhurst, the Birdsville track and the Odnadatta tracks split. These are two legendary outback tracks. The Birdsville track was used to drive cattle from Birdsville to the railway head at Maree, to be transported to the Markets in Adelaide. Every year this is re-enacted, and many people join the drovers for a part of or the whole way. The drovers are the jackaroos (Aussie cowboys) on horses who drive the cattle. During the enactment, about 600 cattle are driven down the Birdsville track. The journey is ....km long and takes about ....days.
The Oodnadata Track is one of the famous dirt tracks through the outback, passing through remote cattle stations and many ghost towns. It follows the route of the Old Ghan Track, which is a railway line that ran from Adelaide to Alice Springs. The Ghan in turn was laid along the route of the old Telegraph line which ran from Adelaide to Darwin, to connect Australia to England. The line had repeater stations along the way where messages were received in Morse Code and re-transmitted on to the next station. The stations were about 150-200km apart. The whole area is very harsh and dry. The telegraph repeater stations were at places where there were natural springs in the desert. These springs are where the underground water from the Great Artesian Basin finds its way to the surface. The Great Artesian basin is a huge underground water resource which covers nearly a third of the continent. In some places it comes up to the surface under so much pressure that water shoots up from the ground while flowing. In many of the springs even though this doesn't happen, the water comes to the surface quite forcefully, and flows into the desert like a creek, forming a wetland or an oasis. When the Ghan was built it was built so that the stations at these springs could provide the water required for the steam engines. But because the water was hard and full of minerals it had to be softened before it could be used. So most of the stations had a water softening plant too. Later when technology changed and diesel engines were used which no longer required the water, a new track was laid which did not follow the old route, but runs through Coober Pedy and straight up the desert.
Many of the old stations that serviced the Ghan are in ruins, just off the Oodnadatta track. We stopped at most of them, walked around the ruins and marvelled at how people lived and did things. The Ghan was named after the Afghan cameleers who helped build the track. The Afghans planted date trees in many of the places. These trees are still standing.
One of the first ruins we came upon was the Curdimurka station. Here every year a formal ball used to be held for the people of the region. Wooden decks were laid out and upto a thousand people came from all around, in their tuxedos and ball dresses. It was the biggest annual social event of the region. Standing there in the harsh sun and with nothing around us but the wide open expanse of the desert, it was hard to imagine what the place would have looked like on the night. The last ball was held there in 2000.
Just before Curdimurka we came to a viewpoint from where we could look out across Lake Eyre. Lake Eyre is a large inland lake, or rather sea, since the water is so salty here. It is about 12 m below sea level. The basin covers a large area, many seasonal creeks draining into it. Yet, the lake is so large that in the past 250 years or so it has filled to capacity only on three occasions!. When the rains feed the lake and there is a fair amount of water, many birds descend upon it from far away places to feed on the teeming fish there. Pelicans from nearly 2000 miles away come there and nobody knows how they can possibly know that the lake is full, since this is not a regular event. For most of the time instead of water, the lake or rather lake bed is covered with a thick crust of salt, which in some places is 750 mm thick!
The outback is not quite the desert one expects it to be. There are short scrubby plants. And the colours of the outback are quite stunning too. There are shades of purple (distant hills), greens (plants), reds (soils and rocks) and the deep blue of the clear sky. And the horizon in many places is absolutely flat, giving one the feeling of emptiness and space that you cannot possibly describe or experience anywhere else. And then there are so many strange sights. Like the Bubbler. We turned off the Oodnadatta track to go and see what the Bubbler and Blanche cup was all about. The sign board said they were 4 km away. It was getting late in the day, but the travellers we'd met at Leigh Creek had mentioned it and we decided to take a look. Blanche cup was a mound spring. This was where the water from the Artesian Well had pushed its way to the surface and flowed out. In doing so it had pushed up and deposited sediments, which formed a small hillock or mound, like a mini volcano, from the top of which the spring flowed down. The Bubbler was also a spring. But here the Caldera of the mound was a clear pool with a sandy bottom. All was quiet and still when we got it. We peered into its depths and suddenly the floor of the pool started to churn, a bubble of sand formed and burst. This continued as water forced its way up through the sand. There was a steady stream water flowing out into the desert, with some green vegetation around it. When the bubbler had churned and bubbled for a while it quietened down. Then after a rest it started all over again.
We meant to get to William Creek for the night. But stopped when we go to Coward Springs, which was another railway station. This one had been restored and the surrounding area was a private campground. The spring was not a natural one. It resulted from a bore that had been sunk there. Water flowed freely and then a wetland was formed. Nowadays it is like an oasis in the desert and many birds are found there. There was a very nice campsite and we pitched tent there for the night. I had a dip in the natural outdoor spa, where the water flowed out of the bore and into the wetland. The water came up with such force that it was like sitting in a spa/jacuzzi.

