Easter adventures of the not so famous 5 and Fred the dog....

But before I begin the tale I just couldn't resist starting this blog with this beautiful Red Larry or Crimson Rosella I spotted. It was delicately feasting on this grass seed beside this incredibly sweet scented Alyssum in Deb and Roberts front yard. 

We started the long weekend with no real plans other than Rick wanting to give Dora a good run.  Rick had not yet visited The Big Heath and I'd never seen it this time of year so with Deb and Robert leading the charge and Fred tied firmly to the back of their truck off we went.  It was great fun, once we were safely on the heath Fred was set free to run along side us.  He had a marvelous time racing between the two vehicles then disappearing off into the scrub much to the surprise of many birds and reappearing way down the track.  Leaping, very elegantly, onto the back of the truck when he needed to catch his breath.  

The vegetation had changed, no surprise there as when I visited the last time, about 6 months ago, it was wet and early spring.  Now the Banksias were starting to blossom and their amazing candles of flowers were every where.  The driving was fairly easy this time as all the puddles had dried up and the ruts were easy to spot. 

Rick found a Wedge Tailed Eagle feather for me which must easily be a foot long, it's huge and gives you a good idea on just how big this beautiful raptor can be.  Occasionally along the barbed wire boundary fence emu feathers were caught, these huge birds (I am told) tend to run right over the fences.  By the amount of feathers left behind I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them have a bald under carriage!  The feathers were a surprise to me, I'd always imagined they were going to be super soft but found they have a coarse texture to them.

 
Deb spotted this mound of soil by the old tree stump, Fred very kindly removed the outer soil to reveal a white ants nest.  Hopefully you can make out the tiny rice like dots which are the termites scurrying around rescuing their eggs from this invasion to their privacy.

We followed many of the narrow paths and eventually the scrub opened to this glade.  It felt like we were in the middle of no where the only sound was from various birds calling out to each other.  It was so peaceful.

We found this watering hole made by Cobb & Co.,  Founded in the 1850's they were the original postal service here and used to use it for watering the stage coach horses.
Cobb & Co history will hopefully link to their history page

It was a great day out, and gave us a taste for more exploring over the weekend.... slowly a plan was hatched (Easter theme) to pay a visit to The Big Desert and camp the night there.  A call to the Country Fire Service informed us much of it (along the South Australian/Victoria border) is closed, still recovering from this seasons bush fires.

The Big Desert is a fairly large area, approximately 1130 square km and much of the Victorian side had no bush fires so we packed up all the camping gear.  A small tent for us, three swags, food, billies, water and camp ovens and off we set.  We took our not very detailed maps and Roger (our temperamental GPS) and as we were the only ones with any sort of navigational equipment I was designated navigator.... hmmm, they're a brave lot these Aussies....

First up we had to go through the Little Desert. I had not expected to see so much vegetation in bloom, many tiny native flowers, Yakkas with tall brown spear like spikes with their flowers gone and seeds spent, loads of banksias and Correas (the native fuchsia). Very beautiful.  

There are a few very sandy tracks through the park all undulating, to varying degrees.  They were even signposted, how civilized and something I'd not expected to see in a desert.  Occasionally the sandy loam became heavy with clay and deeply rutted from wet season driving.

Dora loved being put through her paces as much as Rick enjoyed the challenge of four wheel driving.  It was great fun.

We stopped beside the track for lunch in what we thought would be a quite spot and much to our amazement 5 4wd vehicles and a motorbike went past us.  Who'd have though it was going to be busier than the main roads!

Once out of the desert, we zigzagged our way down, along and at times back again, farm tracks and unsealed roads towards the Wyperfeld Nature Reserve and in particular two large lakes.  Lake Hindmarsh and the smaller but deeper Lake Albacutya. More surprises, when we eventually found them and discovered these two lakes famous for fish and yabbies were bone dry.  Not perturbed and mainly because light was fast fading by this time we set up camp by Lake Albacutya.

The campsite was very well organised with camp areas set away from each other and many fire pits on which to cook the tucker.

