Janet was trying to stay warm in her sleeping bag with most of her clothes on, so I went for a walk for a couple of kms up the road. Found some paddy melons beside the road – These ones about the size of tennis balls, but they can be as big as footballs. No animal seems to eat them very much, which seems odd given the lack of food in the bush, but we asked an Aborginal later and he said they are very bitter, and only maybe the cockatoos occasionally eat them. He thought they had been introduced by the Afghans and their camels, and that might just be true, because camels will eat just about anything !! May have to dig a bit deeper on that one. There was also this amazing little plant growing in the gravel right beside the road, with a pretty little purple flower, and furry leaves like a succulent – Obviously a hardy little bugger !!
After we had breakfasted and packed up (usually about 2
hours), we headed off up the dirt roads to Arkaroola, about 200 kms to the
north, and at the end of a road – So it really is in a very remote
location. Some of the roads were OK and
you could do 80 kmh or more, but other parts had a lot of washboard
corrugations which are never fun, and you just have to find an acceptable speed
across them – Usually impossible so you just grit your teeth and get on with it
!!
For lunch we stopped beside the road in the middle of
absolutely nowhere – And you try to get on the windward side of the road so the
dust from any passing vehicles (not that there are many !!) blows away from you
, and not over you. I swear we could
see the horizon in front of us, and the curvature of the earth was clearly
visible, as was a mirage across the whole area.
Amazing NOTHINGNESS !!
Shortly after lunch
we came across a very dramatic row of eroded hills, with the geological
stratification clearly visible. How high
the hills / mountains must have been before they were eroded can only be
imagined. This whole area of Wilpena and up and beyond
Arkaroola is a geologists heaven, and rich in minerals, with mines all over the
place. More of that later, but of course
even today this area is home to a lot of oil and gas, and coal mines, and
uranium, copper, and all sorts of other mineral.
Lots of roos around, and also increasing flocks (?) of
emu’s. (I question whether you have a
flock of emus, since they can’t fly, so surely they can’t be a flock ??? Hmmmm- More research necessary when I can
get on the internet !!) And emus seem
even stupider than sheep – They will run away from the road, then suddenly do a
U turn and cross the road right in front of you ! And as discovered yesterday, emus make SUCH a
mess when you hit them – Probably make a mess of the car too with that big body
!
Started climbing into the Arkaroola area, and the
countryside was pretty interesting – Considering the NOTHINGNESS we had been
driving through most of the time previously !
But I am finding that driving in dirt is VERY tiring – Much more so than
on tarmac. You have to be watching the
road ALL the time, trying to avoid larger rocks and stones, and holes, and
bumps in the frequent floodways across the road. 200 kms on dirt is far more tiring than 600
or more on the tarmac. Anyway, reached
Arkaroola “resort” where we were greeted at the reception area by a backpacker
from the Isle of Wight !!! Lovely girl,
and she gave us directions to the bush camping area (ie unpowered sites – We
are totally self contained and do not need to plug in to electricity or gas or water
or anything. Even have our own toilet.)
The big advantage of this is that in the normal powered caravan sites
each van is about 5 ft from the next, whereas in the bush camping areas the
next person may be 100 yards away !!
Anyway, an emu suddenly came out and started walking in front of us – So
we followed him (her ??) and he lead us to a lovely spot beside a (dry)
creekbed – Perfect – Thank you Mr(s) Emu.
Set up camp as darkness came in, and had a delicious steak purchased
from a local butcher somewhere en route a few days ago, and together with a
bottle of red, delicious. (Janet
barbecued wearing a makeshift apron !!)
Quick game of cards, and in bed by about 8.30 or 9 pm, and slept like a
log all night.
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