Safari 2019 August 23rd

Friday August 23rd, 2019

Soldier sculpture at Hawker War Memorial

Firstly this morning we crossed the road from the Caravan Park in Hawker and walked around the very impressive War Memorial site. It consisted of a number of metal soldiers, lovely stone work, very pretty gardens, A Lone Pine, listing of those young men who went to war and are still remembered. One item impressed me….it was a poem and a painting of an old soldier. Local people of Hawker can be rightly proud of this garden Memorial.
 

Lest We Forget

10.00 am came around and we had much pleasure in meeting Cynthia, David and David’s parents Helen and Neil Brock. Breakfast and coffees were enjoyed then off we went to Parachilna and the famous Prairie Hotel which is renowned for the ‘ferrel’ food it serves. The signature dish is a Ferrel Mixed Grill which consists grilled kangaroo, emu patty and a camel sausage. John enjoyed his mixed grill with much pleasure!

Prairie Hotel

Another ‘stand out’ feature of the Hotel is the number of very clever metal sculptures..many fossils, a train, a horse and rider and Rusty the dog at the front door.

After lunch we drove east through the Parachilna Gorge and continued on through the most remarkable ranges of the Flinders. They are truly beautiful in colour and remarkable in shape.

Tonight we are camped at the Blinman Hotel where we enjoyed the most amazing pizzas for dinner. Our left overs will do very nicely for lunch tomorrow.

Metal Sculpture of Horse & rider

 NB This post is actually 4 days late because we have been out of Internet connection!

Safrai 2019 August 21st & 22nd

Hawker -- August 21st 2019

Sturt's Desert Pea against a wall in the park

Quite a short drive this morning along a gravel road which took us through several station properties, so there was some gate opening to do. The hills varied from rounded slopes to cliff tops ragged with rocks. Some areas must have had a little rain because there was a short picking of green grass showing across the land. We saw only a few sheep and kangaroos that would enjoy it. Many areas only consisted of stones. There would be little joy for landowners in the Flinders area. We saw our first mirage for this trip so that generally indicates dry and hot. It is not really hot today but is certainly much warmer. We always love seeing the huge Wedge Tailed Eagles as they fly up from the ground showing off their feathered legs which, to me , look like trousers!

Red flowering Emu bush with silver leaves.

 Part of these roads we were on actually formed the Hans Heyson Trail which is a long distance walking trail in South Australia. It runs from Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is approximately 1200 km in length.
 The road into Hawker led us along the remains of old Ghan railway line. The Station has been had a remake and is now a Restaurant. We booked to have a meal there this evening. It was different. We were served huge meals, I was even offered a take-away container which I accepted. John had pork and I chose a lamb pot pie. Both meals were delicious but huge. We are parked in the Hawker Caravan Park for 2 nights. There are some really pretty desert bushes growing and flowering here.

Olg Ghan Railway Station, Hawker

August 22nd. 
 We have enjoyed another lovely day with much warmer weather..short sleeves for John. After some communication with Dawn & Keith Fleet we met them for morning coffee, here in Hawker, and an hour long chat. They had spent some time in the Flinders Ranges and were heading south so a short stop-over suited them well. It was a very pleasant 'catch-up' for all 4 of us.
Apart from this and doing a huge wash of clothes this morning, which dried quickly, in this very warm climate, we went for

Castle Rock

2 walks during the afternoon. Firstly we walked up Policeman's Hill, then later in the afternoon we walked up to Castle Rock. Both vantage points gave wonderful views of Hawker and  more interestingly, views of the surrounding undulating country of Hawker with the wonderful views of the Flinders Ranges in the distance.
I look forward to having a much closer view of the Flinders Ranges, even though we have visited the area 4 or 5 times previously. 
We have an arrangement to meet 
Cynthia and David tomorrow morning, as well as David's parents, Neil & Helen Brock I am sure we will all share a happy time together.

Safari 2019 August 20th 2019

‘Warren Gorge’ Tuesday August 20th, 2019

Our camp site in Warren Gorge

Another cold night and morning. We needed our second Doona around 2.00am last night. This evening, 20^th, will be very chilly as well. We are now camped in Warren Gorge. It is a pretty area with jagged cliff faces backing our camp site. It has been suggested to us to watch for Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies on these cliffs at both dusk and dawn. No luck yet!

