Pezimm's Easter Touring 2014

[pezimm]

Alright, a little overdue, but here's my Easter trip report!

This year, the better half and I wanted to go further into Outback NSW as well as SA, as far north as we could.

We agreed on a basic itinerary including Mungo NP, Kinchega NP and Flinders Ranges NP. After a couple weeks of getting the car ready (oil change, filter changes, etc) and packing, we left Melbourne on Saturday 12/Apr.

Day one saw us arriving in Mildura and fuelling up before setting of to Mungo NP via Arumpo Road, a dirt road we had already been through the previous year. The first hurdle came straight after the turn-off from the Silver City Hwy: Arumpo Road was closed! It had rained for 3 days straight up to Thursday and I knew this was a possibility. We gave the council's office a call to check what was the situation and while I was on the phone to a not so helpful lady, this council ute parks next to the Forester. The guy comes next to my window and asks if I was willing to go to Mungo, when I said yes, he told me "ah, you'll be fine in a Subaru, I'm about to open the road again".

So with big grins on our faces, off we went on our merry way!

We got to the main campground at Mungo without trouble. There was a little bit of mud and water around, but nothing too concerning. What was really nice was to fns the campground pretty much empty. We were sharing the entire place with only another party - some grey nomads with their ute and caravan.

We set-up camp and went out to the East side of Lake Mungo to take some photos of the sun setting:

The following day we spent just cruising around Mungo and re-visiting some of the areas we saw on Easter 2013. Thaise took some nice shots of the woolshed, but she's still working on them (I'll share later). We were waiting for my mate Will to arrive and join us for the rest of our trip. When he got there - in his rental Toyota - we once again set off to the same spot on the East side to take some more sunsetting shots, my favourite is this one:

Day three was starting and the photographers were up early to register the sun rise. This trip was fast becoming about sunsets and sunrises!! I slept in for another 30 minutes and started brekkie by the time they came back. This is what they saw:

We finished our bacon and egg muffins and coffees and packed up to leave - once again - this magnificent place. I cannot recommend this destination enough to anyone interested in Australian past history, from aboriginal times to the more recent european pastoral days. It really is a magical place!

We set off to Menindee, via Garnpung Road, Ivanhoe Road and Pooncarie-Menindee Road. Pretty much all dirt, some good, some bad, but all enjoyable! Not a lot of people on the road around here, so be prepared if you want to come!

 

[pezimm]

We arrived in Menindee mid afternoon and went straight to Kinchega NP. I wanted to camp there close to one of the lakes, but it wasn't to be... We tried to reach Cawndilla Lake campground, but were greeted by a sign about 8km down the track saying the road beyond that point was closed due to some aboriginal significant findings around the camping area. Fair enough.

We back-tracked and checked out Emu Lake camping area, but didn't like it (there is no actual lake here). We settled for back-tracking a little more and finding a spot along the Darling River boundary of the park. This was quite nice, as the River Drive track has 30-odd sites all river front! Now, going down this track, I was happy we hadn't seen any rain. This was a muddy, clay track that would become impassible with a few millimetres of the wet stuff.

This is where we settled for the next 2 nights:

And we had a nice camp fire going in no time (nice fire-places provided in most sites). Don't forget your firewood - you cannot collect firewood in the NPs.

Day four saw us waking up for a lazy late morning breakfast. We then got in the cars to re-supply in Menindee (I needed ice by then...) and have a look around the lakes here. We had lunch at the lovely Maidens Hotel as we quietly waited for the hours to pass for yet another sunset. We didn't know it at the time, but this was going to be an epic one by Pamamaroo Lake. This was also the night of the Blood Moon, so we were excited to check what was ahead.

We took the advice from the guy at the information centre and went the long way, first visiting the Lake Menindee look-out, next to the railway and then crossing the road taking the track to Copi Hollow caravan park, but then following it along Pamamaroo Lake all the way to Main Weir Road. Here we saw a herd of Camels! Yes, Camels! The wife took photos (again, waiting for them to be released). I am not sure if they were wild or belonged to someone, like a tour operator.

There are quite a few little tracks to reach the beach by the lake, we went down one of them and this is what we found:

Now, the photographers were saying this was not the right spot to see the sunset as we were actually facing north here, so it was back on the road and around the lake to reach its Eastern shore and be able to place the tripods facing west.

We knew we were in the right place when we started spotting a lot of caravans. One every 100-150 metres along the coast. Didn't take me long to figure out we were camping in the wrong spot. This was the place! And all the grey nomads knew about it, I suppose age brings wisdom!

