Planalto Cycles

D’n’M continued their series of early wake-ups

and the other M’s joined one after the other, so we left at 6:20 and started a 4 hours hike on the Grand High Tops Circuit. On top, there are some iconic rocks like the bread-knife peak, and you get a great view in all directions. We found a place without wind to have a snack before going down.

Then the last long drive of this trip started with a stop at the Wollomombi falls. They were dry and the outlook was closed because of construction work. We went on to the campsite of the day in the New England National Park. First it slowly became greener, and the more we went up the more it became wet and cooler. We managed to set up the tent in a dry place in the Thungutti camping area before it became dark

and dinner was both in the dark and cold but still, we enjoyed sitting around a bit. The only problem was the gas bottle that became empty during cooking, but it was near to be finished and for hungry people it was delicious. We prepared for a cool and hopefully not wet night!

more driving, less photos (and only from me, not Doron’s)

D’n’M woke up at 5 and started to prepare for leaving and at 6, M&M also started to get ready, so we could leave for the next long drive at 6:30.

Outside the town you could see the victims of the night’s massacre on the road: every few 100m a dead Kangaroo, for sure more than hundred on a 15min drive. In a car, you must nearly stop when you see a Kangaroo near the street because you never can tell what it will do and more than once it jumped in front of our car when it wanted to flee. And this was at daytime, when they are less busy, and you can see them better. But at night they are more active, and the big trucks don’t slow down for a Kangaroo.
We had 2 stops on the way to Warumbungles, one with big ants that bit Doron, so that he jumped back in the car.

The camping ground was again quite full because of the Easter weekend but we got a spot in the middle, surrounded by people playing loud music or playing football or burning fires but after sunset it got quiet.

We had another morning walk soon after leaving the camp site, because M&M had got this hint in the evening. It was a hike to a beautifully shaped rock, the Akaroo Rock, with aboriginal paintings, but it was fenced for protection what spoiled the impression a bit.

Then we had a 500km drive to Broken Hill with a stop in Ororoo to use the beautiful toilet and drink a coffee to leave some money in the local economy as appreciation of the WC.

In Broken Hill, we went to an old mine that once had made the town rich. Now it is more a touristic spot but the visitor center was closed when we came. This was a bit surprising, because it was Easter weekend and all the camping grounds full of with tourists and maybe the hotels, too.

Then we made a walk to the “sculptures & living deserts” on the Sundown Hill a little bit outside of the town. In 1993, within a period of 7 weeks, twelve artists from six different countries had formed 2-4m big sculptures.

We had difficulties to enjoy them and the setting sun not so much because of other tourists but of very nasty flies. After the hill we started the walk to the cultural trail but gave up. The flies had won.

Back at the camp site, it was dark and that means that the flies go to sleep and normally the mosquitoes come instead. But it was not that bad this time and we could enjoy the evening.

The morning hike Bunyaroo Gorge started at 6:30 and it was pleasantly fresh. It was again a track with mineralogic and geologic topic and some explanation that was partly comprehensible and some things were hard to understand or hard to see in nature what was meant.

After the hike we went back to the Wilpena camping site to have brunch and wash the clothes before making our second hike, to the Wangara lookout over Wilpena Pound
On the way, we even saw a little pond with a sign thematizing the carbon footprint.

M&M both had headache and Markus used the water for wetting the hat and cooling down the head.

The outlook was great you could see the complete “meteor crater” which is none.

M&M went to a cultural evening program where dances where announced and M’n’D preferred to prepare dinner, because we feared a folkloristic event. But M&M didn’t regret going there because it was only story telling and cultural information and they also had wanted to go with a kind of solidarity aspect.

At night it was surprisingly warm and only late Doron had the logic idea to open the tent except the mosquito net and then it was better. Still we woke up early what was good regarding our plan also to leave earlier for less heat on our first hiking tour of the day.

The wind was very strong, making dismantling the tent a bit challenging.

Today, we crossed the Parachilna Gorge that is famous and important because of the many different layers of stone in a small area. It is interesting to see some formations in red or white or whatever and then learn what scientists can read out of it.