It only took a very short time to come here from Quorn so we have had quite a lazy day. John did go for a 5km walk. I walked for only ¾ km, then returned to camp. Reading and stitching filled in the remainder of the day for me….apart from cutting JG’s hair!! Passing traffic was quite amused! 

Walking Track along the creek in the Gorge

Safari 2019 August 18th &19th

 August 18th & 19th 2019

Here we are in Quorn this evening. It is pouring rain so we are pleased to be settled in at the early hour of 4.00pm.

Eremophila

This morning we left Kimba mid morning and were in Port Augusta for lunch and a big shop at Coles.
 There is little else to say apart from the fact that it is very cold and wet. Luckily we are booked into the Quorn Caravan park with mains electricity and water. 
There are a couple of trees within the park which are interesting. One is a young Eucalyptus Leucoxylon which has very deep red flowers, a much stronger red than the tree we have at Milawa. The other bush is quite spectacular. It is a type of Eremophila or Emu Bush, with a huge red flower. There are many types of this bush scattered through the deserts of Australia. I think this one has been propagated and planted in the area.

Monday, August 19th 

Thankfully the weather has improved. 4 deg at dawn but a fine day to follow. We left our camp and headed off to explore the Conservation Park called Dutchman's Stern. We set off for quite a ong walk to the Terrace Viewpoint which is really only part way to the Dutchman's Stern. John walked the full distance to the Viewpoint, which was quite steep toward the end. I pulled out of the really steep section of the climb. This meant that I was able to enjoy the beautiful bush which was really showing a lot of spring flowers. The 'Queen' of the bush today was the beautiful 'Acacia quornensis' or commonly known as Quorn Wattle...seen here in full bloom.
The track today took us across the Hans Heyson Trail, named  after the well known Australian Artist.

Willochra Creek

The picnic lunch I had made was really enjoyed being an hour later than usual. We then continued further north along a Scenic Route, visiting Warren Gorge, and the Bucharinga Lookout. This area west of the Flinders Ranges is also quite remarkable. 
Suddenly we came across the Willochra Creek. It was flowing quite strongly and we could see a couple of lakes further down stream. It was a surprise to see water as the surrounding hills are very dry and rocky. Eventually this creek flows into Lake Torrens.

Hans Heyson Trail seen through the bush

Safari 2109 August 16th & 17th

Friday August 16th at Kimba

Shortly after we left the Lake Gairdner camp we changed our decision toe camp at Mt Ive. The sky was cloudy and we definitely did not want to drive on wet roads...so here we are settled for the night in Kimba which is on the Eyre Highway. 
The road south was mostly wide and gravel until the last 40 odd kms when we found bitumen. I stopped thinking of our belongings rattling around in the van. All is safe after the gravel roads so, both van and driver did an excellent job!
We stopped for lunch at Buckleboo which is a country area of rolling hills and green crops and pastures. We pulled in at the local sports arena and tennis courts and enjoyed our lunch.
Right where we parked there were several eucalypt trees. They were not all familiar to us but John was able to identify the one with the wonderful square fruit which were 2.4 cm wide by 2.5cm so quite large fruit. It was a type of Fuchsia Gum called 'Eucalyptus Dolichorhynch'. I am sure I will never learn to pronounce this one!!

Mallee Fuchsia Gum with square fruit

The weather has definitely been warmer today,not as warm as yesterday but 15 or 16 deg.













August 17th 
We decided to camp a second night at Kimba which enabled us to have a good look around the little township as well as getting all our washing dry..hooray!
Late morning we drove around to look at the various sights including the 'big galah' which is quite ghastly and much in need of a coat of fresh paint! 
We visited Foodland and now realise 

Kimba Silo Art

that many super markets are only open for 5 1/2 days per week. 



 In several places we have noticed the use artificial timber, especially in tourist precincts. one of the Brand names used is REPLAS. Examples of uses are posts and picnic tables. These items are made from re-cycled plastic

REPLAS picnic table

Mid afternoon we set off along the Roora Reserve Nature Trail. It begins in the outskirts of Kimba and was developed for footballers needed to make training runs away from traffic on the roads. It is a well formed track with a firm surface without stones or ruts. The full length is 6km return trip which John was successful in walking. I did the shorter walk of 4 km return. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk through the bush. Trees and flowers were named and there were a number of metal sculptures made to fit into the environment.

Sculptured  kangaroos

  

Sculptured Mallee Fowl near (artificial nest)