more trip photos

About to head out on a day trip to lead some engineering students, but just wanted to post a few more photos first.  In chronologioc order but leaving out a lot, when I was using the other camera.  Will post more later. 


Kangaroos

 The kitchen in Yankaninna Stiation, where we stayed one night.  The oldest continually occupied log cabin in Australia, or so I was told.

Camp #2

Field site on U. Station

More field area at site 2

 Driving to Arkaroola.  Pretty good road here.

nooldoonooldoona?

The old Bolla Bollana Copper Mine- lots of tourists here.

For the group trip we met up and went to Bunyeroo Gorge, a populer geological trail.  Much greener and cooler down there than the stations in the north.

Wilpena Pound from Merna Mora.

Yellow-tailed rock wallabies in the Nat. Park.   They are a threatened species I think...

Saw another echinda this trip.

Creek roo.

OK, more later.

More Lizards

Harassing the lizards in the Flinders

John's September - October Trip to Flinders Ranges

Summary of Reports from Shelagh

About October 24th, John and a couple of companions left Adelaide a 3 week journey to the northern section of the Flinders Ranges.  This is the most remote and rugged terrain in South Australia.  It is the land of "sheep stations" and Australia's Indigenous People. 

John reports in to Shelagh every evening, usually by satellite phone.  Some times he sends a simple text message, so there is not much news except where they are and that they are OK. 

They are traveling in a land rover which is the standard for off-road and remote travel.

A map of the Northern Flinders Ranges.

They are in the northern 1/4th of this map and have been camping from Leigh Creek to Nepabunna.

They planned to camp for a week and then find a place to get a shower and a real bed(bunk house) for a night, then back to camping.  Map may need to be enlarged for better viewing.

 When traveling in these areas, if is the custom to stop and check in with the sheep station that you are passing thru.  They provide local information and updates on road conditions.                     
John described one day as a series of having tea at several of the stations they were passing thru.


They apparently stayed in Nepabunna one night.  It is a small village of 30 - 49 Indigenous people and is just on the northern edge of the Natawarrina Indigenous Protected Area.  A permit and likely a guide is required in this area.  The local custom is to request permission to enter these lands.

The big lakes shown on the east and west sides of the map are mostly seasonal (according to literature) and are home to many wading birds as they dry up and become large salt flats.

If you want to see the area on Google Maps or Google Earth, type in (S 30 13 33.5     E 139  6  05.1)
in the search or location box.  This should show the village of Nepabunna, where they were working on Wednesday.

Trip Map

Got the GPS data back...just FYI here is the route we took on the last trip  (in pink). Park boundary in green.

trip

Bad luck on the trip.  Coming down from the Strzelecki track in the north the "road" was pretty bad.  Hadn't been used in a while and the creeks had washed parts away.  Kathryn was not worried as she is well experienced in this type of off road driving.  She has been doing fieldwork in remote areas for over a decade.  Got tangled in some fence wire around the axel then got two flat tires, one almost at the end.  Finally made it to a good road and to the place we wanted to camp.  Had 2 spares so we had used both of them.  Set up camp and made food, then noticed another tire was flat- it had a slow leak.  In the morning we called the nearest mechanic in Copley on the satellite phone, who could not understand where we were and was giving us a hard time.  Called the office and had another geo make a map with our coordinates.  Emailed the map to the mechanic and they came to deliver another spare 4 hours later.  Guy that came out was a former outback cop and said we were among the best prepared he had seen- 2 GPS units, tons of batteries, water, food, sat phone, nightly check ins, etc.  We were never lost- knew exactly where we were the whole time, and it was easy to communicate coordinates with everyone.  Stayed in Copley campground and next day got the spares fixed and got a lecture from the head mechanic, who said he put all the tires at 40 psi and not to change them.  You are definitely supposed to lower the pressure for rough driving though.  Headed back out to Gammon Ranges NP and got a little ways down the 4WD track.  Stopped to check the tires- 2 at 40, one at 35, one at 30.  We weren't sure if they were leaking slowly again, or not fixed right, or just weren't fully inflated, but didn't want to have to call the jerk mechanic again so we didn't take any chances and headed back after we filled up the tires with the air compressor.  They stayed at 40 back to Leigh Creek so we figured they had just not filled them up all the way, which was annoying cause we could have gone on.  At that point it was too late to do anything else so we just headed back to Adelaide. 

