Walpa Gorge, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - December 2015

After sleeping the sleep of the dead in Coober Pedy we took our time and had a relaxing start to today, after yesterdays epic 1600 kilometre drive, today we only had a short hop of around 750 kilometres. With the forecast temperature in the 40's again I was looking forward to checking into our hotel and jumping in the pool. Our trip up the Stuart Highway was largely uneventful today, the very northern part of South Australia is a desolate affair, after a tourist stop at the Northern Territory border we turned off the highway a little later and headed west for a couple of hours to Yulara.

A bit of traffic heading north out of Coober Pedy.

The tourist shot at the Northern Territory border.

Arriving at Sails in the Desert at Yulara, we checked into our flash room, Sam and I had stayed here  years ago on our honeymoon so the hotel has some good memories for us. First mission was a swim in the pool before I headed back to the room to grab my walking gear, with a couple hours before sunset I decided to head out to Kata Tjuta and do the short Walpa Gorge walk. Kata Tjuta used to be more commonly known as The Olgas, but thankfully now days its more commonly known by its traditional Anangu name.

Heading up into Walpa Gorge.

Leaving the ute I set up the gentle slope towards the gorge, the late afternoon sun doing wonders for my photos. It wasn't the photos that got my attention though, it was two camels loitering on the walking track well up off the spinifex covered dunes, these camels had climbed a fair way up the conglomerate rock. The camels were in no hurry to move either, so I inched my way past them slowly, wild camels can be pretty nasty, particularly the bulls. I'm not sure why the camels were so far up into the gorge I can only presume that they had come up for a drink, it looks like there had been some recent rain and there was a little bit of surface water about.

These camels were a fair way up the rock.

Passing my dromedary mates I continued on up into Walpa Gorge, the track is very well constructed and easy, climbing gently up the rock with quite a few bridges and board walks installed to make the job easier. The further in the more the walls close in, towering a hundred or so metres above my head, the setting sun making the rock over head a deep red colour. The further into the gorge I got the less sun I had though, about 30 minutes after leaving the ute I was at the final lookout but I was now completely in the shade. A 30 minute walk, yeah I was going hardcore on this stroll!

The further into the gorge I got the harder it was to take a decent photo.

This is as far as you're allowed to go, the bushes are Spearwood vine, the Anangu used  them to make spear shafts.

After taking a couple of average photos at the head of the gorge I started of back down towards the ute. I was basically walking due west now into the setting sun so the photographs were once again on the improve. The moon now making an appearance above the northern rim of the gorge, looking slightly surreal in the bright blue sky. Being so late in the day I more or less had the gorge to myself, only passing a couple of people as I got back to the ute. Now, as I'd descended the conglomerate rock back out of the gorge I could see that the sun was setting into a bank of cloud in the west, now you may hear more about this in up coming posts, but for today it meant no great sunset photos of Kata Tjuta.

There was a little water left over from some recent rain.

Moons up.

The Dirt.

I walked 3.8 kilometres on this stroll and climbed 89 metres. You don't really need notes for this walk, the park notes are more than adequate, however if you feel the need for notes then John Daly has written the walk up in his out of print Take A Walk in Northern Territory's National Parks. One thing to keep in mind about visiting Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is that it costs $25 for a three day pass, it's totally worth it but just keep it in mind. 

The polariser was screwed up to nuclear for this one.

The sun setting into a large bank of cloud somewhere over towards the Western Australia border.

Coober Pedy - December 2015

Hey hey, the holidays have arrived. This year Sam and I are revisiting an old favourite, we're going on a road trip to Central Australia, we have spent time up here (I'm in Yulara at the moment) almost every one of the twenty five years that we've been married, infact we honeymooned up here, yeah Sam got real lucky with me, where would you like to go for your honeymoon, Tahiti, The Maldives, The Cook Islands? No I reckon we'll go sweat it out in the Red Centre over summer, best of all we didn't even have air conditioning in our car in those days, like I said Sam got lucky!

Refueling at a truck stop in Nhill, it's well after midnight but everything's going good.

First stop on this trip was Coober Pedy, when you read it quickly it all sounds pretty reasonable, and indeed it was, but before my head hit the pillow in the Mud Hut Hotel there was a small matter of a bit of a drive from Melbourne to get there. Unfortunately for me Sam had to stay back at work for an important engagement so we left Melbourne about five hours later than I'd hoped to. Starting a 1600 kilometre leg at 9:30 at night after working all day wasn't ideal, we'd booked all the accommodation in advance so we couldn't easily slot everything back a day. Anyway it didn't take long to clear Melbourne's sprawling suburbs and it then felt as though the holiday was on, so while Sam snoozed I motored over the South Australian border with only my truck driving mates for company. Nearing Tailem Bend at 3:30 in the morning I figured it was time to grab a bit of sleep, with a forecast in the low forties for the fast arriving day I didn't think I'd get much in the ute once the sun made its appearance.

