A day to remember

Have you ever had one of those day that you just want to keep in your mind forever?

Sunday was just such a day for me. For a start, the weather was perfect: warm sunshine, a cooling breeze, a cloudless blue sky.

I absolutely love coastal walks so we decided to do a bit more of the Heysen Trail, this time from the Kings Beach parking area to the start of the Newland Head Conservation Area, a distance of around 4 kms return. But what a distance: a narrow coastal path for a while, then a deep descent via steps, the sandy rock-strewn swathe of King's Beach on our left (named after early settler Eli King), a scramble up a steep section that had obviously seen its worst in winter and was now a dried, gouged-out track of rutted, compact soil, another descent, another very steep winding bit, the rugged headlands of the Waitpinga Cliffs looming ahead, rolling green farmland to our right ....
I decided to go without my camera and backpack to feel truly fancy free, so all the photos are from Steve's trusty hand, bar the one I took of him.

The start of the walk; nice and easy.

But oh, the views. Vast rolling green hills on one side and on the other, steep rugged wildflower-strewn cliffs plunging into surf-ravaged rocks. A sheltered sandy beach. Coastal flowers everywhere. Conveniently placed benches for a well-deserved rest.

Check out the winding track in the distance.

We plodded on, stopping every few minutes to marvel at the weather, the scenery, the track and its challenges ahead of us. We saw only a couple of other couples enjoying the walk and had camaraderie 'Hi, lovely day' exchanges.

I loved hearing the waves pounding on the shore and crashing on the rocks as we walked perilously close to the edge of the cliff. I loved watching the sea birds flying overhead though we didn't manage to spot the sea eagles which apparently frequent this section of the coast. I loved the silence when we moved a little inland. I was also watching where I was going, afraid of a misstep.

After an hour or so we arrived at a stile over which was the conservation park and the next stage of the walk.

We rested, decided not to go any further, then returned along the track to a seat we had previously picked out as our lunch spot. It was perched high on the edge of a precipitous cliff, backed by sheltering hills.

Feeling sated after our salad bun and mandarin, we were in that satisfying physical state of feeling well fed and comfortably exhausted. 'Did you know that Antarctica is the next landfall?' Steve said, pointing seaward. I was gazing out on the endless expanse of sea thinking on that statement when I suddenly spotted movement below in the form of a dozen or more pinkish grey shapes - a pod of dolphins. They were perfectly in sync as they swam together, rose for air, dived, then gracefully surfaced in a glistening arc to continue their forward journey along the coast, deftly avoiding the rocks. We were enchanted.

The first pod

Just as we were reliving the moment, another pod of a dozen or more swam past.

The second pod

Magnanimously I offered to take the backpack (now considerably lighter sans lunch and water). I also thought I'd better take a photo of Steve as I was featuring in many of the photos he took.

We retraced our footstep...

... stopping off at Kings Beach for a breather.

The dogs were really enjoying themselves - and who can blame them?

The car park in sight (upper left).

...  and collapsed into the car feeling tired but satisfied.

It was the end of a perfect walk - and back home we rewarded ourselves with a cup of Russian Caravan tea and a helping of freshly made raspberry and coconut slice.

[And for our friend Michael: this is the walk you'll be doing when you visit us.]

A wildflower walk

In glorious sunshine we set off for Cox Scrub, a conservation park on the Fleurieu Peninsula, 40kms  north east from home, hoping the wildflowers would be out after the recent rains and sunny weather we've had.  We were not disappointed.

Just near the car park at the start of the walk we came upon a swamp, redolent with the deep, throbbing croaks of frogs; according to the sign these were the eastern banjo frog.

As usual, I tried for some creative shots; if you're not into this, skip the next couple of photos.

The walk itself was along an easy narrow sandy track.

Wildflowers were blooming all around us in a profusion of rich reds, mauves, oranges, yellow and white. There was the ubiquitous wattle (which I adore), heaths, banksias, grass trees, bush peas, running postman, and many I could not identify.

We tried to get the definitive shot!

Here is what we came up with. The first three shots are Steve's. The rest are mine.

Beaked hakea

Lavender grevillea

A creative shot of shadow leaves.

There was a slight breeze blowing and the afternoon was magic. I especially enjoyed the stand of sugar gums. These are not indigenous to the park but were planted by the Cox family (who originally owned the land) for beekeeping.

Signs advised us to be on the lookout for the red-bellied black snake and the eastern brown snake, but all we saw were these bones.

We thoroughly enjoyed the walk until we came to the last interpretive sign at a T junction.

There was no sign indicating which way to go, and one of the two of us (and it wasn't Steve) had forgotten to bring the brochure with the map. We decided to turn left which was downhill, thinking that we had to end up at the swamp where we had begun the walk - and the swamp would be downhill. We walked on until, after about a kilometre we ended up at another T junction. Luckily we could see the road so made for that. We then realised we had gone in the entirely wrong direction. Another kilometre or more walking on the road verge and we finally heard the banjo frogs again and spotted our car sitting on the car park.

An inglorious end to what had been a lovely day. Climbing into the car I heard Steve mumble something. I couldn't quite catch what he said but I thought it may have been, 'Next time my darling I'll remind you to bring the map.' Or words to that effect!

The missing map

Another bit of the Heysen Trail done

Last Sunday we decided to do another chunk of the Heysen Trail, the 1200 km track that winds from Cape Jervis on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula all the way to the Flinders Ranges. We've done small bits of it a few times. This time we were still thinking small, but turned further east.

The part of the trail we decided on was not really a trail at all - more of a trial -  as it involved eagle-eyed spotting, then climbing, innumerable stiles and going up and down pastured hills through farmland, with the very occasional Heysen Trail sign to reassure us that we were going the right way.

But the views were lovely, we were all alone, the sun shone and all was right in this part of the world.

Once on top of the hills it was sea views all around.

The perfect jigsaw! That's Kangaroo Island in the distance.

 We perfected the art of climbing over the stiles. Here are two shots of our 'stile style'.

There were always good photo ops.

 We found a nice spot for a picnic.

Couldn't resist a still life of 'backpack and cap' to celebrate the Eagles win on Saturday.

Refreshed from our lunch, we then drove 4 kms on the road that was part of the trail, then picked up the route again as it wound its way through more farmland. 

  The sign on the gate was a little disturbing.

However, all was calm and the only activities we encountered were gambolling spring lambs and their mums. They looked gorgeous and I had to quash the memory of a leg of lamb and rump steaks in my freezer at home.

We walked for a way down the farm track ...

... then headed back to the car. All in all, it was a good day and we now know what another slice of the Heysen Trail looks like.