Kalgan’s Pool was supposed to be one big, massive, the-more-the-merrier trip consisting of a convoy of several cars and numerous staff members from the school. Thanks to the two cyclones that went past the town the week before, we were getting some rain, which meant that the roads may have been too muddy for driving. Sitting in the staffroom for Friday drinks, the general consensus was to use up our camping consumables that very night with a barbeque at Brennan’s. Said Brennan was actually away somewhere with his partner, leaving his house free for a night of frivolity. Which of course, meant that the next morning, most of the happy campers were too happy to go camping. Their loss, for it was incredible. Check out the photos.
The camping party ended up being the principal and his family in one car, Ash, Sun, Daniel, Chelsea and I in the other. Kalgan’s Pool is actually the site of the suicide scene (sorry for the giveaway) from the movie Japanese Story. I think the water level was a little higher in the movie though. The drive to Kalgan’s was not very long, and we drove through what Ash calls ‘Mini Mars’ since it was what Mars must look like. It was a lot like Cooper Pedy in that it looked like something out of a science-fiction movie with little to show for any forms of life, and yet you just knew that beneath the parched and barren façade, the environment was heaving with energy. In contrast to the northern parts of South Australia though, and even most of the parts of Central Australia that I’ve seen, this area was a lot more red and rocky and less dusty. Although this could be due to the rain having dampen the ground somewhat. The rocks weren’t boulder-like at all in their shapes, more like chips or shards of splintered rocks. Occasionally, there’d be a small tree sticking out of the ground, but it would usually be the blackened remains of the trunk and some branches.
We made camp right by the pool. Mike, the principal, who was renowned for his penchant for fires, had brought along his chainsaw in case we needed more firewood. By the time we arrived, he had already set up camp and was in the pool with a glass of red in one hand, and his wife in the other. The kids were frolicking as kids do. Cute little things they were too.
Daniel, who was ECU trained, was originally an Engineer from Africa, and had not been camping like this before. I think a great deal of what I enjoyed from this trip was watching his reaction to such new experiences as pitching a tent and sleeping in a swag under the stars. Check out the smile on his face in the photo of him in the water and tell me it’s not infectious.
Ash had brought along his abseiling gear and after a quick dip in the pool (the water was quite icky to say the least) and setting up the tents, he had climbed up the gorge to set up the ropes before zipping down to try it out. Then it was my turn. The cliff is between 60-70 metres above the ground, depending on where you jump off from I guess. Kinda scary at first, then exhilarating. Not bad for a first-time challenge though I thought. My brake-rope (the prussic knot) got stuck at one point. But all in all, a decent first go.
Mike made some incredible Thai chilli chicken thing for dinner and the weather was just right.
The next day, Mike and his family drove off quite early on; and Sun and Daniel both had a shot going down the rope while I packed up camp. It was fun to watch (the others abseiling that is, not me packing up camp). I climbed up to the top again while they were still going, and sat on the top of the gorge some distance away and just had some alone, meditative time. One could easily imagine being the only living person left in the world sitting atop the world like that. It’s all quite awe-inspiring. Wasn’t quite sure how long I sat up there just looking out, but there was a part of me that wanted to share the moment with everyone, and another part that just wanted to keep it to myself.
Before we left, I abseiled down again. On my own, this time. Only the prussic knot got stuck again. I couldn’t seem to pull myself up to loosen it, having no foothold and not knowing how to loop the rope around my foot to make one; so Ash ended up climbing down the cliff-face as far as he could go without falling to his death or at least neck-down-paralysis, and dropping down a short rope which I attached to my harness, then pulling me up to give my rope enough slack to loosen the knot. Grateful though I was, I couldn’t help thinking that about that fine line between courage and stupidity.
By afternoon, I was surprisingly exhausted. We left but dropped by Opthlamia dam on the way; partly to show Daniel and Sun the place, and partly because during his last two trips there, Ash had discovered a track to get to a spot suitable for camping on which he wanted to check out again. In trying to find this track, we stumbled across one of the giant water pipes pumping enormous amounts of water out onto the ground, which then flowed through the grasses and shrubs, probably back to the dam. Over time, this had obviously caused somewhat of a dip in the ground, and made a shallow, bubbly spa due to the high pressure of water being pumped out. Ash rang a friend to find out what it was, and revealed after the conversation that it was water pumped out from the mine and should just get soaked back into the dam. Being such clear and clean fresh water, we all jumped in for a quick wash and a back massage from the pressure before heading home.
