Well, we got a full and proper mountain for the last day - Mt Maria - not too big, not too small, just right. Once again we have a different character altogether. We walked through a graveyard, then had to be careful of the balls on/off the golf course. I was wondering whether Maria wanted some privacy with all this happening. However she still had all her wares on display. She decked the base with [...]

It said: “only experienced bushwalkers beyond this point” - this was after we had walked 700 metres through this delightful gorge. It had a feeling about it and where Corrie would say: “I think this is too hard”, did not say that. Instead she lifted her leg higher than she normally would to climb over a boulder; she’d crawl through crevices and slide on her bum; walk on sharp sloped rock platforms; and take calculated [...]

Now the gorge has become a mountain. We had to climb down it first to Blue Gum Flat to then join the Kingfisher Trail which took us nearly out to Hidden Camp. We followed a fire trail for a some distance, calling in to Kingfisher Flat for lunch where the animals talk to you. Their printed signs say things like "You eat your food and we'll eat ours", and "If you wash your clothes in [...]

You may not believe me if I tell you we were back at Alligator Gorge today but a new location and this is where all the action is. Trails go everywhere here - Hidden Gorge; Alligator Gorge which includes my Day 27 heading; The Blue Gum Trail; Lookouts for them all; and some smaller trails. There was little climbing in the gorge so at the end of the day (the real end!) I paid a [...]

We went to Hidden Gorge yesterday, expecting of course, a gorge, (but it was hours away and the evening was upon us), and we got a mountain - wahoo! Today we went to Alligator Gorge, expecting a mountain and a gorge and we got yesterday’s gorge, we think. The gorge we saw today was mostly hidden so maybe we’ve seen the hidden one after all. So tomorrow we are going to another entry point for [...]

We’re back down in the Southern Flinders Ranges (parked at Port Augusta because it is closest to these mountains) where we planned to be because we’re on our way home. There are mountains here we were keeping up our sleeve in case we ran out, and so we are calling on them to complete our 30. Today it was the Hidden Gorge Mountain, (my name for it because I couldn’t find its name). There are [...]

I found a mountain!!! And it’s a beauty. Eight kilometres away across a flat expanse of red earth lies Mount Jarvis. As I walked towards it I could see the rocks on the side and near the top, glisten. There had been some rain and I was putting my poncho on as I noticed it. There was a saddle  and the mountain on the other side of it also glistened. Corrie had other things to [...]

Some days ago I got lost because I missed a sign. Below is my third attempt to get it right. I tried the newly opened walk at Leigh Creek this morning because I think I now have a clear idea on where the path goes. The sun was just beginning to shed light at the far end of the earth struggling to be seen behind the white grey mass of clouds. It seemed that yesterday [...]

As I explained earlier, my experience here in SA is that there have been two types of gorges - a long gorge that you admire on a ‘journey’ through it; and a gorge that you arrive at and then admire, that I call a ‘destination’ gorge. This was a ‘journey’ gorge that we travelled along for over six kms. A dry, ‘two semi trailer wide’ at times rocky creek bed narrowing to a car width [...]

We’ve come back down to earth after leaving the relatively pristine environs of Wilpena Pound. As soon as we hit the long, dry, flat plains of what I hear some people call, the real Australia, it seems like another country. As you go further north it becomes dryer, the towns become smaller and the deserts loom large. There are mountains but there is little or no accommodation, so we would have to travel too far [...]