Ngarkat Conservation Park is about 200km east of Adelaide. A huge park, almost 2750 km² of mallee trees and heaps of other native plants on mainly sandy ground. It is accessible by high clearance 4WD only and has a number of campgrounds. The infamous Border Track is at the East end of the park, but for this trip we avoided it in favour of all the other beautiful and sometimes equally challenging tracks. A trip well worth a try!
Arrival at the North-East corner, heading to Box Flat campground
There is not much traffic in this park, so we took two cars
Quite rare for South Australia but it was raining every night. So we used the tarp meant to protect the tent floor to get some cover
Don't ask what she is drinking...
The first night is over, everything is wet and we wait for it to dry in the little sun that comes through the cloud cover
On our way to Bucks Camp, zigzagging through the western area of the park
Baan Hill Track - almost a highway
Thank god, most of the tracks are less well maintained
Spiders love to put their webs right across the track
Bucks Campground. It's a bit small - only two spots are there. That's why one needs to book it on time
Cheese toast hot out of the frying pan
All packed up for the next trip to Coxs Windmill
We didn't just drive, there are plenty of hiking tracks as well. So, up we went almost every mountain. Goose Hill is
one of the highest peaks at 145m!
one of the highest peaks at 145m!
Goose Hill panorama
There is no track from West to East, so we took the South boundary track
Yeah, an Emu!
The true rulers of this planet - ants. Everywhere
It can get muddy at times
South of Coxs Windmill at the Orchid Hike
No idea what this is
That's as close as it gets to the expected orchids. However we have actually been too early to see them, their time is late autumn to early spring. A nice hike regardless
It's also a nice look-out but I don't know how high it is. Not much I guess
The next day we went back down South heading towards Red Bluff
Emu foot print
The area in the East is slightly sandy
A short section of the border track towards Red Bluff
The exit to Red Bluff. I assume people simply have to know it
Red Bluff Campground
That's why it's called Red Bluff. At dusk the sun shines right at it painting it red
That is what it look like if one turns around
Last day, heading back home
Need to inflate the tyres before we go onto the tarmac again. We aired down to 18 psi to make it through the sand