Deb had made a perfect stew and with a few basic ingredients Pete made a perfect damper.  Damper is basically drovers bread made from flour, salt and water, once mixed the dough is put in a cast iron pot, lid on tight and surrounded by hot coals (in this case very hot wood).  It smelt delicious.  Sadly I need lots of practice to make  an edible gluten and dairy free version.

Fred was worn out with all the adventures but perked up when tucker was ready....

Brilliant fire pit, billies going flat out.

My only previous experience of camping was in the New Forest, many moons ago.  The rules of camping are very similar in both countries but the night sounds are very different but just as beautiful. Fred wasn't impressed with a visiting fox and on being told to be quiet tried very hard (hilariously) to woof in a whisper.

I woke about 6 and headed off towards the Lake and watched a fantastic sunrise.  Noisy Galahs were calling out to each other, way off in the distance I could see a group of 9 Kangaroos very gracefully bouncing away from where I was standing.  Very slowly everything was lit with a golden light and once the sun was up the heat from it was surprising, then slowly it dipped behind a cloud and disappeared.  

By the time I got back to camp the fire was once again revved up and Deb was very kindly cooking brekkie.  It didn't take us long to break camp and set off with the intention of going across the Wyperfeld Desert for more 4 wheel driving.

I never expected to find sign posts in the middle of no where, it could have been very helpful to if I had understood, even roughly where the places where.  No matter a group decision made and we were off towards Chinamans Well (not on the map)......  It turned out to be a fenced off hole in the ground, possibly made by passing chinamen many years ago. At least we were in the Wyperfeld National Park.... but as it turned out not for long....

I had quite an adventure trying to guess where on the map we actually were.  Roger was great giving us the bigger picture but hopeless at showing us anything which was not a 'proper' road.  Pete has a great sense of direction and lots of ideas on the way forward.

It was a great pity that we didn't manage to go across the desert as we had wanted to but with the day drawing in and a desire to use as few proper roads as possible we sort of headed home.  Dora and Rick insisted on going back through the Little Desert and this time we took another track. I think it would be a very hard place to get lost and a great way to test your four wheel drive skills.  It is interesting that as we got closer to the South Australia border the gum trees got taller, it was lovely.

I had never dreamed I'd ever have experience such an exciting Easter and plans are now being made for more four wheel drive exploring.  Top of my list is a swag for me closely followed by proper maps of the areas and a couple of camp ovens.

Exploring

I think The Tantanoola Tiger would make a great title for a song but is infact a local legend, local that is if you live in the Limestone Coast South Australia.  Tantanoola is a quite tiny town somewhere between Millicent and Mount Gambier....as the crow flies. The town is host to the Tantanoola Hotel which has a traditional country pub and a metal Bengal tiger mounted on the roof.

The story goes that in 1884 a Bengal Tiger escaped from a nearby travelling circus.  It was never recaptured but there were many reports of stock going missing local farms.  Some eleven years later a Eurasian Wolf was tracked and shot but the disappearance of livestock continued.  Eventually a local man was charge with stealing livestock and the mystery was solved.  

The town itself has a lovely feel to it, the houses and gardens are well loved.  Sadly the Millicent to Mount Gambier railway line was closed and the link between lots of tiny towns was lost.  But the station and loading shed, here at least, are well preserved and you can almost feel what it was one like.

The population, in 2006, was recorded as 255, though I am not sure what it is now it doesn't look very big.

Tantanoola comes from the Aboriginal word tentunola meaning boxwood/brushwood hill or camp.

We signed up for a Nature Walk offered by South Australia Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources and held at Penambol conservation Park.  
This huge park is looked after by a group of volunteers.  It is heavily forested but has well kept wide unsealed road taking you to the centre where it opens out to native vegetation, a butterfly and a wombat walk.  It is well sign posted making it very easy to do self guided walks here but we were lucky enough to be taken on two short walks by a Butterfly expert and then by a couple of Botanists.

As we gathered for the 'before walk talk' Rick made a sudden dive for the ground.  He'd spotted this little Skink which was heading for the centre of the crowd and in danger of being trodden on.  Taken to safety it then seemed reluctant to leave his hand.

