Friday 22 October 2021

Southern Safari – Day Six

Waking at dawn I quickly closed up the clamshell rooftop tent and made breakfast.  No dust or flies…… Sausages and eggs… Great!.  Then it was just a case of washing up and closing the camper trailer tailgate kitchen.  The old soldier in me means I pack things away as soon as I’ve finished with them.  A habit Jan will tell you I don’t have at home.

Having driven a significant distance yesterday I only had three hundred kilometres to todays destination.   Trio Bush Camp on the edge of the Stirling Ranges.  This would be the one location where I paid to camp.  An honesty box system at $16 pp senior’s concession.  The campsite had a kitchen, toilets and showers.

There was low cloud cover, however I considered flying the drone until I noticed the “No Drone” sign <dammit>.

A sign outside the kitchen proclaimed guided wildflower tours would depart in the afternoon at $25 per person.  I decided to go for a walk thinking the wildflowers can’t be too far away.   I was right!

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Saved $25 Smile

The weather became very intermittent with a changing mix of sun, cloud and gusts of wind.  I decided to setup camp in a clump of trees in an effort to get some shelter from the wind.

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The Stirling Ranges occasionally appeared when the cloud lifted.

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I’ve decided to walk to the top of the highest hill, Bluff Knoll.  However that will be tomorrow morning as I don’t trust the weather. 

At 1099metres Bluff Knoll is the highest hill in the Stirling Ranges. 

Dinner was cooked in the camp kitchen.  A tin of Irish stew which appeared to be mostly potato and ‘gloop.   Poor choice on my part!

After dusk I spent several hours in conversation with a couple from Derby, UK who now live in Perth.  They were explaining they usually travel back to the UK each year to see their aging parents.  However COVID and ‘Fortress Australia’ has placed a dampener on that in the last couple of years.    

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