Flinders Ranges Wrap-up

I bet you weren't expecting to hear from me this soon after the last post took three months to generate - two issues in three days and it's not over yet!

Our 10 day trip was great!  The better than usual rainfall in the months before we arrived had made things unusually green and lush for this part of the world.  The wild flowers were blooming, the magpies, cockatoos and parrots were noisily going about their spring business in and around our camp site and there was no shortage of kangaroos and emus to be seen.  We even came across a few herds of feral goats whenever we ventured further north.  On the sunnier days the reptiles were out too.  I even did my Steve Irwin thing and grabbed a couple of these critters to show Heather - right up close and personal!  The evenings were cool enough to warrant making a fire to sit around for a couple of hours before heading to bed but the nights didn't get overly cold.  To get to some of the sights we did plenty of dirt road driving which highlighted just how much dust can get into everything without actually revealing where it got in from!

To keep this short I have included some photos that I hope you find at least a little interesting.

Scenery

Typical scene in the Flinders Ranges

Wilpena Pound is the centrepiece of Flinders Ranges tourism

We did a few hikes while we were there.  The most strenuous one was to the top of Rawnsley Bluff.  This 5km trail was well sign-posted but quite a steep climb.  The view from the top was worthwhile and all the more interesting given the fact that we are able to say we looked down upon a helicopter that was taking some folks for a tour!

We climbed to the top of Rawnsley Bluff

Grant sitting atop Rawnsley Bluff

While out and about seeing the sights we came across an ochre wall.  Ochre is a naturally occurring soft rock that can be found in a number of different colours and is prized by aboriginals as the raw material with which they make ceremonial face and body paints. Simply grind it up and add a little water and animal fat to make into a paste.  This wall was a beauty as it contained several colours in the one location. 

This Ochre Wall is over 50m long and about 3m high - the mother lode!

Purple, white, gold, yellow and brown veins of ochre are easily accessible in the wall

Flora

Early September (spring time in Australia) was the perfect time to see an abundance of wild flowers blooming.

Floral Emblem of our home state of South Australia - Sturt's Desert Pea

Sturt's Desert Pea up close - blood red and glossy black

The green and gold of Australia's national floral emblem - Golden Wattle

Fauna

We saw plenty of kangaroos, emus and rabbits especially as the sun was going down - not a good time to be driving.  I have posted plenty of photos of kangaroos and emus before so will not bore you with them again.  Instead, some scaly cold blooded locals for your viewing pleasure.  Warning: Steve Irwin moments ahead!

Up close with this Bearded Dragon

These guys are no danger to people - bugs and beetles are their main diet 

CRIKEY! Lets just give this little fella a belly a rub before we let him get on his way!

These are Shingleback Lizards - more commonly known as Sleepy Lizards

Well that's about it for the Flinders Ranges - it is a great place to visit.

I have decided to clear my backlog of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? blogs via two or three short posts before I head back to work next week.  In the New Year I will get back to something closer to real time posting of blogs of our new adventures - at least that is my New Year's resolution.  Let's hope I can stick to it!

Aboriginal Cave Paintings and Rock Engravings

I started this blog in September just after we got back from our trip to the Flinders Ranges but life got in the way, as it tends to do, and it is only during the Christmas break that I have found the time to finish it off.  So, my apologies for being tardy with the blog and best wishes to you all for the Christmas and New Year period!

Across the duration of our visit to the Flinders Ranges we took the time to stop at four locations where aboriginal rock paintings and/or rock engravings were accessible to the public.

Without a Rosetta Stone of sorts it would be pretty much impossible to decipher the meaning of the images and patterns seen on the rock walls found in the region.  Fortunately, information boards have been located fairly adjacent to each site to help the viewer to understand what they are looking at.  Unfortunately for you, the blog reader, you are likely to be unable to read the descriptions of the symbols on the photo of the information board - you are just going to have to trust me on this when I tell you what appears to have been going on at one of the ceremonies described by the engravings on the walls at Mt. Chambers Gorge!

