The Grampians - Great Hikes and more Bites!

It was now taking three long cranks to get the ute started in the morning.  We were having no problems once it did start and some heat was in the engine but the mornings would only be getting colder as we get closer to winter.  With that in mind I took the vehicle into the closest Ford dealership to get the second-hand crank sensor replaced with a new one and have this issue dealt with once and for all.  With the repairs made and confidence now restored in the vehicle we proceeded to enjoy our next destination.

While not particularly tall as far as mountains go (the highest peak in the range is 1,138m / ~3,800ft), The Grampians provide considerable relief from the surrounding flat farmland.  Quite steep in parts they contain many rocky outcrops and thickly treed gullies and creeks (when there has been rain to feed them).  The many hikes, walks, scenic look-outs and waterfalls kept us busy for 4 days.

Heather at the base of Mackenzie Falls

 

Rocky canyon traversed on one of our hikes

Great view of the area was the reward for a strenuous hike to 'The Pinnacle' 

Birdlife is abundant here (Kookaburras, Parrots, Cockatoos, Ducks & Emus) and they are well accustomed to people being around so it was pretty easy to get them to come close and be fed by hand.  The parrots and cockatoos were most enthusiastic and would even land on your arm if they thought they would get a feed!

Adult Crimson Rosella parrot

Juvenile Crimson Rosella parrot enjoying some free seed

To protect the reputations of the innocent, I must point out that the parrots pictured above were 'non-biters'.  It was a Cockatoo and an Emu that provided bites #2 and #3 to complement the bull-ant bite I received a day earlier.

Speaking of bite #1 - a quick update.  The hand upon which the ant had bitten me, while no longer aching had started to itch a little.  So I rubbed and scratched at it - as you typically do when you experience an itch.  I probably should not have done that!  The rubbing must have stimulated whatever juice he had spit into me which resulted in some considerable swelling such that I now had one normal sized hand and one bear paw!  Anyway, back to the story of my latest bites…

Bite #2 was delivered by a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo while I was hand feeding a whole flock of them.  These are pretty big birds and their beaks have some serious power behind them.  Luckily it only gave me a nip to encourage me to open my hand to get at the seed I was holding.  I duly complied and gave it what it was looking for - it was readily apparent that these birds have worked this scam before!

Biter # 2: Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.  Fortunately I was spared the full power of that beak!

Bite #3 came the next day courtesy of an Emu.  It thought I had food in my hand, which was quite reasonable of him as I had extended an open hand towards him as if I had something in it for him to eat.  Being bitten this time around was my fault entirely as I did in fact offer an empty hand in order to get him to come close.  Well, he did come close (as I had hoped), but when he saw nothing was there he gave me a sharp nip for duping him so.  There was in fact quite a loud 'snap' to be heard as his beak pinched the softer flesh of the ball of my thumb along with some more 'kiddie-unfriendly' utterances from me!

'Freeze frame' from Heather's video capturing Bite #3 at the moment of impact!

No broken skin but the pinch-mark is easy to see

Heather got both bites #2 & 3 on video and had a good old laugh at my expense both times.  She has since named the whole 3 bites in 3 days episode as “The Great Australian Bite”.  Video of each of the bites is contained within videos that Heather produced during our stay in The Grampians.  They can be viewed by following the attached links to Heather's YouTube channel:

Bite # 2: https://youtu.be/j23pCbxvAGY

Bite # 3: https://youtu.be/YSEe8cFbt7U

That is all for now.  Next report to be issued here in WTF? - Where are The Farrows? should see us return to the Victorian Goldfields.

PS: For those that may be concerned about the state of my bitten hands, all swelling from the ant bite subsided after four days.  The Emu’s ‘pinch-mark’ was gone after two days. 

Bull-ant (Ouch!) & Camp Oven Dinner (Yum!)

We woke to a brisk morning and shortly after a much appreciated hot coffee we jumped into the ute to make our way further east.

1. Key into the ignition.
2. Heat the glow plug.
3. Turn the key and crank the motor

Didn’t start.  It normally starts after a second or two at most.  WTF and Oh-oh!