Day 9 - 25/07/05 Leigh Creek.

There were about 500 galahs in the tree near our tent. The first sign of morning was the mad hysterical laugh of the kookaburras and then the galahs woke up and exchanged pleasantries with their roosting neighbours, which generated more noise than can be described.

We got going by 9.45. Started driving towards Hawker. On the way, just off the road were the ruins of the Kanyaka homestead. This used to be a large sheep rearing station. But after a drought there was a downturn and the station was abandoned. What is left behind looks like half-built houses. Most of them have walls, doorways and window openings, but no roofs. The only traces of some huts were their fire places and chimneys. It was extremely picturesque but a little poignant.

Further up we stopped to take a look at the Yourambulla caves. From the car park we had to walk up a hill side, which was strewn with all sizes of rocks and boulders. Nearby were yellow orange rock cliffs. A steep step ladder led to a cave which was more a sheltered space beneath an overhanging. There, there was aboriginal rock art. A sign board nearby explained the interpretations of the motifs in the paintings. There were two other caves nearby with similar rock art too. The rocks were eroded into interesting forms and from up the hill side we were afforded beautiful views over the surrounding plains with the ranges standing purple in the distance.

We drove into Hawker and spent some time at the post office there finishing up some pending work. Had lunch at a picnic table nearby. It was over lunch that we changed our plans. We decided that instead of spending time around the Flinders Ranges we would head up the Oodnadata track and continue our journey towards Alice Springs and the Kimberleys and revisit the Flinders Ranges on our way back when it would be springtime and the wildflowers will be in bloom.

Rather than take the main road to Leigh Creek where we decided to stop for the night, we took the Moralana scenic drive. This was through the private Arkaba sheep station. It was a 28 km dirt track and the scenery was stunning. The western crags of the Wilpena pound rose on one side of the road and there was another range on the other side. The ranges had a wild beauty, and the afternoon sun picked out some glowing rocks against the hazy purple of the rest of the slopes. What added to the beauty was that the land was rich green with grass and scattered with majestic gum trees. There's a particular kind that I've only seen here that have a really stout base. They must be very old trees. We never see such old trees in Victoria.

Once we hit the road it was a straight drive to Leigh creek. On the way, by the roadside, was an old refrigerator, painted a bright red. We've seen this before when we travelled through some remote parts of eastern Victoria. These old fridges are used like mail drop-offs, to convey goods to different people. Someone who wants to give an item to a person puts it in the fridge or has someone who is going that way do it. And the recipient picks it up or arranges for it to be picked up by someone going that way.

The road to Leigh Creek is through unfenced cattle and sheep runs. So there were cattle and sheep grazing on either side. There wasn't a blade of grass in sight, just some scrubby vegetation. Makes one wonder how it can be economical to grow livestock in such country. The ground was very flat except for the ranges.

Leigh creek is a small township built and maintained by the company which runs the coal mines nearby. We're at a caravan park here and will set off on the Oodnadatta track tomorrow. There are two other couples that have just come through and are raving about it.

Day 8 - 24/07/05 Quorn, Flinders Ranges.

Last night was very pleasant, temperature-wise, as was the morning. We packed up and headed towards Wilmington. Just before Wilmington we turned off onto a road to Alligator gorge. The dirt track was quite steep but the views of the ranges were fantastic.

