Power and Water again

Turning on to the bitumen we drove onto Morgan where we had a lunch stop, pumped the tyres up and had a quick look at the little town.  Not much to see on a Sunday afternoon so we continued on towards Peterborough where we were going to stop for the night.  The plan was to do some washing and we were both looking forward to a long hot shower!

We stopped a while later for our first real coffee at Burra, a lovely little village in the Clare Valley.  This chimney caught our attention on the way in.  We found this was Peacocks Chimney, built in 1857, it was connected to the boilers providing steam for a Cornish Winding Engine in Peacocks engine house.  It was demolished in 1971 to make way for the modern open cut mining operation and rebuilt on it's present site in 1972 as a combined Burra District Council and National Trust project.  The figure at the top of the chimney is Johnny Green, the mascot of early Burra Miners.

We did make it to Peterborough an hour or so later but so did the clouds and with rain threatening we decided to leave the washing until our next stop.  But the shower was wonderful. Being in a caravan park again was a bit of a shock to the system after a week in the bush.  The barking dogs from the surrounding neighborhood and the crowing roosters the next morning  were a little more jarring than the crested bell birds of the previous week.  We were just opposite the camp kitchen so could hear people chatting away until dark.  Not a bad thing of course but just a change to the silence we had been used too.   There was a wonderful herb garden planted in front of the kitchen area and a big sign Inviting people to share these.  What a lovely idea.  

While I had a shower Bill found some little black chooks and at first thought he was looking at little purple swamp hens but on closer inspection found they were a Black Tail Native Hen.  We found them in a number of locations over the next few days.

We left the next morning feeling lovely and clean and drove into the town where we did some shopping to replenish the supplies, especially the fresh fruit and salads. After that we had a look at some of Peterborough's highlights and of course a coffee before jumping back in the car for the next part of our trip.  

The sculpture and story of Bob the Railway dog was a cute addition to the main street along with the steam train along the road.

Not long after we stopped at Orroroo where we found the Giant Red Gum.  This wonderful old tree is said to be over 500 years old and it is still growing.  The flock of noisy Corella's  were making the most of its huge branches and were having a great old time while we were there.

We had a walk along the lovely old main street and then drove up to have a look the view from the Tank Hill Lookout before continuing on our way north.

Our next stop was at Carrieton, named after Governor Phillips daughter, where the local community have made a ceramic mural on the walls of the local convenience. It tells the story of the history of Carrieton and was made to celebrate 150 years.   There were four or five panels made up of 880 clay tiles.  This is just a small part of it.

Our last stop was at Hawker where we had lunch before finding the visitors information centre.  Here we checked out accommodation options at Wilpena, did a final bit of shopping, yes I had forgotten some things, and then started on the final leg of our journey that day.  

As we drove the last 56 kms to Wilpena we were blown away by the landscape we were passing.  It seemed to be layer upon layer of spectacular red ridges.  We were to find out later we were seeing the Elder Range, the ABC Range, Rawnsley Bluff and the South East Rim of the Pound.

The smallest rock we saw on the way was this cute little artwork at the last intersection.  Somebody obviously had a sense of humor and it sure kept the tourists amused as we all stopped to take our photos of it.

Ten minutes later we had arrived at Wilpena Pound Resort.  We booked into the campground here and while we were now quite happy without power and water it was good to have the choice again.  Yes we were plugged in for the next week!

Our initial plan had been to stay for a couple of days and move on a bit further up but we decided that we would base ourselves here and drive out and about so booked in for the next five days.  The camp sites were quite roomy bush sites with good bathrooms hidden amongst the trees, the much needed laundry and a shop.  What more could we want.

And so an hour later we were relaxing under the awning once more and settling in for part two of this wonderful adventure.  We couldn't wait to explore this spectacular place but first there was washing to do.

until tomorrow........

Our week in Gluepot.....

Once all our chores were done on the first morning we sat back with a coffee to think about how we were going to make the most of our week here.  We decided that we would have a look in the visitor centre first and decide from there.  We picked up a mud map of the reserve and had a look on the board to see what birds had been sighted and where during the last week or so.  

Our first trip was to one corner of the reserve where we had a look at the Sitella campground which is the furtherest away.  There were 2 couples camped here and it looked like there were a few more trees than where we were.  As we drove around we were accompanied by the beautiful little Rainbow Bee Eaters flitting from tree to tree after their insects.

From here we drove the few kms along the road and came to the old homestead site. The remains of an old cattle yard are still here, as is the remains of the old homestead.  The well and garden can still be seen and right in the middle of the fenced block is an underground cellar which you can still walk down into.