Repeated the process and only at the end of a second long crank did the engine come to life.

Phew!

We talked about heading back towards the Ford dealership in Bordertown but as the vehicle had run without fault the previous evening after leaving the service department we bravely (or foolishly?) chose to press onwards in our preferred direction.  Long story short, we did not experience any of the issues of the previous day and made it to our next campsite nice and early in the afternoon.

Site location and set-up was quick and easy at a nice level spot overlooking a water reservoir with some mountains in the background.

With the campsite set-up, Heather gets ready to go metal detecting.

Dinner for the night was to be a camp oven meal so I set about collecting wood and getting a fire started to make a bed of coals to cook with.  In the process of gathering wood I unknowingly (but not unknowing for long) had disturbed and picked up some bull-ants that had claimed the wood that I had in my arms as their own.  One of these ants in particular had a real problem with me disturbing his home and proceeded to vent his anger by latching onto the outside of my right hand with all of his might, which for this individual was considerable - I can certainly attest to that!

I said a few words that you wouldn’t want little kiddies to hear, dropped my wood bundle in a hurry and searched for whatever had bitten me.  I saw this 3cm beast clamping down on my hand with his pincers and quickly brushed him off while at the same time looking to see whether there were any of his friends about to join the assault on me.  Fortunately he was a lone soldier but he had made his point and left his mark!  I retreated from his area shaking my hand and still uttering a few profanities under my breath because I was sure they would help the ache go away.

Now far more aware of what may be lurking in the wood and leaves I completed my wood collecting, got the fire going and released my ‘Inner Chef’!

With the fire lit & the coals ready it was time to add the ingredients

The plan was to cook up some Braised Beef with Chunky Vegetables.

After browning the cubes of beef, in went the vegies then some beef broth

Time to surround the oven & cover the lid with coals and come back in couple of hours!

Once all of the ingredients were in the pot and coals had been placed around and on top of the camp oven it was time to sit back, crack open a can of beer and relax while the magic happened!

The finished product looked, smelled and tasted great!

After cooking slowly for a couple of hours dinner was served and I must say it turned out very nicely indeed!

For a detailed ‘How to’ description of the meal, click on / follow the link below to Heather’s YouTube channel where my camp oven cooking exploits were captured on video.

https://youtu.be/U40frxp-c84

Next up on WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, we find ourselves in The Grampians, in western Victoria, where I happen to get bitten again - not once but two more times.  Each time by a different kind of critter!

Our CODDIWOMPLE Begins

A while back I came across a word that was new to me that almost perfectly describes the journey that we are about to undertake.  That word is ‘Coddiwomple’.  According to the dictionary it is defined as follows:

Coddiwomple (verb): To travel in a purposeful manner towards an unknown or vague destination.

With no fixed end date to our tour or any specific destination in mind, we have taken to referring to our journey as ‘Our Coddiwomple’!

Free to set out in any direction, we decided to initially head east and eventually turn onto a northerly heading seeking more tropical conditions as the cooler southern winter takes hold.

So it was with much excitement we locked up the house and drove away down the street to start our latest adventure.

The first day on the road was not without some minor vehicle drama.  Shortly after setting off with the caravan in tow, the engine of our ute stalled for the first time in it’s life as we coasted to a stop at some traffic lights.  It re-started right away so we weren't too concerned.  

A bit later and a few kilometres out of town the diesel engine ‘skipped a beat’ much like a petrol engine might have one cylinder misfire then continued as normal.  Now we were thinking we may have an issue with ‘dirty fuel’ and became a bit concerned but we continued in the hope that as we burned through the diesel in the fuel tank our ‘issue’ would also burn away.

No problems for a couple of hundred kilometres so we relaxed a little and began to think we were out of the woods.  Not so!

The engine started to miss once or twice every 10 - 20kms.  Things were getting worse rather than better!  At this point we thought it would be really nice if there happened to be a Ford dealership in one of the larger towns we were approaching that we could pull into or at least breakdown close to!