From the car park we descended some steep steps until we stood at the bottom of a narrow valley. We followed the little brook upstream. Along the way were sheer sides of glowing red sandstone, in layers and blocks, contrasted by the brilliant white of the smooth barks of the gum trees. It was spectacular, but extremely hard to capture with the camera because of the strong light and deep shadows. About 300 metres from where we started were the Terraces, where the stream cascaded down platforms.

We returned downstream and then continued past the steps. The setting grew more dramatic as we continued. The walls of the gorge slowly closed in. In places the stream had formed pools which reflected the sides of the gorge. At times the walls of the gorge widened into a cavernous theatre, and then they squeezed so close that there was just about 3 metres of floor space which was occupied by the stream. We had to pick our way with stepping stones in the middle of the stream. In some places there were large flat overhangings of rock and the gorge almost had a roof. As we reached the edge of the gorge, the height of the walls reduced and instead of being sheer they became the sloping sides of the valley. There were steps which we ascended and made our way back to the car park. We were unsure of what to do next...to go directly to Port Augusta or to Quorn. We started towards Port Augusta, drove a short distance, then changed our mind and drove to Quorn. As we drove along, we noticed that we were slowly being surrounded by ranges. At Quorn we dropped in at the visitors' centre. The friendly lady there gave us a few options for things to do in the region. We decided to go to Warren Gorge and have another try at spotting the yellow-footed rock wallaby. We got there, and just as we parked a wallaby came jumping down the steep hill side. It was the most colourful wallaby we had ever seen, with lots of yellow on the sides and some stripes too. But when we got out of the car to photograph it, it bounced its way up the slope and disappeared. The gorge was also fantastic. The rocks were bright yellow and glowed in the evening sun. It was short gorge, about a hundred metres, and after looking around and not finding any more wallabies on the other side we returned to our car, still scanning the slopes hopefully. Getting into the car, we spotted one resting on a rock and watching us. We watched the wallaby and he watched us and when we had enough of each other, we moved on and went to a caravan park in Quorn. It was run by the same lady we had met at the visitor centre. She and her husband had moved to Quorn from Adelaide to get away from the big city and move to the hills.

Day 7 – 23/07/05 Telowie Gorge

Finally left Adelaide this morning. It was mid morning by the time we started because most of the morning was taken up by posting our Blog. Started at about 11.30 am. We headed towards Wilmington which is in the southern Flinders Ranges. Planned to stop there for the night. Instead of taking the highway, we took the road through Gawler and the Clare valley winery region. Gawler is on the western edge of the Barossa valley, another famous wine-producing area. So of course there were more vineyards along the way. but we didn't stop at any. We took a road to Crystal Brook and joined the main highway.

From Crystal Brook we went to Telowie Gorge, which was mentioned and marked in the books. Didn't know what to expect. At the gorge the information board claimed this place to be one of the most dramatic areas of the Flinders Ranges. It is also where the rare and elusive yellow-footed rock wallaby can be spotted. So we went for a walk through the gorge. It was a short walk, about forty five minutes in all. The gorge was nice, but not as much as was made out to be. It was late evening and so we were hoping to spot some of the shy wallabies, but didn't see any of them either. This seemed to be another example of tourism departments glorifying average places.

Retracing our route we found that there were a couple of campsites which were in the park, free and unoccupied. So we decided to stop there for the night. The evening was really pleasant. Like many of the nights in the bush the sky was clear and fantastic.

When we arrived at the campsite we could hear human voices shouting and a cock crowing at night!! It was a bit unsettling. Later, while we were cooking and setting up the tent a car drove by towards the gorge slowly and then returned, pausing at the entrance to the campsite. For most of the night the cock kept crowing and a dog barked incessantly. Don't know what was going on in the house nearby, but it sometimes felt a bit sinister.

Day 6 – 22/07/05 still in Adelaide.