Information boards assist viewers in their interpretation of the symbols seen engraved into the rock walls

The easiest to get to were the rock engravings found in 'Sacred Canyon' near Wilpena Pound.  These are just a couple of hundred metres easy walk up a normally dry creek bed from a parking lot at the end of a 12km access road.  In the photos below you can see the smooth polished rocks in the creek bed and given how infrequent the rain is in these parts it must really whoosh through the canyon when it does flow!

Heather making her way into Sacred Canyon

Deep within the walls of Sacred Canyon!

Next as far as degree of difficulty of access is concerned were the rock paintings at Arkaroo Rock.  A 1.5 km hike along a well marked trail climbs about 100m up from the trailhead to the rock paintings located under the overhang of a rock face.  A 1.5km descent trail delivers you back to your starting point.

Nice scenery along the way to the Arkaroo Rock paintings

Three examples of rock painting are located at Yourambulla Peak situated 12km north of Hawker or 50km south of our campsite.  Easy highway access but when we got there we found very little by way of trail markings.  Add to this the fact that it was pouring with rain made this art gallery quite difficult to get to.  Once we got there, although soaked to the skin, we felt it had been worth the trouble to find them.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge and hopefully you can read the sign!

Most difficult to get to, primarily due to their remoteness from our base camp, were the rock engravings found at Chambers Gorge.  These were by far the most expansive and impressive to look at.  I think the combination of the sheer number of engravings, the smooth red rock of the gorge walls that were used as the 'canvas' for ancient story telling and the stillness of the dry creek bed on the day we were there made this location our favourite.

Just one of the rock walls at Chambers Gorge used to record important events of times long ago

This place had all sorts of engravings that described communal meetings, locations of food and water sources, initiation ceremonies, match-making and good old fashioned gossip!

There were documented stories (literally carved in stone) of old men hoping to be paired up with young women, old women helping make the young ladies pretty before their big night out (by making them walk through the smoke from plum grass fires!) and telling the young girls what to expect, and of young men lurking in the shadows of these proceedings given 'ceremonial' beatings by the older men - one friend of ours has commented that this is remarkably similar to some of the parties he used to go to as a younger man!  In addition to the stories of these 'parties to end all parties', was general information exchange about where to go to get good bush tucker (food) and where to find permanent water in the district.

We found it very interesting to see the rock art and engraving examples up close - the photos don't really do these places justice but we thought them worthwhile to share.

If you are interested, the link below will take you to a 6 minute video on YouTube made by Heather about some of the rock art and engravings we saw.  The video contains more details and better pictures than I was able to provide here.  It also tells you about a steep hike we took to get to the top of Rawnsley Bluff at Wilpena Pound.

https://youtu.be/qJawMIh3qKs

That's all for this installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?  Hope you liked it.

Feral Feast

Australia is well known for its unique wildlife.  For example, the kangaroo and emu which appear on the Australian Coat of Arms, are found nowhere else on the planet.  There are plenty more like the koala and platypus, etc. that could be listed here but would take some time so I will not expand upon these any further.

The Kangaroo and Emu appear on the Australian Coat of Arms.
Neither of these critters can walk backwards so they are perfect to represent the ambition of a nation to always move forward!

While the native fauna are mostly still doing OK (I won't mention the extinct Tasmanian Tiger), there are several introduced species that have thrived since being released (accidently or on purpose) into the wild after the initial '...it seemed like a good idea at the time' reason for their introduction was no longer important.  Some of the worst examples of animals 'gone feral' include:

• Rabbits: Introduced to provide some 'sport' for the landed gentry.  Well, what a surprise when they proceeded to breed like rabbits and consume any vegetation that sheep, cattle and the native herbivores would typically eat thus creating exceedingly difficult grazing conditions in an already difficult farming environment
• Foxes:  Again, these were introduced for some 'sport' but also to combat the now out of control rabbits).  While they likely picked off a few of the millions of rabbits running amok out there, they also enjoyed feasting on many of the small native marsupials (Australia's furry warm blooded native species) that call Australia home
• Cane Toads:  Purposely introduced from Hawaii as a natural predator of the cane beetle that was damaging sugar cane crops in northern Queensland.  Having no natural predator themselves in Australia they have since spread across the entire tropical top end of the country decimating all sorts of water and land based species along the way
• Cats:  Domestic cats gone feral over the last 200 years are now deemed to be the single largest menace to native birds, furry creatures and lizards in the country.  Their natural hunting instinct means they catch and kill pretty much anything that moves that is in their weight division.