We must have earned some 'good karma' points recently as the first thing we saw on the side of the highway as we approached the town of Bordertown (near the South Australia / Victoria border), was a big Blue Oval FORD sign.

A great sense of relief when a Ford Dealership sign came into view

I pulled into the back of their lot, caravan and all, and went into the service desk.  Fortunately they said they would take a look right away and if necessary (or possible) they would get to making repairs as soon as they finished the job they were working on.  They plugged our vehicle into their laptop computer which revealed the engine to have a faulty crankshaft position sensor.  They did not have a new one in stock but they were able to cannibalise the necessary part from a wrecked vehicle that had just come in.  All-in-all, we were off the road for just two hours.  Great job by the Ford folks in Bordertown to get us back on the road so quickly.  All work was done under warranty so there were no out of pocket expenses for us.  The technician did say that if we happened to have any more issues or if we wanted to get a brand new sensor installed rather than continue with the second hand part (it had done 75,000km of work in the 'donor' engine), we could drop into any Ford dealership and they would sort things out for us.

It was now getting late with only about half an hour left before dark so we made tracks for a nearby free camp to set up for the night.  It was a great little spot located just off of the highway only 20 minutes down the road in a place called Western Flat.

With an eventful day one now behind us hopefully vehicle troubles would be a thing of the past.  Only future instalments of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? will reveal whether this would be the case...

Silo Art Trail

In order to bring people and more specifically tourists (and their wallets), to the Wimmera-Mallee region in western Victoria, the ‘Silo Art Trail’ was devised.  As the name suggests, Silo Art is the common link.  With each of the 6 towns being located within a traditional grain growing region, they all possessed grain silos.  We have all seen these silos before and never really paid them much mind due to their utilitarian nature and typically drab and plain metal or concrete construction.  In these six towns at least, the silos are drab no more!

A day or two before we were to leave Wedderburn and commence the drive back to Adelaide we came across an article in one of the regional tourist information brochures that described a driving route that linked 6 communities.  As we had no particular planned path to get back home and the fact that it was more or less in the general direction we had to go, we decided to check it out!

Silo Art Route in Western Victoria.  Click on the image to enlarge it and perhaps you will be able to read the text

The images on each of the silos was completed by different teams of local and international artists with the people portrayed in the paintings being locals from each of the regions.

We traversed the route travelling from south to north, visiting the silos in the towns of Rupanyup, Sheep Hills, Brim, Rosebery, Lascelles and finally Patchewollock.

Metal silo in Rupanyup

Painted concrete silos at Sheep Hills

The silos at Brim were the first of the six to be painted

Silo Art at Rosebery

Husband & Wife on either side of the silos in the town of Lascelles

Farmer on the silo at Patchewollock

The route links 6 towns across about 200km of the Victorian countryside and is stated to be Australia’s largest outdoor gallery!  Not being a very artistic type, I don’t have too much to say about the paintings themselves but following the Silo Art Trail made for an interesting distraction from what could have been an otherwise pretty boring transit.  

Our congratulations to the local council(s) for having the vision to do something a little different in order to take drivers off of the main highway routes and bring new eyes to their region.  We stopped for something to eat, bought some fuel and have now passed on the message to others to go and visit this area that many would normally bypass.

WTF? - Where are The Farrows? will be back after Easter 2018 when we hit the road for parts unknown for an open-ended duration.

Wedderburn Detector Jamboree

Just one week after we had arrived home from our month long tour of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula we were off again.  This time to the small town of Wedderburn in the historic Victorian Goldfields.  The reason for this being our destination was to participate in the annual Wedderburn Metal Detector Jamboree.

Arrival at the Wedderburn Goldfields in Victoria ahead of the Detector Jamboree

We arrived a couple of days prior to the event starting so we took some time to tour the local area.  The Victorian goldfields are famous for having yielded some of the largest gold nuggets found anywhere in the world. The world’s largest nugget known as ‘The Welcome Stranger’, weighed in at over 78.3kg (2,520 ounces) and was found near Wedderburn in 1869 resting just 1 inch below the surface!  Nuggets continue to be found by metal detectors and prospectors on a regular basis in the region but they tend to be much smaller nowadays.  With that in mind Heather tried some detecting for gold in amongst some of the historic diggings that are open to the public.  While her detector is capable of locating nuggets it is better suited to her preferred target of coins and relics and as such we did not find our fortune on that day - I guess we will just have to keep searching!

