Isolation continues

While isolation continues, regular readers of my blog are getting an armchair tour of the Fleurieu Peninsula. We are still out every weekend exploring and photographing parts of the Fleurieu hills - the end part of the Mount Lofty Ranges that extend from Adelaide south to the coast.

The Inman Valley
What could be more idyllic than this quintessential shot of donkey, barn, fields and hills?

And a closer view.

We were in the Inman Valley and visited the cemetery as a first stop. We were disappointed to find only one 19th century grave and all the others were from the mid-20th century and onwards. I guess there must be a pioneer cemetery elsewhere.  But a peaceful setting nonetheless.

We walked for about 3 kms along a deserted road, passing only these lovely vistas of trees, hills, farmland .. and fungus.

And then we saw a mob of kangaroos - around 30 of them. Of course, as soon as we got out of the car they bounded away, but after a while settled down to grazing again. I still get a thrill when I see them even though they are a fairly common sight for us.

The Heysen Trail
Another weekend, we did a different section of the Heysen Trail. This was in the Mount Majestic Conservation Area just out from the town of Mount Compass, about 20 minutes from home. It was not visually as spectacular as some parts of this 1200 km trek are, as you can see in this photo. The trail is always clearly signposted.

 Steve took time to take some photos.

The path took us through dry forest to a steepish descent; it was narrow, rocky and a smooth, hard clay that would have been treacherous had it been wet. You can glimpse Mount Majestic behind the trees in this next photo.

We got to the bottom and decided it was not worth the effort to climb to the top of Mount Majestic (all right... we felt that perhaps our knees and ankles might not get us there!!!).  So we turned round and headed back to the car. On the way Steve spied this metal ring jutting out of a tree. I thought they were what tree fellers put in the trees to enable them to climb, but Steve was not so sure about this one.

 It had been a good walk in gorgeous weather so we were happy.

And the panoramic view from across the road from the carpark was worth the day's outing. We could even see Encounter Bay in the distance.

Mt Billy Conservation Park

Steve discovered this unassuming park while browsing over a map looking for our next adventure.  This too was 20 minutes from home. Nothing spectacular but a pleasant walk through mallee, stringybark, and pink and blue gums, with an understorey of wattle and grass trees. 

There are two walks here: the circuit walk to Mt Billy and the flatter one-hour Banksia Walk. The walks are mostly along the fire-break track which is relatively flat, though there were a number of steepish bits.

We chose to do the one-hour Banksia Walk. The website and the signs at the park were not that clear and we walked for ages until we realised that, to get to the Banksia Walk, we had to walk for some time on the Mt Billy Walk and then diverge to the Banskia Walk. 

We set off in fine spirits, enjoying the easy walk along the track.

Here I pose alongside a grass tree. I love how their spiky fronds somehow manage to look soft and gentle as they bend gracefully to the ground.  I've been told these are quite different from the ones found in the south-west of Western Australia, but I'm not sure in what way they differ.

We kept walking, but, after an hour, we had still not reached the turn-off. We decided to give up and head back to the car, especially as the sun had disappeared and the afternoon chill was settling in.

On the way back, I found some fabulous bark. I love looking at the shape, colours and texture of the bark as it peels off, and taking photos. I reckon this looks like a painting.

Spring is the best time to visit for the orchids, but we did spot some winter fungus ...

 ... and lichen-covered rocks.

 The sun had now completely disappeared behind a bank of grey clouds so we trudged back to the car ...

... and home for a cup of tea and my famous 'tennis slice' (so named as it was what I always made and took to the tennis club back in the 1980s when I was playing pennants and we had to supply morning tea for the opposing team; it's a much-requested family favourite now).

As I finish writing this, I hear that the Government has now announced that isolation restrictions are easing and we can indeed return to cafes and wineries and meet more than one person at a time! So perhaps this is the end of our weekly travels around the Fleurieu Peninsula. We'll see.