Safari 2019 August 15th 2019

Thursday, August 15th

View of Lake Gairdner through Mulga trees at our camp

Our top temperature today was 24 deg.

Again we walked early, this time along tracks at Scrubby Peak Camping Ground. Quite a few Spring wild flowers showing early blooms..especially wattle, one of which had spikes about 1.5 cm in length…not to be entangled with.

This was the last morning for us to wake in the Gawler National Ranges Park. It is a really lovely park and very well cared for by Rangers….Congratulations to these Rangers as the improvement is very noticeable since we were here 7 or 8 years ago. The roads are very much better and new toilets have been installed in each camping area.

View of Lake Gairdner from the Lookout

We set up camp in the Waltumba Camp which is on the banks of Lake Gairdner. We have spent the afternoon exploring the area. It is a large salt lake which is sandy brown near the edge and white with salt in the central area. We walked out to see the salt which is 600 metres from the edge and is about 5mm thick and crusty with crystals.

Later in the afternoon we climbed the nearby granite hill. The path up to the top was very steep and very rocky. It took me 20 minutes to climb the first section. I did not go further so let John go on alone where there was a lookout. I came down slowly and very carefully along the rocky path. I watched every footstep making sure I did not fall. The view from the top was great though and worth the effort of climbing. We could even see some water in the next bay, pale blue in colour against the white salt. A wide and dry creek bed could be seen entering the lake. This, when running would add water to the huge lake.
PS. This evening we enjoyed a delightful meal of Garfish, which we purchased from 'Baldy's Seafood' shop in Ceduna.

What a picture of loneliness!