Mt Little Station

Mount Little Station

Wednesday 1st April

Birgitte and Rudy, Brian and Jane, Mel, Jamie and Luna travelled to Burra and met up with Gordon, Joy and Henry at their place. The afternoon consisted of a short walk around Burra, a few drinks for 4sies before a walk to the Royal Exchange Hotel for dinner. The Hotel is in need of some TLC, but the food was spectacular at a reasonable cost. I’d highly recommend it.

Thursday 2nd April

A lazy start to the day with the great conversations from last night continuing under the pergola of Gordon and Joy’s Burra abode. Leaving Gordon, Joy and Henry behind, our convoy of 3 headed north, stopping in at Peterborough for lunch before heading to our destination at Mount Little station. We were warmly greeted with a fantastic lush green landscape and what felt like 50 million flies. Brian left his fly net at home and was too stingy to pay $10 for a new one so Birgitte and Rudy loaned him our spare. Brian, they are more expensive at Anaconda and BCF, but not as cheap at Bunnings. An early 4sies saw the drinks flowing, again; snacks being shared and some great conversation before dinner and a camp fire.

Friday 3rd April - By Jamie

We decided to tour the tracks and sights of Mount Little station. We set off at around 9am to Goat Goon Saloon and stopped there to look over the hunting shanty and old-world items. Next stop was Pirate Cave and we all decided to trek up the creek bed to see the pirate’s cave. As we got further up the creek, the terrain became more difficult so Brian, Jane, Mel, Luna and Birgitte turned back, Rudy and myself persisted to see the cave. The terrain became very difficult but we got in photo range to prove we got there, then decided to return via the goat track up and over the hills which was much easier. Next stop was Hidden Valley for a well-deserved lunch break and discuss the next stop We decided to travel across the prairie and then down the centre of the station with the next stop being Roy’s ruins - an old shearing shed with many old-world items inside to view, it was quite interesting. We then traveled on to the outback general store - an old cellar next to some ruins where you could purchase local produce. We continued on through the donkey and camel paddock towards the homestead and there was a camel lying down that everybody though was dead (communicated over the uhf radio). Mel and myself were tail end Charlie so we were the last to see the camel. There were some donkeys to the left of us so I started Eee-awing , which caught the attention of one donkey who came running over and stuck his head in the car to see what was going on; in this commotion the dead camel jumped up - relief that he was fine!.

We travelled back to camp for foursies before we were going to watch the sun set. As sunset approached, we set off to view this, with team leader Rudy and his trusty navigator Birgitte taking the lead. We set off to the sunset look out then when we were nearly there, we realised this look out was to view the colours change on the range and not the actual sunset. With still time, we scrabbled back to Mount Little look out which was right next to our camp and got there just in time for sunset. Amazing views - so green everywhere, we then headed back to camp for a bonfire and a few drinks chatting about the day's adventures.

Saturday 4thApril - By Rudy

This morning we headed to Merna Mora Station in the hope of being able to do one of their 4WD tracks. On arrival, the owner said that only one track was open due to the recent rains and they have only had enough time to open the one track; the Historic Track; Rudy’s least preferred track. The track started leisurely along farm tracks to see the sites where the early settlers mined and fired lime to make a form of concrete. We visited one of the original Ghan Bridges made from this concrete and it was in very good condition for being 160 years old. New concrete will not last that long…. Moving across to the other side of the Highway, the terrain changed along with the vegetation. Track difficulty significantly increased with quite a few challenging sections particularly on the ascents to a number of lookouts that rewarded us with fantastic views over the ranges.

The Historic Track exceeded our expectations and a track that should be visited again by the club. After completing the track, we headed back to Mount Little Station, for 4’sies before heading to the Tavern for their Pizza night. Tiffany Reynolds, who was a contestant on the Voice, sang cover music along with some of her own songs for the evening.

Sunday - Day 5

Today was planned to be a relaxing day, so it was a late start for all. A trip to Majo Gorge in the late morning saw us having a 1.5km walk and arriving at the water holes just as the crowds were leaving for their lunch. Rudy, Mel, Jamie and Luna had a swim whilst Birgitte and Jane soaked their feet and Brian went exploring.

We returned to camp after a couple of hours for a 4’sies drink before we headed up to Mount Little to see the sunset again. To our annoyance, there was once again a cloud cover that threatened the show, but we were treated to a flaming red sky right at sunset. It was worth that wait with a few drinks and some great company. A quick dinner, camp fire and more drinks saw the end of another great day.

Monday - Day 6

We packed up camp and left Mount Little having a short stop at Hawker and Quorn, before heading out to Warren Gorge where we set up camp along a picturesque creek and a towering rock escarpment. We had a leisurely afternoon, soaking feet into the creek, rescuing tadpoles out of small water holes and exploring the creek around the campsite. 4’sies were had before dinner that was cooked over the fire followed by great discussions around the camp fire.

Tuesday - Day 7

Rudy and Birgitte had an early start and walked the Warren Gorge loop track, a 5.2km hike up to a lookout at the top of Warren Gorge. It was a great walk and well worth the effort. Rudy and Birgitte arrived just in time for Mel, Jamie, Jane and Brian to head for home as Rudy and Birgitte decided to stay an extra night to have a better look at Quorn, the Heritage Trail and Flinders Gin. A late afternoon weather front brought showers to Warren Gorge and an early departure from the campfire.