Today was a quiet day spent mostly at the campsite. Thankfully the wind had all but gone, though the flies were back with a vengeance. Nathan spent most of the morning writing and drawing in his diary.

There was only one other couple camping at the campground, and Nathan and Toby have spent a lot of time with them over the last few days. Their names are John and Jan. it was John’s birthday today which really excited the kids. They rode up straight after breakfast and went for a walk with John. We had a packet cake mix in our food box which Toby had chosen at the supermarket at home, and I had thought we could cook it when we had a slow day at the campsite. It became John’s birthday cake and Toby made sure that it was cooked, iced and even had candles on it.

We did go for a drive in the afternoon to find some water and ended up back at the spot we went to yesterday. We walked a bit further upstream and found quite a deep water hole which excited Nathan in particular. Both kids ended up without any clothes on (except their hats) and went waist-deep into the water.

Back at the campsite Andrew and Nathan went for a walk to find a rock with fossils that changed the ancient timeline when it was discovered while Toby and I iced the cake. Then we all took the cake to John and Jan’s campsite and sang Happy Birthday to John. Then we had dinner and the kids were asleep early. This was the first day that Toby hadn’t had a sleep during the day, so he was exhausted.

Today was windy. Very windy. Horribly windy. The only advantage of all the wind was that the flies were less that we have otherwise experienced.

We went to Wilpena again to do a load of washing at the caravan park there. While we were trying to dry the clothes in the dryer we had some lunch. Checking on the clothes found them still wet, so we gave up on the drier, bundled the clothes into the car and went for a drive down to look around south of Wilpena.

The scenery on the dirt road (Moralana Scenic Drive) that we took was possibly the most spectacular that we have seen. The dirt road joined the bitumen roads that run on the eastern and western sides of the National Park. We also saw a couple of small flocks of birds that looked like budgies. We were wondering if we would see budgies this trip, and it looks like we did.

In the way back into the National Park we stopped at a stream and the boys spent ages throwing stones into the water.

Today we decided to head to Blinman and do the Copper Mine Tour. We knew that the tours ran at 10 am, midday and 2pm daily. The road to Blinman was bituman the entire way, so we ended up getting there at 9 am. When we found the office to book into the tour, we were told that we had filled the tour. They take a maximum of 10 people on each tour. It cost us $65 for a family ticket.

The tour was fantastic. The mine ran for 45 years and closed in 1907. The project to open the mine for tourism took 10 years to complete and there was lots of volunteer work and fundraising. It is now pretty much run by volunteers, though the tour guide was one who was paid. We had tickets on lanyards that we had to leave on the hook where we got helmets…this was the equivalent of miners ‘tag in’. We saw small copper seams which had been left by the miners, and we had old mining methods and how the mine worked explained to us. The boys were pretty happy to be wearing the helmets and playing with the lights on them. After the tour the tour guide helped the boys find a special stone each to take home. They ended up taking two each, one with Pyrite (manganese) deposits and the other with copper deposits. Before we left we went for a walk around the site, which we were able to do on our own.

We then took the road to Parachilna that went through Parachilna Gorge. It was a very pretty road, and we found a lovely spot for lunch on the edge of the (dry) river. Before we reached Parachilna the ranges had ended and we were back in the typical flat terrain of inner Australia. From there we drove to Leigh Creek. A bit further on was an open cut coal mine, but we couldn’t find a better view if it than from the main road. South of Leigh Creek we went to Aroona Dam which was a pretty spot, definitely a great picnic spot.

On the way back to the campsite we again stopped where there was a small stream of water flowing alongside and over the road. The kids spent ages paddling and throwing stones into the water. We also saw a dozen yellow footed rock wallabies on the way.

Lunch spot

Lunch spot

Open cut coal mine

Aroona Dam

Yellow footed rock wallaby

Yellow footed rock wallabies

We had a relaxed day today. After breakfast we had a wander down the river and once again Andrew found a very interesting rock. It consisted of a web of hollow tubes which were about 1.5 – 2 cm long.