Less harmful but feral nonetheless, goats, donkeys and camels can also be found in abundance roaming the Australian outback unchecked.  We didn't see any donkeys or camels on this trip but we did see several herds of feral goats in the northern areas of the Flinders.

Did you know that Australia has the largest population of camels anywhere in the world?  If you didn't, now you do.

After this fairly long introduction I now come to the subject of this post - The Feral Feast!

ADVERTISING:  Roadside billboards as you approach the town of Parachilna advertising just some of the menu choices that are available to the discerning diner just a few kilometres up the road.

The meat while 'Feral' is fresh, i.e.: this is not a true 'Road-kill Grill'

LOCATION: The Prairie Hotel is a pub in a tiny town called Parachilna, located on the western flank of the Flinders Ranges.  One could mount a convincing argument that the town is so small that rather than describing the pub as being IN Parachilna, it is more appropriate to say that the pub IS Parachilna.

The Prairie Hotel is in Parachilna (or) The Prairie Hotel IS Parachilna 

This place has made quite a name for itself due to the items that appear on its regular menu.  The signature plate is called the 'Feral Mixed Grill' which is comprised of a Kangaroo Fillet Steak, an Emu Filet Mignon and Camel Sausages!  While the camel is the only actual feral animal on the plate in the Feral Mixed Grill, some poetic licence allows the kangaroo and emu, being untamed, to grace the same plate!  If you want to go truly 100% feral you can also select a plate featuring slow cooked goat meat.

HOUSE SPECIALTY:  I'll have the FMG or 'FERAL MIXED GRILL':  I chose to have the Feral Mixed Grill for lunch while we were there.  Heather, who has never been one for wild meats, went with the Chicken (for chickens).

Handy little road signs are provided to help you identify what you are eating

The meal was very tasty although I was not so sure how to feel about having just eaten the animals on my national Coat of Arms.  The Kangaroo Fillet Steak was great, the Camel Sausage was tasty but to tell you the truth (as I always do), the Emu Filet Mignon didn't do too much for me at all - I was glad to have an ice cold beer at the ready to chase it down with!

Well that's enough for today - I need to go and have a little lie down to let the belly settle.  WTF? - Where are The Farrows? will return in a day or so with a post about some of the Aboriginal cave paintings and rock engravings we visited during our Flinders Ranges tour.

Arrival in the Flinders via Pichi Richi Pass, Quorn and Kanyaka

Already halfway to the Flinders, the road trip for the day would be another short haul.  This meant there was plenty of time to take in the sights along the way.  The main points of interest en-route were the drive from the coastal highway up to and through the Pichi Richi Pass to the town of Quorn and then Kanyaka homestead before arriving at our destination.

The short 250 km drive left plenty of time to enjoy the sites along the way

Once you make the right turn off of the main highway near Port Augusta towards Quorn you are faced (literally), with the Flinders Ranges.  The ascent from sea level up and over the first set of the ranges begins immediately.  The 39 km route is known as The Pichi Richi Pass.  The name Pichi Richi is believed to come from the region being a traditional source of 'pituri', which is a mixture of leaves and ash chewed as a stimulant by the local indigenous peoples. 

Anyway... previously, as a child, I had been to this part of the country during a family holiday.  While I could vaguely remember having been here before, most of the details of my memories of the trip had definitely become dimmer with the passing of the 40 or more years since then.  Strange though, was the strength of my memory of The Pichi Richi Pass.  Not for the beauty of the twisting, winding drive through the ranges with an old steam train line running parallel to that same twisting road, but for a far more purile reason.  I seem to recall the sign proclaiming the location of the peak of the pass having had some modifications made to it which appealed to my young boy mind of the time.  Instead of a road sign informing you of your arrival at the summit of the PICHI RICHI PASS, the talented local poets of the region had modified the sign, much to my amusement (and to that of others I am sure), to read:

ICHI ICHI ASS

Now, 40 or more years later, here I was with my eyes peeled looking for this sign so that I could point it out to Heather and enjoy an immature giggle once again.  So it was to my great disappointment to find (or not find as it turned out) that the sign at the summit of the pass no longer exists in either its proper or modified form.  Personally, I think the local shire council should ensure that the 'modified' sign is always in place to become a tourist attraction in its own right as some things just stick in the memory better than others.

