TRIP REPORTS
Grindell’s Hut was the ideal camp in the Gammon
Ranges National Park, and we used this as a base for a
walk up the adjacent hill, and then a one-day 4WD
excursion over some rough tracks towards Arkaroola.
The north Flinders Ranges were extremely dry and
anecdotally had received no significant rain for two
years. Dead kangaroos were common, goats absent, and
larger trees extremely stressed or simply dead except
where located in the creek beds.
There was only one puncture on the whole trip, to my
vehicle outside the Maree Hotel, and I was grateful for
the whole team who helped out—much preferable to
being left alone to make the repairs.
Coming home through Mildura we stopped off for a
major vehicle clean to make sure that we did not bring
any weeds, seeds or animals into Victorian agricultural
land. This contribution to biosecurity became somewhat
more meaningful a few hours later as we drove through
Bridgewater and discovered that over half a million hens
had been destroyed because of a disease outbreak
there last month.
Neil Phillips
1744