Day 11 -Arkaroola

Today we relaxed, apart from Justin cutting a stubborn piece of wood from the roots of a fallen River Gum. We gathered kindling and set the fire ready for our return from the ridge top tour. We grabbed the washing just before the tour commenced as the day was clouding over. Luckily the clothes were dry as we needed to change into pants as the tour vehicle was open on all sides. After five minutes I was cold enough to put on one of their blankets. The Vulkathunha Gammon Range that the tour explores is very steep and rocky with many peaks in a small area. It was an unwanted area given to some sheep farmers by the Government on the condition they cleared out the feral animals. Eventually they sold it to Reg Sprig, A geologist who was friends with Douglas Mawson, he had the ridgetop road built as he was sick of losing his roads due to flooding.

 

There was some very impressive driving by our tour guide Phil, getting the tough as nails Toyota Land Cruiser up some slippery rocky inclines, loaded with nine adults and three children. He made it look easy and without anxiety, something I suppose we could all do if we had been taking the tour for five years. We stopped at two lookouts, the first being Coultard, its views are below. Plenty of kangaroos were spotted, and Phil showed us a lot of native foods we could gather, if we got stuck out on the range....

 

At Siller's Lookout we had a welcome hot drink and lamingtons in between keeping the girls away from the gravelly edges and admiring the views. The wind is quite impressive up here, an impression you won't get from the photographs below.

 

On the return journey we stopped to look at a collection of minerals from all over the park.

 

We saw three yellow footed rock wallabies, a highlight with their striped tails. My camera's battery died just before the first sighting, grrrr. I hope to see some out from Alice Springs to compensate missing the photo opportunity. On our return I lit the fire, made Chickpea Korma with brown rice. We ate fire cooked raisin toast and the girls toasted marshmallows for dessert to the sounds of Justin's various comments regarding the waste of perfectly good marshmallows. Please place your vote here, to toast or not to toast?

 

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