Fresh faced straight out of rest day, we tackle the peaks of Wilpena Pound to great reward. This is James’ favourite hike of the six. James appreciates that the hike commences with the peak looming over us and then at its hardest, we have ascended.
The temperature is much cooler overall today which is a salve, and this cooler temperature continues for the final half of the trip.
I am nervous about the rock scrambling described in our guide book. In reality it’s not too bad, quite steep and I did have to pull myself up in sections, but at no point does it feel too dangerous. Still, given it’s labelled as “extremely strenuous”, I am surprised by how popular the walk is. We cross paths with around five other groups, nearly all of which power past me.
KMs: 21km for Dec and James. 19kms for CR, who had a little sit down.
In a meta commentary on modern social media, James is photographing Anne photographing a ring-neck parrot. The parrot did not appear to be photographing anything. DW.St Marys Peak beckons in this distance. DW.Caitlin has purchased a bladder to carry 2.5L of water in an easy to access form factor. This means her water is ripe for thieving at every stop as seen here. This in turn means I finish each trek with litres of water as James runs out and enables me to shame him for guzzling his too greedily. DW.JRT, in the classic frantic fashion that unravels from a complete lack of planning, bought this long sleeved shirt at Broken Hill Dimmys. They didn’t have his (big boy) size so the shirt he bought is too tight and requires Declan’s assistance to shimmy in and out of. At his core, no matter how many millions of Revolut shares he accumulates, James is the stingiest, least prepared person I have ever met. He is a big red head going to the dessert and came without a long sleeved shirt or drink bottle. He is our friend, James. CR.Alpine Cait in her natural element scrambling over the rocks. The total climb was 500-700m today. DW.There’s a 90% chance Declan is farting straight into James’ face. CR.It was at this point James overstepped and tore a hole in his pants right in the crotch. He is doing a quick touch inspection here. Tomorrow is a new pants day. DW. After a big ripping noise it was obvious what happened. Unfortunately there is a lot of climbing to go. JRT.A post-mortem revealed James had indeed absolutely destroyed his pants. DW. Fortunately we are very slow and do not have people behind us for the rest of the walk. JRTSpring is here and the birds are out chasing each other and making delightful sounds in the process. DW.I am a wee bit tired from the ascent, so I opt out of the two hour side quest to the actual peak that the boys can’t turn down. I have a very pleasant few hours chatting to passerbys and getting some pages in. I get a lot of respect for looking pretty deranged reading alone atop of a mountain. CR.The boys are up here somewhere, doing boy things. CR.There they are. Declan reveals his penis tingles at the top of the peak. CR.The view is totally worth the effort. JRTIn the far distance you can see salt flats. The other side of the ranges appears red and completely devoid of life, like some window to another age. DW.These mountains used to be taller than Everest. This fact is not appreciated enough. JRT A view looking down into the pound. The walls of the pound are visible and originally helped as natural barriers in keeping sheep in. DW.What goes up must come down. DW. The path down is a different trail (it’s a loop trail). The down hill is a much more gentle gradient so we all end the day with our ankle bones in the conventional position. CR.A view from inside the pound with the ring of walls visible. Despite asking a few people, we have yet to receive a satisfactory answer for why they occurred like this. DW.Puds. At least one of the team has eaten sticky date pudding (with caramel sauce and vanilla icecream) once a day. Sometimes multiple. This is no way for people to live. So. Much. Puds. DW. Somehow the sticky date gets better every single day. JRT. The photo implies otherwise, but this bowl was scraped clean. CR.But the same can’t be said of the lemon meringue pie. The waitress giggles straight in James’ face for him not being able to complete the dessert. This is an advanced flirting technique that reveals vulnerability. Don’t try it at home unless you are a trained professional. CR.Don’t let this picture fool you. Despite talking a big game, Chief Fire Officer James failed to make much of an impact. The only real heat came from Caitlin’s persistent kindling hunting parties. DW. It was remarkably difficult and expensive to attain the (secretly unburnable) firewood that we thought we needed for this fire. I had to charm the pants of Gustavo on repeated visits for him to get the buggy and drive the 15kg firewood bag the 1km up the hill to the tents. Let’s just say, despite the name, Gustavo didn’t bring the gusto. CR.
The bird song was a nice innovation. Did you identify the type of bird?
What a great day! Well done boys for making it to the top. Well done Cait for taking a breather though the book choice in that location made me wonder. Was it good?