Didn't get to do any field work but did get to see some rocks and learned a lot about which roads to take.  Going back in 2 weeks- this time it should be really easy since we won't take that one road that caused all the problems.

John's Recon Trip To Flinder's Ranges

Information for Family / Friends
This week (September 7- 13, 2013) John along with his Major Professor and another researcher from a university in Western Australia  are making a scouting trip thru the area where he will conduct research and field work for his doctorial project.  This is generally in the Flinder's Ranges which encompasses at least 1 National Park.  I have included his maps to show the general and specific areas where they will be working.   A much longer trip will be made later depending upon what all they find this time.  They are looking for specific areas to study certain fossils.

They are checking in with Shelagh every evening.  In the event they do not check in, she has to call in the cavalry.

                                          Successive Days - Arkaroola Village

                                          Mount Frome

 

Schedule:

Day 1: Sunday 8^th September 2013

Kathryn, John and Julien leave Adelaide. Car will be loaded and packed on Saturday the 7^th.  Drive from Adelaide Uni to Lyndhurst, SA (6.5 hours).

Activities: on-road driving.

Possible hazards: kangaroos/cattle on the road.

Day 2: Monday 9th September 2013

Driving to field site from Lyndhurst to Umberatana along the Strzelecki Track.  Walking along creeks and examining rock exposures.  Drive from Umberatana to Arkaroola- Spend night at Arkaroola. 

Activities: 4WD driving on dirt tracks, bush walking.

Possible hazards: Kangaroos/cattle on the unsealed road, water in river channels crossing the road, snakes/spiders in the bush, dehydration, sunstroke.

Day 3: Tuesday 10^th September 2013

Drive from Umberatana Station to Gammon Ranges National Park.  Hike Bunyip Gorge trail/creek. Stay night near Grindells hut or Weetootla campground. 

Activities: 4WD driving on dirt tracks, bush walking

Possible hazards: Kangaroos/cattle on the unsealed road, water in river channels crossing the road, snakes/spiders in the bush, dehydration, sunstroke.

Day 4: Wednesday 11^th September 2013

Drive from Gammon Ranges National Park to Mt Frome area.  Hike north from Black Oak bore for 2-3 kilometers.  Drive to night lodging at Wirrealpa Station.

Activities: On-road driving, 4WD driving on dirt tracks, bush walking.

Possible hazards: Kangaroos/cattle on the unsealed road, water in river channels crossing the road, snakes/spiders in the bush, dehydration, sunstroke.

Day 5: Thursday 12^th September 2013

Drive from Wirrealpa Station to Wilkawillina Gorge.  Hike down Ten Mile Creek.  Drive to Wilpena Pound for night lodging.  

Activities: On-road driving, 4WD driving on dirt tracks, bush walking.

Possible hazards: Kangaroos/cattle on the unsealed road, water in river channels crossing the road, snakes/spiders in the bush, dehydration, sunstroke.

Day 6: Friday 13^h September 2013

Leave field area, driving back from Wilpena to Adelaide.

We will be in ASP Friday afternoon and will return equipment and vehicle, and will check in with department staff. 

Activities: On-road driving.

Possible hazards: Kangaroos/cattle on the road.

Caveat: all locations may not be visited if we decide to spend longer at the earlier locations.  Shelagh will be informed each day of our location and plan for the next day. 

 __________________________________________________________________________________

Look on Google Earth or similar product to see some of these locations (Lyndhurst, South Australia / Arkaroola, South Australia / Mount Frome, South Australia).
 
To say that they are in the middle of no-where is a true understatement.

Everyone who reads this could certainly give a little prayer for "traveling mercies" for John and his group.