prairie of farm country, speeding along at 120 kph (75mph) hoping to get to a hotel for a shower. I forgot to mention the massive wind turbines on the hill tops in the distance as I drove and this rainbow I caught somewhere north of Mt Bryan
The hotel was a welcome respite after 2 days of driving. I showered and enjoyed some dinner by the TV before climbing into bed with a glass of vodka and eventually nodding off. In the morning not really knowing where my next shower would come from I decided to take another one. I packed up my CPAP and other things into Tommy and hit the road. I’d make it to the Flinders Range National Park in a couple more hours. But first I wanted some home cooked nutrients. Finding a little cafe in the bustling town of Peterborough wasn’t hard, there were 2 to choose from and I could see them both on the main street. Opting for the closer of the two I sat down to a typical Australian breakfast, fried eggs, sausage, baked beans, a baked half of tomato and of course toast with Vegemite! Something I have grown to love. It’s made from the extract of fermented beer and is a salty tar like substance. For those interested in trying it I know you can get it a World Market Cost Plus in the Clackamas Town Centre Promenade. Spread it thinly on some buttered toast and enjoy. In no time at all you’ll be heaping it on and begging for more of the savoury goodness.
Once the tummy was full, it was back on the road only to stop for more petrol and some supplies in Orroroo (Pronounced OR RO ROO, just like its spelt. One thing about Australia is there may not be a McDonald's in every town (YET) but they all have public toilets and these for the most part are very clean welcoming places after a long haul across vast tracks of not much. As my pit stop drew me ever closer to the destination the mountains rose in the foreground before me. Kilometre after kilometre the peaks were getting bigger and more majestic on the horizon. Now these aren’t the Rockies mind you, hell not even the Appalachian mountains for that matter, but after several days of nothing but scrub grass, farm lands, and small towns they are quite beautiful and worthy of National Park status. Stopping in Wilpena at the visitor centre I picked 
up a park map and started the tour of campground seeking the best spot to call home for the next 2 nights. As soon as I turned off the paved roadway and onto a dirt track I came across these 3 wild Emus. They were barely concerned that Brian and his big bad 4x4 were there and sauntered off into the fields. After these large birds I was able to see some more kangaroos booking across the track at different intervals on my journey up the Bunyeroo (Bun Er Roo) Valley to my home at Cambrian Campground. Lucky spot number 13 awaited me and my saxophone. This particular campsite was tucked away in the back with a nice knoll about 5 meters high (16’) separating me from the roadway and a dry creek bed on the other side. There 
was a stone bench area along what would be a nice river view if there was any water and a big old gum tree with 2 large birds nest atop of it. About 200 meters (650’) away was the only other camper, another solo nature enthusiast I came to know as Jeff. Once settled in for the afternoon I broke out the sax for some more practice and as I expected that scared all the birds away and brought my neighbour over to investigate. He was happy for the company and didn’t mind me doing my scales. Although I quite minded the small house type of flies trying to investigate the internal workings of every open orifice on my body. They were not phased one bit the squawking of my horn. By the time evening rolled around I had prepared a good fire and this time there would be no wind or rain showers to dampen the festivities. I was able to get a little reading done and make entries into my journal before the sunset. As soon as the cool air of evening set in the flies disappeared and one was able to enjoy being outside again. I cooked my chicken, veggie and sauce concoction wrapped in good old American Heavy Duty Reynolds Aluminium Foil. A camping essential I learned over my many trips in the Pacific Northwest. You can only get it here at the USA food store and it’s about $12 a 50’ roll but worth every penny when out in the woods and hungry as the proverbial koala bear. I place the tightly wrapped dinner right down into my bed of coals and turned it every so often while sipping my iced cold vodka. Now it just dawned on me that all of these blog entries I’m always drinking vodka.... don’t worry my many mom’s I’m not doing any driving and I only had a single 5th for the entire week of camping. So I’m not the alcoholic it sounds like. But then again denial is one of the first steps in recovery, isn’t LOL! This 3rd day of the trip ends some 1300 kilometres (810 miles) from Melbourne. However tonight I’m lying on the rock bench staring up at the stars of the southern hemisphere. Seeing Orion’s belt and thinking of my many friends in the north that can also see this constellation.
