Flinders Ranges Adventures: Bunyeroo Gorge, Prairie Hotel Feasts & Muddy Tracks

Andrew Newey: Dusty boots on the beaten road, the red sun sinks where the stories are told. Echoes of the wild where the kangaroos roam. Hey everybody, what's digging? Welcome to another episode of Outback Tracks and Trails. I'm your host Andrew. I'm Tony. And I'm Greg. I'm Mick. Okay. We're your three mates, plus one, diving into all things, camping, travelling, and four wheel driving around this beautiful country we call home Australia. Today marks our tenth episode, and special guests and my new favourite Payton, Pud is here with us. Joining us later will be Mark and Donna. So grab yourself a cold one and settle in. We're going to get into it right Right now. Yeah, so 20 weeks it's been since we started this little show that we call ⁓ Outback Tracks and Trails. That's not a bad little effort for three idiots. It does. And and I'd also just like to introduce, as I said in the introduction, my my new favourite Payton, Greg Pudd. How are you mate? I'm very well. How are you enjoying our company without your ⁓ your brother around? I enjoying it immensely. Really? Yeah. Isn't it isn't it great having him around. He yes. He's not so highly strung when mix around. He does turn. Yeah. It is, it is. It's been fantastic. Yeah, we know we know what he's like. We ran out of gas this morning, though. ⁓ yeah. I'm a bit out of control, so he's always gonna be looking over my shoulder and making sure I'm okay, so that's why he's not highly strong. Yeah, but look, we've got Mick back home in Melbourne. Unfortunately he I don't know why he's not here and like I'm still scratching my head over why Being grounded, that's all. But I'll be with you in four weeks time. Four weeks. I don't know if we can wait four weeks, mate. I'll be flying up there. That's his first ambition to being grounded. It is, isn't it? A little? I did. Yeah. See that that would go through the keeper with us. We wouldn't understand what that means, but you're a lot closer to your brother. And but I must admit we have barred him from calling you while we're on this trip because it just gets your blood pressure up, doesn't it? ⁓ it's working well, isn't it? ⁓ yeah, yeah. So what have you been doing back in Melbourne while we've been enjoying the last five days? I've been turning to the patient, Sid, ⁓ making sure he's okay. We've taken him for two walks now and he's got a bit of colour in his face, he's got his old jokes back, so he's on the rock and roll boys. That's two walks. Two walks. Two walks. Well done. Two walks. Got him out the front with Josh. He had his blood pressure raised a little bit because Josh got a little bit parked on his front lawn, trailer in the Four Wheel Drive, to mention. But Josh didn't hold back, so ⁓ no he he's he's great. Did you ⁓ giving him any oranges? ⁓ yes, I gave him a couple of oranges the other day. He's really good at his quota for the week. Yeah ⁓ and the border here lets him through. Not like where you've been. You guys have been South Australia, yeah, Puddn only got caught at the border. He had to bribe his way through with a bag of lollies. Yeah. Yeah, that's all right. Was there a couple of bikes hindering him a little bit? Can you mention about that, A Andrew? ⁓ hindering him by hindering at the border crossing that yelling some expletives to him. No, more she w they were encouraging the lady to ⁓ check me in s in some private spots. Yeah, he was thrown roughly over the bonnet. Talk about being thrown over the bonnet, has Tony ⁓ had a had a great entry to the two, can you talk about that or? ⁓ not really. It's as ⁓ it's unpleasant. It's not ⁓ upset stomach, hasn't he? Let's call it upset stomach. He's had an upset tum tum. But ⁓ we're get we're pushing through it and so is he to his credit, which has been fantastic. That's an unfortunate unfortunate turn of phrase. Yeah it is so we've got a new sponsor though. Ga Gastro Stop ⁓ It yeah, that'd be fantastic. Fuel's always a big topic when we travel and we meeting people around the things. ⁓ diesel is ⁓ the price. Have been pretty stable so far. We've just pushed $2.95 today. Wow. The other thing that's been challenging is one of our companions is needing 98, and that's proving a bit of a challenge to track that down for him. It's it's not that easy to get unleaded. A lot of places only have diesel. Yeah, so sometimes you get can get unleaded, but not necessarily high octone. I gotta fill up at every opportunity. Mm. So is there a fuel additive Greek and buy to put in his car to add that ⁓ higher level of octane? ⁓ n I don't think so. Okay. Well, unless we reverse reverse you up to the the petrol pack. Don't don't start. Don't start. Then