There were plenty of butterflies around even though it is the end of their season.  We're planning to go back between November and April it should be amazing then.

The Botanists talk and walk was fascinating albeit slightly to much information (and latin words) at times.  But they were patient and showed us how to identify some of the trees using the books we have.  This will be very useful and we should be able to put it into practice on the block.

We have had some beautiful evenings at the block and Monday evening was no exception, the moon was almost full and on the rise just as we were treated to a beautiful golden sunset.

All sorts of things.....

Well the last few weeks have been busy with visitors and it seems we have done a lot of things. Harry, had thought he was here for a holiday, has been a good sport and helping us at the block.

Rick had got to the point of fitting the large corrugated iron sheets to the roof of the lean to, luckily H is very tall and was able to pass the sheets up to him. I was busy whizzing around throwing my weight against anything which looked like it was about to take off!  Not a great idea doing this sort of work on a windy day. Without too much faffing around the task was done, and very nice it looks too.

I have planted the winter veg in the new veggie bed and very soon realised I was running out of room to grow everything I had wanted too.  Not sure who is going to be eating all these veg.... think I may have been way too enthusiastic with the amount I am attempting to grow.  Hmmmm....

Meanwhile Deb and Robert had heard of a neighbour clearing out the garden of her 'new' house.  Some real treasures were being thrown away.  Well one mans rubbish can really be anothers treasure... so I've discovered.

Off we went with the large trailer and loaded up my second garden bed.  It will be ideal for strawberries eventually but for now great for shallow rooted winter veg.  

Along with this lovely trough we were also very kindly given half an old concrete laundry sink, the stand, a couple of sleepers and some Mount Gambier stone blocks. Fantastic.... following Debs very helpful advice and my directions the boys (Robert and Rick) hauled everything into place.

A little later H helped me make a garden bench from a pile of the Mt. Gambier stone and one of the sleepers, which I've now scrubbed off so it's perfect to sit on and not get tar on your clothes.

It all looks fantastic...... The other evening after I'd finished filling up the second trough we were treated to a beautiful warm evening.  The Galahs (about 20 of them) had been noisily bathing and drinking in the two cattle troughs and were curiously chatting away to me.  I was sitting on my new garden bench in the warm evening sunlight watching them watching me.  Earlier a couple of Kookaburras were'laughing' top volume to each other, it was perfect.  I think I have got the best allotment in the world I am a very lucky girl.

This amazing bird the largest of the kingfisher family was perched just a few feet away from where I was working.

We've taken Harry to the Naracoorte Caves and learnt even more about just how special this region is.  The caves are a listed world heritage site and are home to a mind blowing amount of ancient fossils, there are so many that even after 30 years the surface has only just been scratched.

I've never felt the need to go caving  in the proper sense of the sport but walking around these caves was incredible.  The guide was great fun and full of very interesting information.

These two fine specimens guard the entrance to where the largest collection of fossils have been found.  I've forgotten just how old these two are but they are pretty ancient and called Sid and Leo.

And an added bonus is the restaurant, delicious simple homemade food and really lovely friendly staff, a great place for lunch.

Bool Lagoon

Early one very misty Sunday morning we set off to check out Bool Lagoon Reserve and Cockatoo Lake, both are local to us.  The lagoon was magical and very still and apart from huge numbers of ducks and black swans being rather startled by our arrival, was so peaceful, Rick, Dora and I the only ones there.  A couple of wedge tailed eagles were nesting in a nearby tree, smaller birds were very wisely keeping out of their sight.  I guess the ducks took comfort and felt reassured by their numbers, there was no where for them to hide.  Very slowly a watery sun started to peep through and the mists began to lift.

We were hoping to spot a pair of dancing Brolgas.  The Bool Lagoon was recommended as one of the best places to find them.  These beautiful tall elegant members of the Crane family are listed as vulnerable in South Australia and are very shy. Their colours make them very difficult to spot with the naked eye (we had forgotten the binoculars).  I didn't realise I'd got a couple of photos of them until I put the photo on the laptop sadly the image is not clear enough for the blog.  But now we know where to look we'll be back again better equipped for Brolga spotting.

