Category: travel
Spike wattle
Cascading along pathways in The Grampians, these wattles, also known as acacia oxycedrus, are a brilliant decoration while you walk. They’re my entry in Cee’s FOTD.
Pull up a seat – in The Grampians
From our recent travels to The Grampians, in Victoria, Australia. There’s a lot of wood, but some mushrooms and waffle cones to make up a selection of seats for Xingfumama’s challenge.
Garden lines
One of the entrances to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens has some neat lines for Becky’s squares.
Victoria Valley lines
Gum trees, all lined up for Becky’s squares, in Victoria Valley, the Grampians.
Town Hall lines
Ballarat Town Hall, opened 1870, has a plethora of lines, going in every conceivable direction and even arranged in squares. Just the thing for Becky’s squares.
lines from Pompeii to Ballarat
For Becky’s squares I’m submitting the geometric and curvy lines to be found in the Botanic Gardens of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
pull up a seat in Halls Gap
For Xingfumama’s challenge, I was spoilt in the Brambuk Cultural Centre, Halls Gap.
Aroona Dam, Beltana and Parachilna
Our exit from Leigh Creek brought us to a beautiful spot just out of town, that we’d missed on our way in. We’d heard of Aroona Dam and thought it would be in the middle of town, so might have completely passed this gem by.
The road in is dirt, but would be ok if you were towing. I think it might be 5km and it was scenic. We were not expecting the size of the dam or the range of things to do and wildlife.
There’s an old concrete BBQ setting but I didn’t take a close look to see if it still worked. I’d definitely recommend taking food and spending some time here, as you could fill hours, easily. Don’t forget hat, sunscreen and some portable shade could be good.
We left and decided to make a stop at Beltana, as we had heard a tourist operator talking up the town, as having been rebuilt from ruin and the model upon which Furina was based. It wasn’t far from Leigh Creek, but the road from the highway was pretty rough at the meeting of waterways and if we had been towing it would have made for plenty of careful crossings. No water in sight, of course.
Beltana is occupied and we expected a shop or some signs of life, but there were none, so we ate our lunch, used the excellent facilities and drove on to Parachilna.
What, you might ask, does the ediacara capital of the world, mean? Quoting from https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/ediacara
” In 1946, geologist Reginald Sprigg discovered fossil imprints in rocks in the Flinders Ranges at the old Ediacara minefield. This discovery was the first time the fossilised remains of an entire community of soft-bodied creatures had been found in such abundance anywhere in the world. ”
The Ediacaran period is 94 million years between Cryogenian and Cambrian Periods.
There is an area just after Parachilna, heading north, called Nilpena, where it is very easy to pick up Ediacaran fossils. Had we known…
There is a great hotel at which to stop here and plenty of information.
From here, it’s still about 5 hours to Adelaide, so pace yourself and plan ahead where you’ll stop and for how long. We made several stops before home, including Orroroo and Auburn.
Safe travels.
Maree, Furina and Lake Eyre South
The other drive we took from Leigh Creek was to Lake Eyre South, in hopes of seeing the lake filling.
En route to Maree, we stopped at Farina, a town that is being rebuilt from ruins and friends had advised us to get there early for the cream buns! You see, the first building to be rebuilt was the bakery , which runs on wood as it did in the day, and is underground. This doesn’t seem to be uncommon, as a hotel in the town had an underground bakery, too, so maybe it was to provide a cool spot in the Summer. I should have asked!
the second fully restored building 
original names and places signposted 
the entrance, about 500m off the main road
A super idea having a working bakery, as the town is only a little detour from the main road and the place was packed with visitors, all checking out the ruins, recovery and yeast goods. A team of people come here from May to July each year, to work on rebuilding the town which they have researched heavily. We think we might join them when we retire. There’s a campground for anyone wanting to stay.
inside the hotel/nurses building 
At Maree, we stopped for a great coffee at the Oasis Cafe and heard that the road to William Creek was pretty awful. From Maree onward it was dirt. Having a bite to eat by a rest area, we saw a memorial to the early cameleers, who were present throughout the desert in Australia in colonial times and their part in the country’s growth is only recently being acknowledged.
We let down our tyres (for the first time ever) and had a great drive. A spot along the way caught our eye and we stopped to catch the sentiment. I think it’s nature is artistic.
It was some time before we reached Lake Eyre South Lookout and it was pretty easy to find, with a huge carpark and many attending. The water had only just started entering this part of the lake and we had been warned that it was a good walk out to see it, but 100m didn’t even provide more glimmer. We’re glad we did it, though.
walking closer 
From here, I was keen to go to the hot springs, but Alan wasn’t, so we returned the way we had come. We paid closer attention to the closed coal mine and got some nice sunset shots.
