Animals on the Road

There was plenty of wildlife other than cattle and sheep roaming ‘free range’ along the way that we needed to be wary of even in the middle of the day.  Mainly kangaroos and emus but plenty of feral goats out this way too.  Let me tell you that big bodies coupled with small brains, i.e.: kangaroos and emus, does not make for a good combination when it comes to road sense!  Please, let me set the scene for you…

We were motoring along in our 2.5 tonne ute (pick-up truck) at between 80 and 90 km/h, towing 3 tonnes of caravan behind us on a loose gravel surface when a pair of emus ran across the road well ahead of us – they must have been about 100m or so up the road.  As a natural reaction, I eased off of the pedal a little because the combined 5.5 tonne rig does not stop or even slow down as quickly as the ute alone, especially when on gravel roads.  It turned out to be a good thing too as one of the emus, then decided that it wanted to go back to whence it had just come and proceeded to bolt back across the road – this time right in front of us!  I felt sure we were going to put the Bull bar / Roo bar to use and unfortunately hit the thing.  We were both saying/yelling, “Oh oh…Look Out!” and “Wait for It!”, and bracing ourselves for the impact and a cloud of feathers.  As it turned out we ended up missing it by the narrowest of margins!

After our hearts stopped racing, we remembered, or realised, that the dash cam that we have on our vehicle should have captured it all, and sure enough, it had!  We watched the footage on the laptop to see just how close a call the emu had.  When reviewed frame by frame it was only the arching of its back with a fraction of a second to spare that saved it from being roadkill!  Below are last three frames from the dash cam.  The first is a great Road-runner impersonation, and the last one where it appears to be arching its back to just squeeze past the bulbar and is looking back at us.  Some pretty good screen shots from the dash cam video.

Great Roadrunner imitation!

Just missed!

The picture below, by a local NSW artist called John Murray, is probably something akin to the view the emu had of us!

Emu's View of Oncoming Traffic?

Well that is enough for this post.  Reliving the ordeal has got me all wound up again so I think I need to put my e-pen down and have a beer and relax.  That all for this instalment of WTF? – Where are The Farrows?

Overnight at Pink Lakes (Murray - Sunset National Park)

After an easy sealed highway drive of about 400km from Cape Jervis in South Australia we made camp on the shore of Lake Crosbie, one of the Pink Lakes in Murray-Sunset National Park across the border in Victoria.

Once we had ourselves setup – it doesn’t take too much effort when the sites are large, flat and you just drive in and park where it suits you, we went for a short hike around part of the lakeshore.

Along the way, depending on where the sun is relative to your view of the water, the lake can really look pink.  The park brochure says the water is actually crystal clear and very salty.  The bed of the lake is solid salt and it is a species of red algae that lives in the water that gives it the pink colouring.

Lake Crosbie is one of the Pink Lakes in Murray-Sunset National Park

Along the hiking trail we saw a few different types of brightly coloured wildflowers.  The orange ones and purple ones caught my eye so I took a couple of pictures (see below)

 

Purple flowers atop succulent growth

These look like Marigolds but I don't really know what they are.

As the sun started to get lower in the sky we returned to camp and enjoyed a couple of beers and some wine while we watched the sun go down and the stars come up for what would not be the last time on this trip.

Beautiful watching the sun go down and the southern stars come out!

I intend to write a blog every couple of days to document our journey but will only be able to post when mobile phone coverage is available.  So whenever there is more than a day or three between blogs and you are wondering WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, rest assured we have not given up on the journal - we are probably compulsorily e-silent until the phone 'pings' to tell us we are once again within range of civilisation.

Long Weekend at Cape Jervis

Finally the day to depart had arrived.  The ute had been serviced and was full of fuel and the caravan has clothes, food, beer and wine to ensure that we have everything we could need to have a great time!

After getting up early on account of being very excited to hit the road, the time dragged by so slowly as we let the workforce get their commute done without an unwieldy caravan adding to the peak hour traffic. At 9:30am we could wait no longer so we locked up the house up and set off.

Just a quick 110km south of Adelaide our destination for the first weekend away was Cape Jervis.  Heather's metal detecting club was having their annual field trip down there so we arrived at the site and set up the van for a four night stay - an nice way to ease into the vacation.

The first evening there Heather hosted a 'Welcome to Camp' hot dogs and marshmallow roast which was well received by the 25 or so that had checked-in that day.

Heather serving up hot dog buns, cheese, relish, onions and sauce (ketchup)

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire

The next couple of days were spent with the rest of the club searching for old artefacts, coins and the like on an old sheep station.  Plenty of spendable and pre-decimal coins were found while Heather also found a couple of old medallions.  One that was issued to school children across the country in 1951 to commemorate 50 years of Federation in Australia and a second, more unusual one, which was issued to members of the 'Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes'.  This 'order' was established in 1822 in London, however, branch offices also sprang up in the colonies.  They still exist today as a philanthropic men's club (the Adelaide branch is located at 232 Main North Road, Prospect, and they meet every alternate Thursday - just in case you are interested).  Feel free to 'Google' it if you want to know more.  It made me think of Fred and Barney in the Flintstone's cartoons heading out to the 'Lodge' wearing their silly hats with antlers.

'Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes' medallion

The writing (in latin) around the perimeter of the medallion is the club motto which says 'Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit', which those of you that are well versed in latin would surely know means 'No man is at all hours wise'.  Who knew?  The buffalo in the centre speaks for itself (I presume).  This metal detecting caper can be educational!

We hit the road again tomorrow heading east into the neighbouring state of Victoria before turning north towards NSW and Queensland.  That's all for this post but just remember, if you keep asking yourself WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, then one day soon the email postman will send you an answer to your question.

Planning for a September Roadtrip

The winter of 2017 in South Australia is not quite over but with each day that passes the signs that spring is on the way become more evident.  The birds start chirping and squabbling in their new nests just before the sun comes up, while at the other end of the day it is no longer dark when I get home from work each evening - not big things but subtle triggers for the mind to recognise that the seasons are changing.

With the steadily improving weather, the time is also right to hit the road with the caravan in tow!  Last year we headed for the Flinders Ranges in South Australia's mid-north for a couple of weeks.  This year we will be going a bit further afield and for a bit longer.  Our destination is the Sunshine Coast in Queensland!

Route from SA to QLD via the 'Darling River Run' through NSW

We intend to follow the Darling River while travelling north and east (against the direction of water flow) through outback New South Wales as we make our way towards Queensland.  There will be plenty of nights of bush camping and clear night skies beside the riverbank to enjoy along the way.  It will be a decent haul of ~2,500 km to get there and we haven't really thought about the route home yet.  Not to worry - that will all sort itself out in due time.

With the fun and excitement about a vacation starting as soon as you commence the planning process, I really don't know why we shouldn't just be in a state of planning to be somewhere else all of the time!

Updates on our progress and stories about the interesting and/or stranger things we do or encounter along the way will be provided regularly once we are on the road so that you will always have an answer to the question... WTF? - Where are The Farrows?