Logbook

First there was the inland Outback expedition North, then there was the coastal salty expedition South. Balanced out quite nicely.

So:
Mon: Crack of noon start but as we just needed to make it to Victor Harbor and the motel check-in wasn't til after 1pm, wasn't an issue. Visitor center and evil pie stealing seagulls*. Failed attempt to find good lunch - mediocre bakery instead. Should have stuck to the nice cheeses, salamis, breads and crackers, fruit and occasional smoked trout etc in the cooler in the car which we had been doing lunch out of for the rest of the touring. Out to Granite Island. Very windy (as I could lean back into it and nearly have myself supported). 1 fairy penguin (probably a chick) seen down a crack in the rocks, but we backed off when we saw it so as not to disturb it further. Cool wind and salt sculpted granite boulders etc. No whales :(. Back to hotel with BBQed kangaroo for dinner.

Tues: Earlier start. Out to The Bluff for more lack of whale sightings. However it was gorgeous views and warm and sunny so we didn't care. Crashing waves and jagged rocks at Petrel Cove, so lots of boulder hopping, rock pool scrambling and occasional unsuccessful dodging of waves. Lots of cool starfish - blues and purples and oranges. Lunch at Waitpinga Beach, giggling at the surfers and looking at the cliche Aussie golden sand beach. Then wombled over to Cape Jervis (less interesting rock pools but very neat variety of sponges washed up) and back to Adelaide via the reef at Aldinga Beach (not much to see above water but plenty of birds).

Parents pack up this evening and fly home tomorrow. alpha_angel, sounds like they wont have space for the oilskin (dense heavy stuff), but do have the striped silk trousers, Known Words Songbook, cinnamon lollies and a suprise.

*Z never did get around to the Wasabi Revenge - he was quite miffed that he only got about 4 bites of the pie...

Back now after a little jaunt up north.

Ever tried herding 3 geologists away from a nice rocky outcrop? Cats at least can occasionally be bribed...

Weds: The theory was to leave town by around 9:30am. Snigger... Stopped for groceries on the way out and eventually left the outskirts by around 11amish. Stopped for lunch at Burra and had much fun wandering around the free bits of the old copper mine. There were lots of pretty little green rocks and very pretty blue rocks (malachite and azurite). There were only 2 little bags full collected. Occasional kangaroos. Continued on, arriving at Flinders Ranges National Park around sunset (very nice lighting on the bluffs) just in time for the restaurant to be booked out - at least we had booked the accommodation a couple days earlier. Luckily the caravan park shop was (just) still open and we had access to an oven, so frozen pizza wasn't an issue. Very nice clear night out with dust lanes and everything.

Thurs: 1st stop, Wilapena Pound, with emu sightings along the way. Walk up into the Pound (large geological basin created from folded up stuff - I am sure I was told the technical term at some point (edit: syncline)) and up to the lookouts. Parrots and kangaroos along the way. You could spot the Australians by the way they didn't stop and look at the kangaroos, though it could just be tunnel vision. Back, then escaped the commercial "make money off the tourists" center and found a nice picnic spot by a dam to eat lunch and watch the ducks.
On to Brachina Gorge and the geological pilgrimage trail - a 20 km long drive with signs on the way pointing out the 150 million years of geological history you drive though. Started to the east with the Trezona Formation (~630 million years old) and some of the earliest fossil stromatolites. Then slowly moved forward in time. There was much enthusing over the Elatina Formation (~620 million years old) and the glacial tillite from nearby glaciers when such of the world was a frozen snowball - Mum was happy to have now seen the Northern and Southern Hemisphere evidence therein. Then along though various hills and ranges of various shapes and degrees of ruggedness depending on the softness and erodability of the ancient rocks, getting younger as we went. The road also got rougher as we went so in some cases the rental sedan had a little fun picking the right path. As the afternoon got later more kangaroos emerged (the big grey bouncy ones and big red bouncy ones). Then we saw something different - a little one with a yellow striped tail. And it bounced across the road just as Z tried to take a photo and then we saw a whole lot more. Invisible against the rocks unless they moved, they were yellow striped rock wallabies and according to the brochures we had, they are endangered and if we were really lucky, we might see one. We saw about 20 over the next half hour (getting close to dusk), driving through the gorge and while looking for Ediacra Fauna fossils in the Rawnsley Quartzite (~550 million years old). No luck, but gorgeous sunset light on red sandstones, a wedgetail eagle circling and lots more rock wallabies bouncing off rocks. Got out of the gorge while we could still just see and made it the ~100 km back to the Station just in time for our restaurant dinner booking. Very nice kangaroo shanks and quandong pie. Very full. Staggered back to cabin under clear starry skies.

Fri: Continued search for Ediacaran fossils in Parachilna Gorge, but no luck. The geologists had lots of fun rock scrambling though. Lunch in a picnic spot on the big wide open flat to the west with emus and very noisy galas and not quite cockatoos (white crest, can't remember the correct name) and bright green and yellow and blue parrots than moved too fast to be IDed possitively... and flies... Then onto the road and back home via Quorn and the coast (far less interesting than the inland route we had taken up, but direct and faster)
Home in time for not_chinese_but_pizza for dinner (mutter mutter shut shops) and sprawling. Tomorrow may or may not be checking out the Ediacaran Fossils at the Museum and then possibly heading south and coastward a bit.

Finished trawling though the backlog of LJ and email (spot the Lochac list going sproing while away).

Lots of photos were taken (possibly even more kangaroos than rocks), and some of them may turn up some time.

Possibly sleep soon and shower in less saline water...