Week 52- Sunday 5th- Sunday 12th March

Burra, SA

Star Rating:★★★☆

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

At Burra we spent the afternoon at the skatepark, it was really fun. After the skate park we went for a walk around town. The next morning we left early. We camped at Little Desert National Park (VIC) that night and went for a couple of short walks.

Roller-skating on the skatepark in Burra.👇

Grampians National Park, VIC

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

 At the Grampians we: 

• Climbed Mt Zero the day we got there, there was a great view from the top. There was also two eagles flying around the top, they came so close that I could see all the colours in their feathers.

• Climbed the Pinnacle the next morning, there was meant to be an amazing view but all we could see was fog. It was really cold and it rained for a bit. When we got back down to the bottom the sky cleared up and Mum said "lets go back up!", the rest of us just shook our heads!!

• Went to a couple more lookouts after lunch.

• Walked up the the top of Mt Staplyton in the morning, on the way we saw Bird Rock and a few rock climbers. After a quick rock scramble, to get to the top, it was nice to sit down and enjoy the view. On the way back down we saw a super cute swamp wallaby, it stay looking at us for ages before quickly hopping away. When we got back we stayed at camp for the rest of the day as we were really sore from the walk.

• Climbed to the top of Hollow Mountain early the next morning to watch the sunrise, it was beautiful. The colours were amazing.

The Grampians was great, we had fun on all the walks and the campground was beautiful. There were kangaroos and blue wrens all throughout it and we had a campfire (with marshmallows) every night!

Sitting next to the fire, doing my macramé.

Photos from the Mt Zero walk:

Climbing up through a slit in the rock.

The view.👇

There was a rock that sort of looked like a turtle!

Photos from the Pinnacle walk:

....I think we will!!

There were lots of interesting rocks.👇

It was raining and freezing when we were at the top!!

The view from the top was amazing but it was really foggy.👇

On the way down the sky cleared up a bit and everything looked really beautiful. 

Photos from the Mt Stapylton walk:

We saw a super bright rosella, it stood out heaps against the rocks.

The view from the bottom.

The view from near the top.

At the top of Mt Stapylton.

Climbing down from the top.

Bird rock.

One of the super cute swamp wallabies we saw.

Photos from the Hollow Mountain walk:   

Watching the sunrise.👇

The sunrise.👇

State park near Ararat, our last camp spot of this part of the trip.

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

We just relaxed around the fire, looking forward to seeing our cousins the next day.

Our camp spot.

Week 51- Sunday 26th February- Sunday 5th March

Quorn, SA

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

On the way the Quorn we stopped at Whyalla where we had breakfast. We also walked out onto the jetty and saw a dolphin. The dolphin was so cute, it was doing heaps of 'tricks' to impress us and get free fish from the fishermen!

In Quorn we set up before going to have a look around the town, first we went to all the historical buildings. There was heaps of amazing architecture on some of the old houses (one of them looked like a castle) and my favourite building was the old train station. That night we went to watch a projection on a silo in the middle of town. All the short movies that were shown were about the local area and they were all made by members of the community.

The next morning we went for a quick walk around the bush foods garden (there was even some Sturt Desert Peas) before moving on to Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges NP.

The super cute dolphin on the Whyalla jetty.👇

The old Quorn train station.

The projection on the silo.

The Sturt Desert Peas in the bush foods garden.

Wilpena Pound, SA

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

At Wilpena Pound we:

• Went for a swim in the pool but as there was lots of bees we didn't stay long!

• Waited till it had cooled off a bit before going on the Boom or Bust walk. Out here the are Boom years, which are years when it rains a lot (and sometimes floods) and makes everything thrive, from the animals to the plants. Bust years are when there is a drought and all the animal and plant populations decline-you certainly have to be tough out here, especially if you are an animal (or plant)!

• Went for another walk early in the morning, it was up to a lookout (Wangarra lookout) and the historic Hills Homestead. Hills Homestead belonged to the Hill family who owned the farm from 1899- 1914. Lots of flooding meant that they had to cut their losses and leave. The homestead was cool to look at but it was tiny!!!!! There wouldn't have been more that 3-4 (small) rooms in it. Afterwards we went to the lookout, there was a great view.