Shortly after not experiencing ICHI ICHI ASS (that's a good thing I suppose), we rolled into the town of Quorn.

The Quorn Railway Station

Quorn is the inland terminus of the Pichi Richi Railway and is home to the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society.

The steam loco that powers the Pichi Richi Railway tourist rides from Quorn to Pt Augusta and back is called 'The Little Coffee Pot' and is very popular with rail enthusiasts

The volunteer society manages a museum and operates heritage steam and diesel trains on the restored 39km section of track between Quorn and Port Augusta.  The line was built in 1878 and is the oldest remaining section of track of the former narrow gauge 'Ghan' railway.  'The Ghan' was named in honour of the Afghan cameleers that helped open up the semi-arid and desert regions of central Australia using herds of imported camels as their beasts of burden from the mid 1800's.

We walked around the town and had some lunch at the local coffee shop, kept in the old style of nearly a century ago, and then it was time to move on once again.  Quorn is a nice little town and well worth a short visit.

Next stop was the ruins of the former Kanyaka homestead.  A sign of just how tough the pioneer farming days in these parts were is the large number of ruins found in the Flinders Ranges.  Each of the ruins represents somewhere that brave people settled, built themselves homes and tried to make a go of it.  A couple of good years must have given real hope to many with many homesteads expanded from their humble beginnings to become something quite grand.  Unfortunately the good years turned out to be anomalies with extended droughts breaking the banks and then the spirits of most including several of even the largest pastoralists.  This was also the fate of Kanyaka Station.

Kanyaka station was established in February 1852 by an English immigrant, Hugh Proby.  Given the very dry nature of this part of the country, it was tragic and ironic that he drowned having been swept from his horse when crossing a swollen creek while trying to herd a mob of cattle to safer pastures during a thunderstorm.  Subsequent owners grew the station during 'the good years' until it was one of the largest in the district with up to 70 families living and working there.



Ruins of Kanyaka Homestead.

The good rains from earlier this year re-creating the green pastures that fostered the cruel false hope that was held by pioneers of the region.

As mentioned above, several consecutive bad years then followed with severe droughts resulting in massive losses of stock.  Eventually the station was abandoned.  Due to the stone construction used by the pioneers, many of the homestead buildings survive as ruins to be viewed by tourists like us today (Tip: if you click on the photos the images will enlarge a bit and hopefully provide a better view of things).

We had enjoyed our leisurely journey thus far but it was time to get to our destination and set up the caravan for the next week or so.  Under an hour later we arrived at Rawnsley Park Station Caravan Park.  The station is still a working farm but it now supplements its farming income (which is at the mercy of the weather as per Kanyaka story above) with some steadier trade - tourists, particularly a genre of tourists known as 'Grey Nomads' (for North American readers, think 'Snowbirds').  Grey Nomads are typically people that have retired and now spend their time travelling around the country chasing warmer weather than they have at home with their caravans in tow.  Rawnsley Park originally set up a few caravan sites on their property to allow a few Grey Nomads to establish their own base-camp (more comfortable than tent camping but cheaper than the limited number of motel rooms in the area) from which to explore the Flinders Ranges region at their leisure.  This has obviously worked well for them as the caravan park has expanded to 50 powered sites and dozens more unpowered sites now available.  There are also several cabins available for those hoping to have all of the comforts of home upon arrival without having to tow it behind them along the way.  The old woolshed has also been converted into a quite fancy restaurant serving foods grown on the farm as well.  Me thinks the tourist income may be overtaking the farming income!

This episode of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? has come to an end with our safe arrival and set-up complete.  I leave you with a photo of the view of Rawnsley Bluff, part of Wilpena Pound, from our caravan at sunset on the day of our arrival.  This is what we saw whilst getting the campfire started and enjoying our first 'sundowner' of the trip.