(Picture - Sunset on Henley Beach, Adelaide)Took the car to the muffler specialist early in the morning. The muffler had also cracked, in addition to the bracket having rusted and broken off. It was a big job that required the muffler to be replaced and better fastening to be put in. Left it with him for 3 hrs while I wandered the city. Got it back and the damage to the wallet was less than I had expected by Melbourne standards. Caught up in the evening with Jemy Jose who is Arun Shet's friend and classmate, who is spending 6 months in Adelaide while on a posting at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Had a pleasant evening.

We are hoping to start from Adelaide to the Flinders Ranges tomorrow morning. The trip this far was through familiar regions and we've driven to Adelaide before. Tomorrow is when we venture into the 'unknown' (as far as we are concerned).

Day 5 - 21/07/05 Adelaide.

Went into the city on a few errands. Just wandered around for a while and then came home. There had been a distinct rattling noise when the engine was started up or turned off on the car. Closer inspection revealed that the exhaust pipe had a bracket that was rusted and had broken off, leaving it hanging and swaying. It would've been a nasty situation if it gave way further into our trip. It was late evening and most businesses shut down in Adelaide around 5.30pm. Called around a few places and got one that was on the other side of town that would take a look the next morning. Left it at that.

Day 4 - 20/07/05 Adelaide.

Drove straight to Victor Harbour in the morning. The countryside here was rolling hills and tree-scattered pastures. This was the southern part of the Mount Lofty ranges.

Victor Harbour was a pleasant coastal town and quite obviously very popular with tourists. Its only an hour and a half from Adelaide, and so easily accessible. It was still school holidays in SA and there were plenty of people and kids around. Yet this was winter and it wasn't quite the season for the place. We could imagine what a bustling place it would be in summer. Just a mile off the shore of Victor Harbour is Granite Island. As the name suggests it is formed of granite and is strewn with plenty of granite boulders. A bridge connects the shore and the island, which allows pedestrians to stroll over. There is also a horse drawn tram that connects the shore and island. It is a famous icon of the area. The island lies in Encounter Bay, so named by Mathew Flinders, because this was where he encountered a French explorer who was also navigating the coast of Australia at the time, in his ship the Geographe. The island has a colony of Fairy Penguins and there is a tour after dusk if one wants to watch them return form their sea trip. We took a walk around the island. The sky was absolutely clear and it was pleasant in the sun. A lady we met along the way told us that the previous day six whales were sighted in the bay where they spent the day. We looked out for them, but saw none. On the southern side of the island the boulders had been eroded into interesting shapes, much like the ones on Kangaroo Island, but on a smaller scale.

From Victor Harbour we headed towards Adelaide. The route passed through McLaren Vale, another famous wine-producing region of SA. It seemed that the whole of SA was one big vineyard! We had lunched in a pleasant picnic spot which overlooked acres of vineyards, and after that made our way to the celler doors of the Wirra Wirra winery. There we did some wine tasting. It was fun, and the young man who served us was very helpful and friendly.

McLaren Vale is so close to Adelaide that it is almost a suburb of the city. And so in no time we found ourselves in Adelaide. We drove to Henley Beach, where our friends Helen and Tony live. This was our first major stop on the trip and we'd be spending two days here.

Day 3 - 19/07/05 Strathalbyn, South Australia.

It's really hard to get up in the cold. We meant to start early this morning, but didn't get up until 7.30. Because Portland is so far west of Melbourne, that's also around when the sun rises. Had a breakfast of ragi porridge, packed up the tent and started around 9.50 am. The road to Mount Gambier was literally paved with kangaroos. There were hundreds of road-kill that we came across. Many trucks pass this way and there seems to be a daily carnage at dawn and dusk when the animals are about. Never seen that many dead kangaroos before. But road kills aside, we have seen quite a bit of wild life on this trip so far. Whales at Warnambool, seals at Cape Bridgewater, a few kangaroos on that walk to the cape, gannets, and plenty of emus today. Most of the route to Mt Gambier had pine tree plantations in various stages of growth on either side.

At Mount Gambier we stopped briefly to take a peek at the Blue Lake, a lake in a volcanic crater just outside the town. We've seen it before and it looked the same dull blue-grey colour. Apparently in summer the waters turn a brilliant blue and then return to the unremarkable colour for the rest of the year. From Mount Gambier we headed to Naracoorte.

