4x2'ing in the Outback

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The trap line did not produce any items for the breakfast menu, but the peanut butter was gone.  After resetting the traps, we headed out for a loop around Flinders Ranges.  The drive down Bunyeroo Gorge was beautiful, and with any rain at all, only 4WD accessible.  With some initial fears expressed from the back seat, we managed to 4 X 2 through some small water flows in the river bed, and lots of rough roading.  The 30 km trek took about two hours, but was splendid.  We saw several groups of emus, and of course lots of kangaroos, including some big reds.  We had a lunch at Blinman and then back to the ranch.  Trap line again absent of peanut butter without any results.  Now we get serious and put out the sticky traps with a dab of peanut butter in the middle.  Within an hour we are rewarded and our mouse issue is hopefully solved.  At least the little guy got a couple of good last meals.

Looks pretty easy...

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Headed to Willow Springs Sheep Station this morning, as we were told they were shearing sheep until noon.  Our drive saw a few kangaroos, lots of dead kangaroos, and a few emus.  Our arrival at the sheep station saw four shearers going full out.  The top shearer does 200 sheep per day, the others do 150 per day.  One of the shearers, Norman, had been in Canada last year and was wearing the toque as proof.  He got us into the pen and gave us a quick lesson on how to drag a sheep onto the floor.  His experience made it look very easy, my technique was not quite so smooth, relying on more brute force.  Sheep do not like brute force and Nate got kicked... a sacrifice I was willing to make for the experience. Those nice woolly sheep are not that fluffy, and my hands and legs were scratched up from all the debris caught up in their wool.  There are other workers who are responsible for sorting the wool and packing it, and for keeping the floor tidy.  A bundle of wool weights 200 kg and sells for between 2 and 3 thousand.  Some bundles of specialized wool sold for 2.5 million, but not here.  Willow Springs shears their sheep every 8 months, and they specialize in high grade short wool.  A true farm operation.  Once the sheep were out from being shorn, they were sprayed with a delicing agent and sent back to the paddock.  The Kelpie dogs were in full form herding the sheep.  They are an Australian breed that need to be trained to not overherd. 

After a quick lunch of tasty treats that the shearers had not consumed in their last meal at the station, we went on a scenic walk.  After taking a wrong turn and climbing the wrong hill, we got straightened out and found our scenic outlook.  Our walk went past many kangaroos and wallabies who kept their distance.  Soon the boys were not fearful of personal injury due to a kangaroo attack they had witnessed on some documentary last year.  As King Julian would say, bunch of giant pansies!

After our walk we went for a short drive.  In the morning we saw many dead kangaroos, but not many live ones.  In the evening the reason for the large number of dead kangaroos became apparent as there were hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies everywhere along the road.  There really is a plague of the vermin.  We decided the kangaroos we were so desperate to see a couple of weeks ago are going the way of the African elephant… Oh look, another one!  The final wildlife of the night was the mouse that ran under the fridge after dinner.  The trap line has been set.

Vermin, but they are cute.

Flinders Ranges

Heading to the Outback

Classic Australia Pub in Georgetown

Monday, May 8, 2017

Departed our house in Adalaide for Quorn in the Flinder’s Ranges.  We took the scenic route that had us pass  through classic heritage towns in the wine regions, followed by large expanses of farm land comparable to driving across western Saskatchewan, except for a road that has more than one bend.  One kangaroo came bounding out onto the road in front of a semi, managed to do a 180 and avoid the semi, and then leaped straight into another kangaroo that was jumping onto the roadway, in effect saving him from getting hit by the semi.  Fortunately we were still in an 80 zone, so managed to stop without any incident to us or the Kangaroos.  No more close calls for us or the kangaroos, but based on the number of carcasses on the road, this in not always the case.  Spent the night at Hawker.

Welcome to the Outback.

We could have driven?

Great roots by the Adelaide Zoo.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Drove to Port Adelaide for a look and some lunch.  Then went and had a view of the new Australian war ships that are being assembled.  The Sidney, Melbourne, and Holbart are all from a few months to a couple of years from being lunched.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Climbed Mount Lofty today with Chris, Karen, Ashlee and Christy.  A great climb, and at the top is a parking lot.  The boys were  

On top of Mount Lofty.

suddenly not pleased that we had not drived.  Too bad.  The climb up was hard on the lungs, but the climb down was hard on the knees.  The top of Mount Lofty gives a beautiful view of Adelaide.  After we gave our farewell to Karen and Chris who headed back to Naracoorte.

Off to Adelaide

We leave Naracoorte and head for Adelaide.  A pleasant drive, but just before Adelaide is some Silo Art.  We were told there are many of these great art pieces across New South Wales. 

While in Adelaide, we take a walk through one of the parks close to where we are staying.  The bird life in Australia is amazing, with lots of colour.

No need for privacy laws

On Thursday we received an email of the document we require to present for entry into Vietnam.  When we had the document printed out, we noticed other people's names on our document.  As far as we can determine, everyone who applied for a visa on a given day get the same letter, with everyone's information.  So we now know when several people we have never met our entering Vietnam, their full legal names, their nationalities, and their birthdates... and they all know our information. 

A Great Week in Naracoorte

The boys do not want to leave, and to be honest, neither do we.  Karen and Chris have been wonderful hosts.  Cindy and Luke have been running the four mile loop, and having encounters with grey kangaroos hopping in front of them, which can be intimidating as they do get close to 6 feet tall.

Monday was a rainy day, but we had booked this day to do some research and figure out visa requirements.  Levi took the opportunity to try out his boomerang that he has carried with him from Canada.  The boomerang did not come back to Levi, but Chris was able to get it to return.  The boomerang will be remaining in its rightful home of Australia as it has become lodged about 10 m high in a gum tree. 

Tuesday had us drive to Robe on the Southern Ocean coast.  The big thrill was to drive on the beach.  This thrill took a bad turn when we got stuck on the beach.. and the tide was coming in.  The boys were able to push us out of our predicament, but were not impressed when they then had to walk back to the vehicle because I did not want to stop and risk getting stuck again.  Better to lose the kids than the vehicle.   Avis can be nasty.

Wednesday we travelled to Penola and check out the vineyard where Ashlee works.  We were able to see several different vineyards, the historic Coonawarra train stop, and see the harvester in progress.

On Thursday the boys got to attend a footy practice with the local 14 and under team.  The boys interactions with their Aussi peers was lots of fun.  One of the kids asked Levi where he went to school.  His mate cut him off, stating that is a stupid question because he wouldn't know where it was anyways.  The game of Aussi Rules Football is like a continuous game of control the fumbled ball and kick it away.