Heather detecting for gold amongst historic workings

What is a Metal Detecting Jamboree?

The jamboree is a well organised 2 day event where 100 identical metallic tokens (numbered 1 thru 100 and painted green for day 1 and orange on day 2) are ‘planted’ in the competition area each night under the cover of darkness.  Metal detectorists from far and wide and of all skill levels compete on the same field at the same time using metal detectors ranging from budget models up to machines costing many thousands of dollars.  Each token found gets registered with officials and is exchanged for a ticket in a very generous prize draw.  Prizes included a couple of metal detectors, various accessories and specialised detector coils for the metal detecting enthusiasts as well as some gold panning equipment for the gold prospectors that were also competing.

Metal Detecting Equipment (much of which were prizes) on display

While Heather had brought her detector with her specifically to compete in the jamboree (if the truth be told, her metal detector travels everywhere with us just in case an opportunity to hunt presents itself), I was fortunate enough to be able to secure the use of a demo model that one of the event sponsors had brought with them so I also registered as a competitor for the weekend - you never know if you will be lucky enough to win a machine!

Clear blue skies were experienced on both days of the weekend where the cool mornings saw detectors set out with gusto as soon as the starting whistle was blown at 8am.

Just a few of the more than one hundred detectors lined up at the start line

Most of the tokens appeared to get found within the first couple of hours and with the temperature climbing rapidly towards 35 ℃, the number of participants had thinned out noticeably by lunch time.  Heather was one of the detectors to be successful early having found a token within 10 minutes of starting on day 1.  I had not had any luck with old fencing wire and pull-tabs being all I had found during the first 3 hours of the competition.  However, just as I was going to take a break (and maybe give-up for the day), my machine signalled the presence of metal below the coil so I squatted down to take a closer look.  Hidden below some leaf litter and loose dirt was what I had been hunting for!  With each of us now having a token in hand we did indeed call it quits for the day and promptly registered our tokens.

Day 1 tokens - Heather's (left) and Grant's (right) 

With most token hunters having left the field for the day (many successfully, many more not), there were several events and demonstrations held to keep the crowd and all age groups interested.  The highlight of the afternoon was the gold panning heats and final.  All sorts of techniques were on show from the various competitors including ‘Slow and Steady’ as well as ‘Fast & Furious’ and everything in between.  Very entertaining and fun to watch.

'Slow and Steady' gold panning technique ended up winning the race

Day 1 concluded with a camp oven dinner prepared by the local Lions Club members followed by a band and a dance - a good time was had by all.

Day 2 saw all of the same detectors out in the field once again, however this time they were hunting for orange tokens (91 of 100 green tokens had been found the previous day so 9 of these were also ‘still in play’).  I found a token near the base of a tree inside the first hour on day 2 but Heather had encountered some technical difficulties with her machine.  It had ‘learned’ the signal typical of the targeted token, but instead of alerting her to the presence of a token it had been discriminating against them and had been ‘silent’.  She was frustrated (to say the least!) particularly as we only discovered this when I caught up with her to show her my token and it caused no sound when she ran her machine over the top of it.  We called it a day as it was getting hot and went back to the organising area to register the orange token for the prize draw that was to occur later that day.

Some folks had registered 5 or 6 tokens each and even though we had three tokens between us in the draw, only one ended up being drawn for a minor prize.

'Finds Bag' won during token draw

All-in-all participating in the Wedderburn Detector Jamboree was a lot of fun and it is likely we will sign-up for similar events in the future wherever they may be.

Heather made a video about the weekend that can be viewed on YouTube via the attached link (below).

https://youtu.be/SnsCUKTGf5U

That’s all for this post from WTF? - Where are The Farrows?  In the next issue, we come across some interesting art on a grand scale during the drive back to home base.