There is a bird hide here where we spent some time watching numerous little birds come in to drink at the water trough that is placed there.  We saw lots of Yellow Plumed Honeyeaters and little Brown Headed Honeyeaters but not much else that afternoon. We drove around to Bluebird Dam where there were more Honeyeaters in the bushes.  

Driving back to our van a little later we stopped at the Emu tank bird hide and it was here that we saw our first Mulga Parrots and a little later Australian Ringneck parrots too.  

After a drink at home and watching Lizzie dig her 'hole' we took ourselves off on one of the many walks in the reserve.  These walks range in distance from 2.5 to 10.5 kms and the varied vegetation allow the walker to have the chance to see many different birds.  For our first walk we chose the 2.5 km Babbler South walk and really enjoyed wandering through the Mallee scrub to see what we could find.  Not at all sure we found what we should have but loved the little birds we did find.

For the rest of the week we enjoyed doing some of the longer walks.  We stuck to the 5.5 km ones and loved wandering through the changing vegetation.  Four of the five hides could be reached by car but the closest one to us was a 3 km walk.   We did this on the second evening and once again it was Parrots and Honeyeaters who came into drink.

Another day the Mallee fowl walk gave us the opportunity to see the mounds these amazing birds build.  Unfortunately it was not an active mound but we believe there are some mallee fowl around though we did not see them.  

We dropped into the Bellbird camp ground one day on and met some lovely people there from around Sale.  Slightly smaller sites more suited to tents and we found about five pitched here.  

The hide at Grasswren tank proved to be one of the most entertaining and we found it hard to pull ourselves away from the many birds who called in to drink. Honeyeaters and Parrots topped the list but here we saw beautiful Red Capped Robins, Common Bronzewings, Spiny Cheeked Honeyeaters and the gorgeous but strangely named white fronted Honeyeater which has a black bib in front.

A few kms along the road at another hide we found all the usual culprits as well as the striped Honeyeater which we hadn't seen before.

The next two mornings we got up early and drove to one of the hides where once again we were entertained by lots and lots of our feathered friends.  I'm not sure who got the bigger shock when the Raven flew in for a drink, us or the little Brown headed Honeyeaters, but they all came back once he left.

The second morning we went back to the old homestead hide and were thrilled when we were visited by lots of Regent Parrots.  These birds are listed as one of the rarer birds here and they were just beautiful.  

There was another couple there and together we watched and waited hoping for a visit from the Major Mitchell Cockatoo  they had seen the day before.  It was not to be though we did see one later that afternoon but only from a great distance away.  If we were 'real' birdos we would have been thrilled but Bill wants a lovely picture and that was not to be this time.

And so all too soon our week here at Gluepot was over.  We had booked in for five days and stayed for six but it was time to move on for the second part of our trip to the Flinders Ranges.  We had loved every moment of our stay and the most amazing thing was that we had not even emptied one tank of water.  Our freezer was still providing wonderful dinners each night, who said camp cooking had to be boring!  Of course this meant that our Solar Panels had been a great success.  

We packed up and headed out on Sunday morning but first we had to negotiate the couple hours of 'bone shaking' road again.  It had been a very windy week and it seemed that most of the 'cushioning' sand had been blown off as it seemed worse than before but that was probably just an illusion.  You've no idea how smooth the bitumen felt after our ride out!  But first we had to find somewhere to stop to put air back into the tires so we'll leave it there for now

until next time........

Settling in at Gluepot……...

After crossing the Murray River we followed our instructions and were soon turning off the bitumen onto the dirt road that would take us into Gluepot Reserve.  This is 50 kms or so of very rough corrugated road some of which is on private property.  There are 5 gates which need to be opened and closed again but at least this gives you a reprieve from the 'bone shaking' drive for a minute or two.  While we knew our Jeep would cope with the rough road we were a little worried about the van even though the guys who made it assured us it could go almost anywhere.  It is not 4WD but it seemed to do OK.  Just a couple of screws shook loose in the cupboards but Bill took care of those once we arrived.  The instructions we had advise that it is about 1 1/2 hours drive from Waikerie but at the speed you have to travel it was over 2 hours.

When we saw the 'Welcome' sign it came with a shock, there was still 12 kms to go and the road seemed to get worse not better in some parts.  Finally arriving at the Visitor Centre we stopped to register and find out where to go.

There are 3 camping areas at Gluepot all located kms away from where we were.  We met one of the rangers here and after helping us with some general information we decided that we would camp at Babbler Campsite and so set off on our last 4 kms of the day.  And this bit of road was pretty smooth!

We arrived to find no one else camped there so chose a site and got ourselves set up for the next 5 days.  Each campground has about 18 sites with 2 pit toilets located centrally.  These have sloping roofs placed over a large water tank to collect any rainwater that falls thus ensuring a small water supply for hand washing only.  By now you all probably wondering - Where are they?  What is Gluepot?  Why are they there?  And so the answers!

