On our way out to the highway, we took the drive out through
Brachina Gorge. This drive failed to
detract from the rest of the Flinders, being equally as magnificent. You end up driving through the rocky, rough
gorge, following a deep creek bed which had obviously been responsible for carving
out the gorge walls we were seeing. It was
disappointing to finally exit the gorge, but we made sure we kept looking in
the rear view mirror to see the stretching ranges.
From there, we turned north up to Leigh Creek, a mining town
built to service the nearby coal mines.
It is quite a nice place, with a few good facilities. We decided to do a quick laundry wash (at
$5.40 a load!) and ducked into the local supermarket for some top up
supplies. A bite to eat, a take away
coffee, and we were out of there.
The dirt road from Leigh Creek to Arkaroola is in fairly
good nick, so it was a reasonably easy drive out there, although it did take a
while. The view along the way of course
made the trip a little easier. This
region shows stark evidence of being a hop step and a jump from the deserts
further north. Just up the road from
here is the start of the Strzelecki Track, the Birdsville Track and the Oodnadatta
track. It took a lot of self control not
to keep going north and play in some of these favourite areas.
The dry and rocky surrounds continued all the way into
Arkaroola. We had a lot to explore
here! We had heard of a tag-a-long tour
that you could do here along some of the surrounding country, travelling along
some impressive ridge tops. When we
booked in we were enquiring about this tour.
It took us a little while to figure out that it actually not a
tag-a-long, but a guided, driven trip.
It was also unfortunately very expensive AND quite long AND the kids
could not be in their seatbelts. It all
conspired against us, and we definitely weren’t willing to try to keep the
girls entertained for 4ish hours during the trek. Wasn’t to be.
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| A great sunset surrounds the camp ground |
We found a spot in the campground, set up, and after a beer
or two, got dinner on the go. There were
a heap of other self guided drives and walks we could do, so a bit of research
determined our plan for the next day. We
decided to tick off one of the items that night, to go and see the sunset at
the Pinnicles. After dinner, we took the
4km drive up the rocky track, and set ourselves up to enjoy the changing colours. It was definitely worth the effort.
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| Two gorgeous girls and one gorgeous view (& no, that's not all Jess's hair. There is a grass plant behind her!) |
Over the last couple of months, Glenn had been keeping in
contact with his parents about the health of a very close family friend,
‘Uncle’ Ray. Uncle Ray was one of those
honorary uncles you have as kids, but was extremely close to our family. Ray lived near Echuca, and as kids, we
spent a LOT of time water skiing on the Murray River, with Ray and his family. Ray also considered us his second family and
was involved in many celebrations over the years. He was also a huge larrikin, with many
examples of him taking the mickey and causing general havic. He had iconic status in the family and
Glenn’s Dad also considered Ray to be one of his best mates.
Ray had not been too well for a long time and over the last
couple of weeks, he had gone downhill.
Glenn had spoken to his Dad the day before to get an update, but decided
to call again today to check in.
Unfortunately the news was finally bad, and sad. He had passed away.
After a quick, but pretty easy discussion with Amy, we
decided to pack up and start the process of heading down towards Echuca, where
the funeral would be. We felt it was
important for us to be there, in many ways.
The girls were excellent.
We explained the situation, and that unfortunately we had to pack up and
head off. No complaints. Great work girls!
We drove out of Arkaroola, knowing that this was yet another
place we would be back to explore.
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| Driving out of Arkaroola, through the Gammon Ranges |
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