Monday 13th April 2015 – fine high clouds, sunny – warm

We are moving camp today from Grindells Hut up to Arkaroola, but first we are driving south to Lake Frome.

This is the information centre, showers & toilets at Balcanoona Station which is now NP Headquarters.  There are hot showers available – BUT on the door a sign (sorry no hot water).  Looks like they are taking their own sweet time in attending to this.

When you drive around and see the large areas of grazing land you wonder why it the farmers walked away.  It seems that the inconsistency of good years and overstocking was the problem. 

The park (light green) is co-managed with the indigenous and the dark green is their hunting ground which is closed for hunting from 3pm to 5am daily.  This is the only access to Lake Frome.

The original station shearing shed was replaced in 1950. 

This post is all that remains of the original shearing shed

 

 

 

 

Remember, they are shearing sheep here – so it left us wondering just how big these sheep were.

You could keep elephants in these yards.

Nothing but the best for the shearers.  This is their bath tub – looks like it has been made from a cattle trough.  They did have a donkey to heat the water, but I bet you had to share the water :(

The best part, some one finally put a picnic table under a shady tree.  The gum is about to burst into bloom.  Our arrival is just a tad too early to see the flowers.  We did enjoy lunch under the tree though.

 

 

 

 

Just as we were finishing morning tea, a couple of Emu came strolling by.  It was nice to get a couple of photos without them in a panic to run away. We returned to the same spot for lunch as there was absolutely nothing out at the lake, not even a information board.  Other travellers thought the same as us, that it would not hurt to install a covered picnic shelter and information board out there.

From the Ranger HQ to Lake Frome, it is 38 kms each way.  Lake Frome is fairly ordinary but we did get an opportunity to photograph a Wedge Tailed Eagle.

The eagle was right across a inlet in the lake, so I decided that I would walk out and see how close I could get for a photo.  So off I went for my big hike across the lake.  The surface was soft but I didn’t sink too far down.  It did cross my mind that I could end up knee deep in mud.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting closer, when he notices me, I stop walking, and only continue when he is busy feeding. Birds do not appear to notice that you are closer if they do not see you moving.  I stalked a wombat in Tasmania using the same method and got very close and got some excellent photos, although Wombats will charge you, so I was ready to run, although at my age I am sure he would have caught me.

Playing “what’s the time Mr Wolf”  paid off, as I managed to get quite close and keep the bird nicely within the frame..

I will need to use a stick to steady the camera, as I find that the long lens tends to dip when I press the shutter.

Just within frame, but badly positioned.

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing particularly exciting about Lake Frome.  We headed up to Arkaroola to set up camp, enjoy a hot shower, tap water and power :) a little luxury.

Arkaroola has wi-fi at the resort but unfortunately there is a upload limit and I can’t upload my video’s -  There was a video to be inserted for the gorge drive – I will insert it at a later date when we have access to our own internet.