On one way, we had difficulties to find the right track, because the sign was hidden, and we went straight on a path instead of crossing a dry bed of a river.

We tried to find a place with stromalites and on the way talked about another group of Germans that lost their way and died in the desert. “another” group, because 2015, we also had been talking and a bit mocking about Germans dying in the desert, because the left their car after it broke down, went in different direction without enough water and made everything to increase the chance to die. And then Markus said he could show us a photo of “those” alive and D asked “Germans?” and M said, “yes, they look terrible!” and this is an example of the ping pong in our fun conversations…
We found the track but we again didn’t find fossils. “Again”, because there was one site before, with a sign “20m” but we were not the first to wonder, because on the sign you could see question marks and “eh” and so on.

After that, we visited the Aroona ruines, a settlement of a British man who had established a sheep farm in 1851 and even had managed to get rich after selling everything in the right moment and going back.

Soon after, we went to “our” next campsite and decided to stay there the rest of the day. Again, it was not easy with the flies but with the nets on the heads (M’n’D) and in the roof tent (M&M) we could do it.

A highlight in the best sense of the word was the rising of the (nearly?) full moon. First you only could see the shine over the mountain and the direct and strong moonlight in area east of us but soon we also were lightened by a very big moon face that looked different than in Europe. We made the evening short, because we wanted to make a hike in the early morning that we had postponed from the afternoon.

We were surrounded by campers in all modes (caravans, trailers, cars, motorcycles and even cyclists), kangaroos, crows and other birds that were not at all shy and all the time tried to get something to eat.

Markus even saw one in the toilet (and you could see signs asking to close the toilet lid, so the animals wouldn’t drink there). But we managed to eat, disturbed only be those nasty flies.
Our first stops were Aboriginal heritage sites and lookouts over the chains of hills, the first called Sacred Canyon & Adnyamathanha Engravings where you found exactly that, a small canyon and some engravings, supposedly 10ths of thousands of years old.

We went a bit farther, because we were not sure if there is more to see and had a nice walk

At the Hucks Lookout, we got information about a re-vegetation project, “The Red Plain Paddock Restoration Project”, where they make long banks against eroding soil etc. They are still experimenting but have some first positive results. The other outlook (Stokes Hill?) informed about the genesis of the ranges and the Wilpena Pound that looks like a crater but is formed by different layers of stone pushing to and fro.

We went on to the “town” Blinman to get a coffee and pies with Quandong, a local fruit, and I wanted to get an ice cream with that fruit, but it was sold out.

We passed the Parachilna Gorge and thought about doing camping there but first we wanted to compare with the camping site of Parachilna itself, near the Prairie Hotel where we wanted to have a political incorrect dinner, composed of Kangoroo, Camel, Emu and Goat. The campsite was not the most attractive one but finally we decided to stay there instead of going back to the gorge 2x and again 2x back to Parachilna. There, D’n’M had an intensive contact with nasty flies around eyes, noise and ears and with bindies, very stinging fruits or so of a kind of grass, like burdock in the state of war. But we cleaned the ground 2x before laying down two layers of footprint to prevent the tent from tearing.
Then we had a relaxed (apart from the flies) afternoon waiting to get hungry and for the right time for this dinner. M&M baked bread,

D’n’M read about gnocchis and why they sink or rise in the process of boiling whereas noodles behave differently.
We tried to make beautiful photos of the sunset, but it was not easy to hold the camera properly when some flies (did I mention them before?) to enter your head by all possible holes.

At the Prairie Hotel we tasted goat cheese and sausages made of Kangaroo, Camel and Emu. The main course was meat again from those animals. Kangaroo filet tasted best but you cannot really compare because Emu was minced, and Camel was a sausage. This time we got the ice-cream made of Quandong and as alternative Hibiscus, both tasting very nice. And, by the way, M&M bought a drawing, called “Awelye” (~ “women’s business” in
Alyawarr language)

We had more than enough time in the morning because the ferry was at 10:30 and we were only 5min away, but we all woke up early and cleaning up the place and taking breakfast was also fast although we didn’t hurry. So, we had some extra time to hang around and just filled up the 35l water tank.
The idea was to find a workshop for the broken screw in Adelaide, what seems to be harder than thought, because Martina made the first few calls and didn’t find a place. In the time when the car hopefully will be fixed, we wanted to find a laundry and buy food, before going on to Flinders range.