Anyways, we found a nice spot by the lake and parked the cars to wait for the sun to come down. We were here for about 3-4 hours and it was magnificent. Will set-up his GoPro on the Esky and put it on top of a tree stump to make a time-lapse movie which I will share later:

 

[pezimm]

And the sun started to put on its show:

Closely followed by the moon and the blood eclipse, which was more than we could ask for. I felt very lucky to be in such a beautiful place, with fantastic weather and nice company for such a show from Mother Nature:

Day five started with us packing up camp and driving to Broken Hill, a quick 120kms on bitumen, where we had a motel booking to have a break from blow-up mattress sleeping. We arrived mid-morning and went straight to Silverton, had the mandatory meal at the Silverton Hotel and wandered around town a bit:

Later in the afternoon we checked in at the Motel and by the end of the day we made our way to the Living Desert Reserve to see the sun come down from this vantage point. Once again, we were in for a show:

We had a nice night's sleep and the following day were off to the Flinders Ranges, about 450kms away. We arrived there in the late afternoon and stayed at the campgrounds in Wilpena Pound Resort.

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday Pedro

Nice trip and photos, mate.

From my Batphone

 

[pezimm]

We woke up to day seven of our trip in a half empty campground in Wilpena Pound. This was not going to last as this was Easter Friday and everyone was now in long-weekend mode.

We started our day on the Sacred Canyon Heritage Site. This is what we saw when we got to the local carpark - no surprises with all the Subarus around!

The canyon itself was beautiful and had a bit of water in it. Up-stream, we found some gorgeous River Red-Gums (that seem to be everywhere around here) that would have been easily 300 years old...

One of these fine old examples is the Cazneaux tree, made famous by the photographer that toured the area in 1937 and took photos of this tree under the very appropriate title "The Spirit of Endurance". The tree is not far from the Sacred Canyon turn-off and is actually by the main road. A well worth stop-over. I will share some photos later.

From here we wanted to do the Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive. We were told that if we could only do one track, this had to be the one! And oh boy did it deliver! Breath taking views in spades. This is the view from the Bunyeroo Valley Lookout:

And this is the teaser I shared before, taken from the Razorback Lookout:

From here, we got to the Geological Trail (Brachina Gorge Road). There was no water on the road, but one could see this would be a water-crossing paradise when the gorge is flowing. We visited the Aroona ruins and returned to camp via the main road (Flinders Ranges Way).

Day 8 (Easter Saturday) we woke up to an army of little kids running around making a big racket. Nothing wrong with that, but not really what we were looking for... We left camp early and checked out Arkaroo Rock, on the southern part of the park. A little hike took us to the rock itself, which is an aboriginal site with extensive and very interesting rock art:

From here we went to the Rawnsley Park estate, where you can park your car and hike your way up the southern part of the ranges to Rawnsley Bluff and Rawnsley Lookout - approximately a 5 hour return journey.

We decided to leave this one for the next time and carried on to Moralana Scenic Drive, which was a nice and easy drive that took us to Barndioota Road, the bitumen road that will take you to Lyndhurst and beyond. We only drove it to the start of the Geological Trail, to do the complete track we only did half the day before.

This was quite a good move, because we could really appreciate what the "Geological" part of the name was all about. We went through millions of years of geological evolution and could really see the remains of each period. A well worth experience! Another highlight along this way is an area called "Rock Falls", where you can see the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby in action. This is a very active little wallaby and we saw them in large numbers 2 days in a row.

We returned to camp after that and once again, it was mayhem. The grounds were now completely full and it kind of spoiled the mood. After debating our next move, we all agreed we were getting tired and wanted to head back a day early, to recover before going back to the grind. So Easter Sunday (day 9) saw us take the long 1200km drive back to Melbourne, where we arrived late at night.

It was good to have the monday to recover and get everything in order before going to work on Tuesday. It was a wonderful trip altogether. We were extremely lucky with the weather and saw some awesome country! I will share the remaining photos as Thaise finishes the editing off, so watch this space!

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday Pedro

Great trip, mate.

Some terrific photos .

I am planning something along the same lines, except in two stages, and much longer duration.

Going to Brisbane via Sydney first, hopefully in early June. Stay with my brother and his wife for about 4-6 weeks there, and visit friends around SE Queensland. Return via Narrabri, Mt Kaputar NP, Yarrie lake, Piliga State Forest, Warrumbungles NP, west to Wilcannia, then to Menindee Lakes etc.

Down to Lake Mungo NP and back to Melbourne via western Victoria.

