Never has a campsite seem to offer so little but give so much. As mentioned last time, it was a case of site unseen and on arrival late morning, there didn’t seem that much to see. A dry river bed snaked its way along the gorge, dirt tracks ran away from the bank and into the scrub. It was definitely a park and walk affair to locate a campsite and I was soon rewarded with a large flat van site tucked up against a ridge. The only other bonus was a well constructed fire pit, which would come in handy for my camp oven.
It was the middle of the day and the flies were cannibals. I was content to laze around till the cool of the evening. Even then, the Aeroguard got a regular workout till the sun was well behind the cliffs. It was then that the gorge started to weave it’s magic. The magnificent river gums that lined the creek bed, the red ochre of the gorge walls and the incredible stillness of the evening. Enveloped by the cliffs, it was as if you had front row seats in one of nature’s one act plays.
As well as this natural amphitheatre, there were actors who wandered in and out over the course of the next three days, seemingly oblivious to the audience of just a few.
The next morning I woke to a cliff face seemingly on fire. Only then could I appreciate how it dominated so much of the skyline.
I did take a run back to that bakery in Blinman the next day, as it has the only internet for 40klm. For the price of a coffee and a chocolate covered doughnut, I sat there prepping blog entries and catching up with the world for the best part of an hour. I checked out the local hotel with ideas of a Grand Final afternoon at the bar, but they seemed actively disinterested in anything other than the cash cow that was the dining room. A change of plans would see me hopefully at the Prairie Hotel on the other side of the Flinder’s Ranges the next day.
There were some unexpected wildlife visitors that afternoon. The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of…. a goat? Couldn’t see anything from the van door, but a walk around disturbed a small herd lazing in the scrub. As you can see, they didn’t wait around for a group pic and seem to spend most of the time on the crags above the campground. Clearly they don’t party hard as the silence was not further interrupted until the morning