• Walked to see some indigenes rock art (called Arkaroo rock). The shade from the rock the art was under was a welcome relief after a hot and dusty walk. The art itself was amazing.

• Climbed Mt Ohlssen Bagge the morning we left. We started walking at 6:20am and made it to the top by 8:00, it was really cold when we were up the top!! The mountain was 941 meters above sea level so there was an excellent view.    

Wilpena Pound was great!

On the way to Wilpena Pound we stopped at some ruins of an old homestead, they were really cool.👇

There were some really cool trees on the walk to Wangarra lookout, in the second photo you can see Hills Homestead in the background.👇

On the walk there was a really cool old tree trunk that had been half burnt. 

Walking up the rocks to the lookout.

The view from the lookout.👇

Looking at the view.
 

On the walk back from Wangarra lookout we saw an old tree trunk that looked like a pair of giant hands, digging.

On the Arkaroo rock walk we saw lots of wild goats.

There was a really cool rock on the Arkaroo rock walk.

The Arkaroo Indigenous rock art.👇 

Watching the sunset up at the Stokes Hill lookout, it was REALLY windy.

The sunset from the lookout.👇

The sunrise from Mt Ohlssen Bagge.

The view from on top of Mt OB (Ohlssen Bagge).👇

Walking down the mountain.

Flinders Ranges National Park, SA

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

Day One & Day Two: 

On the day we got to the Flinders Ranges NP Jackson and I had fun climbing the mountain /hill in front of our camp. That afternoon we drove up to a couple of lookouts, there was a great view. We didn't do a hike as we had already done one in the morning, before we left Wilpena Pound. On our second day at Flinders Ranges NP we went for a long drive around to some lookouts and we went to a small town called Blinman. At Blinman we went to the pub and got a bowl of chips and a bowl of wedges to share, it was yum. By the time we got back it was 3.00pm, so it was getting a bit shady. Jackson and I climbed the mountain again, this time we climbed it the hard way. That night we walked up the hill to watch the sunset.

We saw two
Euros (Euros are a sort of kangaroo/wallaby native to Flinders Ranges) when we went exploring.

Watching the sunset up on the mountain.👇

Day Three

On our third day we moved to a different campground, when we got there we went on a hike straight away. It started off as just a 4 km round trip before we realised that it was 4 km EACH way. But by the time we made it to the top we realised that the view was worth it. On the way back we decided to kill two birds with one stone and go on another walk that started about 3km off the way along the first track (around 1 km from the lookout that we were just at). The new track was much nicer and there was a lot more shade (though I still felt like I had just been for a dip in a pool full of sweat!) On the way we saw the ruins of a old hut and we also walked through a big, dry gorge. By the time we got back we had run out of water and we were starving-we had ended up walking for 12 km in the hottest part of the day. That afternoon we just chilled back at camp.

Walking up to the lookout.

The big gorge that we walked through on the 12 km hike.

Eating dinner whilst watching the sunset.

The sunrise the next morning.

Day Four

On our last day in the Flinders Ranges we moved to another nice spot, this one had a bit of a swimming hole. As I was sick with a cold, I mostly just sat in the shade and worked on my macramé dreamcatcher. I also watched the amazing yellow footed rock wallabies. The wallabies were incredible-they were small but they could jump up sheer cliff faces up to two metres high!! There was also a wallaby with its (super cute) baby, it was really cool to watch the baby follow its mum, the baby could nearly jump as high as its mum!! Even though I was sick I still went for a swim. That night we watched the sunset. The next morning we got up to watch the sunrise, there were some beautiful colours and the mountains were bright red! After we packed up and when into Hawker where we went to a café that had all different types of bushfood (foods that are native to the area)  treats. We had a bit of morning tea, I got a chocolate and wattle seed tart and it was amazing!!

Jumping into one of the pools.

One of the little pools of water that I swam in.

One of the Yellow footed rock wallabies.

The baby yellow footed rock wallaby.👇

Eating my tart at the café we went to the morning we left, we also shared a Quandong soda.