that then it just become diesel. ⁓ but South we've been keeping a very close eye on the South Australian ⁓ government's ⁓ tracks or roads ⁓ website. The road closures. Road closures and tracks openings and stuff. So we're clear to travel all the way up out of a South Australia up the unit out of track at this stage. The The little hamstring thing that we've got there at the moment they're not allowing some parts for towing and Greg's towing at the moment but he's under three ton towing so we think we might be okay to get under the radar with that. We'll just see how we track. That's ⁓ something we'll work on tomorrow, hopefully fingers crossed. Tracks will open for us because it's been dry, it hasn't had any rain for the last five days or six days or something. I reckon they're gonna do restrict that pretty soon. Yeah, but yeah, we are really hoping. But one of the other things that I wanted to talk about that I've had on this trip is working. So I I know I'm very mindful of my companions and making sure that they are okay. I'm not sort of hindering them, but I get up early and I've had a couple of The one I was up at 3 30, I think, and jumping onto the computer. And so Starlink's been fantastic. I've been able to log in, had some stunning views as the sun rises, and I've got my laptops out, and I'm working away back at Melbourne. And it's it's chilly, I will admit. That's probably your biggest challenge at the moment, isn't it? It's been bloody cold overnight. Yeah, so I'm I wear thermals under my jeans, and that's helped. And I have a blanket that wraps around me, but the thing that crap get gets me is my hand, my mouse hand. You've got to have that out. And it just fr it just gets cold and numb. So I've been making cups of tea, get just holding onto it to try and thaw out the fingers. But that's What about a glove? I tried to put a glove on but then the the dexterity of using the mouse and then I just found it too hard so ⁓ unless I chop the the tips off. Tony's hands are still in them. So anyway, look but apart from that it it's been going really well. The f I've ⁓ been online and had the laptop on while we're driving. Tony's been good to drive while I've been able to just had the laptop out and can finish a yeah, another hour's work or whatever, which has been good and I've had it out at night a little bit. Yeah. Resolved an issue two nights ago late late in the afternoon. Yep. Told them all to pull their heads in. Not only in Melbourne, aren't you communicating with India too? Well that's what ⁓ Tony was talking about. It was actually on the phone to a a person in India and just helping them through some issues on detailing. But ⁓ no, it was all good. So that was our entertainment. It was it was. But we we'll quickly we won't go through the item, we'll go through some of the highlights. ⁓ a couple of days Ago we were ⁓ deep in the Flinders Rangers and ⁓ the Bunnerong Gorge. So we did that nine months ago, and again this time, ⁓ apologies for the wind going through there, it'll be a bit roughly, but ⁓ it's completely different, wasn't it, Tony? Yeah, it's ⁓ it's been very wet here, of course, so there's still a lot of water around. Down down in this gorge, there's running water, it's there streams. Probably not quite rivers but ⁓ it's a it's a good creek. Yeah. ⁓ it's probably half a metre deep in places. Yeah. So it was it was a lot of fun. Got some great footage, some drain footage, some photos, bits and pieces. Put enjoyed it. And you were based where before you went on the gorges tour? Where were you based? Ronle Runsley Park. Rawnsley Park station. And and what did you think of that place? Loved it. Absolutely cracker. We we were stunned. It was beautiful. Much, much bigger than we expected. It was quite qu crowded. There was l lots and lots of people there. Mm. ⁓ when we drove in and we thought what have we got ourselves into? And of course K is long. Yeah. So we drove to the very end of that three and a half K. They've got and can't 'cause they've got cabins and they've got powered sites. We went unpowered site and we went basically as far away as we could, ⁓ which is about a twenty Minute drive, just going really slowly because it's full drivetrack basically. ⁓ we ended up right out on the boundary of the property. We were just near the fence line, we could see it just over there. We found that beautiful elevated little little knoll ⁓ that we parked our our accommodation on. How many other campers do you think were there, Tony? ⁓ hundreds. Hundreds. hundreds of caravans and these sorts of things. Sorry? Not too many near us that well out where we were it was like the nearest our nearest neighbours were a few hundred metres away. ⁓ so it was pretty