Not a bad view with a cold one in hand and a warm campfire in front of you!

In subsequent posts (to follow soon), I will share the highlights, history and some of the views experienced during our adventures of the days that followed, including the view from the top of Rawnsley Bluff - that's right folks, we climbed up there and the view was magnificent!

For some video related to these as well as some of our other adventures, follow the link to Heather's YouTube page below.  If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe to her YouTube channel while you are there and you will get notified each time a new video or short movie is posted.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQFqbEM1KEM7lPW_QZkMmng

10 days in the Flinders Ranges: Day 1 - Adelaide to Bowman Park

A couple of weeks ago Heather and I completed an excellent caravan towing course to learn a few things specific to safely towing, manoeuvring and reversing a relatively heavy and long trailer.  We both thought the course was great value for money as we had a lot of fun and came away with new skills, competencies and probably most importantly, confidence when it comes to towing our 'mobile home' behind us.

Eager to put our new skills to the test we planned and packed supplies into the caravan ready for 10 days of camping in the Flinders Ranges located approximately 450km north of our home in Adelaide.

Departure day arrived and we set off at around 8am.  An easy first day was planned just in case highway towing turned out to be not so straightforward, with our target being a free campsite situated near the town of Crystal Brook in South Australia's mid-north about half way to where we would base ourselves in the Flinders.

Travel for Day 1.  An easy 200km for the first day.

I am happy to report that the drive turned out to be completely event free and was a good first outing to get a feel for how the tow vehicle performed and how the caravan behaved being pulled along behind with other highway traffic overtaking us and transport trucks passing by in the opposite direction.

The campsite we stopped at is called Bowman Park.  The local council allows free stays of up to 48 hours for folks in self-contained caravans or motorhomes - we just needed to stay somewhere for the one night so it was perfect for us.  There ended up being 5 other self-contained caravanners there overnight so we weren't alone but neither did we feel crowded.  Whilst free, donations are welcomed so we put $10 in the box to go towards upkeep of the grounds and the facilities that are provided.

Bowman Park has been many things throughout its history.  The area was first used by Aboriginal people long before white settlement due to the presence of permanent spring water and an ochre pit.  Following the arrival of European settlers the area was first explored in 1839.  The small creek was named Crystal Brook and the first official pastoral holding covering 560 square miles (358,400 acres or 145,000 hectares - huge regardless of the units used to describe it) was established in 1847 and was known as 'Crystal Brook Run'.  It was used for pastoral and farming purposes for 38 years until 1885.  Tough times befell the place and it has since been used for a number of various purposes including:

• Engineering & Water Supply: 1885-1960
• Youth Camps: 1962-1999:
• Speedway: 1960’s
• Rodeo’s: 1970’s
• Reptile, Flora & Fauna Park: 1990’s

Local volunteers have been putting a fair bit of love into the place over the past few years and it is a great location for an overnight stop.  Bowman Park is now used by locals and tourists as a place to relax and unwind. It is currently classified a “Passive Recreation Area & RV friendly Park".  One of the main farm buildings - it may have been the woolshed, has been restored nicely and is available to host wedding receptions and other functions.

Beautifully restored Woolshed at Bowman Park now used as a function venue

The park has a resident peacock that was apparently dumped at the site about 20 years ago.  He must have liked the place as he has not left since.  He struts around like he owns the joint (which he pretty much does) showing everyone that will look at him what a handsome rooster he is.

Heather feeding the colourful 'Captain Peacock'

After we had gotten ourselves settled in for the day Heather took the opportunity to do some metal detecting around the old homestead and building ruins.  No coins or significant relics were discovered but she did find an old brass garter belt fastening clip and a rusting belt buckle in fairly close proximity to each other.

Who knows what led to this pair being found together?

Never ones to let a complete lack of facts get in the way of vivid imaginations conjuring up a juicy story, we quickly decided that these items must certainly have belonged to one of the farmers' daughters and perhaps a handsome young farm hand...(this is where your own imaginations can continue developing the story if you feel so inclined).

The next morning we hitched up the caravan again and set off for our base camp for the next week or so - Rawnsley Park Station Caravan Park, located in the shadows of Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges.

