Flinders Ranges trip - Day 12

22/9/14

Day 12

This morning we drove out to meet fellow blogger and friend, Outback Tania and her husband Phil.  I have been blogging since August 2008 and Tania first commented one my blog in November of that year.  Since then, I've been following her as she lives just out of a large outback town, in arid, desert conditions.  I take my hat off to her as I could not stand the heat that Pt Augusta delivers in the summer months. Over the years, she has had a garden to be envious of, producing a bounty of veggies in very trying conditions.  She is a good cook and recently has been going down the frugal path which we should all be adopting.  Less is more, cutting back and no spend days, that type of thing.

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http://outbacktania.blogspot.com.au

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Here we are on her front verandah.  Her house has a great wide verandah which helps keep their house lovely and cool.    We had a good natter over a lovely cuppa and a piece of her yummy date slice.  Her husband Phil and his mate, Sid, joined us and we had lots of laughs.  Her garden is not doing much at the moment but she said she's gearing up to get it going again.  She showed me her patch of lawn - crunchy and brown.  Thats living in the desert for ya! :)

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Here is the recipe for Tania's Date Squares - I hadn't seen this one before and its nice and easy and scrummy!

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(Photo by Tania)

Boil together 1 cup of chopped dates, 4oz butter and 1 cup of butter - for 5 minutes.  Then stir in 4 cups of rice bubbles and mix well.  A little nutmeg added imporves the flavour.  Press into a lined slice tin and place in fridge until cold.  Top with whipped cream.  Place sliced banana that has been soaked in lemon juice on top of cream and sprinkle with coconut.

Delicious!

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All too soon it was time to go.  Thank you, Tania and Phil for your hospitality and opening your lovely home to us.  If you are ever down this way, the door is always open!

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Then it was onto Wallaroo, via Pt Pirie.  We had a nice lunch in a cafe called SaFavi's.

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Tandoori kebabs...

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Personalised coffees! Me...
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and Gus! Lol!
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We finally got to Walleroo where we stayed at the Walleroo Marina...
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The last sunset of our trip away...

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It has been a great 2 weeks, so relaxing and wonderful to see a part of this great wide land that we haven't seen before.
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Day 13   23/9/14

We made our way back home via Adelaide, calling quickly to see Brianna who was home. Then it was onwards home!

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Cheers. Joolz xx

 

Flinders Ranges trip - Day 11

21/9/14

Day 11

First up - breakfast!

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Egg n bacon toasted sanga and a cup of coffee!

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After a long pack up, we left our lovely camp - neat and tidy - just the way we found it!   Then we made our way up Mt Arden for a look ...

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It was a very, very steep climb!  Ruby performed beautifully and slowly got us to the top.

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Slowly does it!

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We had a 360 degree view of the Southern end of the Flinders Ranges...

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Gus reckoned he earned a beer driving up!

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then it was time ... to go back down!   I admit I had a slight panic attack.  But once we got going, slowly, ever so slowly, we made our way down the rocky path...

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Winding our way ...

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Back down to flatter ground, phew!  I had sweaty palms and feet!

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Then it was time to head back to the Argadells homestead and say goodbye to Malcolm & Judy, the proprietors and to thank them for having us on their property.  They charge $20/night and we could also have a hot shower at the homestead camp quarters for $6.  Malcolm had bought us up a big box of firewood for $40 which was ample for our 2 nights.

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Then we made a bee line for Pt Augusta in the afternoon.  I needed a shower like you wouldn't believe!

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We stayed at the Majestic Oasis apartments and our room had chocolates galore! We received champers and choc dipped strawberries on arrival too!

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Our room had a washer and dryer too so I did a few loads of washing while Gus went off to spruce up Ruby - she was filthy with red dirt!

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Oh, the shower was magnificent!  Dinner was a Caffe Primo which was a short walk away.

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Tomorrow, I get to meet a fellow blogger - very excited!!  :)

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flinders Ranges trip ... Day 10

Day 10  20/9/14

Today is our 28th Wedding Anniversary! 

We spent much of the day doing nothing!

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Gus decided lunch under this magnificent gum tree was in order...

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Snags and hamburgers ...

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With tomato sauce, in bread!

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Later in the arvo, I made an apple crumble for our evening dessert... 

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I used some breakfast cereal, flour, butter and sugar for the crumble top...

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Meanwhile, Gus put together a barbecue baste for our lamb chops...

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He cooked them over the coals of the fire on his Auspit rotisserie....

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Here you can see the drum with vegetables which tumbled around and around as the spit is driven by a small motor in that box to the right.  We lowered it as the fire died down...and cooked the chops...

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...but 2 hours later when we went to eat - still raw veggies!!

They just hadnt cooked at all!

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We wnded up having chops and Continental Tomato & Pasta and gravy...our first culinary failure while camping!

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But my apple crumble saved the night!

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Thank God for dessert!  He he!

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We spent another cosy night in Ruby, glad we had our hot water bottles with us!  We have been so lucky with the weather, no wind at night and quite mild.

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Flinders Ranges Trip ... Days 8 & 9

18/9/14

Day 8

This morning we checked out of the resort accomodation but we plan to stay on here another night. We are trying some different lodgings tonight!

We took a drive out to Old Wilpena Station and had a wander around the old farm buildings...

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Then we drove out to Rawnsley Park Station to the Woolshed Restaurant ...

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We both chose the Lamb Pie - filled with leftover roast lamb and veggies. Delicious!

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Then it was back to the resort to take overnight possession of our Ikara Safari premium tent...

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King size bed!

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I set up a bit of a kitchen on the bench so I could make dinner...

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Gus lit the pig so we could sit around the fire...

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I decided to make some scones to go with the spaghetti and meatballs ...

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I baked them in the BabyQ and they turned out pretty good. A bit overdone on the bottoms but yummy!

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Very basic meatballs made from frozen mince...

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It was really good!

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Day 9   19/9/14

Next morning, we had toast on the Q for breakfast.  It toasts really good just sitting the bread on foil.  So do crumpets.   Time to pack up once again.  We are heading for Quorn to stock up on food for the next couple of days.

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We had lunch in Quorn at the Transcontinental Hotel. Good fish and chips and I had roast pork.  I asked for extra gravy!

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Next job was buying food at the IGA in Quorn.  Once that was done, we fuelled up, got ice and then headed out to a bush retreat called Argadells. It is a privately owned property with bush camp sites...

~http://www.argadells.com.au

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As you can see, we had the whole field to ourselves...

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This is our setup...

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The long drop dunny was a little walk away...
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I just love bush toilets - so inviting!  Not!  First thing I saw when I opened the door was a huntsman spider so no long drop toilet for me!

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This had a much more tranquil feel!  Dig me a hole anyday!

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We had a fire pit so Gus got the fire going early.

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We are having a curry for dinner so I made some simple flat breads...

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I didn't have a rolling pin so I used my roll of Gladwrap to roll them out.  That did the trick!

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I used the flat hot plate in the BabyQ to cook them.  Perfect!

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Mango chicken curry with basmati rice...

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Yum,

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Joolz xx