Gluepot Reserve is a 540 square km nature reserve owned by Birds Australia.  In 1997 Gluepot Station, a pastoral lease in the semi-arid mallee region of South Australia was purchased in order to protect its outstanding flora and fauna which was under threat because of an application by the lessee to burn the property to provide grazing for sheep. Gluepot is part of the Riverland Biosphere Reserve which forms part of the 12,200 square km Riverland Mallee Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International for its importance in the conservation of mallee birds and their habitats.

Nearly 200 species of birds have been recorded at Gluepot. These include the nationally threatened Malleefowl, Regent Parrot, Red-lored Whistler and Black-eared Miner. A further 33 species are considered to be regionally threatened. Scarlet-chested Parrots are known to have bred on Gluepot in the past, and still visit the reserve.  And we were there for Bill to photograph as many of these birds as we could find.

To visit Gluepot you have to be totally self sufficient.  You need to carry in all your own water and food to last while you are there.  You must have sufficient gas and fuel as there is nothing available once on the reserve.  As I have said before I was a little concerned about how I would cope with this but before I go on I must let you all know that I loved every moment of it.  No I am not mad and I can't wait to do it all again.  Of course 5 days without a shower was the one thing I wasn't looking forward too.  But Bill even took care of that little issue for me too.

We have 2 60 litre water tanks on the van so arrived with 120 litres of water, we also bought 2 15 litre bottles that we would use for drinking thus leaving the tanks for other things.  The shopping was taken care of and we had a full gas bottle and a full tank of fuel so we were set.  At just $10 per night in camp fees you really can't complain about anything (except the rough road in).

So here we were after weeks of planning, the van all set up and dinner in the oven.  That first night was an amazing experience.  We were totally alone in the middle of the Australian bush, it was still very hot and without any clouds in the sky the stars were just brilliant.

After dinner we spent the evening just relaxing under the awning (with the mosquito coils burning) before we took ourselves to bed after our big day on the road.  We slept like babies and woke to the sound of Crested Bellbirds the next morning.

We had breakfast and then Bill spent some time setting up the Solar Panels where they could be switched from the van to the Thumper battery in the car.  We had turned our car fridge into a freezer and needed to ensure it kept running as we had all our meat and meals for the next week frozen in there.  And then to my little surprise.  He had bought me a camp shower for our little en suite.  Just a bag you fill with water and hang from a tree or something.   I decided that I would survive for a couple of days before I needed to try it out and so we half filled it and left it in the sun to heat up.

I did try it out a couple of days later but needed Bill to turn it on and off from the outside, a bit tricky and the little nozzle was next to useless.  It was then that Bill decided to have a look at the shower we had bought when we got the camper.  He had not tried it because he thought it needed gas to heat the water but on further inspection we found that we could pump warm water straight from the bucket.  The solar panels and inverter powered it and a kettle of boiling water added to the bucket gave us the right temperature - Yippee - we both had showers and used less water than the original bag had held.

As the morning wore on we had some visitors to our camp site.  Grey Currawongs and cheeky Grey Butcherbirds came to visit to see who we were and what we were doing.  Also the hot weather of the last two days seemed to have disappeared and in its place was a very strong wind which blew all day.  Not sure how good the solar panels are going to work today!

Just one other thing to say here - I don't like Spiders and Snakes - sounds like a song doesn't it but I did have to come to terms with a few creatures over the next week.  Our first encounter was after dinner on our first night when Bill just happened to look down and see this rather large Scorpion heading across the mat towards his foot.  Yikes!  Because it was still hot and we hadn't started to walk anywhere we were both still in our thongs.  Lesson learnt and the boots stayed on for the rest of the time we were there.

The next day we came across a lovely little snake as we walked along one of the tracks.  It was very colourful and though it didn't bother us it reminded us again to watch were we put our feet.  We saw lots of lizards over the week.  Small geckos, slow squat stumpy tailed ones and larger ones that looked like Bearded Dragons and the much larger Sand Goannas.

 In fact one of the highlights of our week was when a Bearded Dragon walked across the front of our camp and started to dig a hole.  We watched for an hour and a half as it just dug and dug until it was completely covered up inside.  We left it then as it seemed that not much was happening and when we got back a couple hours later it was to find that it had come out and covered the hole back in - complete with its little footprints where it had stamped the sand back down - and totally disappeared again.  Through research we are sure we watched a female dragon dig her burrow, lay her eggs and leave them to incubate.  It was such a shame we didn't stay to watch her come out but we had no idea.  Never mind it was still fascinating.

