Baptism

After a windy and cool night at Waukaringa (38km north of Yunta), with a 6 degree morning and a significant wind chill we packed up and headed up the track to Arkaroola fringing the Flinders Ranges on our left for much of the way.  Many floodplains, deep dry creek beds, corrugations, hardly any others on the road.  The wind was icy for much of the morning as we donned our thick jackets.

Decided to be a bit more adventurous (because we had the time) and took a 17km 4WD only track through the Gammon Ranges to Grindells Hut – Cate’s 4WD baptism was complete!  Gnarly, narrow, twisty, rocky, sandy, uphill and down dale, dry creek crossings, massive hills as the 4WD track wound its way into the bush and some spectacular scenery! 

Of course, we are the only ones here.

We are near Lake Frome which reportedly has the whitest salt in the Southern Hemisphere … it’s a 27km track into the edge of the salt lake which is about 100km long.  We just need to find the starting point …

The wind has continued today – so can’t get the drone up.  Everything is covered in a thin layer of dust.  The flies abound – except when the wind blows.  So far, nothing has broken, fallen apart or come loose despite having done about 2000 km of unsealed roads.

Tomorrow we head to the northern part of the Flinders Ranges for a 4 night station stay at Moolooloo Station. This is off grid camping at its best. We'll use this as base to explore this part of the Flinders Ranges.