Eyre Peninsula Coastline - Part 2: Western Eyre Peninsula

With the hot weather that is typical of February in South Australia having now arrived, part 2 of our journey commenced with a short jaunt to Coffin Bay just 50km away to the west of Pt. Lincoln across the bottom tip of Eyre Peninsula.  Coffin Bay is renowned for its oysters and as such, it was mandatory (in my mind at least), to enjoy some of the local product while we were in this pretty little town - so out to dinner we went!

Dressed for dinner at Coffin Bay

I enjoyed the oysters and vowed this would not be the last time I would enjoy a feed of these beauties on this trip!

From Coffin Bay we travelled in a north-westerly direction along the Eyre Peninsula coastline with stops at free camps and caravan parks along the way.  During this part of our journey we were continually in awe of the power of the sea, the beauty of the coastal cliffs and the solitude that could be found on any of the pristine beaches we stopped at along our route.

Our travels took us to a secluded stay at Sheringa Beach where we had the place to ourselves.  Heather tried some metal detecting on the beach but given its remoteness it was not surprising that there was nothing to be found there – not even the normally ever-present pull tabs discarded from drink cans.

Heather out metal detecting at sunset on Sheringa Beach

We passed through the town of Elliston but not before doing the ‘Elliston Great Ocean View’ self-drive tour.  The tour has you drive along the local cliff top road which provides great views of cliffs and rolling surf.  It also has some interesting sculptures positioned along the way.

Some of the cliff-top sculptures at Elliston

Our only non-coastal overnight stop during the outward-bound leg of the trip was at a place known as ‘Murphy’s Haystacks’.  These ‘Haystacks’ are actually outcropping granite boulders and they make for a great photo opportunity especially at sunrise and sunset.  As an added bonus the landowners had put some jars of honey produced by bees from the local Mallee flower pollen into an honesty box at the gate.  We bought a jar and it has a truly delicious flavour!  We will be certain to get some more the next time we are passing by.

Haystacks honey with Murphy's Haystacks in the background

We stayed a couple of days at Streaky Bay and took our time exploring the surrounding area including the Pt. Labatt sea lion colony, several surf beaches, seas with huge swells pounding into more coastal cliffs and blowholes.  It was well worth taking the time to look around.

Yet another spectacular surf beach (near Streaky Bay)

From Streaky Bay we moved on to Ceduna which is at the end of the ‘Seafood Frontier Route’.  Oysters from the Ceduna area, including Smoky Bay to the east and Denial Bay to the west, are HUGE!  I enjoyed a dozen of these monsters (I told you my oysters in Coffin Bay would not be the last), at a roadside Oyster Bar just outside of Ceduna.  So what if they are terrible for the cholesterol, they are too delicious to pass up!

 

Roadside 'Ceduna Oyster Bar' and a dozen of their finest!

While we were at the end of the Seafood Frontier Route we were not ready to turn around and head home just yet so we decided to make a run to the SA/WA border.  Along the way we stayed at Cactus Beach, Fowlers Bay, at the Head of the Bight near the town of Nullarbor and then finally at Border Village.  Spectacular coastal scenery, more world renown surf beaches, a windmill museum including the largest diameter windmill in the country, and a continuous 200km stretch of the 80m high Bunda Cliffs were some of the things we encountered along the way.

 

Australia's largest windmill (10m diameter) & Iconic Nullarbor road-sign

At Eastern Edge of the Nullarbor (treeless) Plain & Car at SA/WA border

After doing a U-turn at the border we commenced our return to Adelaide.  We spent a night back in Ceduna where we topped up the fuel tank and just happened to pick up half a dozen more fresh oysters which were cooked up for dinner that night.  Next day we stopped at Venus Bay and tried our luck fishing for squid in the hope of catching our own Calamari dinner.  We were not successful but no one can say we didn't try as we were out on the jetty well into the night in the wind and rain!
 

Unsuccessful Night Squidding

 
Two more nights out on the road then we arrived back home for a brief stop before hitting the road again on our next adventure.  'Where to next?', I hear you asking.  To find out WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, just click on the notification you receive when I next post and all will be revealed.