All posts by Scott

Saunders Gorge 4WDing

On what looked to be a wet and wild Saturday, the Thompson’s, Hatton’s, Phillips, Donnolly’s and Chris Madeley and Alex Brockbank took off in five 4 wheel drives to Saunders Gorge to experience the 4WD track there.

Of course once we descended down to the Murraylands, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining but it was still windy.

After the obligatory letting the tyres down, we were off. First stop was to go underground into the Gold Mine. It isn’t far in but the kids had a ball having a look. We started the first ascent with a stop at the Copper Mines. These were shafts that went straight down and you couldn’t see the bottom.

It was then up and down a few hills and ridges, through the Rocky Saddle and down to the Flood Way Creek for afternoon tea with of course fresh percolated coffee and rocky road.

Down through some more valleys and up some hills, then onto the Rocky Point Climb to the Lookout. All went up except for Jenny. She wasn’t that keen and headed around the hill to meet us at the other end.

The view from the top was spectacular, still windy and the trip down the other side was exciting with large holes and gibbers.

It was starting to get towards dusk but we were only about 1/2 way there. Following the stone wall we made it to the Cairn  at Shepherds Lookout as the sun was setting. With what little light was remaining we travelled by Collar Rock, into Spring Gully Creek and back to the restaurant.

We had tea at the restaurant, with views of Saunders Gorge which they light up with a large floodlight. A good time was had by all and can’t wait for our next trip away. 🙂

Mid North Geocaching

After a “big” day at Mallala Motorsport Park (well it wasn’t that big a day) for the HQ Enduro, I rang home to let them know that I was on my way but there was no one there. Jenny was at Woodhouse for a Jamboree thing, Bradley was at a sleepover and Rachael was at a birthday party. So what better excuse than to go caching in the Mid North.

From Mallala, headed to Hamley Bridge, Tarlee, Freeling and then home picking up 14 caches and a few pathtags on the way.

Caches grabbed were:

GC18YH5 – Moquet Lee

GCH346 – I See the Light !

GC1VJZM – 3 Ways

GC1VJZK – Green Desert

GC1VJZH – Home and Away

GC1T699 – Between the Fields

GC1WCFH – Freeling City Limits

GC1WCFJ – Lost Workers

GC1WCFK – Gungellan Country

GC11ZEF – Whose Daughters ?

GC18704 – SLPO

GCY0AM – Fields of Green and Gold

GC191KF – Come Survey Even More Traffic With Me

GC1V6K5 – Reel Small

Day 2 of Rally SA Testing with some Ops stuff thrown in ….

It was another perfect morning at the “Hideaway”, but again once I climbed up the hill, down came the rain which persisted till about 2:30 pm.

Testing today was at Kersbrook. Both the Evans brothers were testing there as well as the Raymonds and Dowell. Totally Wild joined us for the day to get a feel for rally and they certainly did today with rain, cold and mud. It will be interesting to see the program in a couple of weeks.

I spent most of the afternoon doing Operations stuff including placing water barriers on locations in the Mawsons Row Stage and Mt Crawford Stage, placing Hessian on a fence in Mawsons Row to stop rocks being thrown into someones yard – all of this in rain, rain, rain.

Checked out with the Forestry boys one of the creek crossings in Mt Crawford stage that should prove interesting if we get more rain. They have placed 37 tonnes of rubble in it to try and raise the road but there is still 100mm of water going over it. I wouldn’t want to stray too far off centre as it is up to a metre deep in places.

The evening was spent with the Linke brothers moving the oval lights at Angaston Oval. It was going all too well and looked like we would get out of there at 7:00 pm but a wire broke in one of the lights so that added 1.5 hours to the night.

Got back to the “Hideaway” at around 9:15 pm

Still managed to grab a couple of caches while waiting for it to get dark.

Testing at Cromer

What looked to be a reasonable day at Saunders Gorge, changed once I climbed the hill to Mt Pleasant. The rain had set in with visibility reduced to about 500 metres due to fog as well.

This was until the end of testing and then it “fined” up. Well at least the rain stopped but was still overcast.

Despite the weather, we had 2 cars testing including Neal Bates and Coral Taylor. All went off without incident. Kersbrook for testing tomorrow.

New Home for a week …

This week is Rally Week with the Sprint Auto Parts Rally SA. As usual I am doing the Deputy Clerk of Course and Chief Safety Officer gig. In order to not have to travel for hours each day during the event, I get to stay in some local accommodation.

