Hooray for WA day 2-22nd May Pirie to Minnipa

Left Pirie at about 10 after Taking advantage of hot showers.  It might be the last ones for few days.

Quick shop for last minute supplies.

Stopped in at Port Germain, checked out the jetty closed due to storm damage,but not dramatically so.

Tide indictator for the ships

Bought hot donuts at the market.

On to pt Augusta to top up on fuel before heading outwards.

We came across long km between here and Iron Knob with red flag flying indicating firing and signs on the fence warning of live bombs and laser use.  Obviously the army have expanded their area somewhat.

Stopped at Iron Knob for lunch where we boiled the eco billy. This excellent  camp site in town has rain water, disabled toilet , shower (cold) and a roomy camp kitchen partly enclosed. Not a lot of room for tents (softer space to allow for tent pegs) but lots of flat space to pull in . There are fire drums and bins and it only costs a donation to stop there.

On towards the west, stopping for our first 2 caches for the trip

2nd one was at Carrasco tanks, in the Lake Giles Conservation Park. Lots of good mallee scrub in behind these tanks to camp. The cement is slowly breaking off of the old tanks.

On the edge of the park on the other side of the highway we found the park sign and road in and followed the road for about 10 km to the edge of Lake Gilles (a salt lake). Here you can find dinosaur ants (we didn't see any), with huge eyes. There is supposed to be a campsite in here, but we didnt find it - only tracks that you could possibly pull in on.

Lake Gilles

Nearly had to render first aid to a driver who we think needed to rest. He missed the end and cleaned up a white post right in front of us, but never stopped! Don't know how he managed not to roll the vehicle.

Finally, after lots of wind and rain we decided enough was enough and headed for a spot the Trevor remembered from a previous trip, just out of Minnipa. Tcharkulda Hill is typical of the Gawler Ranges. Early settlers built a wall around the granite outcrop to catch water into a large tank. We had a shelter shed to cook and set up our swags out of any rain. This morning  I had a chance to look at the tank and we found the old reservoir which used to hold the town water supply.

You can see the wall which channels the water.

The holding tank.