secluded, it was great. In Rawdsley Park they've got an airfield, they've got a motel section, they've got powered sites, they've got cabins and and they've got the unpowered area. Is that they covered at all? Is that right? And they had a r a r a restaurant as well which is highly regarded. We everyone says it's wonderful. We didn't get to go there but 'cause it was too far away. We had other good things to eat. We did. But we ⁓ we moved on from there and we headed back to our favourite pub, the Blindman North Blindman Hotel in Blindman. It was Dropped in and saw Big Jim. Big Jim. But I will say he's heartbroken. He's absolutely heart. He's just moping around that place ever since Mick Jefferess broke his little heart. There's no spring in his step, is there? No. No. None at all. Sad thing. It was very sad. No umbrellas in the in the ⁓ cocktails. No. He didn't even try. And I and to the fact that I actually put our order in without cause we had their their their famous pies for lunch, a couple of beers, and he said, What name would you like that in? I said, Big Jim. He didn't even flinch. Didn't bat an eyelid. Didn't bat an eyelid. Just kept a game. Yep, whatever. Broken. Absolutely broke it. Mick Mick Jefferson, you've done a number on him, mate. I tell you what. Yeah. He fell in love and he's gone now. Anyway. What was the next thing? ⁓ we went to Wadna? Yeah, Wadna. Hell hey, what about the bakery? ⁓ the bakery, goodness me. Yeah, we went there too. We went the yes, we went to the bakery. Went to the the miners crib bakery, ⁓ and that was on the recommendation of ⁓ the man in green on your screen there. He ⁓ insisted we go and have their Cornish pasty, which is a three quarter meat pasty ⁓ with veggies and at the the last quarter is apple pie. So you got your your your manes and your dessert all in one cracker. So was good fun. Bloody good too. Yeah, it was good. Yeah. Good recommendation. Yeah, we're so glad we did it. And we went slightly down the road, it's a couple of K's down the road down to Wadner. Yep. ⁓ which we visited last year. What a what a terrific place. Lovely people there. Christian and Gabby. Yeah. We got a photo with Gabby which I'll put up on the screen. She's just couldn't be more helpful and with information and chatting and reminiscing about the last I'm sure if they remember us. And they've got ab Aboriginal art and what else do they have there? ⁓ all sorts of things. I bought some preserves or some ⁓ what do you call ⁓ Some garlics and sauces and some ⁓ Lime chili lime nuts. So we'll have those two. Nikki Jeffers got his hat there last last year, which he's he's in love with. Yeah, he loves his hat. He loves he does love his hat. He does love his hat, yeah. And then we ⁓ we headed out after doing the glass gorge. That was a surprising little drive, wasn't it? Yeah Put took us up to a little lookout which was great. Spectacular views over the over the ranges. Beautiful. And then we ⁓ we got out of there and Headed straight down into Parachilna. And camped at the ⁓ just down the road from the prairie hotel and and it was we we ran into the the farmers with the choppers though before. ⁓ yeah, yeah that was interesting. Goat farmers. Yeah the helicopters. They had helicopters, they were ⁓ wrangling and ⁓ upped all of the goats and they're using helicopters and motorbikes. It was amazing and went they were just taking and beer. And beer. Yeah, they all had beers in their hands. Must have just finished for the day. But that was pretty amazing. But ⁓ yeah, we went to the prairie hotel And we had lunch there last time and loved it and it was From memory as Mick will attest to, a lot of flies around. But we we had dinner there. We wanted to go and try their fine dining, which is a beautiful restaurant. All this artwork on the walls around you. And we had it a they called it the feral antipasto, didn't they? What was on that? Camel sausage, it was like a salana. Mortadella. Mortadella. Camel mortadella. And the kangaroo? E emu ⁓ pato. Emu pato is gorgeous. That was beautiful. Good jeez. Goats cheese, yeah. And we also started with some fried olives. They were amazing. Yeah. Tell me about the fried olives. H how how do you do that? I don't know how they find it. They were crumbed. Crumbed. But I don't know how they did it. So them them hmm. Yeah, they must be. They were beautiful. Must be something that gets the crumb to stick to them to fry them, but yeah, I don't know what they did. And they we also had some of the halloumi cheese as well. That was delicious. And then for main course we shared a chicken something. I'd have to look up the menu what it was called. I'll put the name up on the screen 'cause I did take a photo. Kitchen delicioso. It was