The past few years I have been staying at the Novotel at Rowlands Flat but this year I am camped at Saunders Gorge, not far from Mt Pleasant, in the Hideaway B&B. The Hideaway is in a secluded valley amongst the majestic Gums. Very comfortable with a wood stove to keep warm at night. And believe it or not 3G coverage.

Off to testing with Neil Bates and Coral Taylor today at Cromer

Back on Australian Soil

We were loaded onto our 747 flying machine at around 9:45 pm for a 10:30 pm departure but this didn’t happen as there were some baggage that couldn’t be identified off a Air Mexico flight so they had to unload baggage and reload it. We finally got away at 11:30 pm after sitting in an exetremely hot aircraft for all that time.

The flight was uneventful apart from some rough spots somewhere over the Pacific – it was just like being back at Disneyland.  I think the kids got more sleep as there wasn’t as much to play with in cattle. They also enjoyed the meals more as it was “normal” food.

The plane made up time arriving at 6:25 am (10 minutes after scheduled). It was then another 1.5 hours to get through Immigration and Customs then another line at the transit lounge evenutally getting to Gate 1 at 8:30 am for a 9:45 flight.

All to do now is a Gloria Jeans coffee and Krispy Kremes donuts. 🙂

Cattle Class on the way Home
Cattle Class on the way Home

Firesafe makes Podcacher Podcast

After leaving San Diego we headed north to Carlsbad to meet up with Sonny, Sandy and Sean of Podcacher fame. It was great to finally catch up with them after emails and phone calls over the last couple of years.

We chatted for a while then Sonny interviewed me for an upcoming Podcacher podcast while Jenny and the kids amused Sean. Sonny then got Jenny and the kids involved in the podcast as well. You will need to go to www.podcacher.com on Monday 27th July to listen for the podcast.

UPDATE: The link to the Podcast is Show 227.0: Meeting up with Listeners

Podcacher Logo

In a freak accident, I managed to get splodged by Ketchup as someone stepped on a sachet that was on the sidewalk and it exploded and ended up all up my back. I guess it will wash out.

We left Carlsbad with plenty of time on our hands or so we thought as it took us 3 hours to travel the 150 km. We made it to LAX by 7:15 pm in time to check in but we didnt get bumped up this time to Business so cattle class here we come. 🙁

Last Day in the USA – San Diego

We managed to get the kids up early this morning and on the road at 9:30 am. Our destination this morning was the USS Midway – a retired Aircraft Carrier which is now a museum where you can go through the various parts and see how the 4500 sailors lived, worked and played.

It was very interesting particularly with the lack of room each sailor had to live in. There are certainly advantages in rank, as the higher the rank the more personal space and priveleges. Bit like the fire service really.

We spent 3.5 hours going over the carrier looking at various aircraft they have as well (there is about 30 aircraft on board). Even got to the bridge and of course squashed some pennies as well.

We left at 1:30 pm and headed north.

San Diego Zoo

We thought the kids would be tired today after yesterday at SeaWorld. They didn’t get out of bed until 10:30 am. It was OK as we wouldn’t have such a full a day as yesterday.

We got to San Diego Zoo around 12:00, first taking the guided bus tour through the zoo (how cool – beats walking especially up and down those hills).

After the bus tour we then looked at the exhibits we wanted a closer look at which included the bears, monkeys, birds, elephants, polar bears and of course the tigers.

There was plenty of penny squashing again today. Not sure how much we have spent of squashing pennies but it is a lot. There will probably be more of this tomorrow.

There was only one show we saw today – the Bird show which showed many of the larger birds in flight as well as a cheeky raven that would take your money.

After the Zoo we headed into Downtown to show some of the sights but there were a lot of streets closed due to the Baseball on tonight. We did manage to get to the Gaslamp Area then down to Tuna Lane for the Bob Hope statue and the Sailor statue. It also gave the kids an idea of what we were doing tomorrow – the USS Midway.

It was then over and back the Coronado Bridge and back to the hotel to pack and get an early night – I am sure!!

In the 2 weeks we have been here Bradley has been collecting the State Quarters and he has done well but we are still missing a Tennessee Quarter – one day to go, maybe we will find one tomorrow or our US friends will need to keep an eye out for one.

Apart from the Midway tomorrow, another highlight will be meeting up with the Podcacher Team of Sonny, Sandy and Sean in Carlsbad on the way up to LA.

Caches for today: