Wednesday 27 August Arkaroola to Wilpena Pound

Wednesday 27^th August

We decided to head out of Arkaroola and head toward Blinman and Wilpena Pound. Greg wanted to have a look at Chamber’s Gorge on the way and there was a long way to go on a dirt road with questionable condition.

I made sandwiches from our frozen bread and wrapped them up and kept them in the fridge in the van.

We said goodbye to the friends we made at camp and exchanged addresses with the ones from Gladstone who were lovely.

Then we had the worst time ever getting out of a camping spot.  Because the sites were tiered and small, there was nowhere to turn Gibson and because Greg is his fathers son and insisted on making the van straight on the site and close to the hose and power, he neglected to see the difficulty of an enormous rock at the tap which would impede our efforts to get out. Also we could not put our stability bars on and Lady’s bum is sagging with the weight of Mr Gibson without them – we think she will need new springs. So with the hitch almost on the ground and a steep incline up and out to make it dip even further. It made for a disaster.

Amazing rock patterns near Arkaroola

Greg drove and originally he said he was going to reverse – which would have been good except he changed his mind and didn’t tell me and  - well he nearly divorced me as because I was watching him bury the hitch in the path which thankfully was mud because the tap we were plumbed on to had leaked so much, I tried to tell him to mind the rock but he dragged Gibson over along it. It totally wrecked the handle on the front leg by smashing it to pieces. I then got a mouthful of ‘why weren’t you watching’ which I was but don’t have enough eyes to watch every point of destruction which by the way also involved a tree. So Greg told me we were going home there and then. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he wasn’t so bloody anal about putting the van on site square and left it where I parked it in the first place which was a bit crooked but made for an easy exit then we wouldn’t have a problem. He always makes me reverse and drive forward until you could run a protractor on it for square perfection – which I find pointless in an area where you don’t need precision or makes for a tricky maneuver to get out of where you are. Anyway we were not pleased with each other.

I could not believe Greg would just go home like that – so I felt really sad.

That started the day off well.

The long and winding road..

Rocks with various coloured layers

We drove in silence for a while but the beauty of the area we were driving in and the conditions of the roads forced us to converse and soon everything was fine again.

We drove past the mountains and the plains and the road went from good to awful then back to good and terrible constantly and really quickly. It wasn’t long before we turned off on to the road to Blinman and Wilpena and came over the road to Chambers Gorge. It was corrugated and windy and I wondered whether we would get Gibson down there but there was supposed to be a camp ground at the end so persevered. The track wound its way along inside a creek bed and had several washouts, it was 4WD track driving. Because we had no idea what was next, I ended up running with the 2 way to check out whether we would be able to get the van up the road. I  also had the camera so took some good photos on the way. The track eventually ended in a camp ground that swung out of the riverbed and surrounded on one side by a very rocky hill. There was a river crossing – not deep that you could cross to the other side where there were more camp grounds but the track looked too narrow and I suggested unhitching and going solo with Lady and not the van. We took our good advice and parked the van a little way away from a fellow who had just unhitched a Jayco van. We said g’day to each other and he told us that the windows were falling out of his so called off roader van and that he had had to tape them all up so you could not open a window until he could get the van home which was in Perth! He was a lovely fellow.

The statue at the start of the gorge. This was at Wilpena too

Driving on more creek beds

We set off with our cruiser and drove the rest of the track which we found out wasn’t far and we could have towed the van as there was a big van there already. Bum. But not to worry, you could not drive any further the rest was a walking track. I lead the Caz and Greg expedition into the gorge – which is reputed to have some stunning aboriginal art dating back thousands of years. It wound its way up a rock face (Greg hates heights) which went up and up and was very narrow. I could tell he wasn’t having a very nice time of this track. It wasn’t long before we crossed over the dry river to a sign which had some interpretation of the rock carvings and what they meant. Then it was go  find and look time. The gorge was amazing and it’s a shame that the information panel didn’t have the aboriginal story of how it was formed and its dreamtime story and what they used it for.

Luckily there was an alternate route to this boggy section

Gibson's creek crossing- Greg was hoping for more water

We found some rock art and then a bit further up lots of drawings. They were just great. We took photos of what we could find that was original. Some smartarses had come along and carved other things in the rock near the art. Why do some people feel the need to spoil such amazing heritage?

Eventually I lost Greg and wondered where he was. The sad part is he had the car keys. I was dying of thirst and wanted to get back to the car. I called him and there was no reply. Eventually he emerged but not before I though he had found a track that rose above the gorge and had started climbing it to find him. Anyway, we decided that it was time to get going so returned to the car over the scary walking trail and I drove back to the van, hitched, had another chat to Dale the window popping Jayco owner and got on the road. My turn to negotiate the tricky 4WD track back to the main road and Greg decided to see where we were going to stay that night. Wilpena was 120 km away – so we decided to head to there. It was a challenging drive as it was late afternoon.

The view from the car park

These rocks were near the carvings

Lots of rock art on this rock!

The carvings were very deep into the stone. Must have taken them ages

We needed firewood so pulled up in a spot that was no where near a national park and Greg undid the toolbox which houses the chainsaw. I found a suitable log and went for it, Greg stacking the stash as we went. The wood was so hard to cut – real hard red wood and it wasn’t long before I had a good load enough for a couple of nights (depending on when you light the fire) We now had lots of smaller bits gathered from the creek crossing and some logs to keep burning. We also have the big bits that need cutting that Greg has tied behind the spare wheels on the van.

Some of the rock art

Packed up the chainsaw and off we went again – into the sunset.

We arrived at Wilpena on a paved road which meant that because our tyres were so deflated that I could only go 60km/hr at best. We passed some signs depicting various gorges and lookouts on the way that we would have busted to have a look at but it was getting late and we were both tired.

FINDING the actual place to book in here proved more tricky than negotiating the map to find the resort. Normally if you pull up in the day you book in to the information centre but being 6pm they were shut. We drove around looking for a site before again attempting to find the resort reception. The powered sites all had people close together so we decided that the unpowered were way to go as the thought of being close to someone else was awful.

On the road outside of Chambers Gorge and on to Wilpena 

I was driving and Greg booked in – after a round about way of finding the place. I was starving. It was 6pm, I had been driving since about 1.30 and because I was hungry I had eaten my 1.5 sandwiches early. Then we had to wait as 6 men decided to book in ahead of Greg and it took for ever. I was so hungry and getting cranky too. When we set up camp I had yet to cook dinner. Ahhgg another job to do.

In the morning I had decided to make a steamed jam pudding in the shuttle cheff for desserts. All I had to do was reinvent our Moroccan chicken from 2 nights ago into Moroccan chicken pie – as I had puff pastry in the freezer and I have an oven in the van. It was such an easy tea to get I almost impressed and congratulated myself.

 The pudding had a lovely flavor but was a bit soggy as some of the water got into the steamer. Maybe I should have taken the time to read the instructions first. Never mind there was no cream as it was off so it was just as well the pudding was moist enough without it.

We sat by our camp fire for a while and then hit the sack. Pulling up at such a late time puts all the schedule back. Greg was exhausted again. However tomorrow I can go for a run or an explore as there aren’t so many pebbles here and there is a hill right behind us with a track up there – can’t wait to see where that goes!