After a “house keeping” day at Port Lincoln we headed off along the Tod Highway – stopping on the way out of town to buy some nylon guitar strings. There were only two brands available (neither of which I had used before) – so asked the recommendation of the store holder who advised me to purchase the Ernie Ball – Ernesto Pallo strings “ ‘cause all the fishermen buy these – they don’t rust”! Who could argue against the recommendations of the local tuna and salmon fishermen.
We have been exploring the Gawler Ranges and have been bush camping in the National Park. Currently this whole area of SA is experiencing a mouse plague – so in the evening we have to pack everything carefully away – all food in the car, shut up the kitchen to reduce access to the camper trailer and hope for the best. Steve has had them run up his leg and up onto his shoulder whilst sitting by the fire. They are everywhere, running over our feet, all over the floor of the shower tent (where the chemical toilet is). Ethan and I have tried making cat noises at them ,…… but to no avail! At night we lie in bed listening to them scrabbling over the roof and up the sides of the tent – so far none have been able to break through the impenetrable barrier of the canvas!
The Gawler Ranges consists of volcanic rock hills presumably over 150omillion years old. Our exploration of the range has taken in a 4WD and walk to the ‘organ pipes’ – which is an amazing exposure of volcanic rhyolite. IT is quite a stunning landscape. Although it is obvious where water pours down the hills and through the gullies it is currently “dry as a chip”. In fact the native bees were sucking moisture from crevaces in the granite rocks on our walk yesterday.
Ethan has had great fun climbing Pidappa Rock – a huge granite monolith with a fantastic wave formation. We have climbed up to the top to see magnificent view of the gawler Ranges and surrounding farmland. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset whilst playing ‘uno’ with Ethan and drinking a lovely NZ sauv blanc…… Aaaah!
