Outback Dawg..... Flinders Ranges Pawt 4 (final)

Hiya all,

Thanks for all your kind and funny comments regarding my Hollingday..... sad to say this is the final Pawt..... and it's a little long (to avoid another Pawt!! BOL!) Enjoy!

Here I am leading my dad dad up to "Twidale Top" a little hill where you will get more great views of our Station.

The view looking back onto the Wilpena Pound Ranges.

Now here we are...... remember that "mountain" which almost claimed my ma the other day.... you know, the one where we almost had to call for "chopper rescue"??..... well - here it is.... it's the HUGE one in the middle of the picture.... the peak of it is level with dad dad's left ear....

(Mum would like to add that when we was yakking with other fit young walkers at the Base Camp - they didn't want to climb it so they walked around it instead.... and they said we were very impressive to tackle it in the heat and all. Mum was feeling like giving herself an internal High Five listening to them.....BOL!

This is the only picture we got of the wild goats that roam on the station.... they were just about to skidaddle away from us.

Another day we jumped in to the car and headed north. We had to slow down when we saw this horsey on the side of the road.

We drove up this really steep dirt road to the "Stokes Hill Lookout" and this is taken from there.

The other direction.

There was this sculpture showing the Wilpena Pound Ranges (which you can see in the distance) and mum put yellow stars on the sculpture so you can see where our Base Camp and station is in relation the the Pound.

Here is a little short video of me at Stokes Hill - mum says sorry about choosing the most boring vista to put in the background....but I rushed towards her when I saw the camera and then stood at her feet.... thereby quashing the footage of me.

Mum like this restored cottage which you can hire in Blinman ..... but I gotta say - there is not much in Blinman, it's pretty tiny!

Back in the car, we took some scenic dirt roads and had to be careful to not disturb the sheeps that wanted to cross in front of us.

We stretched our legs and checked out the restored cueing yards on the Moralana Scenic Drive.

I'm checking for bush kibble while tryin' to avoid the burs!

We walked around a little.....

But this local did not want to stay and play......

And seeing as you liked mum's last creative shot...... here she is at it again when she found a gum tree with a hole in it!

Time to get back in the car and return to Base Camp for a cool bowl of water!! And maybe a snack!

Whew - another day in the Outback..... and the caravan floor is nice and cool to lie on and take a little nap.

The next day was forecast to be 41 degrees (105.8F) so my peeps decided we would go home a day early and be in an air-conditioned car instead of the van. Here I am helping dad dad pack up our Base Camp in preparation for sayin' "See-YA!" to the Flinders.

Later that day......

Whaddayamean mum?????? Outback dust and dirt????! WHERE!!?? 

The picture of MISERY.

This baff is totally unnecessary ma!!!

What dirt??? What Outback dust?? That did not come out of MY FURS...... I think it was already in the tub!!

*********

Apart from the fact that my mum made me have a baff the moment we got home..... it was a great Hollingday.... a little heavy on the dirt, heat and grass burs though to be honest.  It was good to do and great to see "the Outback", but it confirmed to us all we prefer the beachside Hollingdays..... so stay tuned - my peeps are already talking about the next one!

Outback Dawg........Flinders Ranges Pawt 3

OK - so the fun continues in the Aussie Outback.... hope you like my next instalment!

So here is a overall shot of our Base Camp..... the arrow is pointing to our PKW. Yes - this shot was taken at the top of a hill (before the "mountain incident") we were climbing in the searing sun. This is the day mum almost had to call for "chopper rescue" (!!).

OOOooo here is some "Bush Kibble" left by the Kangaroos..... my mate Sasha made great comments about Outback poop.... and yes I have to tell you Sasha the emus left BIG SPLATS behind and I was not allowed to get anywhere near em'!! 

Here we go for a walk within our station.... it's supposed to be an easy one to a lookout.

This is the view at the lookout spot.

 The other direction.

Here is me restin' in the shadow of the peeps. Note how sparky mum still is and she had the energy to wave to you all too.

Because the walk to the lookout was pretty easy, the peeps decide to go "the long way back"..... little did they know the end of "the long way back" involved a hike up a mountain!! I've got a great shot of the mountain reserved for the final pawt of this Hollingday adventure.... wait till you see it!!

Half way up the mountain mum had to sit on a rock and rest.... I stayed with her to make sure she didn't have a heart attack while dad dad went on ahead and checked that the mountain was not one of a few mountains..... because my mum peep knew one was her limit.

