17-Oct-2004
| We have moved inland, southeast from Coogee Beach into the Lane Poole Conservation Reserve to spend 3 nights bush camping at Nanga Mill. This area is in a State Forest which has the Murray River running through it. The forest consists mostly of Jarrah trees (Red Gums); their timber is very hard and used for all sorts of things from furniture to floorboards and in the past, railway sleepers. The bark of the tree acts like asbestos and protect the core of the tree from fires that occur regularly. |  |
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The site was very nice with a stream and waterfall just behind us and there were several different types of parrots flying about. A regular visitor was a family of superb fairy wrens. These are like our wrens but have brilliant blue feathers. Some of the gullies were filled with lilies |
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There were quite a few kids camped around us as it was the last weekend of their two week spring holiday. On Sunday though most of them went home and we almost had the place to ourselves. Camping in the woods. |
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A park warden recommended that we spent an afternoon driving around a 4x4 track. I could see Ali's face drop as soon as he mentioned it. 'It's about 50k's and will only take you 4 hours' he said. We had a go but ended up doing a shortened version of it after taking a wrong track that led to a dead end (OK it was my fault!!). I am not sure how we managed to get the tow hitch caked in mud but there were a few deep washouts and puddles we had to negotiate. | |
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At this point, my navigator (Still in training but getting much better) decided to change her job to become a photographer and leapt out of the car and walked down this rocky slope! Well I have done quite a few brave and challenging things on this trip but staying in the car at this point isn't one of them. At the start of the track I was given the map but the driver decided at the first turning I was wrong so HE took the road HE thought we should only to find a great big tree trunk blocking the track after half an hours driving. No joke when you are being shaken about and gripping on for dear life. |
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