It’s the highest Mountain in the Flinders Ranges but walkers can only walk to Tanderra Saddle just below the summit. We acknowledge that the peak of this mountain is sacred and local elders would be pleased if we respected that request. So it was with a little relief that we couldn’t travel to the top - relief from the rain, the slippery rocks and the howling wind were making the climb very dangerous. We [...]
We were supposed to go on a walk that meant driving to the start. It had rained all night so we put off a major walk to St Marys Summit because we were advised of ‘wet’ danger. But when I mentioned this to the ranger, he said that if I messed up his road he would have to fine me. So I agreed with him and went back to tell Corrie the bad news. She [...]
We’re in Wilpena Pound, the heart of the Flinders Ranges, and once again my booking.com genius has done it again - last minute vacancies. A cosy quiet little collection of huts - similar to motel rooms with a fancy part and a more basic part. The fancy part is resort-like with all the trimmings, while we go to the IGA. But it works. We just leave our room, walk to a space 100 metres away [...]
I finished my early walk and arrived at the coffee shop at five to eight first in line, or so I thought. There were two doors, damn it!. The door opened, but it wasn’t my door. So sadly I shuffled away. Then this older man at the ‘open’ door said to me “you were first”, I wanted to hug him. Corrie was there by now at the ‘open ordering only door’. After taking Corrie’s order, [...]
It seemed the longest mountain we had climbed to date and a popular one. Lots of mostly older couples with a few young ones. Adelaidians are so friendly, we have to show some urgency because our time is often short. Yet another totally different environment surrounded us. With wildlife we only saw two kangaroos but with trees and plants, they were many. Large River Red Gums as usual dominate the creek beds an environment that [...]
An Aboriginal man spilt his beer as he tripped on the curb close to me, and I thought I was the one supposed to do that. “Ow are you goin?” he said. “Terrific”, I said. And why is you triffic?” “Cause I’ve just walked around your whole town tonight, and I like to walk and see new things. “That’s great old fella”, he said, looking me straight in the eyes. It was nearly dark and [...]
There’s been a lot of rain about in the last week, mostly at night time, which for us has been a stroke of luck. But here in Quorn it is not when it rains that matters so much, but whether or not they get decent drinking water…and for some reason, that is not happening. We use tap water for drinking, but it is nearly undrinkable. It is my only complaint but obviously I have strong [...]
My polar walks still continue as do my town circuits. Besides the superb disused railway station, the post office, and an old glorious pub, I also walked past a church - the Uniting. These days people there pray about a tasty calamari, for it is now Spirou’s Seafood and Salad Bar. The owners were criticised earlier on for desecrating this church until they discovered that Spirou had saved it from being demolished - now they [...]
The polar air mass was the reason my fingers and ears were hurting so much on my morning walk. South Australia as a whole was getting these massive cold winds and rumour had it that we would get snow on Mount Remarkable, but we didn’t. Did I tell you I don’t like edges as much as corners because you can always see where you could end up if you slip off an edge, whereas a [...]
This was classed as a hard walk but the hardest thing was finding it. We had many helpers: the GPS woman (very kind and polite); shop owners (polite but ‘what about asking the tourist office’); people on the zebra crossing “maaaate, what are you doing; people in parked cars - thought I was booking them - that’s prior to meds; forcing a car off the road - (nah, but thought about it) and [...]
