Heading out of the Flinders

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The purr of the generator indicated it was morning and time to check out the early sun on the nearby range. Though cool, the night didn’t seem as chilly as some of the previous ones.



The facilities at this site though not lacking were interesting. The toilet block was more akin to an outhouse, a wooden structure with plenty of low and high ventilation. In the ladies if you didn’t sit down quickly the spring loaded door would smack you in the head and hurry the process. The guys must have been outspoken about the lack of room to move as Greg reported an extension of one plank width had been added to the cubicles. We generally don’t use the shower block as we have one on board our van, however we do always check them out. The guy’s was one communal shower room whilst the ladies had 3 cubicles and a washing machine. No stereotyping at this location! The camp kitchen was impressive and the fire pits large but you needed to provide your own wood. Throughout the Flinders people seemed to have plenty of firewood despite the prohibition on collecting it. A chainsaw was part of the essential equipment of a number of campers. Interesting!



Heading west towards Parachilna we passed the goat slope from the night before, but today there was not a goat in sight. Road plant was busy repairing the deep ruts in the clay and gravel road no doubt preparing it for the Spring onslaught of tourists and campers.



As we entered the bitumen Leigh Creek road a confused emu dashed in front of us. The occasional roadside fence sometimes restricted their passage making the possibility of contact more likely. There were still plenty of emus on the stretch of road right down to Hawker.



Just out of Hawker we stopped at a lookout to admire the view, have a coffee but most importantly to identify the yellow flowering bushes that covered the hills and roadside. We were delighted to find these were rock sida, a plant similar to the endangered one we have on our weekender property. Clearly not endangered here!



Set up in the Hawker Big4 caravan Park on the outskirts of town we headed to the Yourambulla Aboriginal rock art caves only to find they were closed to the public. Deliberate damage to each instance of the tribal name on the signage indicated an inter-tribal dispute.



So we headed further south to the Kanyaka Homestead Historical site and Death Rock. If the ruins were anything to go by this would have once upon a time been a very impressive homestead. The woolshed and shearers quarters once employed a lot of shearers for a large number of sheep.



A 1.6km walk took us to the permanent waterhole and Death Rock. Unfortunately no information was available to indicate its significance. A brief snack and then the walk back to the car for the 20km drive back to the van.

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Comments

[Fiona]

The significance - if it falls on you ~ you be dead

[SilverLinings]

Death Rock
Well we suppose that could be true. We didn't get close enough to find out ... obviously. Wonder if someone did, hence the name.