In which The Beast goes for a swim

On Friday afternoon The Beast and I packed ourselves up for a camping long weekend. At 3pm we drove around to Robyne's and waited there for her to finish work. The three of us then travelled from Springton to Williamstown to Gawler to Mallala to Pt Wakefield and up the highway to Crystal Brook where we met up with Nick, Mash and Joshie in the Land Cruiser (Robyne's husband, brother in law, and 2 year old son). Joshie had decided he needed to be in my car with his Mum so after loading him in we were on the road again heading back up the highway to Stirling North caravan park (the town before Pt Augusta).

**** By the way I hope all you tasmanian and less geographically minded south Aussie readers are following this on a map so you know where we are - hence why I am putting in lots of towns *****

We set up camp at dusk and cooked tea in the dark. I had bought a new swag for the expedition and was eager to test it out. The other members of our party arrived after dark. They consisted of two more cars a Land Cruiser Ute and a Land Rover Defender. This made us even with two Cruisers and two Land Rovers (The Beast being a Land Rover Discovery). Astrid and Brower were in the Ute and the Defender had Nick's other brother Biggles and his partner Rachel, her daughter Georgia and another friend Grubby. Please note noone has real names on this trip it took me ages to sort them all out as each has a number of names they get called.

My swag enjoyed its first night and I enjoyed watching the stars from it. The caravan park was nice and it had a large enclosure which housed budgies, cockatiels, peacocks, peahens, peachicks, a red kangaroo, some rabbits, galahs, and wild corellas.

On Saturday morning we packed up, ate breakfast then headed into Port Augusta to go shopping and have breakfast (for those who hadnt brought food and therefore could not have breakfast earlier). We then headed along the highway towards Perth. Just after the turn off to Iron Knob we turned off to Mt Ive. This road was just a typical dirt road with cattle grids every so often.
We arrived at Mt Ive station by mid afternoon and picked a random spot to set up camp. We then let some air out of our tyres and headed off on a short 4 wheel driving track. We made numerous stops to take photos, collect bugs, climb rocks or whatever took our fancy. The main attraction here was some organ pipes none of which were very impressive after you have seen those on Mount Wellington. That night it rained. My swag and I hid in Robyne, Nick and Josh's tent.

By Sunday morning the rain had stopped and we packed up camp and headed off to Lake Gairdner. Lake Gairdner is a large salt lake which (by looking at my map) appears to be as long as Lake Eyre but not as wide. There had been dry land races scheduled for the weekend but the racers were all sad cause the overnight rain had caused there to be about two inches of water on the lake. We didnt mind we had fun walking across the lake in warm shallow water. Being the general white colour of salt and it being an overcast day meant that if you looked out to the north the lake blended into the sky and you could almost imagine falling off the edge of the earth if you went far enough.

After Lake Gairdner we drove along the same dirt road as before to Yardea before turing South towards the Gawler Ranges National Park. This new dirt road was rather wet from the rain and we had to travasse a number of large puddles. Did you know that if you put your foot down on the break as you are going through a puddle The Beast's nose will go down and water splashes over him. The Beast, Tori, Robyne and Josh think this is good fun.

We found an empty campsite within the National park and set up camp. There was an old shed there and I set up the swag in there thinking it would rain again. After setting up camp we went for a drive to see some waterfalls. They were more water cascades as it was a rockface that water went down but it didnt really fall. None the less we all had fun climbing up to the top and then climbing back down.

After dinner that night I decided it wouldnt rain and so moved my swag outside. By 2am it had started raining (well just a light shower) and I woke up and had to pull the canvas over me so I wouldnt get wet. My swag was good and prooved to be shower proof as I was still dry when I reawoke at 6am. I uncovered my self so i could see the stars and found that flying above my head there was a bat catching insects.

Other animals we had seen were Wedgetailed Eagles, Kangaroos (both red and grey), Stumpy lizards, a snake, wild goats, two very hungry ponies (which got to eat all my carrots) and lots of random insects including a cricket which was red dirt coloured and about 7cm long.

Monday morning proved to be the most exciting for The Beast. We went on a drive around the National park on their 4wheel drive track. It was wet and muddy. The Beast did 3 piroettes in the mud and went for a few swims in some puddles. It even got bogged at one point but under directions from Nick and lots of forwards-reverse-forwards-reverse we managed to escape on our own.

We reached the highway at Minnipa at around 12:30pm and saw bitumen for the first time in two days. I have to say that I hadnt missed it. We then started our long journey home along the Eyre Highway to Port Augusta, then onto the Sturt Highway back to the Mallala turn off. And then home at around 8:45pm.

The Beast is absolutly covered in red dirt and mud and I stank of wood smoke but I think we all had a great time and am looking forward to going to Lake Eyre later in the year