Later in the year, I'm planning the Flinders Ranges - Wilpena Pound, Ediacran Hills, Parachilna Gorge. Then up to Maree. Oodnadatta Track to Coober Pedy, then back via family and friends in Adelaide and then home to Melbourne via SE S. Aust.

Next Autumn, I might head for Alice Springs, as we also have family there.

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos ... :biggrin:.

Any specific recommendations about camp grounds, things to see, places to go? I do need camp grounds that have hot and cold running everything. I will be equipped for both powered and un-powered camping though.

 

[mr turbo]

Fantastic trip report pezimm :biggrin:

Awesome photos too mate
The sunrise / sunset ones are magnificent, just magic

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Dedman]

Sounds like you had a great trip! It is such a nice area to explore. I particularly like the Gammon Ranges NP to the north of the Flinders Ranges as it is slightly less popular and has some great mining history.

 

[pezimm]

Sunset in time-lapse:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmaBf81FM2Q"]Pamamaroo Sunset 1080[/ame]

 

[NachaLuva]

What an awsome sunset! Great pics & vid

Unfortunately, there's lots of feral camels in the outback. Along with all the other ferals (goats, cats, foxes, etc) they are decimating native fauna & flora

I love the Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby. It was close to extinction only a few years ago but there was a determined effort to bring them back. A fenced reserve near Broken Hill & repopulation in other areas & fox culling has done wonders. Last time I was in Flinders R they seemed to be bouncing back well :biggrin:

Did you see euros there? Funny animals, like a stocky woolly kangaroo :rotfl:

Brachina Gorge is amazing, a travel through time. Did you see any fossils? I found them very hard to find, even with signs pointing them out lol :rotfl:

Great trip report, cant wait to see more pics! :biggrin:

 

[guzzla]

Unfortunately, there's lots of feral camels in the outback. Along with all the other ferals (goats, cats, foxes, etc)

My experience is the etc must include a few of the human kind too......:iconwink:

 

[mr turbo]

That time-lapse vid is an absolute beauty

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[pezimm]

Any specific recommendations about camp grounds, things to see, places to go? I do need camp grounds that have hot and cold running everything. I will be equipped for both powered and un-powered camping though.

Hi Ratbag,

Campgrounds we stayed at this time:

Mungo NP: main campground, which is about 2kms from the visitor's centre. The campground itself only has pit toilets, but you can access flushing toilets and hot water showers at the visitor's centre.

Kinchega NP: we stayed at the River Drive, on site 10 by the Darling River. There are 34 sites here and they are quite spread out. No facilities here. Better option for a trailer and to access flushing toilets and showers is probably Emu Lake camping area, which is close to the park's visitor centre where the amenities are.

The place I mentioned by Pamamaroo Lake had no facilities I could find.

Flinders Ranges NP: Wilpena Pound Resort - this place has it all. Powered, unpowered sites, cabins, luxury tents, etc. In quiet times, it would be the best option within Flinders Ranges NP. There are a few other bush campgrounds, all of which only have pit toilets.

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[pezimm]

Unfortunately, there's lots of feral camels in the outback. Along with all the other ferals (goats, cats, foxes, etc) they are decimating native fauna & flora

I wasn't expecting to see camels so far south (so to speak). I knew there were feral ones in central Oz, but not in west NSW...

Did you see euros there? Funny animals, like a stocky woolly kangaroo :rotfl:

Brachina Gorge is amazing, a travel through time. Did you see any fossils? I found them very hard to find, even with signs pointing them out lol :rotfl:

Didn't see any euros... at least that I recognised. Also, no fossils, I searched for them, but no luck.

That time-lapse vid is an absolute beauty

Cheers, Mr Turbo. I'll pass the compliments on to the guy that shot it.

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[pezimm]

Some more photos:

 

[pezimm]

 

[pezimm]

The Cazneaux Tree!

 

[Ratbag]

Love that last one, Pedro.

Some interesting sign-age to be seen in out of the way places ...

BTW, thanks for the detailed info on camp grounds and facilities - much appreciated. I can't rough it these days, so need to know where the facilities are. Two Kms is further away than I can cope with. Sometimes, two minutes is a stretch!

 

[NachaLuva]

Some great pics there, esp the ones of the tree & reflection, also the farm building :biggrin:

Nice stumpy, such funny lizards. Also called shingleback, sleepy lizard, pine-cone lizard. Did you pick him up to say hello?

 

[pezimm]

Did you pick him up to say hello?

No, not game enough... We saw dozens of these around. They are a cool little lizard!