Lorella Springs Wilderness Camp
After a chilly night, we set off about 10am to what on the map looked like a short 14km drive to the "Waterslide" and "Musterer's Cave". We ended up on the scenic route, which took considerably more time to negotiate. The 500m "walk" to the rock pool with a natural slide was actually a rockhop, following the creek bed and pink flagging tape. However, the pool when we arrived there was cool, clean, and I did actually try the waterslide - fun!
On to the cave, with a beautiful view out over the Savannah, and some rock art, said to have been painted in the 1950s by local stockmen. We continued driving around the loop track. One of my favourite features of this place is that canoes are provided at strategic locations. We found one of these and had a relaxing paddle amongst paperbacks and waterlilies, arriving back at camp at about 4pm. Total distance for that day - about 40km! Finished off the day with a soak in the hot spring at camp, and a walk up the hill to watch the sunset.
The next day, remembering our driving experience of the day before, we didn't venture far from camp, as we had booked a helicopter flight for the afternoon. Walking alongside the creek near camp we found some Rosella's growing wild, so picked them. Back at camp Peter turned them into delicious Rosella jam.
With excitement we took off on the " Waterfall Experience" helicopter flight, which started by heading towards the nearby Limnen National Park and the rock formation known as the Southern Lost City. Heading back towards Lorella Springs we saw a herd of buffalo. The highlight was a stopoff at a remote waterfall and swimming hole, with a cup of Billy tea. A fantastic experience. Unfortunately all the helicopter flight photos are on Peter's camera, so will have to try and add them later.