In Yankalilla we could do that and with a healthy car, enough water and food, fresh clothes and a full tank we made a longer road trip to the next area to explore.
It was a 600km drive and M&M took turns in driving.

It got dark and we prepared for Kangaroo encounters, but it was more going on than expected. We had no accident but a difficult situation, because we found a dying Kangaroo on the street. We decided that we must kill it and brave M drove over the head. It was a bad feeling, but still we believe it was right to do it. Only later an additional thought worried us, because we should have pulled the dead body to the side of the street to prevent birds from being killed, too. We know hat to do in case there would be a next time…
We reached the sleeping and silent campsite in Wilpena at 22:30 and only prepared for sleeping, all of us too tired for eating (although D’n’M had just been sitting in the car, not doing much and sometimes even dozing).

We had a nice breakfast on a bench tasting the fresh bread that was satisfying, Doron and I made some pull-ups on the anchor of the sunken “Loch Vennachar” that was presented on the camping site and then we drove back to the Flinders Chase visitor’s center where M&M wanted to get coffee.

Meanwhile Doron pumped back air in the tyres that should be softer for the corrugated roads to be less destructive but now we would go mainly on sealed roads. When we wanted to leave Markus couldn’t because of people taking photos up to a tree and he saw Koalas. So, we joined the photographers with three more cameras.  

We went on to a bay in the North, called Selling beach with a beautiful view

and then to the gin-distillery KI spirits for tasting and buying some Gin. I just smelled them and was surprised about the attractive and mostly sweet aroma.

Instead of gin, I bought an ice-cream and only in the evening ate it when it was very soft but besides that it was to sweet, even for me.
After tasting gin we tasted honey in Clifford’s Honey Farm

and soon arrived in Kingscote, the capital of the Island. We tried to find a place to fix the flat tyre and the broken screw. The tyre could be fixed but for changing the screw Markus will have to find another workshop on mainland because either they had no time, or they could not fix it.
We went for lunch while we waited for the tyre. M&M had a veggie salad and D+M shared a pizza, the only other veggie option in “the best restaurant” of Kingscote. We didn’t take S or M or L, we took P without knowing what it stands for. It was pretty big, and P means “party”. So, it was no problem to be full even when sharing it. To complete our waiting time, we went to a café, again the best of Kingscote and even Doron took an espresso although he most of the time before refused to drink any coffee, because he has very high expectations. He was not disappointed but also not in 7^th heaven of coffee drinking.
We found a camping site in Penneshaw (where the ferry leaves the island) near the penguin centre and wanted to join a tour at 7:30 but it was fully booked, so we got offered a new tour at 8:30.
In the waiting time, I made a kind of interview regarding expectations and imaginations for my 2025 birthday gathering in Uganda. For me, this makes my own picture more and more colourful and gives more directions for planning.
Back at the centre, we all got torches, but only the guide found 2 penguins on our 45min walk.

Still it is something different to walk on the coastline at night trying to spot wild animals or to go in the zoo. The colony is endangered by dogs, cats and seals and not so much by humans themselves. But it happens the penguins go up the coast, cross the streets and even enter houses and this trip of course is dangerous.

No rain at night but still a wet tent and many millipedes around and on the tent was the first thing to notice. The night had not been very dark although the sky was cloudy and so it was hard to tell when it was dawning. But my body sent clear signals that I should get out of the tent and so I saw that it was 6:00. I then enjoyed the quiet morning with some animals awaking, too and made a bit gymnastics to get my back back to order.
Everything was nice, we only wanted to be a bit faster gone this day to reach another sight in time but then we saw that the left front wheel was flat.
Markus found a screw in the tyre and went through all the options we now had. He pumped up the tyre and made checks during driving every 15-20 min but lost no air.
At a campsite, we took a shower and Markus changed the wheel.

