An opportunity to explore Elachbutting Rock today. It’s sandstone like Uluru (Ayres Rock) but is much smaller and not a monolith (one piece). The rock changes colour with the sun and rain.
There is a 4x4 track to the top which eliminates the need to climb. From the top there are 360 deg views of the surrounding area. To the west and south are wheatfields.
The pastoralist to the west has planted one field with rows of trees. One assumes it’s either a strategy to reduce salt contamination or perhaps he’s earning extra cash being paid for carbon sequestering.
The view to the south.
Australian flora has to be particularly hardy as rainfall is very infrequent. Vegetation was growing on the top of the rock in the shallow crevasses formed by erosion.
These prickly orange plans were hanging on to life along the edge of the natural drain
On the west side of the rock is a track to Monty’s Pass and the ‘Wave’.
Monty’s Pass is a tunnel through the rock formed by a huge chunk of the rock breaking away from the main formation sliding down to create a gap.
Jenny stands in the entrance
The tunnel is approximately 30 metres long with some smaller broken pieces at the far end.
It’s only once you’ve scrambled out of the far end you look up and notice Guillotine Rock hanging ominously above your head.
All the sandstone rocks in this part of Australia appear to have numerous cracks and I suspect these are what causes large portions of rock to break away from the main structure. Infrequent rainwater would leak into the cracks and the freeze during the bitterly cold nights. The expansion would create sufficient force to break off sizeable portions.
Janet found a natural seat
Just me unsuccessfully attempting to be “arty”
The other notable features on this side of the rock are the caves and the wave formation formed by the wind an rain.
And the ‘Wave’. not as big as the Wave at Hyden but much less visited.
I cooked dinner that night. My plan was to use the camp over to cook a pork roast with roast potatoes and corn on the cob. The first step was to get a fire going for some embers.
I lined the oven with foil and fitted my home made trivet in the base. It was only when I placed the pork in the oven I realised there wouldn’t be room for the vegies.
The solution was to individually wrap the vegies and add them directly to the embers. The port stayed in the fire for three hours which was probably 20 minutes too long. It was just starting to get a little dry. However the crackling was crisp and tasty.
The vegies also turned out well. I’ll have to attempt this again.
That evening John gave me a photographic lesson. He was a professional photographer before retiring and I want to attempt some shots of the night sky.
The Milky Way. The bright star in the bottom slightly right of centre is actually Jupiter. you should be able to double click this photo to see it’s original size.
Yes… I need more practice!!!
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