stunning. It had mushrooms and all sorts of things in it. And you ordered the salad salad with some ⁓ chips. What were those no the wedges? They were potato gems. They were like a potato chim thing or whatever they're called. Hash brown. Hash browns, that's right. And they were they were quite unusual. Yeah, they were delicious. So that was ⁓ I can't remember the name of the Shiraz. ⁓ Red Wine. Red Wine Shiraz. So It was from the Barroso, or maybe you're saying the Sheraz? It was. It was from the Barossa the Barossa. Barossa Serez. But it was fantastic and like it kicked out ticked everything that we wanted to do and to be out in the middle of nowhere and have this beautiful dining experience in a beautiful pub. People were great. Like we had prees out on the ver on the on the veranda. It wasn't a great sunset unfortunately, a little bit too cloudy, but it was just gorgeous out there chatting with people. and ⁓ then we stood stood by the fire fire pit for a while. The fire pit is incredible. That was stunning yeah it's a great setup. And I'll yeah, I'll put a photo up of that. That was amazing to stand around. But we had a we had a great time. We chatted with everyone and it was everyone was very friendly. Spoke to a couple of local tradies that work work in the area and doing bathrooms and renovations and all sorts of odd jobs all over the a the area. So people, you know, they come around and have a beer. It was good. And where do all the staff live? Do they have Well there's quarters there. There's quarters there. They were sort of talking about there's there's some dongers that they can live in, there's some actual houses. ⁓ Lot number what fifty two or something. If you get that one, that's like a full house. So it's really nice to be able to have a have multiple rooms and a kitchen and bathroom and that all under one thing. But the dongers are probably fairly basic, just a bed maybe and a toilet, I don't know, or maybe even a shared shared toilets and showers. And the top room is a thousand dollars a night, Mickey. Yeah. Or is in the pub. Yeah. Well according to Butch. Yeah, Butch. Did you go up and inspect boys? No, we didn't. We just stayed on the ground floor. floor, didn't want to go up there. We just were talking to Butch about it. He was he said no too expensive for my tasting. So they just camped in some of the huts across the road, which was good. They were happy with that. ⁓ and we early discussed just how many river crossings you went through too. Lots. Even even the roads, like the asphalt roads, where you would have the washouts. Yeah. Like we would see them on the last trip and go, ⁓ it just dries it. They were all dead dry. Dead dry. And now you've got a lot of water moving over them and you have to like Just slow down because there could be potholes in there or anything. You don't know if the water's damaged the road. So you have to, you know, slow down to forty. So there's a f quite a few of those. And then on the tracks, obviously. Yeah. It's good. Did you get much mud under the car? Yes, we did. Lots of mud. Very, very sticky mud. Yes. Very sticky clay. So that gets onto everything and it's very hard to get off. Nothing to do with Tony? No. Nothing to do with Sony. That's separate. Separate mud, sticky mud. But then we've we high tailed out of there and travelled up. We went through Baltana. Unfortunately the pub at Baltana wasn't open today, being a Wednesday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So it's fantastic. This couple's bought the pub at Baltana, I don't know when. Fairly recently. Yeah. And they've done it. Done some work on it and they've reopened it. And that's just great. Can you believe that couple met in Baltana? They met there, did they remember? Way back way back when they met in Beltana and then they said we'll return here one day and then the pub came up for offer. Mm. ⁓ When they met ⁓ she she would have been in her sixties, seventies? She would have to have been, 'cause it closed in nineteen fifty nine. No, no, no. No, this is recent. The the came up the the last if they met there there was nothing happening. ⁓ no, met in Boltana. They lived there or lived around the area, so and then they've gone back to it. But it's great look it looks unreal, the pub would have loved to have gone in there 'cause know ⁓ the the lady she runs the front of bar and the husband admits I'll run the kitchen and the food and all that sort of stuff. So they they work well as a team. So unfortunately we missed it on this trip, but definitely one to keep an eye at and go and check it out. And Beltana's opposite your famous fossils. You didn't go there this time? No, we didn't. We saw it, we went past and waved. But what was the what