Lachlan's Birthday and Western Yorke Peninsula

9th February 2013 - 12th February 2013

After a very satisfying 4 nights at Bowy's Melaleuca Retreat, we decided that our next port of call would be 'The Gap' camping ground, a good couple of hundred kms from Marion Bay.  On the way we made brief stops at Yorketown and Maitland for supplies.  The girl from the IGA even brought our groceries to the car for us - now that's service you don't see every day!

'The Gap' was right on the ocean overlooking Spencer Gulf on the western side of the Yorke Peninsula.  This area was very dry and dusty - no grass to pitch our trailers on.  During our time there we swam, attempted to fish and celebrated Lachlan's birthday.  The one main problem we faced in trying to cook the cake that we'd promised Lachlan is that the whole of the Yorke Peninsula is subject to a 6 month fire ban from November to April.

Not to be defeated, we decided to cook the cake on the gas stove.  It took over an hour but the result was choice.  There was a beaming smile on Lachlan's face.  We had a great day of events such as 'pass the parcel' and 'musical chairs' as well as some excellent party fare.  All in all a great day.

After a couple of days the wind and dust were getting to us so a quick scan of the Hema Maps revealed our next stop, Mambray Creek in the Mount Remarkable National Park.  This park featured massive red gums lining a dry creek.  On our way were stopped in Port Pirie and had a great lunch in the park.  On arrival at Mambray Creek we chatted to a young lady who was a reptile expert while watching a Life Monitor slowly plod around the camp site.  She mentioned that there were also goannas in the area.

The facilities in this park were again first class.  Each night we cooked up a storm on the provided gas BBQs whilst keeping a watchful eye on some overly friendly kookaburras - they were in line for our sausages.  We also enjoyed the showers.

As the road through the park was bitumen we had the perfect spot to set up the 'Street Tennis' and the boys had some great tournaments.  We're glad we brought the set along as everyone loves a game.

One morning we set off to do an 8km return walk along the creek.  Along the way we stopped at Scarfe's Hut for some shade and a drink The last 400m was a hard up hill climb to a nice view.  Previous walkers had been adding to a cairn so we obliged with our own hand selected rock.  All in all a great walk.  That night we watched a great sunset and relaxed as we were heading off the next day.