Day 1 Adelaide to Perth - Flinders Ranges

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After a busy day of admin in Adelaide (i.e. writing our blogs for our avid readers and washing!) we had an early morning pick up for our next tour which will be taking us across to Perth. We met our new tour group as we headed North back through the Clare Valley to the town of Clare where we stopped to get some coffee's and snacks for the journey, then it was on to Wilmington where we stopped in a park for an early lunch break. In the afternoon we drove on to Warren Gorge where we stopped at Dutchmans stern to complete a 8km walk to the top of the mountain. We soon learned there were a few varying walking abilities amongst the group as the journey to the top took a little longer than expected. But it was worth it to see the views from the top of the mountain which looked for miles across the valley. It was a hot afternoon so we took lots of water with us but by the time we reached the top we were still nearly out of water. At the top we were also greted by an ederly man who apparently looks after the trail, alothough he vanished without trace whilst we were admiring the scenery. After a few photos at the top we started the journey back down the mountain. There were a few break-away groups from the large tour group on the way down as each went at their own pace and we were one of them. The journey back down took half the time of the climb to the top but we were still ready for a cold beer when we got to the bus. Luckily camp was only a 10 minute drive away.On the drive into camp we were lucky to spot a couple of yellow footed rock wallabies on the cliffs of the surrounding Flinders Ranges. Apparently they are an endangered species although the breeding programme seemed to be in full swing as the couple of wallabies that we saw seemed very 'friendly' with each other. The camp site was empty when we arrived so our tour guide picked out his favourite spot to set up camp as the group wandered the campsite looking for more wildlife and enjoyed a few cold beers and ciders. The tour guide, Simon, showed us how to use our swags and we were then free to pick any spot on the campsite to set up our beds for the night. We chose a spot on it's own which wasn't covered by trees so that we could get a good view of the night sky. Dinner was kangaroo burritos which were tasty, although cooked on a camp stove rather than the campfire. After dinner we sat around the campfire chatting with our new tour group and star gazing - Wills new star gazing app came in very handy as we spotted Mars, Venus, ???, the milky way and the Libra star sign. We were all shattered by 10.30pm so it was an early night as climbed into our swags for some more star gazing.

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