Busy Camping: East, further East

We pulled up stumps at Streaky Bay, and resumed our journey East. The packup was nothing to be proud of though. Either the timezone was still throwing us around, or we were getting SERIOUSLY lazy. Admittedly we did have a lot to pack up, awnings, walls, bikes etc, but it was a little surprising when we got on the road around 10am. We could think about it being 7.30 WA time, but that might be stretching it a little? Just to top it off, we did make sure we stopped in town on our way through to pick up a coffee. If you’re late, you might as well be really late! Our synchronised packup with the Toomey’s would have been blown out of the water on this morning, just as well they are 2000+ kms away!

On the road again - happy travellers

We were aiming generally for Port Augusta, (have heard others lovingly refer to it as Port-a-Gutta), and made reasonable time to there. The girls really do travel well, although on any given day, in the heat of some whingy moment, we may not say the same thing. On this occasion, we only stopped once for lunch and travelled through otherwise. Well done girls!!

A big bird near our lunch spot

When we got to ‘Portagutta’, it was still early enough (decided to live in SA time finally), although pulling up would be been nice enough. Our option though was a caravan park, which we knew was on the highway, and a bit noisy, not to mention expensive. Glenn did a quick bit of research, and found a place on the way to Flinders Ranges (our next major stop). There was not too much info, but it ‘sounded’ nice, Warren Gorge, just outside of Quorn. How bad could it be??

It was a 60km addition to the day and superstar driver Amy was coping, so on we went. From Portagutta, you start heading up into the fabulous and extensive ranges right thoughout this region. At times you see the ranges from a distance, other times you are completely surrounded by them 360 degrees. Gives you something good to look at.

We took the turnoff towards Warren Gorge and by the signs of the hills and ranges in this area, it looked like it would be a winner. When we eventually drove into the campground, our suspicions were confirmed, it was beautiful.

Our home in Warren Gorge

There was a huge gorge wall running halfway around the campground and its rocky features were a rich red colour, promising to becoming even more vibrant during the sunset. The area was also huge, it just kept going, with little camp spots spread throughout. Hmmmm, this quiet little hide-away, or a busy, expensive, noisy caravan park in Portagutta? Think we’d lucked it this time.

We were only going to spend one night here, but sitting there, in the quiet, no other campers directly next to us, and only $7 a night, why would we move on? Exactly!! We wouldn’t.

The next morning we slowly woke up and enjoyed the pitter patter of a little rain. It was slightly surprising given we’d been looking at the weather forecast the day before, expecting 34 today, but hey, let’s roll with it. It soon did stop and the day turned out to be a cracker.

After breaky, we got some inspiration and Savannah helped Glenn make up some scones in the camp oven. Hadn’t done that yet on this trip and after Matt Toomey’s scones all the way back in Keep River, we’d been meaning to give it a go.

The camp oven went onto the gas cooker (not ideal, but was too hot and dry for fires), and away we went. They took a little longer than being done on a fireplace, but they turned out deeeeeeeelicious. Very light and fluffy. We were sitting under a tree, mid morning, with cuppa’s, scones and jam, when another camper rolled past in their car. We laughed at what sort of a sight that must have been. “Barry, did you see that???? Were they eating........ Nooooo, couldn’t have, they are CAMPING!” Can’t beat camping food we say.

Too swept up in the moment to photograph the scones, but here is the damper

Just to be greedy, Glenn also whipped up a damper, I mean, the camp oven was hot after all. Again, took a while, sort of like a slow cooked damper, but absolutely perfect in the end. We couldn’t eat it at the time, so left it for a taste at dinner and the rest for breakfast. We are definitely partial to a little bit of toasted damper the next morning..... YUM.

In the end, scones were our lunch. We were too full after those little pockets of joy. We lazed around camp, enjoying the sun and the gentle warm breeze. It was quite sickenly perfect, but we did suck it in, and note just how lovely it was to be there. The warm weather was not taken for granted at all! Glenn even managed to find time to just sit, close his eyes, and rest under the shade of a big tree. Unheard of, but...... enjoyable.

The gorge wall did not disappoint that afternoon. Amy was scooting around taking some nice photo’s, and also took the girls for a short walk along the gorge wall after dinner. This surprising little pocket had really delivered for us, and we loved our stay, thanks Warren Gorge. Next time, we might actually do the walk INTO the gorge...... it’s good to leave something on the table for next time!