We left home 7.30 Friday morning and met up with Deb & Perry, Jenny, Paul K & Shirley at Pt Wakefield 9am. Tony was leading the trip up to Mt Ive due to Chris coming down with a bug. Met up with Andrew & Sarah who travelled down from Moonta and joined our convoy. Fuel stop at Pt Augusta, stopped for lunch at Lincoln Gap. It was a great day for driving and we were all looking forward to going away for a 4 day break instead of just a weekend.
We were to meet Paul & Barb & Katrina and Bruce & Jill at Mt Ive Station, but caught up with them 60ks before the Station as Paul had shredded a tyre on his caravan.
After standing around watching him change the tyre and offering unwanted suggestions, we continued on together to our camp site.There were 3 caravans, 1 camper-trailer and 3 tents. We all grouped together for the evening, which was very mild. Beautiful clear night and lovely yellow full moon, which led to discussions on how to find south, just ask Paul F he’ll be glad to explain with full arm gestures! We discussed tomorrows plans about the 4wd tracks we were to investigate. There were 7 vehicles and the classic for the night was Paul’s maths. "There will be 2 groups, 5 in one and 4 in the other".
Then he was telling us about Lake Gairdner being 100 feet above sea level, when Barb pointed out "I think he means metres" Paul’s response "I’m just learning about them." Lots of laughs too when Andrew tried to put his track suit pants over his head thinking they were his jumper.TONY & I think we shouldn’t have laughed at Paul & Andrew so much as we had huge pay back. During the night I could hear something in the tent. You know how it goes."What’s that noise" "What noise?" "I can hear something either trying to get in the tent or out of it" turned out the torch again and something landed on my feet. Looking, looking. Still nothing. When something ran through my hair that was it. I wasn’t going to sleep til I found it.
At 3.40 am Tony rescued me, caught the MOUSE and disposed of it. Never going to leave the zip on the tent partly open ever, ever again.The amenities were good. Nice hot bore water in the showers. Large recreation room. Lovely people in charge.
Saturday we drove the Mt Scott track. Moderate to challenging 4wd track. Bit over 2 hours. Drove to the top to the cairn. Great scenery along the way. Loved the colours of the rocks and the spinefex and the red earth. Went back to camp for lunch then out again at 3pm for Lake Gairdner to watch the sunset which was to be 6.09. On the way we drove thru the old dog fence on to a rock formation called Kath’s Castle then to an embankment built in 1892 from local stone.
It was beautiful stonework and still held back some water, complete with a kangaroo drinking from the dam.We drove through several large bull dust holes. These were to make driving home after the sunset a bit of a hassle as there was not a breath of wind to blow the dust away. Arrived early enough to walk along the salt lake, which was much larger than I imagined, quite spectacular as it glistened in the sun. We all had nibbles behind the shelter shed in the shade waiting for the sun to set. Unfortunately no cloud formations so it wasn’t the best of sunsets. Still just being there was a privilege. A few other vehicles arrived to watch as well. We set off for camp just after the sun had set. Very low visibility, bit eerie being behind everyone in the dark, headlights shining in the dust cloud.
Back at camp had tea and discussed Sundays track options. Slept really well. No mice came to visit but yay the Easter bunny came. The track taken today was the Billy Can Drive, which was a loop track which took a couple of hours. Moderate track. Very dry salt bush, gnarly trees lots of moss rocks.Stopped for cuppa in creek bed and Paul K noticed a small snake on the bank. It was so small and blended in well with the red earth. We all stood and watched it disappear down a tiny hole and wondered how close we unknowingly are to things that slither in the bush. The trees were a lot taller over this side of the creek and looked healthy enough even though everywhere else was so dry. When we got back Barb cooked hot cross buns for us which was just lovely.
2pm Tony led a trip out to a track called The Flight Path which was named in recognition of many hours of hard work by Graham Flight. There were 4 vehicles on this trip.
Even though we could easily have not gone out again, we were so glad we did as we thought it was the best track on the property and certainly more challenging four wheel driving. The highlight being Peters Pillars. Great organ pipe formations one can get up close to touch and photograph. So take a few minutes to walk the 250m from the carpark to view these wonderful formations. Many more trees in this area, very variable track.When we got back Tony decided to clean his air filter which led to today’s classic from Bruce. "I must have one of them, I’ll have to go and find it."
The rest of the group had the fire going when we got back, which was lovely and our first campfire for the year. We cooked tea, some in camp ovens, had a few drinks, and I discovered you can’t sit on your plastic wine glass. Ooops! We talked a lot about what we had seen and done over the weekend, everyone happily chatting and very relaxed.
GROUPS HIGHLIGHTS:
JILL: I love the way this group pulls together, lots of laughs with you all.
BRUCE: Loved Sunday afternoon’s drive. Some demanding some of it smooth a bit of everything.
PAUL F: It was fun through the bull dust, and the drive out to Lake Gairdner
BARB: I’ve been here before so for me it was wonderful to have the company of you all. I really enjoyed just being with everyone again.
KATRINA: Mouse in Tony & Sandy’s tent & the Lake
JENNY: Organ Pipes and icecream runs.
ANDREW: Sunset at the Lake
SARAH: The vastness of the Lake
PERRY: Company for the weekend and the fact I’m not working.
DEB: Easter Bunny came.
PAUL K: Sunday afternoon’s drive
SHIRLEY: company and socializing
TONY: Peters Pillars and the Organ Pipes
SANDRA: loved seeing the mouse removed from our tent, but loved the first glimpse of the lake and looking at the salt crystals which had formed on the twigs embedded in the lakes edge and the view from the top of the world parking which led to a steep rocky descent.
We all loved this trip and were sorry Chris and Margie were unable to come this time, but listening to the group and seeing how much they all enjoyed themselves I don’t think it would be too hard to get a group together for another trip. It was great to see everyone so relaxed and happy. Thanks everyone for your company and all the lollies you left on the fence post for TC. Big thankyou to Paul F for stepping in to be our trip leader at the last minute.X Sandy & Tony
Disclaimer : please note