what's your favourite fossil that you you always liked? The Dickinsonia. Dickinsonia fossil, that was Tony's favourite one. It's the shape. It's the shape of it, yeah. And it's wall. It was, yeah, we there was a sample of it on the wall, so we'll have a look at that. That was good. But ⁓ we're now at Farina. And we've had something to eat, Mickey. At the Farina Baker. Wow. Why is Farina renowned? What is it renowned for? ⁓ it's renowned for hundreds and hundreds of caravans. Now that you've been there terribly crowded here. There's so many people here. It's in in just like wow. Yeah. You you would have seen a lot of advertising with Farina if anyone else is on any social media and apparently going there for two months, is that right boys? Yeah, about that. Yep. They're deep. Two months they clean it all up and get the bakery going for two months and ⁓ I was expecting you to go there with about ten or twenty people there. How wrong I've been. Mm. No. There was cues get to get into the place. So our menu was I had a a egg and bacon pie and a meat pie and I had dessert. I had an apple pie to follow up. And I was absolutely and I think I slipped in a hands at cookie as well. I don't know how I'm still standing up. But it was bloody good. The meat pie was amazing the egg and There we were talking about the bacon you were talking about the bacon egg pie and how fancy. Yeah the bacon egg pie was unbelievable. That was full of just so much eggs in it. I only had four eggs in it. It was amazing. Just I've never seen so much food go in your gob. What's that? And they they must be close to where you used to order bacon and eggs any time you want to come to the bakery and just deliver it and drop it off, ⁓ Yeah. Well I think what I'll do is I'll I'll work in the morning. You guys can get up, I'll go and kick your swag, get you out of bed, go and line up. Eight thirty it opens. Okay, so you can walk down there. Yep. That can be your morning exercise and come back with an egg and bacon pie. All right. And a laser bread. So you don't know this, Mickey, but We have bumped into some travelers that have come along. We're gonna kick out my favourite Payden and I'm gonna introduce Mark and Donna in a very short second. So just hold on and we'll just happen to be here. They happen to be here and let's find out their story. So we'll be here in a sec, just hang on a sec. Hello, good day Mark and Donna. ⁓ glad to meet you. I can't see you but But you can hear him. And so Mick's in Melbourne. What's the temperature there, Mick? ⁓ geez, it'd be close to about a a hot eleven degrees. Hot eleven. ⁓ it's about that about ten AM this morning. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's the sun's just setting. But I'll look I'll introduce I've got ⁓ got Donna and Mark, they're good friends of mine through our daughters play netball. And this is their second big junket around Australia. You're ⁓ you guys are into day what sixty-five? Yep of a of a trip. Just go through it. Where just h give us a high thing of where you've been and what are the high ⁓ Well we we did WA last year and we got to Seduna and we decided that ⁓ we really liked the look of South Australia. ⁓ we sort of did one sort of trip into Streaky Bay and saw all the grey nomads and they were doing the the air in the York Peninsula and we sort of thought, ⁓ gee, we'd really love to get back here one day and do that. So when we got home we sort of sat down and we thought, ⁓ okay, what's our next trip? ⁓ we were actually wanting to do the Cape this year, but ⁓ with some friends that want to join us but they can't do it till next year. So we went, okay, let's do the the South Australian trip. So on our agenda was the York Peninsula, the Air Peninsula, and then we thought, ⁓ we might as well throw in the Flinders Rangers. And then ⁓ Marks ⁓ added the U Nudata track 'cause that's something that he really wants to do. So yeah, we basically headed off I think on the twentieth of April. ⁓ we left Melbourne and yeah we've sort of done both the York, both the air, gone through the Flinders, loved all of it. And here we are at ⁓ where are we? Farina. Downtown Farina. Downtown Farina sounds amazing. Yeah, yeah. So we got to Marie, did a flight over Lake Air, ⁓ loved it. ⁓ and we find ourselves here for the same reasons I guess you guys are, and waiting to see what happens with the roads. ⁓ and the pies. More importantly, the pies. Yeah. It's got great feel this place. It's ⁓ you know when you've done a bit of travel and ⁓ you know you come across some some really good I don't know a community feel. You know you there's other travellers, you all have chats, you all get on really well, there's smiles on people's faces, people are saying