Dear class mates and friends, since my last message we have been at the Flinders Ranges. We saw ruins of a little village and we looked through them and took photographs (there was even an outside dunny ruin). I have been taking lots of photographs – in fact most of the time I am in control of the camera, with mum and dad occasionally getting to take a photo.
The Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound are awesome. We went for a 5 hour hike to Rawnsley Bluff and it was a really hard climb to the top because the pebbles were slippery and some of the rocks would slip. When we got to the top there was a FANTASTIC view. There was a cairne (a sort rock tower) at the top that was for a bloke called Rawnsley who had pretended to be a surveyer (someone who maps out the countryside) and the South Australian Government had paid him to map out the Flinders Ranges. We saw some men in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s all riding their push bikes through the Flinders Ranges when we were going for a drive – they were pretty fit.
On the way back from the 9.3 km walk to the Bluff, I met two boys from Brisbane who have been travelling with their family for the last 5 months. We made friends and later on back at camp they invited me over to their caravan to play wii. And we played Dragon Ball Z and Mario Party 8 – I think I would like to buy these games when I get home. On one walk we saw about 18 ducklings with their two parents. The dam they were swimming in had collapsed due to flooding a week before and one wall of the dam needs to be rebuilt.
We have had loads of storms and lots of roads are blocked off. We are currently waiting in a town called Maree because we can’t get through to North lake Eyre. We have met four other groups of campers who are also stuck here until the road opens. We are all camping at the back of Maree pub. We all went into the pub last night and I had a lemonade (mum and dad both had a beer), and we talked to some of the local’s about the rain.
We have had to drive our car through creeks that are running across the road – mum took a picture of dad wading through the water to check if we could drive our car through – it was very funny.
The flies and mossies are immensely hungry for me. I walked past the rubbish bin this morning – no flies were near the rubbish bin but they all seem to be trying to get in my ears!
Mum got me a new cereal for breakfast, and while we were eating we watched one of the small planes taking off to take people for a joy flight over Lake Eyre. Last night we saw a really clear satellite travelling across the sky. It was really clear because it was reflecting the sun’s rays, but it disappeared when it was no longer in the line of the sun. I wish you guys could all share the experience.
I am a bit sick of the rain.
Big hello to Ziggy and Nathaniel who have sent me a message on the blog.
Bye for now
Ethan
