One of the main reasons I wanted to come back to Spear Creek this year arrived bright and early on Friday morning.
4WD day.
Well, eventually anyway.
First, there was the small matter of me waking up ridiculously early for absolutely no good reason. Somewhere along the journey from young bloke to ageing camper, my body decided that sleeping past 7am was no longer an option. Apparently aching knees, a sore back and random noises coming from various joints are now my built-in alarm clock.
While the rest of camp remained completely unconscious, I sat outside with my first coffee of the morning.
Then my second.
Because let's be honest, one coffee simply isn't enough to make me pleasant before sunrise.
With the caffeine levels finally reaching acceptable operating levels, I grabbed Tully and headed up a nearby hill. The plan was simple — watch the sunrise, stretch the legs, and introduce Tully to some of the local residents.
The sheep seemed relatively unimpressed by the introduction.
Tully, however, was convinced she had discovered an entire paddock of new friends.
As the sun crept over the surrounding ranges, it lit up the mountains we would soon be exploring. The morning air was crisp, the skies were brilliantly clear, and for a few minutes everything was perfectly peaceful.
Then everyone else woke up and started making noise.
Before long we were loading into the vehicles and heading off to tackle the property's two 4WD tracks.
The first option is the Southern Scenic Track, which is described as the easier route.
The second is the Northern Track, which helpfully includes sections where a spotter is recommended.
As someone who enjoys driving rough tracks, these descriptions translated loosely to:
Track 1: Fun.
Track 2: More Fun.
What neither description mentioned was the impact these tracks were going to have on the passenger sitting behind me.
Let's just say that Tracy wasn't entirely convinced that some of the inclines, descents and off-camber sections were designed by sane individuals.
Several moments throughout the day were accompanied by the traditional sounds of white knuckles gripping door handles and the occasional high-pitched reminder that gravity is not always your friend.
Oddly enough, I found the entire experience very relaxing.
Whenever we reached another ridgeline or lookout, all concerns about steep climbs and rocky tracks disappeared instantly.
The views were simply ridiculous.
From our vantage points we could see across to Port Broughton, Port Augusta and what felt like half of South Australia beyond. Behind us sat the Southern Flinders Ranges and Mount Remarkable National Park, standing proudly under some of the clearest winter skies imaginable.
The weather couldn't have been more perfect if someone had ordered it specifically for us. Bright blue skies, sunshine, absolutely no wind and temperatures that made being outdoors a genuine pleasure.
It's one of those places where every lookout convinces you that you've just seen the best view of the day.
Then you drive another couple of kilometres and discover an even better one.
Photos were taken in abundance, but as usual they'll only do a spectacular job of showing about 10% of what it actually looked like.
By the time we rolled back into camp, the vehicles were dustier, Tracy's nerves were back to normal levels, and I was already convinced that coming back to Spear Creek had been a very good decision.
Now all that remained was to resume the other important camping activities.
Namely sitting around with friends, discussing the day's adventures, and making sure the wine consumption didn't become dangerously high (That’s what the Bourbon and Gin is for).