hello, you know, where are you from type of stuff and they're sharing stories. I I really that that's what this place is about. So it's good That's amazing. Now is D Donna i are you doing that in swags? What h how are you doing this trip? ⁓ we bought a caravan well we we've had caravans for the last I don't know, twelve, thirteen years. ⁓ and we upgraded about two years ago to a off road, well, semi off road full height well what eighteen eight full height caravan. ⁓ and we've taken we took it round WA last year and ⁓ we've taken it this year. So she's Certainly Done you know, done some pretty good stuff, so ⁓ a bit of luxury with it. It's got a toilet and shower. So we you know, which is part of the thing when you're doing out back, it's a bit of luxury that I've enjoyed, that's for sure. Yeah, I bet. ⁓ I mean I've always loved camping as a kid, so it's you know the the caravanning and the camping and the fire and the whole feel of ⁓ of that is ⁓ Just being outdoors. Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ you know, I just really enjoy so ⁓ yeah, so and last year we did it with my ⁓ sister in law and my brother and ⁓ they came in and out and it was great. ⁓ this year we sort of haven't had that same you know camaraderie so it's been a bit fun to actually have people we know rock up today. It's sort of like a big bonus for us. Don't have to keep talking to Mark, ⁓ That's right, we have to go on now we'll have to talk about it. ⁓ dear so 'cause Mark you're relatively well not relative you're new to camp you haven't been brought up with as a kid, have you? Is that right? Yeah no I've done You've done camping camping all Not so much for my family, but ⁓ but I guess with with school and scouts and all of that type of thing. yeah, up in the the high country and all that type of thing. ⁓ then once met Donna then yes, spent a lot of time up in the Murray and all that type of thing. So yes, well. That's where she's from, isn't it? Up to Cobram, downtown. Yes, Cobram Girl. And what's it famous for, Cobram? Peaches and Cream Festival. And also per per capita, how many of the Massage? twelve or something or thirteen massage pilots. That's hap happened since I've long left, that's for sure. And what about the beautiful Thompson's Beach? Famous for the Thompson's Beach. Beautiful, isn't Yeah, well ⁓ my parents' house or I grew up literally probably what five hundred metres from the beach? ⁓ spoil. Yeah, that's that was my what was it? My stomping ground I guess you could say. Yeah, no, I love going back there. ⁓ that's awesome. And Mark, how's the caravan performed? What things would you change if you could or upgrade? ⁓ ⁓ not much. Every now and again it'd be nice to have the an inverter in there so I could actually ⁓ watch the tally a bit more. But ⁓ but no, we've we've sorted out most most issues. This a big step up with this one obviously is the bed you can both get out either side instead of having to wait for someone to crawl over. and and that type of thing. Toilet doesn't worry me too much. j just go outside. but no no we've we've we've sorted out most things 'cause when we're off grid Got a battery block so I can run the tally off tally off that. So so no, we've worked out most most things. Mm. That's good. Mark has Greg showed you his Blue Eddie? Yes. ⁓ I haven't seen it but he's told me about it. I will have a I will have a look at look at that. ⁓ stupid bloody thing. Yeah, that's got an all in one in it. Two two hundred amps. All in one. I look at that this this battery's good from the point of view yeah, it's got a few port, you know, twelve volt ports and all that type of thing. and it's easy to I I can either ⁓ charge it up on the in the car or off solar, ⁓ or or power if I've got it. So ⁓ no it it it it works well. I mean it it was mainly bought run the fridge but we didn't bring the fridge this time. We only took that last year 'cause the Gib the Gib the Gibb River Road sort of ⁓ notorious for destroying fridges in caravans so it was there as our backup but it pretty well just was storage. Okay, that's a good try. And what was your highlight ⁓ Mark of the peninsulas when you were down there? What sort of things did you really like? ⁓ the breweries, No, it was it was ⁓ Marion Bay that that was Re really nice driving around Marion Bay. ⁓ you know, the cliffs and the you know, ⁓ and the scenery. The National Park. National Park was ⁓ yeah, was very was very nice. So it's probably the highlight for you. Probably the highlight except for the bakery here. ⁓ I'm I'm about to sign up as a volunteer 'cause you get free stuff from the bakery. ⁓ you're just gonna stay here till the end of July. Stay here until the middle of July when they close the when the