I helped to pull mum up the mountain while tracking dad dad's shoes..... I felt like Bert on a search and rescue mission....sheeesh! Check out the colour of my legs and feets at the end of it all!

Luckily - we all made it back in one piece in the 38 degree (100.4F) heat.... and no chopper had to be alerted!

Then I had to suffer through a long combing session (in fact - whenever I left the PKW and patio I had to have a long combing session.... gggrrrrr!)

To get out handfuls of these burs !!!!! I hate burs - especially when they get stuck deep in ones paw pads!!

Our next adventure started in the air-conditioned car. ("yay!") See the emus in between the trees. They crossed straight in front of the car but dad dad had spotted them coming and slowed right down before we made any sleep on the side of the road!

We visited some lookouts - this one was a little windy.

Then we found this cool homestead ruin from yonkers and yonkers back in time.

The roof had gone flyin' off somewhere...

Now the house needs major fixin' up - maybe a "renovation rescue!"....BOL!

Without a roof one needs to find a little shade elsewhere!

Mum liked this stony bit between buildings

This is her tryin' to be all creative like.......

We had to cross the river bed .... lucky it was dry.... in fact it is dry most of the time out here.... buggered if I understand how the European settlers thought they could "farm" here (!?!)

Must have been hard because this homestead had it's own graveyard....... spooky no??

So stay tuned because I'm gonna post the final pawt of our Hollinday adventure in a couple of days for you.

Be good all!!

Outback Dawg.......... Flinders Ranges Pawt 2

I'm so glad all my furiends out there are enjoyin' my Hollingday snaps..... here is the next installment - and I will try and cover some of your questions too!

For those of you who were equally impressed at the "hoppy critter" outside our camp - I can confirm that I got "up close" to wild Kangaroos and Wallabies on this adventure.

I am flabbergasted about these furry things..... I've never seen them this close before - and mum says I eat bits of them all the time - my roo chews and roo tendons! So I can confirm that these do not taste like chicken.... much yummier! Look at the camp fires and the campers ..... the roos look comfortable with how close they are.

(**I wonder if they have the recipe for "roo chews"??**)

Mum did a little zoom for you to see better.... does it make you drool??

You guys asked me if I was out chasin' em..... and the answer is "I wanted to!!" but the station here has an "all dawgs on lead at all times policy"..... bugger huh?

The great thing is I got to see them everyday..... it's not something you see normally. Oh and there were some sleeping on the side of the roads up here - that's what my peeps said - but I'm sure they met with an untimely end. 

Oh Crikey !!! Did you see that mum????!!! Did you have the flashy box handy!!?

These cheeky buggers are REALLY big birds..... mum calls them emus.... and they are walkin' straight past our camp! It's time for me to get out there and have a sniff around!

These emus are just walkin' about out here! I wonder what they'd taste like?? Chicken you think?

That was awesome don't ya think? Now - some of you have previously asked to see the inside of the PKW - so come have a look!

Here's my our double bed - note the curtains are closed to stop some of the direct sun heat from getting in.

Here is the sink and the gas hobs - which mum has left closed because she brings the portable hot plate to cook on when we are plugged into power.

Round further to the front of the PKW and we have the blue PKW coffee machine (mum can't rough it and not have good coffee in the morning) (**can you say "soft"**) ! The bin, our convection/microwave and our PKW TV/DVD player. I know what you are thinkin' - yes my peeps need a certain amount of creature comforts! (**feel free to roll your eyes upward...... I do!**)

The view out the front dome window.... the patch of trees directly in front of us was the scene of my first Kangaroo encounter on the first morning.

See:

 That's me stalkin' em(!) They were skeered to see me comin' their way! Look how they both have their beady eyes on me!

Then there is a step down to our patio. I get freaked by the silver step - so I jump over it to get in and out.

Pretty comfy huh? Oh and mum insisted that the van is fitted with reverse cycle heating and cooling...... because she is soft!

In answer to my bloggin' bro's question (George the Lad) there were many turns and curves on our roads..... and we even went on some dirt ones. You should have seen the state of the car!

Another of our views from base camp. 

Yes it was hot....... 

And we visited an old Homestead ruin.....

But I'm going to show you some of the walks, sights and scenery from look-outs and stuff..... coming real soon ......!