Burra to Wandallah

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Six years I have been walking the trail and I am not half way to the end yet, still as I get further away from Adelaide logistics get more difficult. Today we completed a section of the trail heading north out of Burra, a town we have come to know so well and love having used it as a base a number of times in recent years. Ruth and I left home at 6 am driving around two 2 hours, placing a vehicle at each end of the trail we would traverse that day. The sixteen kilometre walk from the Wandallah Homestead in to historical town of Burra was tough due to the unexpectedly hot weather and the many hill climbs that we would have to complete that day.



Initially we headed south a long a dirt track for several kilometres before turning west and commencing the first steep climb up a hillside, in the conditions we began to sweat immediately which drew swarms of flies, on the way up the summit we encountered kangaroos and a number of bearded Dragons and Blue Tongue lizards. Finally after a hot slog we submitted the first hill and were greeted by a strong cooling breeze and a number of large Wedge Tail Eagles floating on the thermals. The trail then descended down into a valley between the hill we had just climbed and another which we would climb next, as we made our way down the breeze disappeared and the heat and flies descended again. On the summit of the third such hill we sat and ate a muesli bar and banana while admiring the eagles until they winged away across neighbouring hill tops. We scaled and descended another two or three more of these hills before finally descending into a cattle farm which we crossed emerging on to a dirt road.



Here we turned to the south east and on cresting one last rise could see Burra's grain silos in the distance. The trail flattened out here and we covered the last five or six kilometres quite quickly passing the historical sites such as the Redrouth Gaol, the Old Police Station and various other old buildings before crossing the Burra Creek and following the towns main road to the car. We had by this time run out of water so we headed to the Royal Exchange Hotel for lunch and a few cold drinks before driving back to the Wandallah Homestead to pick up the other car. On the trip back to Adelaide we stopped briefly in the little town of Eudunda to buy some cold drinks.



Today's walk was recently tough given the conditions but we enjoyed it none the less. It will likely be April before we head north again hopefully we can stay for two of three days and knock multiple leg next time.

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