After a lazy sleep in (as much as we could with kids) and
breakfast, we gathered all our hiking gear and headed off to see the Aroona
Ruins and lookout, which wasn’t that far away.
Pretty soon we were looking over the stone ruins of the Aroona
homestead. It is fascinating to stand
there and try to imagine how things were back then, how much of a vibrant home
this must have been, and what hardships they faced daily, as well as the
delights.
They must have made a little bit of money because the
homestead seemed pretty extravagant, in relative terms anyway. There were a couple of buildings made of
stone, one even with a cellar, and a huge veranda. This homestead also boasted a permanent
spring nearby which supplied water to the homestead. It is all pretty much a pile of rubble nowadays,
but you get the sense of it all. They
had a very impressive view. (Wonder if they even noticed or appreciated it...I
am sure they did.)
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| Now a small pile of rubble - Aroona Homestead |
We climbed up the hill behind the homestead for a better
view of the valley. The sight was well
worth it, although both girls had kicked into major whinging mode for some
reason. Kinda gets on your goat after a
while, and made it a little hard to enjoy the tranquillity. We eventually abandoned and headed back to
the camper after a few snaps.
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| Breathtakingly brilliant - the view from behind Aroona Ruins |
When we got back, Glenn suggested that Amy take a wander off
on another one of the walks from the campsite.
Amy jumped at the chance to be freed from the shackles, grabbed a UHF to
be in contact, and strode off up the Red Hill walk. Glenn managed to get the girls in bed for a
bit of much needed ‘quiet time’, then set about doing some fixing jobs under
the awning.
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| Why didn't I think of this earlier - off on a solo walk! |
Amy’s walk sent her up the nearby hills on the other side
from the Aroona ruins. At the top, she
took a right, and ended up at Heysen’s Viewpoint, looking down at the valley
from a different angle. It was a great
chance to enjoy the peace and quiet, and take in more of the views.
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| Heysen's Viewpoint - about 1.5km from the Aroona campground |
After Amy got back to the camper, Glenn decided it was
baking time. ‘Bring out the
cake-mix!’ It was going to have to be
another gas jobbie, as there were no fires allowed at this time of year. Surely the last (and only) success wasn’t
going to be a fluke. Mind you, we didn’t
have Matt’s electric drill and beater, or the good cake tin, or the second camp
over lid.... still, Glenn’s pretty good, he’ll be fine!!
With a mix here, a beat there, and a heat job on the camp
oven, we were ready. We kept the heat up
this time, and even tried a couple of heatbeads on the lid. It actually came out alright, although it
took a while to cook. It was expertly
topped off with a bit of icing from Amy, and then WHOOOOMP, totally devoured by
the family. Yummo!
Sitting around that afternoon, we contemplated our next
move. This stop-over around the Flinders
was in theory only a relatively short one, but we were enjoying it so
much. Each time we looked over the maps,
there were more places we wanted to explore.
We could easily have spent a couple of months around this area.
We didn’t have that long, and our rough plan was to be
around the Murray River for the last week or so, just to give ourselves a
chance to relax, not travel, and get ready for the Melbourne onslaught.
That being said, we also didn’t want to rush too quickly
through here. We did our plans, and
decided to take advantage of this spectacular little hideaway, and stay another
day, after-all, this is the type of camping we enjoy.
The next ‘bonus’ day was a very relaxing one. We started off this one with some pancakes
for breakfast. Shake and Bake cheating
ones, but hey, delicious anyway! The
kids also did a lot of riding around on their bikes during the day, exploring
the little tracks and roads around us.
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| The masterchef at work |
From there the games can range from going to the shops,
going to school, towing a caravan or general convoy business. Jess had definitely got the hang of the
balance bike by now, and was very nimbly scooting around after Savannah,
keeping her own.
The other major activity for the day was having a bush
shower. We have a 12 volt pump which
sits in a bucket of warm water (one boiled billy heats up the whole 10 litre
bucket nicely). We set up off to the
side of Slim, and the whole family cycles through. It’s a very efficient and quick process. Quite amazing that the two kids and us two
can have a full shower, everyone shampooing and conditioning their hair, and
coming out all sparkling, in only 10 litres of water. Totally impossible at home, but no great
stress out here in the bush!
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| Another source of entertainment - Jess taking her 'baby' for a walk |
After dinner, we decided to go for a stroll around the
grounds, with the kids riding their bikes.
A quick ‘Errrrr, errrr, eeerrrrrr’ and we were off. The camp ground was spread out, and even
catered for a tour group, although we had the place to ourselves. We turned to go down towards the outstation
ruins, when there was a big dip in the road, bit of a water channel to
cross. Savannah scooted down, through,
and up the other side, no great trouble.
Jess saw what was happening, and decided to follow suit.
She managed however to really push off with a lot of
enthusiasm. Glenn immediately saw the
pace, and started after her. She was
going ok... yeah, not too bad... hmmmm a little speed wobble, and oh dear, a
BIG speed wobble. Straight over the
handlebars!! This all happened in a
second or two, so Glenn wasn’t fast enough to save her.
A few tears, a bit of a ‘wow, did you see how fast you
went’, a pat pat, and it was all over.
She was back on the bike and off again.
It had been a very enjoyable stay. Reckon we’d be back here at some stage!
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| A sunrise worth getting up for. We could also see this from our window |
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