Stand by for the next installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? where we get into the Flinders Ranges via the Pichi Richi Pass, the town of Quorn and the ruins at Kanyaka homestead.

To see some video of our time at Bowman Park follow the link below to a short video on YouTube that was put together by Heather.  If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe to Heather's YouTube channel so that you get notified whenever something new gets posted.

https://youtu.be/vOBU10Qb0Oc

'Shakedown' Run

With each day that passes we get a day closer to retiring from the workforce and being able to head off on some long term camping trips.  We love camping but as we age the comfort level associated with crawling in and out of a tent and sleeping bag is no longer enough.  So, in preparation for that time when we can just hit the road and go wherever our mood takes us for as long as we want to be on the road and a life as 'Grey Nomads', we have gone and bought ourselves a caravan!

Tug (Ford Ranger) and Offroad Caravan (19ft 6" Lotus Freelander)

Caravans have come a long way since they were essentially a hard tent shell on a trailer that you tow behind the family sedan.  This thing has all the modern conveniences and if people were to accuse us of being 'glampers' (glamour campers), rather than campers, we would not be able to argue with them as we are hardly roughing it!  It has a queen size bed, fridge/freezer, 3 burner range top with oven, microwave, hot and cold running water, shower, toilet, lounge seating, LED lighting throughout and solar panels to easily recharge the on board batteries so that we can go out into the bush and stay for days without needing to plug into mains electricity.  It even has a TV & DVD system that runs off of the 12V system in the event the weather is poor and you find yourself inside for a while (or there is a big game on).

Last weekend was a public holiday long weekend which provided the perfect opportunity to get familiar with and play with our new toy.  I took a vacation day off to stretch the weekend that little bit further so we hitched the caravan to the tug and set off for a weekend in the Adelaide hills about 60km away to test all of the systems on board.  The campground we chose was not too far from home in the event something major failed along the way but away from the city and into the great outdoors where Heather could also do some metal detecting.  The photo above shows both the tow vehicle and the caravan on their maiden voyage or 'Shakedown' trip, at our Mt. Crawford forest campsite.

Below are some technical details for those that are interested in that stuff:

The 'tug' vehicle is a 2016 Ford Ranger PX2.  It has a 3.2 litre 5 cylinder turbo diesel engine driving the wheels through a 4x4 (selectable 2H, 4H or 4L) 6 speed automatic transmission.  It is very capable and is well suited to towing a heavy van with its 3,500kg tow rating.

The caravan is a 19ft 6" Lotus Freelander off-road caravan.  The off-road ability comes from the elevated ground clearance, DO35 fully articulated 'Hitchmaster' off-road tow hitch, tandem axles (each of the 4 wheels has fully independent suspension), 2 x 9kg (20lb) LPG / Propane gas bottles, 2 x 95 litre fresh water tanks + 1 x 62 litre grey water tank, 2 x 120W solar panels and  2 x 120Ah deep cycle batteries.  Low energy use but very bright LED lighting is throughout.

The weekend itself was a wet one for the first two days (good to see if the roof leaked - happy to report that it does not), and cold (for Australia and for campers on the ground in tents), for the last couple of nights with a decent layer of frost on the car in the morning.

Frosty!

Heather was keen to get out and do some metal detecting (rain or shine) amongst the old (1885) goldfield diggings that are present within the forest.

Suited up and ready to go rain or shine.  It was RAIN in this case!

Working over old diggings with new technology - no luck this weekend.

Unfortunately for Heather the old diggers were pretty efficient and didn't leave any gold or old campsite relics behind.

After some cold and wet days out in the field it was nice to come back to home base and be able to sit around a warm campfire.

We needed this fire to take the chill and damp out of our bones.

The photo above shows our glowing campfire in a portable, folding fire pit that we have in our kit.  This thing is great!  Because the fire sits off of the ground it does not expend too much of its energy drawing moisture out of the ground and as such it throws most of its heat out to warm the bones of those sitting around it.  When you are ready to pack it up to go home the stainless steel fire pit cleans up very nicely (and it won't rust) then folds up to be less than 40mm thick.

