It was a wonderful water hole, with a sandy beach.
Reeds, and an escarpment, albeit a smaller one.
And of course, great trees and reflections on the water.
Tag Archives: running waters
Back to Running Waters – Part 4
We stopped to admire another magnificent tree.
Walked on through the grove of river gums.
Until we reached the water hole – different from the one we camped at, but no less magnificent.
Back to Running Waters – Part 3
A few kilometres upstream we came upon a little shed, where a local elder had once lived. We were told that he had now passed and it is now empty for much of the time. It’s the only dwelling for miles around.
Nearby were of course some magnificent trees.
This one in particular was different from the rest. It is a bloodwood, I think.
The bark on the trunk has an interesting pattern. No ‘blood’ (or sap) visible on this one though.
Back to Running Waters – Part 2
Rocks are never far away. These looked as if they had been knocked over by a giant.
You wouldn’t think that moss would grow in Central Australia, but they do.
And trees take root in the most unlikely of places.
Back to Running Waters – Part 1
A walk down-stream produces a different view of the rock.
By the water-side were a few reeds, and they have to be spiky as most plants in Central Australia are.
Not far away was a very impressive strand of river red gums. See how they tower.
These trees have stood the test of time, through drought and floods – because there is occasionally water on the mighty Finke River.
No wonder they’re so anchored to the earth.
Walk to Clay Pan – Part 2
We did some exploring on the surface of the clay pan…
Before settling down to study the clay pan itself.
What can a group of artists do on a clay pan? Use the clay as a medium, of course. The clay could be diluted in a bit of water, and used as paint. A great substitute for burnt sienna.
Walk to Clay Pan – Part 1
We took a walk one morning across the red sand dunes, through mallee and mulga scrubs.
Our destination was the clay pan.
It’s a one km square clay bed. Perhaps it had been a freshwater lake at one time?
Whatever it had been, its surface was now dry and hard.
Parts of the surface was clear, with only cracks and the odd hard, black stone.
Other parts had pebbles on top and embedded into the surface.
It was beautiful, and intriguing place.
Running Waters – Part 6
Let’s have a further look at the landscape beyond the camp.
Big river gums loom over the Finke River.
What’s fascinating about these trees were their roots. These were nowhere near the soil, but somehow the tree survives.
Away from the river bed the soil quickly turns to red, red sand.
There was of course the dreaded spiky spinifex (which plagued me up in Queensland), although not as numerous as I thought. This area hasn’t had any rain in the past few months (unlike other areas of Central Australia) and so the livestock have grazed much of the vegetation down.
Running Waters – Part 5
After my post about swag camping, I was asked whether I had concerns about snakes. We asked our hosts that question very early on, and the answer was that in mid-winter, when nightly temperatures fell to freezing, snakes (or indeed most other critters) weren’t active at all. During the day, we’d fold up the swag to ensure that we had no surprises come nightfall.
We did however have other nightly visitors. We certainly heard plenty of dingoes, although we didn’t often see them in the camp. When they came (and they did explore since I saw their paw prints about camp), they came in stealth. I can report that the dingoes did not steal anything from camp (much less babies).
It was the domestic animals that provided much of the midnight entertainment. Being on a pastoral property, there were cattle roaming about at will. One bull was so curious that he visited us on most of the nights and refused to go! Other visitors were the brumbies (a.k.a. wild horses), who were less confident, but no less curious. We got a good glimpse of them early one morning.
Running Waters – Part 4
We slept in swags all week at Running Waters. Yes, I was tent-less. Swag camping is a common thing in Central Australia where rain isn’t usually a problem much of the time. Here’s what my swag set up looked like.
The swags were made of canvas, are king single sized, and inside was a full bed set-up – pillow, mattress, sheets, blankets, even a doona. So yes, it was rather cosy in there, and with a hot water bottle, I was very snug.
The advantage of being in a swag is that you have the moon and stars for company every night. I found waking up with the galaxy above me very soothing. And of course I’m there to witness the beautiful sunrises every morning.
I saw the colours change minute by minute in not just the sky, but the trees and cliff too. It was magic every morning.
Static and Silence 