I decided to try out making bread today. As with all the other days we have been in the Flinders Ranges, the temperature was around 30 degrees. I used a sachet of dried yeast, and because I had forgotten to look up a recipe before I left home I winged it. I figured I have made enough bread in the breadmaker to have at least a bit of an idea. So I put the yeast, 1 cup of warm water, 1/2 cup milk, 1 teaspoon of salt and about 1 tablespoon of honey into a bowl and left it covered in the car for half an hour. Then I added 3.5 cups of flour, and realising that I had forgotton to put in butter or oil, I put about 1 tablespoon-worth of butter in at this point. I mixed it all up and left it in the car covered again for about half an hour. It had risen a lot, so I kneaded it again and put it into two tins. We really wanted to drive to Wilpena again, so I left the mix in the tent which was cooler than the car.

We were gone about 2 hours. We had a shower at the caravan park, collected a bit more water and filled up with diesel. Back at the camper, my bread had over risen. I decided to try cooking one of the loaves, while I punched down and reshaped the other and left it to rise. By the time the first loaf was cooked the second was ready to put into the Weber. The first loaf was a bit coarse but yummy, and the second one was great! How amazing to have fresh bread with your dinner while camping!

Nathan had a bit of a stack on his bike this afternoon and he now has a very sore and swollen top lip and some other scrapes. The people he was visiting helped him, which was really lovely of them.

Nathan writing in his diary

The rock Andrew found

Bread rising in the car

Bread cooked

View from our campsite

We had a small campfire and toasted marshmellows tonight

We went on a scenic drive today. We drove along the Geological Trail to Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive. It was a drive packed full of spectacular scenery. We stopped for a look around each of the campgrounds we went past. All are lovely, but we are happy with where we are currently camped as well.

The Twin Gums lookout was pretty, but probably the least spectacular of all the lookouts we visited. Soon after that lookout we stopped to have a splash in a stream of water flowing beside the road. There were tadpoles and lots of algae. The kids picked up a stick each and fished for algae.

There were three lookouts soon afterwards. They all provided spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys. We stopped at Yanyanna Hut which is a shelter for overnight hikers. We continued along the scenic drive until we hit bitumen and then drove down to Wilpena where we bought bread, milk and ham (I’m not sure what Toby will eat for lunch when we run out of ham, he is a creature of habit and only eats ham sandwiches for lunch at the moment). There was mobile phone coverage at Wilpena, so I frantically uploaded photographs and we updated Nathan’s blog before we left.

Our next stop was was 12km down a dirt track to a Sacred Canyon Heritage Site. By this time Toby had fallen asleep, so Andrew and Nathan went for a walk to see the ancient etchings. When Toby woke up we walked up the track to meet up with them and see the etchings on the rocks.

Then we headed back to the main road, stopped at Hucks Lookout and just a bit further up took the 2 km detour to Stokes Hill where there was a magnificent 360 degree view of the surrounding hills. I saw a man making a phone call up there, so checked and found I had mobile coverage, and quickly updated my blog with photographs and posted it.

We stopped to get 10 litres of water from a tap on a tank at Oraparinna. The map we had showed that water was available here. We are trying our best to be careful with our water and are currently using less than 10 litres (I’d estimate an average of 8 litres) a day for washing and cooking, with drinking water being additional. We could reduce this a little more if absolutely necessary, but given that limited water is available we are using just a little more than necessary to make life a bit more comfortable.

Twin Gums Lookout

Razorback Lookout

Bunyeroo Valley Lookout

Yanyanna Hut

Sacred Valley walk

It was another beautiful morning with a pretty sunrise. We packed up the camper, more slowly than other mornings, and afterwards we had a shower before heading back to Peterborough. We had to hand back the keys for our campsite and grab a couple of items from the supermarket that we had forgotten yesterday. Then it was off on the last leg of our journey to the Flinders Ranges.

We topped up the car with Diesel at Hawker. The road ran beside several mountain ranges on our right side which were very picturesque, though I found them difficult to adequately photograph them. We finally turned off the bitumen road and took a well formed, though corrugated, dirt road into the Flinders Ranges.

Once we got to the Flinders Ranges National Park the road crossed a creek several times and the road was very rocky at those points. some of the crossings also had a bit of water in them, but nothing too deep. We had a look at all the campsites that we went past, but we ended up camped at the Trezona campsite. It is a bit busy at the moment, with over 100 15-year-old girls on a school camp, but they will leave on Friday. Nathan is having fun making friends with them all.

Sunrise

Showers