At the end of our shakedown weekend we were happy that nothing broke and pretty much everything worked as it should.  The fridge kept the beer cold and the sound of rain on the caravan roof from the comfort of a warm bed convinced us that this new way of camping is great and is the way of the future - well it is our future at least!

That's it for this episode of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?

Stay tuned (I promise you won't have to hold your breath as long this time) until our next post.

Australia Day 2016

Happy Australia Day everyone!

It was on January 26th, 1788 that the first fleet from England landed at Botany Bay (pretty much where Sydney airport sits today) to take up permanent residence - some by choice and quite a few others that had less say in the matter that arrived as convicts in chains.

As the public holiday is celebrated on January 26th, and that was a Tuesday this year, I booked a vacation day off for the Monday and made an extended long weekend out of the situation and we went camping.

Setting out on Saturday, our destination was Innes National Park on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula about 300km from Adelaide.

Our beachside camp set-up at Innes National Park

This park has a lot of rugged coastal scenery to admire, plenty of hiking trails to take and some nice fishing places where you can throw in a line and try your luck.  We did a little bit of all of that over the three days we were there.

Wide, empty beach and rugged cliffs at West Cape. We saw a pod of ~ 20 dolphins playing in the waves here.

Heading to the Stenhouse Bay jetty to try our luck fishing

All we got was some sunburn despite the hats and long sleeves

As you can't do any metal detecting inside the national park we drove to a beach just outside the park where Heather was able to do a small amount of hunting.  We didn't catch any fish or find our fortune but the outing was fun nonetheless.

On Tuesday we broke camp in a wind that made things challenging to say the least but we got the job done and loaded everything into the car.  The drive back to Adelaide was uneventful.  We washed off the grit and grime that comes with camping at a beach location and suited up in our Australia Day gear before heading around to my mothers house for an Australia Day BBQ.

In the backyard in our Australian flag hat, t-shirt, shorts, and dress

Heather, Grant and Sue (Grant's mum) waving the flag on Australia Day

After a lovely BBQ lunch at mums house we went home and listened to the fireworks going off in the nearby city parklands before retiring for the night.  All in all it was a fun weekend with plenty of fresh air and outdoor activities to keep ourselves busy.  The next scheduled long weekend is in early March but we will have to see if we can manufacture another one before then...

Until the next issue of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, stay happy and safe.

It has been a while... and we have some bad news to report.

It has been a while since our last blog posting in October of last year and it is only now that I can bring myself to letting you know why.

While most people already know what has transpired, for those that do not, here is a brief summary to bring you up to speed...

In November our beloved dog and an integral part of our family, Bernard, was diagnosed with cancer.  Tests determined it was already widespread through his body and inoperable.  The vet thought we would have between one and three months more together.  We spent every possible minute with him during his remaining days.  Heather never left his side night or day and we both slept downstairs with him every night he was still with us with a hand on his back, butt or belly to give him comfort that we were there with him always.  If love were medicine he would have made a full recovery - but as powerful as love is, unfortunately it was not enough.

Just four weeks after being diagnosed he was gone.  He went to sleep on December 21st 2015 just about a month short of turning 7 years old.  We are devastated that he is no longer with us and is dearly missed.

Bernard loved the snow - he was made for it!

Honouring Bernard's memory.

The best times of all for the three of us were without doubt whenever we packed up our truck and hit the road to go camping.  Those road trips whether quick weekenders or three week tours were something special for us and were where the first 'travel game' postings of WTF - Where are The Farrows? originated.  Feedback from friends indicated you enjoyed seeing and reading about what we were up to.  As a result of that, and as a means of maintaining some form of contact with our friends across the globe given our relocation from Canada to Australia in May 2015, this blog was created.

So after a few difficult weeks and a very sombre Christmas period while our feelings of loss and hurt have been so raw, we now think that we are ready to (need to) get back into some camping and to re-start the creation of more good memories - he would have wanted that.  It won't be the same without him but to honour Bernard's memory we have committed to getting back into the road-trip and camping saddle again.

Standby for new blog postings to recommence in the near future.

You brought great joy into our lives every single day and will always be with us in our hearts.
Rest In Peace my beautiful boy.