And of course the law of averages says that you can't camp in the bush for a week and not see a spider doesn't it.  And so yes, I came face to face with two of them, both in toilets.  The first one I got Bill to deal with but the second and bigger one I just had to take a deep breath and managed to open the door and get past it without it doing me any harm.  I think the blood pressure was up a bit though!  Urgh!

Flies, mosquitoes and bees were the other insects we had to deal with.  The first two were dealt with using spray and coils but the bees became a bit of a challenge.  They didn't want to hurt us they just wanted the water.  There were dozens of them all round the bucket that collected the waste water from the sink.  They had to be shooed away from the tap at the tank when you wanted to wash your hands and when we left our door open they discovered the sink, the damp dishcloth and the tap.  It was amazing to watch them.

And so I'll leave it here for now and will be back soon to fill you in on our week at Gluepot.

until then……...

And we're off........

I spent Friday doing the final chores, shopping for most of our supplies and packing for our big adventure beginning the next morning.  We got up early, packed the car and soon after we were on our way to collect the camper and head off into the wild blue yonder for the next 18 days.  I was excited and a little apprehensive as the first week was going to be a real test for me as we had to be totally self sufficient for as long as we stayed in Gluepot.  More on that later!

We arrived at our first stopover mid afternoon, found a suitable spot to set up and soon after we were sitting back with a coffee and planning our route for tomorrow.  We spent the night at Teddington Reservoir, a fabulous free camping spot half way between Avoca and St Arnaud in the Northern Grampians region of Victoria.  You may remember that this is where we stayed for four days last year with Bob and Nancye.  No showers but three flush toilets so we were quite spoilt.  There were about ten other vans here this time but as there is plenty of room this was not an issue and we enjoyed our first night free camping in the bush.

Although this hadn't been a big drive on day one, Bill wanted to stay here without power to try out our new bits before we really needed them on Monday.  The solar panels worked well but the inverter did not seem to work at all.  This we needed to sort out before we arrived at Gluepot. 

The next morning we woke early to the sounds of birds, much nicer than trams, and soon after breakfast were on our way again.  Today we were traveling a bit further and heading to Mildura where we were going to fill our water tanks before driving into Gluepot the next day.  

Our first stop was just up the road at St Arnuad for a coffee before we started.  There are some things that I had to make the most of before going totally bush!  Another stop a little further up at Newstead Bakery to pick up a pie for dinner that night.  Next stop was at Ouyen for a picnic lunch.   By now the temp had reached 38 deg and the wind was blowing a gale.  Not very conducive to boiling the kettle for a cuppa but we managed.  

Here at Ouyen we found 'The Big Mallee Stump' though until I read the blurb I had no idea what I was looking at.  Believed to be hundreds of years old the stump had to be dug up to allow a road to be constructed.  It was then relocated to its present location where it can be admired by all who pass by here.

We continued on to Mildura arriving around 4.00pm and booked into a little caravan park on the highway.  Not really a pretty place to stay but as we only needed a spot for one night we decided it would serve the purpose and so we set up once more and then went in search of a shop that could provide us with a new inverter.  We found this across the road in a BCF store and the guy was really helpful and let Bill test it on all the required bits first.  Once we knew it worked we bought it and the other one will be returned once we get home.

From there we had a very quick look around Mildura and stopped at the river where we saw a couple of the paddle boats moored for the night.  It certainly looks like a nice place to spend a few days exploring but not this time.  The caravan park across the river in NSW looked like a much better option if we want to spend some time here in the future.  So for now it was back to our little van for a cold drink and to check out the pool.  It was still 38 deg and I had to cook our pie in the oven.  The water was freezing but lovely after such a hot day and the van soon cooled down once the oven was off.  We slept under a sheet that night instead of the blankets of the previous night.

The next morning as I packed up the inside for the days traveling, Bill filled the water tanks in readiness for the next weeks adventure.  We left soon after and our first stop was at Yamba for the fruit fly inspection.  I had only bought enough fresh fruit and salad for the two days so had nothing to declare here.  We had to shop in SA before we drove in to Gluepot.  We did this at our next stop in Renmark buying enough fruit, veggies, salad and bread to get us through the next 5 days.  And my final cup of coffee!

We drove from here to Waikerie where we had to get some information from the Orange Spot Visitors centre before stopping at the river to eat our sandwiches.  The riverfront here is lovely and we were entertained by a little group of Apostle birds while we ate.

To cross the river here we had to use the car ferry.  These operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are a free service.  They make life very easy and obviously remove the need for bridges every few kilometers.

From here we were on the last leg of our journey.  Just a few kms before we turned onto the road that would take us into Gluepot.  One and a half hours of very rough corrugated dirt road and we had arrived.

But I'll tell you about that next time - until then.........