Waking up on Tuesday morning to the continuing sound of light rain is good for the land, not so good for those in swags. However it turned out only 1 discovered their swag is not waterproof, with everyone else still snoring away whilst I made my first coffee for the morning.
We had predicted this wet weather, so we set off to nearby Quorn where the famous coal powered steam tourist train Pichi Richi Railway was scheduled to run for its short 2 hour trip through the Flinders Ranges. We have all known about this for ever, but none of us had been on it before. Whilst it could be described as "just another train", it was an amazing experience to learn about the history of the train and to see some amazing scenery roll by
The end of the "downhill" leg saw us stopping at the historic town and station Woolshed Flat which was run by voulunteers specifically to serve passengers a nice array of coffee, scones with jam and cream - not that anyone in our group complained about the scones being cold, but fair to say the preference would have been for them to be warm.
We then had the return leg back to Quorn with the other side of the ranges to view, then decided what better way to top it off than visit the local Gin Distillery for a quick drink or two. This is a fairly new establishment and doesnt yet serve any food or platters, however we had learnt already that we could actually take our own stuff in, and so we did!
Whilst the rain had almost cleared up by now, it was time to head back to camp, get the fire going and start prepping the Camp Oven for yet anither spectacular WheresBarryNow dinner. Tonight was a pulled chicken with cream of chicken, carrots, onion, too much garlic and a spattering of other deliciousness. Yum.
The rain finally stopped and we enjoyed the rest of the night with small talk around the fire, a few drinks and more smoke penetrating our already stinky clothes.
As is the usual case (for me anyway) I was well and truly ready for bed by 9pm - probably due to too much to eat and too much to drink, but hey - we are camping.
Wednesday weather was beautiful. Blue skys, crisp morning weather and perfect environment for waking up early and sipping hot coffee whilst watching the local wildlife wake up.
Today we decided to go for a drive up through the local 34km Bridle Track that crosses the Ranges from Melrose to Port Germein (or close enough). Turns out that with a young 16 year old L Plater in the car, I no longer get to enjoy the fun of driving off road 😒
However, this is classed as a novice track and it turned out to be a fun drive where I actually got to enjoy the scenery a whole lot more than I normally do when driving - and she did an awesome job even with intentionally driving through every mud puddle trying to get bogged. Some of the views over the mountains and down through the valleys to the ocean were simply spectacular - no photos can show just how amazing this is.
Turns out that without adding any yeast to the bread flour, we (ok - when I say we I obviously mean my darling wife) may have just tried cooking some of the rocks surrounding the fire - it was about the same consistency and not anywhere as near as nice as it looked.
Some of the group left camp today to go home early, with the last of them leaving tomorrow, meaning we are on our own for the day - which is absolutely fine by me.... I am intending on tackling the parks own 4WD tracks of which they have two of. Looking forward to that
So far - the experience of exploring Spear Creek Holiday park and its surrounds has been amazing and is highly recommended for those that like to get out and about
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