 The day had begun to warm up, mists had gone and it was time to move to Cockatoo Lake.  This area seems to be a favourite place for happy campers and fishermen.  It was a much nosier area with people occasionally whizzing around in motorboats.  Luckily we were able to move away to the easy access areas (the joys of having Dora) and parked up in a beautiful spot.

I spotted three Brolgas which didn't settle long enough for me to get a good photo.

 
It was nonetheless a beautiful place to stop and just be...... so peaceful infact one of us just drifted off to the land of nod.

Happiness is resting in your Landy........

To finish off the South Australian Masters where held here in Naracoorte at the weekend.  To take part you had to be over 35, hardly old.  Many hardy (and in my mind brave) souls headed off to the swimming lake, netball, basketball courts and the many other sporting areas of the town.

We headed off the local footy pitch and so my education in Aussie Rules Football began......

Deb and Ricks cousin (Graham) used to play for South Australia and of course we needed to go along and support him... slight conflict of interests as he was playing for Western Borders not Naracoorte.... no matter.

I soon learnt the they don't play on a pitch it's called an Oval.  Based on Gaelic Fottie it is an incredibly fast contact sport which is not for the faint-hearted.  When they catch the rugby ball shaped ball without being tackled it's not called a catch it's called a mark (of course).  Opposite ends of the pitch... oops sorry Oval, there are four posts. Single points are scored by the ball being kicked through the outer posts and goals are scored (6 points a time) by kicking the ball through the inner posts.

Confusingly (for me) during play it's not just the players on the Oval, there are also water-boys for each team, trainers, doctors.... infact to me at times it seemed like everyone bar the supporters.

It was great fun to watch and I wouldn't mind seeing a full length game, a very pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon.  Medals were duly handed out by our Mayor and our team won gold and I think deserved to do so.

Lucindale Field day, Harry and his dog!

Having only visited UK agricultural shows in the past I was very interested to go to my first rural Aussie one.  The Lucindale Field Days are packed full of lots of things agricultural and rural crafts.  No animals on show as there are in the UK but the Yard Dog Championships were being held. There were also a couple of sideshows, a pair of hilarious daredevil lumberjacks clowning around and lots of local craftsman (and women) selling their creations, from quilts, gorgeous alpaca jumpers and wines to handmade glass beads.  Deb and I had planned what we wanted to see ahead of the day and luckily they were the same things.  Top on our list were the Yard Dog Championships so we set off early determined to get good seats.

These dogs are amazing, to start with the breed is unique to Australia but seems to have its origins from a Scottish black and tan Border Collie.  They are very slight in build, agile and incredibly intelligent and the way they drive the sheep is unique to.  When the sheep are in a confined space and need encouraging forward these little dogs run along the sheeps backs, once they're moving the dog jumps down and runs back to the back of the line under the sheep.  It is amazing to see.  The best ones needed very few commands from their boss.

It was a full on day, lots of walking and sampling of local foods (very tough but somebody had to do it), gathering of bargains all accompanied by much laughter and fun.  A very different show to what I had been to before and a really good experience, far too much to see in just one day.

We've also had our next visitor from the UK, our mate Harry has been visiting and causing much mirth in the town with his imaginary dog.  

Harry and his imaginary dog!

It was great fun to see just how many people joined in with the many adventures of this dog.

Showing H around this part of the world we kept spotting wildlife, Rick rescued this little turtle from the middle of a busy road and stopped to help him across.

And then we spotted this dear old boy just sitting in a field, he was a wee bit moth eaten and woolly and we were unsure to start with if he was a wallaby or kangaroo.  The puzzle was soon solved when I got out the car to get a better photo.... he bounced off into the bush with a much greater stride and tail than any wallaby could muster.

And back at the block I had an audience of Galahs chattering in a nearby tree and sounding like they were offering me advice on planting up the veggie bed.  They soon got bored and went off for a drink at the cattle trough.