Sunrise beside the highway just outside Tailem Bend, time to get up and head off again.

I managed to grab a couple of hours sleep while being serenaded by the passing trucks, the rapidly lightning sky waking me at 5:30am, time to get going if I wanted to get through Adelaide before peak hour. So with Sam still snoozing we trucked on, leaving Adelaide's northern outskirts by 7:30 we started up one of the most boring section of highway in Australia, the road from Adelaide to Port Augusta, nothing good ever happens on this stretch of road in my opinion. Luckily we beat most of the heavy traffic and the howling northerly hadn't kicked in yet, so all I had to really worry about was my fatigue, and after my little nana nap at Tailem Bend I was feeling pretty good. Jumping out of the ute to re fuel at Port Augusta we felt the full force of the temperature, it was getting bloody hot and we were now heading up into the hottest part of the state.

Heading north out of Port Augusta we were now in red dirt country, the epic vistas opening up before us as we motored along, this is the kind of the country I think of when I think of a road trip, huge skies and views for kilometres in every direction. With the Flinders Ranges receding in the rearview mirror the Stuart Highway passes a series of salt lakes culminating at Lake Hart, arguably the most scenic of the lot, each lake giving me the excuse to stop and stretch the legs a bit. The 540 kilometre journey from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy only passes by a couple of service stations, Pimba and Glendambo, although the bright lights of Woomera are only 8 kilometres off the highway near Pimba. On jumping back into the ute after my frequent photo stops I'd noticed that the air-con was taking longer and longer to bring down the temperature, when I pulled up at Coober Pedy I logged onto the BOM site and checked the observations, Woomera got to 43.7 and Coober Pedy 43.3, yeah that's getting pretty warm.

The Stuart Highway north of Port Augusta, big sky country.

Lake Hart.

Coober Pedy has a population of around 3500 people, and is one of those places you might describe as having character, the best way to describe the place is to imagine what a post apocalyptic world would look like, think Mad Max and you wouldn't be far off. It seems that the movie world thinks the same thing as the town and surrounding wasteland has featured in numerous movies, the left over props littering the town only add to the feel of the place.

Coober Pedy from the Big Winch lookout.

The Old Timers Mine is worth checking out if you have the time.

Coober Pedy's main claim to fame though is opals, the reason the place resembles a moonscape is the hundreds of thousands of opal mine tailings littering the country side, the town is full of reminders of its mining history. If your visiting town I'd recommend the Old Timers Mine as a place to go to check out what its like down a mine. With the temperatures over summer soaring close to 50 C most of the locals not only work underground but live there as well, you can stay underground, visit an underground art gallery, an underground church, you get the idea!

The space ship from the movie Pitch Black crash landed in Coober Pedy, bugger me!

The country for kilometres either side of town looks like a moonscape due the mounds of mine tailings.

After a quick shower we headed out to check out the Breakaway Reserve north of town, leaving town just as a dust storm hit with an accompanying thunder storm, it all added to the post apocalyptic feel I suppose. I've been to the Breakaways before and was a little under whelmed, so having continued to hear good things about it I decided to head back and check it out again, and you know what it was worth it. Turning off the Stuart Highway we quickly arrived at the main lookout, with the sun now coming in and out from behind storm clouds it was a little hit and miss when it came to photos but I still managed to get a couple that show what the place is all about. This place featured in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as well as Mad Max 3 so its got that familiar look about it.

The Breakaway Reserve.

There were a few storms around this afternoon making the light fairly flukey.

Leaving the main lookout we picked up a lesser track that headed down through the Breakaways and out to Moon Plain via the Dog Fence. Our first stop on this stretch was at a unique landform that the local Antakirinja Mutuntjarra called 'two dogs' a brown and a white one, check out the photo and you'll see what they mean. Soon after leaving Two Dogs we hit the dog fence, the fence that is meant to keep Dingoes to the north and thus make it safe to run sheep to the south. The dog fence used to be 8614 kilometres long but was shortened to a mere 5500 kilometres in 1980. The fence was used in the making of the movie Rabbit Proof Fence even though the movie was set in Western Australia.

The 'Two Dogs'.

