We love living in South Australia; Sure it's not as glamorous as some the Eastern States of Australia but neither is it as busy, populated or as costly to live in. I call Adelaide the twenty-minute city meaning everything we need is pretty-much with a twenty minute drive. It's a nice place to live.
It's not the city that we love though, it's the wide open spaces, the remote parts of the State.
With the June long weekend coming up Faith and I are starting to think about a camping trip. We have the ability to make the trip a longer one this year and have begun to think about possible locations...Of course, there's not much thought required as the Flinders Ranges is our go-to spot, our happy place.
The Flinders Ranges start around three hours north from the capital city of Adelaide with the Southern Flinders although it's a five and a half hour drive to get to the central region, the best part. These 850,000 year old mountain ranges are spectacular, and if one has a four wheel drive one can reach some pretty amazing spots. Fortunately we do, and we get to camp in some of those spots.
We tend to go to the Flinders Ranges a lot, simply because we like the remoteness. In some of the places we camp we know we'll see no one else for days and we're free to hike around, sit at camp and read or play board games, snooze, play around with cooking on the camp fire and generally just relax without the distractions of mobile phones, city noise and people.
I like to test out my survival skills when out here so am often to be found starting fires with sticks or other methods, working on my navigation skills or simply observing nature, learning what I can, how it sounds as I walk through it, what animals do as I stalk them, and other stuff. I also have a tradition of whittling a sculpture with my knife from a tree branch...None of them are any good though.
We also take a lot of hikes, long ones; Hours on end mostly, which allows me to test out my navigation skills. I use a map and compass a lot although always have a handheld GPS unit with me...I'm good at navigation, but am also good at being prepared, so I have a back up. One is none and two is one after all.
We always like to experiment on the camp fire too ensuring we have a few new things planned to cook as someday these skills may be important to have...You know, we get lost or something. OK, a lot of it has more to do with loving food!
Below you can see a couple of campfire cook ups. One is on my fire-grate and the other a damper (Aussie bread) cooing in my cast iron camp oven directly on the coals. Both have the billy can in for the boil as tea and coffee is essential.
It's amazing how many South Australian's have never been to the Flinders Ranges. I think it's got to do with the fact many people feel a four wheel drive is required. It is of course, to get to the best places, although there's still some truly spectacular spots one can get to with just a two wheel drive vehicle including the amazing Wilpena Pound. There's only one bitumen road though so yo'll have to get off that to see the sights.
For us though, we want to get more remote and see things so many others will probably never see. There's so many ruins from the old days and the further away from people one gets the more wildlife one will see too. There's a lot of ancient rock carvings as well if you know where to look.
I always wonder who lived in places like this and where they got to...What happened to them. This is unforgiving land, bitingly cold at night, incredibly hot and dry in the day time during summer, and yet they carved out a living...For a time at least. The Kanyaka ruins are above, a very extensive gathering of old buildings. Below is some random ruins we found on one of our hikes.
Below you can see the Bunyroo Gorge road. It's dirt and gravel and often suitable for two wheel drive vehicles. If it's wet though 4x4 is required. I guess the complication arises when it starts off dry then rains, which often catches out those with two wheel drive vehicles. It leads to a nice little gorge that almost always has water in it and then on to the large Brachina Gorge area which is a lovely place to camp; We've had some great campsites there, right beside the creek - Never in it though, a downpour a few hundred kilometres away can turn it into a torrent very quickly, and with no warning.
Being so far away from anywhere, hundreds and hundreds of kilometres, means that star-watching is particularly spectacular and at night we let the fire burn low, lay back and watch the show that nature provides. If you haven't done it in a remote place like this you won't know what I mean.
Come the morning, often very cold as it can get down to zero degrees celcius here, it's time to stoke up the fire and get some coffee on. I generally do all the cooking when we camp and I'm always quick to get the eggs and bacon sizzling and the bread toasting over some coals. Of course, I've always got the billy can on the coals to boil also because mornings out here, and in general, need to start with coffee!
There's nothing quite like eating a hot breakfast in the Australian outback, and in any remote place really, especially one that's cooked on the fire by me! I'm really very good at it.
Sitting back, food on a plate on my lap, kookaburras calling away in the gum trees, the warmth of the fire on my face and body, the crackle of the flames chewing through the wood and the aroma of coffee really do make for great times!
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We have a few spots targeted for our trip although it's going to depend on the weather as some are better than others if it looks like it may be inclement. Either way though we'll go as we're pretty well set up for any weather conditions.
We tow our off-road camper trailer which has every comfort we need including fridge, 140L of running water, 130aH of power, a full stainless steel kitchen, queen sized bed, sturdy 16oz canvas and loads more. It's a home away from home really. I've written about it before.
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You can see Faith sitting in front of the packed up camper on one of our trips. This was right before we started setting up; I know this because the truck isn't dirty and she has her work gloves on. If it was when we were leaving the truck would be dirtier.
Faith and I like solitude...We don't feel the need to surround ourselves with people all the time and our trips out here are such a valuable time for us. We connect, with each other and nature, and find peace. It's really such an amazing time but probably something many wouldn't enjoy I guess; The remoteness can deter some, make them feel uncomfortable and rightly so as it can be a harsh and unforgiving place for the ill-prepared.
So, we're planning our escape and can't wait for that moment we hit the start button on the truck and hit that gas heading due north.
Thanks for reading.
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Be well
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