Our latest holiday was during an extended public holiday weekend
for the Queen’s birthday. We hit the road with a couple of friends (Lynne and Michael)
to challenge ourselves on the Goog’s four wheel track which is just north of
Ceduna. The Goog’s track was built by a white farm in the 1970’s to make it
easier to get from one side of his land to the other. The literate states that
he may have been the first white man to see this part of the outback.
After a 10 hour drive that took us north of Adelaide to Port
Augusta and then west to Acraman Creek conversation park on the Eyre Peninsula.
We sit up camp for our first night under the star in the sand dunes above
Streaky Bay and enjoyed a good steak that was cooked on the open fire.
During one of our stops on our 10 hour drive to Acraman
Creek Conversation Park we took a small detour to see the Pildippa Rock, which
is situated just outside Minnipa.
First night camp
After a good rest we headed further west to Ceduna, where we
collected our park permits for Yumbarra Conservation Park and Yellabinna
Wildness Protection Area and collected some supplies. Once supplies had been obtained we had
further north out of Ceduna to locate the start of the Goog’s Track. It wasn’t
long before we located the beginning of the 220km track and the fun began.
89 km into the track our second night under the stars was
spent camping at Goog’s Lake, where we enjoyed a Thai Green Curry, a fire once
it got going and some marshmallows. The Goog’s Lake is a beautiful salt lake,
where we came around the Park ranger and a large party of volunteers that were
completing a project to plant 700 new plants around the lake.
After a good breakfast and fighting with the flies when
taking down camp, we head north up the Goog’s Track to Mount Finke, which is approximately
80km from Goog’s lake. On our trip north
this day we came across another salt lake, which we were able to walk over and
the sand dunes beat us. At one stage a sand dune was so steep, which deep ruts
that we ended up sinking the car up to its belly in sand. After a good half an
hour or so of digging with Lynne and Michael the car came free and we carried on.
Something we found on the tree and we still have no idea what it is. Can you help?
Our third night camping at Mount Finke was like camping at a
small Uluru. Once sitting up camp and ensuring a lamb stew was bubbling away, we enjoyed a hot fire and some whiskey under the stars. It was
quickly established that the party had also come from Adelaide and that it had
some Land Rover fans within its midst.
Our fourth day started early to see the sun rise as we needed to finish the Goog's track and get to the Gawler Ranges, which was a 500km journey. We found ourselves completeling the Goog’s Track in a
convoy of 8 cars, with the camping friends we made the night before. It was an amazing feeling and our new friends were great fun.
We have nearly finished the track
The railway marks the end of the track
The drive to the Gawler Ranges from the Goog's Track was one of the best drives I think we have ever had.
The fourth night was spent camping at Kododo camp site within the Gawler Ranges, which we arrived to with our hearts in our mouths after Micheal's near misses with a number of kangaroos. But we drove at 40kph to ensure no injury was obtianed by either side. Once at camp and set up we enjoyed a pasta dish and marshmallows on the fire.
Our fifth day was spent enjoying the what the Gawler Ranges had to offer and with another 500km under our belts we found ourselves camping at the showground in Melrose.
Organ Pipes
Larry has had fun too.
I however got bored with all this drving at some stages, so I found my artistic side
Our last morning reminded us of our camping trips in the Lake District. It rained and rained. Everything got wet. As a result the tent has been put up in the garage for the rest of the week, drying out. Though our trip home was very wet, we found a great little bakery in a village called Stone Hut, fantastic. We had a lovely drive home through the Clare Valley wine region.
