Day 1
Distance travelled: 524 Kms
Saturday 22nd August 2009: With John arriving before the designated departure time, it allowed us to start out journey at 5.50am to Port Augusta to meet up with the rest of the group. It was overcast with some rain starting to fall 22kms south of Port Wakefield. Port Augusta was to be the first of our fuel stops on this trip. After a quick phone call to Kerry it was decided that we would all assemble at Hungry Jacks for a coffee before heading off to the Gawler Ranges with our five vehicle convoy.

It is amazing how time can get away when you are having fun as it was soon 9.56am before we left Port Augusta. With light rain still falling, it was 10.47am when we left the black top to head out into the Gawler Ranges from Iron Knob. Going by the amount of green grass in the area, it was clear to see that the rains had fallen at the right time to make the country look so nice. We drove through until 1.47pm when we reached our first camp site on the side of Lake Gairdner which was on Yardea Station. With tents soon set up and firewood collected, it was now time to sit back and enjoy the great scenery of our location.

Day 2
Distance travelled: 129 Kms
Sunday 23rd August 2009: After our bacon and egg breakfast, it was a short walk to the water edge to wait for the sun to come up enough to allow us to capture some water reflection photos. Unfortunately though, the higher the sun rose, the more the wind picked up. We were all packed at 10.40am and on the road for the second day now heading towards the Gawler Ranges National Park. It was lunch time as we drove into Scrubby Peak Campground where it was a short stop to eat before going onto the Organ Pipes for a look. We were surprised at the number of pipe shaped rocks that were in the area although we did not climb all the way to any of them to play a tune.

Leaving the Organ Pipe car park at 2.24pm, we drove through to Pildappa Rock where we arrived at 3.13pm. Firewood here was hard to find so it was a short night around the fire before going to bed. The night had strong winds and rain towards the early morning just before day break. Pildappa Rock is a little like Wave Rock in Western Australia. We even heard the comment that it was like a mini Ayres Rock. For us, it was our first time to Pildappa Rock and well worth the visit.

Day 3
Distance travelled: 283 Kms
Monday 24th August 2009: There were some dark clouds heading our way when we all surfaced for our third day so it was a quick pack up before anything got wetter than it already was. Leaving for our first destination for the day at 9.30am, was Ceduna where we were to refuel and each have a shower before moving on to the Googs Track. While in Ceduna, it was also an opportunity to top up with those essential grocery items that were required.

With our National Parks Permits to camp two nights along the Googs Track, it was 1.50pm after nearly three hours in Ceduna when we left to start traveling the Googs Track. The weather was still holding off from raining on us although the wind was strong. We were able to drive through the first part of the Googs Track until 2.44pm when it was decided to let some air out of our tyres to travel on the soft sand. We arrived at Googs Lake where we set up our tents for the third night at 4.17pm.

Day 4
Distance travelled: 86 Kms
Tuesday 25th August 2009: Once breakfast was out of the way and everyone was packed ready to go, Kerry, Peter and John took some time to have a play with their 4WDs climbing some sand hills coming from the side of Googs Lakes up to the campground. Once the boys with their toys had finished playing, we left Googs Lake at 9.54am heading for Mount Finke which was to be the location for the second night's camp.

Between Googs Lake and Mount Finke the sand hills became rougher and more challenging to get over. It was a balance of speed to get over the sand hill and the need for a smooth crossing that sometimes had some of us taking more than one attempt at conquering the sand hills. We all commented on the suitability of the Googs Track being a good training ground for anyone intending on crossing the Simpson Desert.

It was this part of the trip that we found the best display of wild flowers along the Googs Track. Arriving at Mount Finke at 2.40pm, we all set up out tents once again before some of us went for a drive to have a look at the back side of Mount Finke. The weather was now starting to look better as our trip progressed with more blue sky and a lot less wind.

Day 5
Distance travelled: 305 Kms
Wednesday 26th August 2009: After last nights fireside discussions, we decided to have an earlier start to the day today and allow enough time to travel to Glendambo where we were to refuel, shower and head back into the Gawler Ranges to camp for our 5th night instead of stopping the night at the Glendambo Caravan Park. With this in mind, we left the camp site at 8.25am making our way towards Tarcoola.

It was 10.42am when we arrived at Tarcoola where we were lucky enough to see a goods train come through and stop while were were at the old railway station. From here it was onto Kingoonya and then finally to Glendambo where we arrived at 12.48pm. Once we were all refueled and eaten, we ventured over to the Motel where we each bought a shower at the Caravan Park. There were two shower blocks in the Park and for those who were lucky enough to select the wrong block had cold showers.

Back on the road at 2.36pm this time heading towards Kokatha Station where we were to overnight at a camping area which was well used by travelers. Here we arrived at 4.01pm where everyone was well schooled by now as to the easiest way to set up their respective tents and swags.

Day 6
Distance travelled: 275 Kms
Thursday 27th August 2009: John had been enquiring most days as to the health of his sick father and the pressure of being away while family members were ill had taken its toll to the point where John had decided to head for home earlier than the rest of the group. With this John departed at 7.40am to head back to Adelaide while the rest of us continued with our trip.

Leaving the camp site at 9.06am, we headed towards Yardea Station where we were to spend our second to last night in the Gawler Ranges. We thought the roads were in good condition throughout our trip through the Gawler Ranges when we met a lone grader working just north of Skull Tanks. It was Skull Tanks that we headed towards Hiltaba Station which wasn't the road that the grader had already done. The day gave us perfect weather with clear skies and no wind at all.

It was lunch time when we pulled up on Yardea Station to eat our lunch. From here it was off to have a look at the house at Careeda, an outstation of Yardea where my grand parents once lived and worked. From Careeda we drove out onto the Moonaree to Iron Knob road where we found a wild peach tree with ripe fruit on it. Some members of our group had a feed while others thought the fruit was too dry to be eaten. As it was too early to set up camp, we drove on to Kolendo where we set up camp at 2.59pm.

Day 7
Distance travelled: 604 Kms
Friday 28th August 2009: We had a few light showers of rain during the early hours of the morning and when we looked outside of our tent we were unsure of what the weather was going to do. After bacon and eggs for breakfast, we were all mobile once again at 9.00am this time heading for Siam Station where we were to leave the main road and cut through Siam to finish up at Charlinga which was Uncle Frank and Jenny's home not far off of the Woomera to Port Augusta road.

It was shortly before 12.05pm when we all commented on the black rain clouds moving across north of us as we neared the Yudnapinna Station woolshed. By the time we had reached Charlinga at 1.32pm there was water everywhere. As we stood under an iron roof verandah, we could hardly hear each other talk for the loud rain noise on the roof. This was to be our last location and night for the trip but with the rain we decided to all head for our respective homes. As we drove towards Port Augusta, we could hardly see the road in front of us for the heavy rain. After arriving home at 7.07pm and hearing that Charlinga had received and inch of rain during the afternoon, we think the right decision was made to cut the trip short by one day.

 

To view the photos of this trip, click here