bakery closes. So You you still got time, Mick, you can get up here and Pull on the apron, get some free free p ⁓ pies. ⁓ I wanna see you guys in the uniform in the morning doing the pastry for them and putting the pies on There's enough there's enough pies. Is that the gold section of the caravan park, is it? ⁓ Up the other end. Away from the flibs. And that type of thing. But but no, though the stone masons were out today, ⁓ doing some rebuilding and and all that type of thing. So it's I look it's That is so good to see it's impressive what they're trying what they're trying to do. ⁓ yeah, it is it is very good what they're doing. H how good's that for community spirit out in the middle of the bush? Like where where are you guys from? Where where where are you located now, Mavley? So h how good's that for community spirit to get all that way? and ⁓ I saw him cleaning up the local cemetery ⁓ last week on on ⁓ YouTube. It just amazing. Yeah. Well we we the other night were at the Lindhurst Hotel, ⁓ and about twenty or so of the volunteers, I think they were finishing up their stint, drove out you know, drove from here to to Lyndhurst, which is only about twenty odd K. ⁓ and by God they were having a They'll having one hell of a night. and then when we saw them in the ⁓ the bakery the next day I was very surprised that a few of them were still standing. So but but they they seemed to have great camaraderie and and whatever else. Especially when they came back 'cause it had bucketed down with rain that night, so they were doing a fair bit of slipping and sliding and that's why they had one of the roads closed that that that day. ⁓ mainly because they had so much trouble getting back in. Mm. That's amazing. Yeah, well. So Yeah, ⁓ you've also done S ⁓ Willow Springs Sky Trek. Tell me about that. Well I won't ask Donna, get Donna's e ⁓ review second. What was your review? 'Cause we've both done it. We loved it. I did it last year. Yeah. ⁓ look it was it was spectacular scenery. ⁓ but i it was just challenging four wheel drive all the way. You you just thought, ⁓ here's a straight section but nah, there's just little potholes, there's little rocks, there was something yeah, you just Yeah, y you couldn't do it and then then the last bit ⁓ you know was was sensational. and that type of thing. ⁓ had had done. Mark was it wet or dry? ⁓ pretty dry. there were a few water crossings with water in it 'cause they had closed it you know, a a week or two prior. ⁓ getting getting in to ⁓ yeah, the homestead part was probably the hardest bit. 'Cause there was a lot of water going through those rivers, but actually out on the track it wasn't too wasn't too bad. Yeah, right. Pretty el elevated mostly, isn't it? Yeah, so the the last bit was very elevated. So as as I say, I think with the amount of bouncing around Donna was doing, ⁓ she closed her exercise ring and move ring on her phone. Just by holding the Jesus bar. Holding onto the Jesus bar, so but no I had an absolute ball. Yeah. ⁓ so it was it was sensational. ⁓ that's great. It's pretty challenging, isn't ⁓ very challenging. ⁓ you have to concentrate. I and that's And Mark, what what car did you do it in? ⁓ MUX. Izuzu MUX. Nice. So we'd done I did a four wheel drive course earlier this year, what at Mount Terrible up near Mansfield. And we did a couple of mountains pretty well straight up over rocks. So basically I I guess it was Yeah, so and this and this p you know, th that I thought that that that was tough, but this was this was tough. This was some real stone hopping and and and all and some very steep ups and more importantly from very steep downs that w when your car hasn't actually, you know, tilted far enough to actually see what you're actually doing, ⁓ going over blind. And that's ⁓ no, it was very, very challenging but yeah, great great fun officers. I don't think I had a had the gr had a grin on my face a whole. Mm-hmm. ⁓ It's good because your your car is tested to its absolute limit for what it's designed for, really, isn't it? Andrew, didn't you have a special camera installed on your car so you could see over those Yeah, I'll I'll show mark that actually. I don't know if I've sh told you I've actually put a a safety Dave camera on the front of my car now for those situations that you talk about where the bonnet goes up and you can't see. Do I turn left, right? You don't know if the track's gonna disappear to the left or the right or left. Well that was a hard part to judge, because you're going over and all of a you realise ⁓ crap I've got to go I gotta do a sharp left to actually to actually do it. ⁓ so that was probably the the the the panicky bits but but that's alright. No I was I I knew the car could do