The night’s sleep wasn’t great once again as the air mattress just didn’t have enough air in it. I
had tried changing the batteries but I realized my pump was just getting old and not able to produce the needed pressure to fill it all the way up. This is something I’d have to solve before too many more nights in the back of the truck. By the cool crisp air of 6 am I was wide awake and making some Coleman camp stove hot chocolate and scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Today’s plan was to do little driving and to get out on a hike. I selected Bunyeroo Gorge because it didn’t have a lot of elevation gain and would keep me in the shade. Yesterday had been very warm somewhere near 80 I guessed (still winter folks) and I was expecting this day to be the same. The hike was only about 4km (2.5m) each way and promised some great views of the rock formation. What the trail map failed to mention was the damn (a word much harsher actually comes to mind) flies. As I set out along the dirt path following the dry creek bed they began their never ending attack on me and any bit of moisture they could find. I spent more time with my baseball cap off swishing them away from my face than I did actually wearing the thing. Other than that the hike was nice. At times
the walls of the gorge closed in on me and steeply rose several hundred feet into air. Sometimes the path would widen and was riddle with giant old gum trees. The 8’ diameter thick trunks had many branches providing a beautiful canopy to walk amongst. Cockatoos and several other types of bird life chattering in the tree tops. Alerting all other living creatures that a dreaded human was near. Reaching the end of the hike the creek bed become a flat stone lined wash about 200’ wide. I was interested in finding some vantage point to get a good view after walking so far tucked away into the gorge so I found a hillside to scale and got myself out of the forest for what was a magnificent view of the gum trees zigzagging across the plains. It was here in my sweaty still state that the flies did their best to annoy me. More than once I looked down upon my legs to see at least 100 of them soaking up the particles on my pants. Using my hat I was able to kill 15 or 20 at a time and those few were quickly replaced by more. I was glad I could not see my back as I had removed my day pack and could feel the sweat running down it. Every few minutes Mother Nature would give me just a bit of rest to enjoy the landscape by with a large gust of wind. This was too much for the flies to overcome and I’d get 30 second at a time without them. It was a peaceful spot if not for my annoying tiny friends I would have lingered much longer than the 15 minutes I spent perched on this hillside. But it was hot in the sun, my sunscreen had been
removed by the perspiration and only the safety of Tommy the Tank would save me now. I made my way down the hillside and back along the creek bed the way I had come. Half way back I met a couple heading to the view spot wearing mesh netting over wide brimmed hats and thought to myself if I EVER come back to central Australia I got to get me one of those!
Once back at the truck I quickly changed into shorts and a dry t-shirt and had decided that another day driving around the park might not be so bad. At least the flies couldn’t keep up with me. So I set out on a looping adventure around the park’s roads. This expedition took me up to the Aroona Ruins in the far north of the park. A place where John Hayward had first settled in
1851 with 3000 sheep and only 40 pounds (The British pound was the currency at the time). He managed to build himself a 5 room bungalow with always cooling slate floors, which are still visible today. The homestead was complete with running water in the bath house, fig and fruit trees in addition to melon and pumpkins in a garden. Probably the reason he picked this spot on a lonely hillside in the middle of nowhere (even today) was for the ample supply of water at the time, but one must think the view of the Flinders Ranges had to have been a nice bonus. As it happens in a desert country the water dried up and John sold off his property in 1862 and return to England a rich man with over $40,000 pounds just before a long stretch of drought in which the new owner lost everything and had to abandoned the place. I managed to spend about 20 minutes exploring the area before the flies got too bothersome again and I retreated to Tommy and set off on to the next section of roadway.
Somewhere between Slippery Dip (an actual dip in the road where a real live somewhat moving water way crossed the road) and Trezona campground I spotted this bearded dragon lizard sunning himself in the middle of the track. At first I thought it was a stick in the road but his high arch back made me rethink it. I stopped the vehicle and got out to snap a picture. When he didn’t move I got closer. While he puffed himself up and was clearly agitated by my presence he never once moved from the spot and I was able to stand directly over him and get this great photo. In all he was about 18” to 20” long and one very dusty pissed of reptile. Back in the truck I took extra care to go as far around him as possible and he never moved an inch. My hope is that the next person to come along was travelling at a reasonable speed so this guy would not be hurt.
The next stop on the way was some ruins called Appealinna. There wasn’t a plaque so you’re spared the history lesson this time. But I was able to capture another picture of a lizard. This time it was a blue nose stub tail or something like that. I actually saw 2 of these guys and one very large and very dead kangaroo. As your luck will have it I did try and take a picture of the kangaroo with his skin stretch taught of his bony skeleton. A very startling sight and something out of a horror movie but when I got home and looked at the pictures something had gone wrong and it didn’t come out. The pictures of the lizards did come out but they not really good, as one was hiding under a rock ledge and the other had his face buried into a rock wall. If you really want to see it send me an email and I’ll forward them to you.
The final stop in the day before returning to camp was a placed called Stokes Hill Lookout. Only 4x4 can make it up the hill to this 360 degree viewpoint and its well worth the 3km detour off the main road. I took 2 videos of it 180 degrees at a time to give you a chance to see it. Trust me these images do not do it justice at all.
Back at the campground my neighbour invited me over to cooked dinner by his campfire and enjoy come conversations, which I gladly accepted. Jeff did have a hand action air pump which he let me borrow and I was able to completely fill my air mattress for a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t really talked to anyone for more than 10 seconds in 4 days now. Jeff was a single (straight and not cute) guy in his mid 40’s that had made some major changes in his life by quitting his job, selling everything he owned and buying a small camper van which he now lived in and was travelling around Australia. An idea that sounds appealing to me, but I think I’d rather do it in America.
That’s where this entry ends, my friends. I think 2500 words are enough for one night. I’ll try to get the 3rd and hopefully last entry typed up soon.
No new happy birthdays to report, but if I forgot someone please accept my apologies.