Day One - Heading Bush

Port Germain Jetty looking out
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We really didn't stay overnight in Wilpena Pound, but the place that we did sleep wasn't on the map. We slept in Arkabah Station. On that note, let me start at the beginning.....a very good place to start.

First off, I selected this tour group, called Heading Bush, based on a recommendation from my friend Linda and another traveler that I met in New Zealand that had done the same tour and said how incredible it was. I didn't really think of how strange a name it was until I was on the tour. I left DC to get away from Bush - thanks! No, obviously the bush they were heading towards was the type that occurs naturally in the outback. This was not an inexpensive option but I wanted to do something that wasn't a party tour, and this seemed to be the best option. To explain there are 10 people total in the group, plus the driver, in a converted (previously used as a police transport van) toyota land cruiser with a less than beautiful but certainly functional bright orange trailer for all of our gear and camping supplies. Yes, there really were 11 of us in a land cruiser and it was a bit crowded, to say the least. It certainly forces you to get to know your travel mates! The tour starts in Adelaide and criss-crosses the outback, ending in Alice Springs a whopping 3,141 kilometers (1970 miles) later. We camp outside in swags, a canvas bag essentially with a thin mattress that holds your sleeping bag and has a flap that covers your head in case it rains.

Port Germain Jetty looking back
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I'm going to be listing the locations that we camped out at as place holders, so you can kind of chart our path through the outback.

Excitingly, the group was comprised of some really nice people, a very important thing when you are going to be traveling with them for 10 days! There were two British - (not together) Sarah and Stuart, two Dutch friends Heidy and Rachel, a German - Christine, an Austrian - Bruno, a Solvenian - David, and a Tasmanian couple Paul and Jenny. Last but certainly not least was Joe, our local Australian tour guide who did an excellent job driving us around for 10 days as well as cooking us dinner, setting up camp and showing us the outback.

Train station at Quorn
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Our first stop before leaving Adelaide was the cheap bottle shop! Ha! And I didn't want a party tour. No, seriously, this was a great opportunity to get our supplies for the duration of the trip. Unfortunately we couldn't bring any bottles so this left me out as I don't drink beer (except cider) but we all went together on goon - what they call boxed wine here.

After driving on some rather boring highways we reached our destination where we had lunch, Port Germain. This is the site of the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. I walked the length of it and it took some time. It was a beautiful day and when we continued on the highway we were basically following the Ghan train lines, which we would end up crossing (or parallelling) multitudes of times during our trip.

Kanyaka Homestead Historic Ruins
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On our way to our campsite we made two other stops, one at Quorn, a very small town that is only there due to the railroad, and a place where no one lives anymore, a historic homestead that has fallen into ruin.

We reached the southern end of the Flinders Ranges and we camped overnight at Arkabah Station, just south of Wilpena Pound. I had my reservations about sleeping out in in the open in a swag as I get cold easily, so the first night I put on my thermals, and it was really, really warm. The sleeping bag I had rented for the trip had a seriously high rating and I woke up overheated, so I was relieved to know that I wasn't going to freeze to death. I awoke in the middle of the night to what I thought was a flashlight shining in my face only to discover it was the moon! It's really bright when you don't have any other light sources around.  I was dispointed that the moon was full because I wanted to see the milky way while lying in my swag...but I shouldn't complain because the moon can be beautiful too! I am going to have to try and get one of the swags for when I camp out next because they are really neat!