it. It's just more the ⁓ the the idiot steering the car that ⁓ yeah is more than likely gonna cause the the problems. Did you do any of the searches in ⁓ Clinda's Rangers? Yes. Yes well we went up to Parachin Junna. We did that. And the other ones, ⁓ the the other two gorges. The the one we did? Bandur Bandura, whatever, and then there ⁓ Banurong the course. And then there's another one up there. Bar Barrochin B I can't say that one. Bacina Baracilna something. Brachina. Bracina. ⁓ We did both of those up to Blimman. Yes. And then we came back across through the Parachuna Gorge ⁓ back to Parachuna because we want to have have to have a look at the campground ⁓ which we'll play this day and then basically ⁓ you know back down to Wheel Plina Pound. so the rest of it was probably walks walks around round We'll Plana Pound Not w allowed to do St Mary's peak because we'd done Ronsley Bluff, which was Challenging enough. Challenging enough, so ⁓ yeah, we gave St Mary's Peak a a break, but we were lucky that while we're in Hawker, ⁓ there's Jeff Morgan's got a a an art gallery in there and one of them's you get up on a platform and you can see the panoramic view as if you were standing on St Mary's Peak, so it was much easier walking up eight eight steps as opposed to eight thousand yeah walking for six hours. Jeff Morgan, he is a absolute gem, isn't he? Amazing to see that sort of artistry out the middle of the That gallery. you you walked into the front bit and you go, Yeah, just a few pictures and whatever else, but when you walk through the door and you saw the the half a dozen panoramics and ⁓ you know, all the other stuff, then and as well as every you know, biscuit tin plate. Wow ⁓ Gym, gems, all the gems Yeah, so it was and and for cars. The bus the bus The bus with the glass and there's a thing. His vintage cars, his sports cars. Yep. Yeah, there wasn't there wasn't too many things that weren't yeah, weren't covered. Wow. That's amazing. yes, yes. Yeah, that they still smell very much like you stepping into a s into a shearing shed. Wow. So what what brings up the next part of this trip? So if the track's open, you're gonna tackle ⁓ or you don't know yet? If the track's open we'll go. Yep. if the track's not then unfortunately we'll probably head for At home. So how long will you give it before you see that? ⁓ probably later this week. Okay, so g give it a good couple of days, yeah. Yeah, we'll give another couple of days. I'm putting on a fair few kilos, but ⁓ yeah, that's all right, we'll walk it off. We'll we'll have to do some more walks. Have you heard about walking, Andy? Apparently you can walk. Who who did we bump into? They said they did some ridiculous amount of steps. I said, I don't think I've done that this year. Crikey's, it was insane. But anyway, Before we wrap up, we've got ⁓ our daughters playing in a grand final netball. So Tonight. Fingers crossed. Fingers and toes. Yes, Donna's going to r record the scores and screaming out to have that at going on her iPad. ⁓ what time's the match? Eight thirty local time, so eight o'clock our time I believe. Okay, all right. So we'll be all over it and ⁓ get those running scores. So let's ⁓ let's fingers crossed the girls have a crack at the game and Get over the oaks, is it? Oaks, yeah, yeah, they've played ⁓ a couple of times now and unfortunately haven't quite got there, so Okay, so it's gonna be a challenging one. Yeah, absolutely. All right, well our families are there I know in to support us, ⁓ support the girls, that'll be great. but yeah, what's for dinner for you too? Yes. ⁓ dinner is ⁓ I don't know, some some ⁓ steak I think, yeah. I think she just tucked a couple of potatoes in the fire, so Yeah, we've got the fire roaring, which is good. And ⁓ Tony's gonna cook ⁓ a chicken stir-fry tonight. Chicken stir fry tonight. It's been marinating for for weeks. Okay. He's back. He's back. Can you hear him? Can you hear Greg? He's got a boom voice. He's doing work. But anyway. I s he's still my favourite payton. I love you, Mickey. Wait for four weeks. Wait till four weeks, all right. Anyway, as we always say, like and subscribe and See in the comments. See in the comments. So thank you very much, Dora and Mark, and also for Pud for joining in. But this is our first one on the road, which has been great. Can't wait to do another one with the next one. I think we'll be doing five. Today is only day five of about ninety days, so ⁓ The next potty hopefully will be with Ryan in Alice Springs. So yeah, looking forward to that. Thanks guys. No worries. We'll see you on the next one. Steve up the good work boys. Safe travels. Thanks, Mickey. Thanks, Mickey. Good to see you, mate. You too. Take care. Look up yourself.