Sunday, June 28, 2015

Day 47: Montacute Heights to Cleland Conservation Park

Sunday 28th June 2015:

The usual morning briefing was held in cool conditions on what promised to be a fine day.



The theme for the weekend was 'Silver' and Dean's flag was a silverback.



Overnight, Robert Alcock added some silver to Morris Minus .............


perhaps aping Eve Buckley's collection of silver bangles.



Morris Minus was awarded to Albert Schmidke for meritoriously carrying Yvonne Powell's pack yesterday. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, and unfortunately Albert proved the truth of this maxim later in the day.



Then we were off to enjoy some walking in Morialta Conservation Park, with its sweeping views over Adelaide and its wildflowers.



We did find some wildflowers

and we enjoyed the views.

We were not alone in admiring the views.

 These folks had set up deck chairs and were enjoying morning tea at a favourite spot

This beautiful view to Gilman opened up as we rounded a bend.



Another much photographed spot is the cliff faces in Morialta Conservation Park.



Unfortunate for us, there was only a little water in the creek ........


but Third Falls was still a delightful spot for morning tea.






After morning tea, we climbed and walked along the tracks .........



and were joined by some more members of the Kelly Gang.

Aidan, Nicola and Leyton met and walked with us for a while




As we approached the Morialta Barns, we found this part of the trail had been temporarily closed.



After walking on a narrow part of Colonial Drive, we found the corresponding sign for the temporary closure at Norton Summit. About 50 metres on from here is where Albert Schmidke came to grief on some concrete steps.


We regrouped and waited by the statue of Thomas Playford at Norton Summit, while Albert received some first aid treatment for his injury.


Albert after receiving first aid.


The Heysen Trail goes through several Conservation Parks in this area.  Our next park was Giles Conservation Park.



We had lunch in the scrub at the side of a track.



Then we continued walking through very pleasant surroundings in Giles Conservation Park.



We passed the old Giles ruins, surely one of the most photographed sites on the trail.




After emerging from the park area, we followed the trail through some scrub, arrived at and crossed Greenhill Road a short time later.



Then we followed the road for a short time to Cleland Conservation Park, where a curious object was spotted on the ground.  On closer inspection it turned out to be a CFS radio, which Dean used to advise the CFS communications centre that he had found the radio and its location.  In very quick time, the owner arrived to recover the radio, and equally quickly, left with barely a word of thanks to Dean.



After winding through some pleasant park tracks, we finished the day at the Cleland Conservation Park car park for drinks and nibbles.



We were joined by a friendly magpie.  Friendly in that he did not want to leave us alone.




We walked a total of 27.9 km today, being 26.9 km on the trail and 1 km walk-out to the cars.

Day 46: Cudlee Creek to Montacute Heights

Saturday 27th June 2015:

The morning briefing at Cudlee Creek.  It was a foggy morning on what promised to be a fine day.




The theme for the weekend was  'Silver'.

Albert Schmidke carried silver balloons

Dean's flag was the Lone Ranger on Silver

Morris Minus was awarded to Robert Alcock for both meritorious and notorious behaviour. On the meritorious side, Robert had a significant moment in his life recently, becoming engaged to Lucy.  Our warmest congratulations Robert and Lucy.  On the notorious side, Robert would have looked somewhat under-dressed without his pack, so it was lucky we waited for him to go back and get it.

Robert Alcock is awarded Morris Minus

The fog provided some spectacular sights and photo opportunities in the morning light as we walked up Snake Gully Road, just out of Cudlee Creek. Our FOHT calendar editor, Peter Wynen, take note - the January to August slots in the 2016 calendar would be admirably filled with the next 8 shots, all on Snake Gully Road.











More of the 'Silver' theme carried by our group.

The Lone Ranger

A cryptic sign from Neil Nosworthy - The Loan Arranger

Silver paper

Silver bangles
Other things we passed on Snake Gully Road were these cows,



... and Grandad's Camp, which actually appears on the Heysen Trail map as Grandpa's Camp Site. Greg Kelly is pictured having a look around.

and Greg would be so proud to see this shot on the 2016 calendar


Morning tea was on a fire track.




And we continued walking on some scenic fire tracks for while longer.





Then we had lunch on a fire track as well.




Then we walked in tranquil surroundings on some scenic fire tracks.



Towards the end of the day, we made the big climb up to Montacute Heights. This was a puffer, done in beautiful surroundings.




Undoubtedly, this photo of Bill Pick's effort up the hill should be on the front of the 2016 calendar.



We were very happy to get to the top and take a breather.



Then it was on to the cars to celebrate the end of another brilliant day on the Heysen Trail.




We walked a total of 21.8 km today, being a walk-in of 0.8 km and 21 km on the trail.