Camping up at the river

So I went for the best camping trip yesterday.
I decided to head up to the Murray River which is always a favorite of mine for camping.
It's about an hour and a half drive to the spot I went which is Walker Flat, and I decided to take the scenic Angus Valley drive up there.
I went through Humbug Scrub and Mount Crawford forest and then through Mount Pleasant on to Angus Valley road, which was really nice switching from scrub land through to agricultural and then pine forests.

the best part of the drive was leaving the Adelaide hills ranges and having the views of the agricultural region of the riverland in the distance.

 

The top of the hills were littered with these moss rocks, which really made the landscape look good. These rocks would make a fine addition to my front yard so at some point I will look at getting some delivered :)

 

When I left Adelaide it was overcast and really looked like it was going to rain, but once I got passed the hills it had really cleared up.
It's really amazing how much warmer it is only 1.5 hours drive away from Adelaide in the riverland, never ceases to amaze me. I'm going to have to retire up there when I'm older.

So anyway when I got to the river I went left and drove up above the cliffs that walker flat is so famous for. If you have never been there it's a really beautiful place.
Here are a few pics I took from above the river on the cliffs.

 

 

 

I found a nice spot where a smaller river flows into the mighty Murray River.
Because the two rivers meet here there was a little point where the two meet, so I was pretty much surrounded by water.
It was a perfect spot as there was no one around at all, so it was just me and mother nature for a while.
I set up my camp and got the fire going then took a few pictures.
Here is what my camp ground looked like.

 

 

 

There was plenty of wild life for me to admire.
Here is a galah that was perched in the tree just across the other side of the river from me. He looks like he is looking right at me.

A pelican came over to have a look at me too.

The views down at this spot were really amazing.
Over the other side of the river were the gorgeous red cliffs, which have been slowly carved out over eons.
The river used to flood each year but these days there are so many locks, wiers and irrigation systems the river never floods anymore.

 

Behind me the cliffs looked completely different, although I thought they only looked different because I was like 50 m away from them as opposed to the ones further down river but then I realised the cliffs behind me don't seem to get much sunlight, so they had built up a layer of moss over them all.

 

I managed to catch a nice shot of the dying sun as it dipped behind the cliffs, only to retunr again in the morning.

Here is another really nice photo I took while the remnants of some storm clouds drifting over as they fade out on their journey inland.
I think this photo would look really good with my shadow cropped out of it, there are some really great colours and I like the reflections off the water.

Fishing rods are out, fire is going, camp is set up and now it's time to relax.

Seriously people don't light fires up against trees, this is what kills them.
The eucalypts are strong but still, these trees like this one have been around for hundreds of years and you come along and destroy it in one night. Grrrr.

And pick up your beer caps you flaming muppets.
I'm a believer in leaving a place better than you found it, so I ended up picking this up along with a few other bits of rubbish and chucking it in the bin with mine.
I think if everyone had this attitude it would be great, so when your leaving a camp site take all your rubbish with your at least. I f you could pick up like 5 bits of rubbish it takes literally two seconds and makes the world a better place.

If you can't find any rubbish to pick up then we are winning :)

Some more wild life came in for a visit, this time some ducks and some other birds which I honestly don't know their names.
They are black all over and they are just a smidge smaller than ducks, they also have a white pointy like beak. They look like a whole family enjoying a dip in the water right next to my camp.

I was also fortunate enough to have a wedge tail eagle perch himself at the top of a tree like 20 meters away, I have never had one so close to me.
Eagles sound awesome and have a very distinct sound, they are very large too. I caught a photo of him checking me out.

 

 

 

For dinner I got myself one of the giant humdinger thick cut steaks from the shops.
The night before I covered it in bush spices and salt and let it marinade overnight wrapped up in alfoil, so by the time it was ready to be cooked the bush spices had infused it pretty good.
I may have added some whiskey to the pan while cooking it too :)

Then to finish up the night I had about 9 drinks of straight up whiskey and roasted some jumbo marshmallows by the fire and listened to some old fashioned and dark country music playlists.

That steak was soooo good btw, slow cooked by the fire.

 

Lets finish up with the dying sunset hitting the red cliffs further downstream, a really lovely colour.
Was such a great camping trip, really good way to decompress and unwind. I'm already looking forward to the next one, where I might get a bit more bushcrafty ;)

src