The fire photo was my favourite even if it didn’t deliver in real life. I also like the view of the distant salt flats. I have always wanted to see those. Will be interested to see what extra treats James’ advanced flirting skills get in the coming days – what an asset to the group!
Another great blog day! Thank you x
Maybe the hole in James shorts are one of his subtle sophisticated flirting techniques. Is the flirting skill something that runs in his family and is passed on through the generations?
Great group of photos. Cait, how did you know when the boys were at the summit so that you could take the photo?
The photo from the top reminds of when the guys in Priscilla are also in a similar shot.
Declan’s panorama photo is stunning. I wonder how they worked out the fact that this area was once taller than Everest.
Cait, you should send Steven the photo of the book. He would be chuffed.
Cait, sounds like you flirted repeatedly with Gustavo. In future just save yourself the trouble and send in the A team to secure favours from the locals.
James reminds me of one of those players in survivor who make it look like they are doing a lot but is really good at minimising effort whilst smiling a lot and being friendly to everyone.
Declan, in general has this been a difficult physical walking trip?
Reply to mum: I did very much enjoy the book, but I am only about a third of the way through. Have you seen the movie or read the book?
The salt flats were really cool. We were considering taking a flight over Lake Aire on the day off but it turns out it is ages away and neither Declan or I wanted to be in the tiny death trap plane for six hours.
Reply to dad:
The boys had cell phone recpetion at the top of the peak and texted me. If you really zoom in on the photo you can see them with their arms outstretched horizontally – looks like a cross. I was really impressed, someone else who walked past me at my sit down spot twenty minutes spotted them too from a slightly different vantage, and they didn’t get a text message!!
I am unclear if Stephen would be like to be updated that frequently about my book reading. It already feels like he gets pretty regular updates on this.
We did get James intially to work on Gustavo but he fell short. Italian men with dreads are not a strong suit for James.
In response to your survivor comment James said “shit. It’s meant to take years before they realise this.”
Reply to Leo: No, we did not know what the birds were. But they were darn frisky.
Reply to Paul: The trip hasn’t been excessivrly difficult, but you end each day nice and tired. I believe there hasn’t been anything that has pushed people anywhere near their limits.
The bird song was a nice innovation. Did you identify the type of bird?
What a great day! Well done boys for making it to the top. Well done Cait for taking a breather though the book choice in that location made me wonder. Was it good?
The fire photo was my favourite even if it didn’t deliver in real life. I also like the view of the distant salt flats. I have always wanted to see those. Will be interested to see what extra treats James’ advanced flirting skills get in the coming days – what an asset to the group!
Another great blog day! Thank you x
Maybe the hole in James shorts are one of his subtle sophisticated flirting techniques. Is the flirting skill something that runs in his family and is passed on through the generations?
Great group of photos. Cait, how did you know when the boys were at the summit so that you could take the photo?
The photo from the top reminds of when the guys in Priscilla are also in a similar shot.
Declan’s panorama photo is stunning. I wonder how they worked out the fact that this area was once taller than Everest.
Cait, you should send Steven the photo of the book. He would be chuffed.
Cait, sounds like you flirted repeatedly with Gustavo. In future just save yourself the trouble and send in the A team to secure favours from the locals.
James reminds me of one of those players in survivor who make it look like they are doing a lot but is really good at minimising effort whilst smiling a lot and being friendly to everyone.
Declan, in general has this been a difficult physical walking trip?
Reply to mum: I did very much enjoy the book, but I am only about a third of the way through. Have you seen the movie or read the book?
The salt flats were really cool. We were considering taking a flight over Lake Aire on the day off but it turns out it is ages away and neither Declan or I wanted to be in the tiny death trap plane for six hours.
Reply to dad:
The boys had cell phone recpetion at the top of the peak and texted me. If you really zoom in on the photo you can see them with their arms outstretched horizontally – looks like a cross. I was really impressed, someone else who walked past me at my sit down spot twenty minutes spotted them too from a slightly different vantage, and they didn’t get a text message!!
I am unclear if Stephen would be like to be updated that frequently about my book reading. It already feels like he gets pretty regular updates on this.
We did get James intially to work on Gustavo but he fell short. Italian men with dreads are not a strong suit for James.
In response to your survivor comment James said “shit. It’s meant to take years before they realise this.”
Reply to Leo: No, we did not know what the birds were. But they were darn frisky.
Reply to Paul: The trip hasn’t been excessivrly difficult, but you end each day nice and tired. I believe there hasn’t been anything that has pushed people anywhere near their limits.