There were also plenty of vineyards, stretching as far as the eye could see. It wasn't quite a pleasant sight as the vines were all bare and gnarled. But the vastness of the vineyards was striking. This region is called the other red centre of Australia. The first is Uluru, or Ayer's rock, which is the world's largest monolithic rock and glows a fiery red. The Coonawarra region is called the red centre because it is famous for producing good red wines.

Naracoorte is a World Heritage listed site. There are about 26 caves in the National Park, which are formed in the limestone underground. The site has achieved world heritage listing because 24 of the caves have rich fossil deposits. These fossils include those of prehistoric creatures that populated the region and provide important information in understanding the evolution of Australian fauna. There are fossils of giant prehistoric kangaroos and wombats among others. We took a tour of one of the caves, Alexandrina cave, which has some beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formations. Everybody expected the cave to be cooler than the outside, but it was actually pleasantly warm. I believe its because the underground temperature in a place is fairly constant throughout the year, and whether the cave is warmer or cooler is then relative to the outside temperature. We also wandered through another cave, wet cave which had enormous cavernous chambers. The ground in the area was quite flat and the entrance the caves were like holes in the ground. Some of the fossils were of animals which had fallen into the smaller of these holes (because they weren't so noticeable)and become trapped and died.

We'd originally planned to stop for the night in Naracoorte. But since there was nothing else there of interest we decided to continue. We decided to visit Victor Harbour on the Fleurieu peninsula south of Adelaide, before going on to Adelaide. It became dark while we were still driving. We had to cross the Murray at Wellington, where it enters the Alexandrina lake from which it then drains into the sea. There was a free ferry to cross the river. But it was dark and we couldn't see anything. From Wellington the road followed the shore of lake Alexandrina for a short distance, but we saw nothing in the darkness. We decided not to drive all the way to Victor Harbour, since we'd miss the scenery on the way and Night driving wasn't safe either. So we stopped for the night in Strathalbyn, along the way.

Day 2 - 18^th, July, 2005. Portland.

The day started wet and cold. But things improved soon and we decided to spend the day in Portland. We drove down to Cape Bridgewater, 22 kms away where there is a colony of seals on the mainland. The walk to the colony was beautiful. By the time we started, the sky had cleared and the sea was a brilliant blue. The path was along the coast, at first very close to the sea and then climbing the cliffs until we reached Stony Hill, Victoria's highest sea cliff (140 m above sea level). The cliff is actually one side of the caldera of an ancient volcano. The rest of the caldera collapsed along a fault line into the bay. From Stony hill we had sweeping views of Discovery Bay, and also of gently rolling paddocks with curious cows. The path continued along the cliff tops, and we got to the cape. There are a few viewing platforms built on the edges of the cliffs from where you can look down into the sea. There were no seals basking on rocks. But then we caught sight of groups of them ...........in the water! They lay around in groups on their backs. Some of them rolled around and playfully chased each other. Some were like old men sunning on a beach, now and then stroking their fat bellies with a lazy flipper. The platform was about 50 m above the sea but with a pair of binoculars we were able to follow their action/inaction. From another platform we saw the seals having a whale (maybe seal) of a time. They were hanging around a submerged rock and when a swell came over it would let themselves be carried by it. It looked like they were going to end up being smashed on the rock but at the last minute they leaped out of the water like dolphins and swam clear of the rock with a burst of speed. Then they would return to lie in wait for another big swell. It looked like the seal equivalent of surfing.

There are about 650 fur seals at Cape Bridgewater. But they are not a breeding colony. They are mainly adolescents, hanging around together having a good time until they are big enough to go to the breeding colony and fight for territory and females. We could have stayed there for a long time watching their antics. But we could see rain approaching and turned back. The rain caught up with us however. Luckily we were prepared, with raincoat and poncho. Made it a lot more bearable.

The walk to the seal colony, about an hour each way is part of the Great South West Walk, a 250 km loop that traces the coast line and then the Glenelg River. We were the only people on the path, which is often the case when we go somewhere in winter. The sense of isolation felt similar to a long walk we once took in Tasmania's 'Walls of Jerusalem' National Park.