So, we went to our first visit, the Kelly Hill Caves. M, M’n’D went first and Markus wanted to check again if the tyre is fixed tightly. When he came, he told us that one of the five screws to fix the tyre was broken. We thought again about our options and decided that we can finish the Kangaroo Island part and Markus will try to fix it in Adelaide before continuing the tour.
The caves are not too big, but the system is still not completely discovered and explored. It is interesting that in every cave I learn something new, in this case it was about how long the rain-water needs to get down those ~10m from the surface: about 5 months what they can see, because 5 months after heavy rainfall, the drops on the stalactites drop faster and that the water is coloured by leaves and so also the stones have different colours.

The next sight were the “Remarkable rocks” that are first of all remarkable for the exposed position on a  flat hill on the end of a peninsula and second because wind and water shaped them dramatically.

We continued to the Admirals Arch where we saw fur seals and the Arch that is slowly eroding until it will break and another Island will be born.

On a dead-end gravel road, we reached our third camping site on West Bay, this time with another car but after greeting the couple we had no contact or encounter.
We made a short walk to the beach that laid there lonely and sandy with beautiful (but cold) water.

M&M made bread on the cooker and our delicious dinner attracted three possums that didn’t fear anything and climbed our chairs and even tried to climb Markus’s leg when he wanted to push one away.

The only moments when we were less disturbed was when they had fights between each other. When we wanted to go to sleep, one possum climbed the roof tent and later tried to bite open the trash bag. But when everything was secured it became silent apart from the waves you could hear from the beach down.

Don’t wonder about better photos sometimes (mainly landscape and animals), they are from Doron 🙂

It had been raining sometimes during the night and I waited for a pause in the morning to get out of the tent. I made a short round and saw the start of the sunrise on the seaside and many kangaroos and regretted to have no camera with me. But maybe many sunrises are more beautiful when you see them live than on a photo?
We had luck with the rain, we could pack the tent and have breakfast without getting too wet and left for our first visit, a light tower in Cape Willoughby Conservation Park, built in 1852 and by that the first in South Australia.

By the way, we had some fun by comparing our different “rules” and do’s & don’ts regarding all the small things you can do in this or that way, like washing the dishes with the least possible amount of water for a maximum result in cleanliness. And of course it is a good occasion to compare childhood memories and talk about things and experiences of times long ago, because also Doron and I have enough stuff to talk about since he was my child and I was his father (of course in a way we still are and I don’t have a better definition for our relationship then father-son but these words include something “hierarchic” that I cannot feel)

At the light-station, we had a guided tour and got some historical and technical information packed in a funny story.

The sea in this area can be rough, the wind strong and near to the surface are some sandbanks and riffs, so that many ships got shipwrecked.

The story of building and improving the tower was interesting but also that the old equipment nearly had been destroyed in the 70ies, a time when people seemingly thought that only new is good. But in this case just at the right time someone decided to make a museum.

After the guided tour, we made a short walk to the coast including the “devil’s kitchen” where the builders of the light tower had taken the stones for building and transported by themselves as they had no horses or other pack animals.

Then we went on to the seal-bay and took another guided tour among the seals. Most interesting information maybe for most of the visitors was the hard life of the females, because all you can see is how they “lazily” lie on the beach. But their life is dominated by being pregnant, giving birth and being pregnant again only one week later, breast-feeding 3 days on the beach, alternating with 3 days hunting in an area 15km stretched to the south. The males mainly must gain weight to be the strongest one and to have sex, but these competitions are so exhausting that they lose weight and another one becomes fatter for a while until again he is exhausted and so on.

We drove to our second campsite in Cape Gantheaume Cons Park and again were alone. This time we thought this also could be because it was nothing but some designated places for camping and no water, toilet or anything people would like to have.
We, especially Doron and I, were getting faster and better coordinated with the different tasks you have when doing camping: Setting up the tent, arranging a place to sit for dinner, preparing dinner, etc.

This night, I took more clothes because I had been freezing the night before, but this time it nearly was too much, or the night was warmer or I had got more accommodated. The only problem was that my mat lost the air even fast than before and combined with the much harder surface, this night was not that comfortable.