We now headed across the flat featureless Moon Plane on our loop back towards Coober Pedy, the red dirt billowing in the mirror bought a smile to my face, the ute floating along the undulating track. On meeting the more substantial Coober Pedy to Oodnadatta we turned and headed back into town. Returning to our room at the Mud Hut Hotel there was just time for a quick shower before I jumped into bed, no dinner tonight, just a deep sleep.

Heading away from The Breakaways onto Moon Plane.

The Dog Fence heading out onto Moon Plane.

Red dust in the mirror, its been awhile but it still feels right!

The Dirt.

Coober Pedy is a seriously strange place, it looks like every feral in Australia has settled there, so I feel quite at home really, in a world of sanitised tourist experiences however it stands out as the authentic article. Coober Pedy is probably not worth a visit in its own right but if you find yourself in the neighbourhood you could easily lose half a day poking around the place. As I've mentioned we stayed at the Mud Hut Hotel in Coober Pedy, I've stayed there before over the years and its a nice clean and quiet place, best of all now days they have good free wifi. The loop around the Breakaways and Moon Plane is probably doable in a normal car in the dry, but I reckon you'd be much more comfortable in a 4wd, try and time your visit as close to sunset as possible as the low sun brings out the colours.

When in Coober Pedy the feral traveller chooses to stay at the Mud Hut Hotel.

The scenery on the way out of town is much the same as the on the way in.

Reids Tramline - December 2015

After heading out for our massive Friday walk to Ricketts Point, I backed up on Saturday with another easy walk, this time up at Powelltown in the Yarra Ranges. Today I roped in another victim companion, a mate of mine from work, James who was keen to get out into the bush a take a few photos. I might have broken with tradition in that I wasn't walking alone, but I didn't break with tradition when it came to a start time, it was well and truly mid afternoon when we hit the track. The other notable feature of the day was that it was pretty warm, with the temperature in the low thirties it was just as well it was an easy walk.

The car park has a bit of old logging history scattered about.

Powelltown is still a timber town.

Powelltown is a logging town and indeed we were going to check out the remains of Reids Mill, but first up we wandered along the main road. The town had its hay day in the early 1900's but it still appears to be going OK, with a large sawmill still operating, along with a pub, church and general store. Crossing to the south side of the road we walked an old road easement for a couple hundred metres, the grass seemingly increasing the humidity on what was already a fairly humid day. After the easement joined up with Surrey Road it was time to head into the bush for our walk up to the Reids Mill site.

Heading along the old easement near Surrey Road, there was certainly a bit of kick in the sun today.

On finding the well signposted track we dropped down and crossed the pretty tannin stained Little Yarra River before heading up the valley of Blackwood Creek. The walking along here uses the historic tramline route that ran from Reids Mill to Powelltown so it makes for a pretty easy stroll with just a slight up hill gradient. The highlight for me of this tramline section though was the glimpses of Blackwood Creek flowing along the valley beside the track, like the Little Yarra River, Blackwood Creek is slightly tannin stained and flowing over a quartzite sand base, the creeks look really pretty and were almost taunting me in this hot weather to stop and have a soak.

The Little Yarra River.

The towering Mountain Ash, what's not to like?

After a pleasant stroll up the tramline for a couple of kilometres we arrived at the site of the old Reids Mill, the mill operated in the 1920's and 1930's however there is not a lot left here now days. Poking around the bush a bit we found a few pieces of rusting machinery, including a circular saw blade that looks like it has been buckled in a bushfire. The site is surrounded by what appears to be mounds of dirt but I presume they are actually old piles of saw dust, they are slowly being reclaimed by the forest and are now almost indistinguishable from the surrounding bush, being reclaimed by lush ferns.

There were plenty of ferns crowding the old tramway.

Blackwood Creek.

Leaving the old mill site we crossed Blackwood Creek and climbed a bit up onto an old fire track, the forest drying out as we climbed higher. The temperature also climbed a bit as we moved away from the creek, I was sweating bullets but that is pretty much business as usual for me even though I was walking in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. James, on the other hand was covered from head to toe, one of the joys of having fair skin I suppose, I can only imagine how hot it was for him. After a bit of drink we headed up the old fire track, climbing fairly gently before meeting Big Bertha Track and following it gently down a spur. Big Bertha, now that's a cool name for a fire track, it sounds like it might have been named after an AC/DC song, Big Bertha Track, Whole Lot of Rosie Track, yeah now were talking!

There is not a lot left at the old Reids Mill site.