Once we got back to the car we drove to a place called the Petrified Forest. The landscape was dramatically different. It was more like a moonscape. There was barely any vegetation....just a few rocks and glowing yellow dirt which stood sculpted in eroded pillars. It is said that this is a place where a forest once stood and then turned to stone. What they surmise might have happened is that sand was blown onto the forest and when the trees died their trunks rotted away, leaving a sand cast. Its an interesting if rather desolate place.

Back at Portland we had lunch and then drove out to see the gannet colony. These are sea birds. Some of them were crowded onto a patch of bare earth on the cliff. The spot was fenced off to protect them, but they could be seen from a little hillock nearby. A rock jutted out of the sea nearby and looking through the binocs we could see that every inch of space had been colonised by them. Gannets live upto about 30 years and mate for life. They nest here and when the young are ready to fly they fly away west and return only about four years later. One bird had been tracked to Madagascar, only 27 days after being tagged at Portland!

Dinner at camp completed the activities for the day.

Day 1 – 17,July,2005 – Start from Melbourne.

Our trip finally started....about 10 days after we hoped to start. A lot of last-minute loose ends had to be tied up. Preparing the vehicle took much longer than we had expected and costed us much much more too, in the end. Peter at SCS 4WD assured us that the trip would be trouble-free after the job he did on the car.

After breakfast with Tiju, Annie and Anjali (who had been our hosts for a whole week while we moved out of our house and packed up to leave) we got all our stuff loaded into Aira (short for Airavath, the White Elephant from Indian Mythology – the white elephant being our white Toyota Landcruiser in this case), took a few pics, waved a cheery goodbye and were off.

Took us a fair while to get out of Melbourne, as we had to go right across the city. Passed through Geelong, Victoria's second largest city. We hoped to get to Portland at the western end of Victoria state, for the night. It is about 360 km from Melbourne via the inland Princes Highway. (The alternative route along the Great Ocean Road is more scenic but slower and longer.) Stopped in Colac to pick up some groceries and continued the drive. It was scenic. Some of the paddocks were a rich fluorescent green in the afternoon sun. Colac is in an area of ancient volcanoes. After all the erosion there are no significant mountains. Rather rounded hills and lakes in what used to be the caldera of the volcanoes. There were also some marshlands along the way. They weren't extensive, but were distinctly different – rock strewn, with short scrubby vegetation and pits and mounds.

In the late afternoon we turned off the highway and took a short detour to Hopkins falls. We hadn't heard of the place, but saw it marked on the map and decided to take a quick look. It was worth the effort. the falls were not tall but wide. We joked that they could claim it to be the Niagra of the southern hemisphere! Anything of significant size in Australia is called the 'biggest' or 'tallest' in the Southern Hemisphere. A little on from there we stopped at Logan's Beach, Warrnambool. It is called the whale nursery. During the winter months southern Right whales migrate from the antarctic waters and give birth to their young ones. In Spring they return to their feeding grounds. A platform at Logan's beach enables you to do a spot of whale watching from the shore. A pair of binoculars greatly enhances the experience. We saw a couple of whales surfacing to breathe and some breaching too. After a while all seemed to be quiet in the sea and we continued. It was dark by the time we reached Portland. We found a caravan park by the sea and pitched tent. It started raining shortly, but we managed to cook our dinner and settle inside the tent, during breaks in the rain.

For a long time, a tour around Australia had been on our 'to-do-before-we're-too-old' list. What better way to see the country than from up-close, on a road trip. That would give us the flexibility to linger on at places and to tailor our route as we liked. A wonderful opportunity presented itself when I got an extended time off from work to go to India to be with family. We thought that we could take a short tour before we left for India. It was going to be an abridged version of the original 'Around Australia' tour that we had wanted to do. But we were going to do those parts that required a 4WD, while we had one.

Sitting in Tiju's house and setting up this Blog account while waiting for the Landcruiser to be ready at the workshop. Mechanic is running up a huge bill. May go broke even before we start on the trip.