Finke River – Ormiston Gorge
Woke up at six and had breakfast in the dark. There was a glorious sunrise. I got another photo of Dave taking a photo to add to my series, with the sunrise in the background.
We set off at 7:30 am. After 5 km we had morning tea on a hill top with views to Mount Sonder in the distance and Ormiston Pound getting closer. It was very, very windy and a bit cold.
It was then another 4 km walking to Ormiston Pound. The walking was really pleasant, and the track followed a series of low gullies.
At Ormiston Pound there is a cafe. It serves a reasonable range of decent food. I had a vegetarian focaccia, an orange juice, a cup of tea and a muffin. The tea came without milk, and they seem to surprised when I asked them if they could give me some milk.
On the wall of the cafe was a sign with photographs and descriptions of various local flora and fauna. Included was a fish called the Spangled Grunter. We joked about whether the Spangled Grunter would make an appearance in the night (i.e. somebody snoring).
After morning tea (lunch), four of us went for a walk around Ormiston Pound whilst Sue stayed at the cafe. Sam was with her.
The walk around Ormiston Pound takes around three hours. It’s a spectacular bit of scenery, an enclosed area surrounded by rising slopes with exposed rock layers, all glowing orange whilst the floor is generally green.
At one stage on the walk, we were discussing the nature of the landscape and comparing it to American western movies. Where are the Indians? Steven said to me that the man in front of us must be one of the good guys because he had a white hat. In contrast, Kelvin‘s hat is black. Steven said that he’d heard that Kelvin‘s partner was a Sue (Sioux) ha ha.
Near the end of the walk around the Pound it was necessary to wade across a river. We had seen a lot of dead fish in the water. Were they Spangled Grunter? We found out later that it was a regular and natural occurrence for the fish to die off at a certain time of the year, due to a lack of oxygen in the water.
The water wasn’t flowing, but it was extremely cold and reached up to waist level. So we all stripped off our shoes, socks and trousers and made the trip across. It was amusing to watch other people crossing. There was a young couple, where the man carried his girlfriend across on his back. There was a young family, where the father carried the son, then the daughter, and then helped the wife to get across. Kelvin very nicely helped by bringing over their bag.
Shortly after that, there is a climb to the Ghost Gum lookout that has views of the gorge. Then it was back down to the cafe for another cup of tea.
Because we had a food drop, we had a happy hour. There was whiskey, gin, vodka, and wine… seriously!
It started raining lightly, and so I picked up my tent and took it to the amphitheatre where I slept for the night. There was a roof over the amphitheatre, so I stayed dry.