With AC/DC now stuck in my head we turned off Big Bertha Track and made the descent down to the Little Yarra River again, the descent was fairly short and once again the forest improved as we dropped into the valley, with plenty of ferns and Mountain Ash. Crossing the Little Yarra River I once again looked longingly at the beautiful cool and clear water, if only I had a bit more time I would have loved to take a dip. Does everybody dream of the day that they don't have to work any more and they can take their time and smell the roses or is it just me? The walk was now coming to a quick end as we climbed up from the river bank and we arrived back at the ute, James had survived his first feral walk and I had once again enjoyed revisiting an old favourite.

James, heading down Big Bertha Track.

The forest was a lot drier higher up, consisting of mainly Stringybark.

The Dirt.
I really like this walk, its a fairly easy stroll but the scenery is top draw. The walking along the old tramway is particularly good with the track crowded with lush ferns and a towering canopy of Mountain Ash. Once again it might be just me but I find these crystal clear creeks flowing over the quartz sand very pretty as well. The other slightly unusual aspect of this stroll is that it has't changed much in the ten years since I first visited it, as far as I can see there have been no big fires or floods through the area so the Mountain Ash are all still alive and the creeks sill look good and aren't deeply eroded....all good! We walked 6.69 kilometres and climbed 202 metres on this easy walk. John Chapman has written this walk up in his book Day Walks Melbourne, its walk number 37 in the book.

But once we dropped down towards the Little Yarra River again it got more lush.

Crossing the Little Yarra River at the end of the walk, a very tempting spot on a hot day.

Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary - December 2015

By Friday night I'm normally happy that I've just made it through another week of work without any major drama, it's not a time I normally consider heading out for a walk. With daylight saving being in full swing however I started to think that the twilight hours of Friday might actually make a good time to go for a short stroll and take a few photos, at the very least it would act as an antidote to work and get me off the couch. With Sam up for the first 'Friday Frolic' we headed up the road a little to explore Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, arriving at the walk start at 8 pm this was a late even for me, someone who isn't keen on early starts.

Ricketts Point Tea House.

Setting off from the car park next to the Ricketts Point Teahouse we headed south and picked up a track running up through the coastal scrub between the beach and Beach Road. The sandy path feeling as remote as possible wedged into the sliver of bush, climbed very slightly around behind the Beaumaris SLSC. The highlight of the short stretch was watching a couple of Cockatoos playing in an old Banksia, they certainly weren't trying to be stealthy as their squawking could be easily heard over the constant drone of the traffic on Beach Road. Eventually the cockie's grew tired of us squawking back at them a flew off to find a quieter tree away from pesky walkers.

The trail heads through a very narrow belt of coastal scrub between the beach and Beach Road.

One  of the cockies that entertained us on the old Banksia.

He's had enough of the pesky walkers.

The walk notes now had us descending onto the coarse sand of Port Phillip Bay, we certainly got the short straw when it comes to sand quality in Melbourne compared to most other beaches around the country. All we had to do now was to head back towards the ute along the coast line, the sun dipping slowly into the bay as we walked. With it being mid tide we were able to wander out onto the rocks at Ricketts Point and check out the rock pools, the other notable above sea level feature of Ricketts Point was the amount of bird life in the area, with plenty of Swans, Pelicans and Sea Gulls in evidence.

The sun getting low behind Ricketts Point.

We watched the ships plying their trade up and down the bay for awhile.

Ricketts Point has been a Marine Sanctuary since 2002, created to help protect the marine bio-diversity of the bay. Judging by the amount of bird life, the under water environment must be fairly healthy. After watching the Spirit of Tasmania make its way down the bay, and with the sun disappearing below the horizon we walked the last few minutes back to the car park, our first Friday night frolic was over, it was certainly a better way to spend the twilight hour rather than sitting on the couch at home.

I still can't manage to get the horizon level.

It was almost dark when I took this photo.

The Dirt.

This was walk number 44 out of Melbourne's Best Bush, Bay & City Walks by Julie Monday, its another Woodslane book, their website is crap so no link. Remember a few walks ago I mentioned that the walk I was doing was so short I should of used a ruler instead of a GPS to measure it, well this one was even shorter, at 1.84 kilometres this has to be a record in slothfulness (if that's not a word then it should be). Even less impressive than the distance was the elevation gain, 10 metres, no I haven't left of a zero! This stroll also follows a very short section of Melbourne's Coastal Art Trail an 18 kilometre trail down the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay that commemorates the great the art and artists from Melbourne's famous Heidelberg School. So, if your looking for a very easy stroll maybe Ricketts Point is for you, our whole stroll was over in less than a hour and I'm reliably informed by Sam that the teahouse has awesome ice creams.