Well worth the bruises and the excruciating rash that I’m sure I got from the Spinifex that covered my legs the next day. I’d just recovered from the last lot too damn it. Thank goodness for Cortizone.
The camping party ended up being the principal and his family in one car, Ash, Sun, Daniel, Chelsea and I in the other. Kalgan’s Pool is actually the site of the suicide scene (sorry for the giveaway) from the movie Japanese Story. I think the water level was a little higher in the movie though. The drive to Kalgan’s was not very long, and we drove through what Ash calls ‘Mini Mars’ since it was what Mars must look like. It was a lot like Cooper Pedy in that it looked like something out of a science-fiction movie with little to show for any forms of life, and yet you just knew that beneath the parched and barren façade, the environment was heaving with energy. In contrast to the northern parts of South Australia though, and even most of the parts of Central Australia that I’ve seen, this area was a lot more red and rocky and less dusty. Although this could be due to the rain having dampen the ground somewhat. The rocks weren’t boulder-like at all in their shapes, more like chips or shards of splintered rocks. Occasionally, there’d be a small tree sticking out of the ground, but it would usually be the blackened remains of the trunk and some branches.We made camp right by the pool. Mike, the principal, who was renowned for his penchant for fires, had brought along his chainsaw in case we needed more firewood. By the time we arrived, he had already set up camp and was in the pool with a glass of red in one hand, and his wife in the other. The kids were frolicking as kids do. Cute little things they were too.
Daniel, who was ECU trained, was originally an Engineer from Africa, and had not been camping like this before. I think a great deal of what I enjoyed from this trip was watching his reaction to such new experiences as pitching a tent and sleeping in a swag under the stars. Check out the smile on his face in the photo of him in the water and tell me it’s not infectious.Ash had brought along his abseiling gear and after a quick dip in the pool (the water was quite icky to say the least) and setting up the tents, he had climbed up the gorge to set up the ropes before zipping down to try it out. Then it was my turn. The cliff is between 60-70 metres above the ground, depending on where you jump off from I guess. Kinda scary at first, then exhilarating. Not bad for a first-time challenge though I thought. My brake-rope (the prussic knot) got stuck at one point. But all in all, a decent first go.
Mike made some incredible Thai chilli chicken thing for dinner and the weather was just right.
The next day, Mike and his family drove off quite early on; and Sun and Daniel both had a shot going down the rope while I packed up camp. It was fun to watch (the others abseiling that is, not me packing up camp). I climbed up to the top again while they were still going, and sat on the top of the gorge some distance away and just had some alone, meditative time. One could easily imagine being the only living person left in the world sitting atop the world like that. It’s all quite awe-inspiring. Wasn’t quite sure how long I sat up there just looking out, but there was a part of me that wanted to share the moment with everyone, and another part that just wanted to keep it to myself.Before we left, I abseiled down again. On my own, this time. Only the prussic knot got stuck again. I couldn’t seem to pull myself up to loosen it, having no foothold and not knowing how to loop the rope around my foot to make one; so Ash ended up climbing down the cliff-face as far as he could go without falling to his death or at least neck-down-paralysis, and dropping down a short rope which I attached to my harness, then pulling me up to give my rope enough slack to loosen the knot. Grateful though I was, I couldn’t help thinking that about that fine line between courage and stupidity.
By afternoon, I was surprisingly exhausted. We left but dropped by Opthlamia dam on the way; partly to show Daniel and Sun the place, and partly because during his last two trips there, Ash had discovered a track to get to a spot suitable for camping on which he wanted to check out again. In trying to find this track, we stumbled across one of the giant water pipes pumping enormous amounts of water out onto the ground, which then flowed through the grasses and shrubs, probably back to the dam. Over time, this had obviously caused somewhat of a dip in the ground, and made a shallow, bubbly spa due to the high pressure of water being pumped out. Ash rang a friend to find out what it was, and revealed after the conversation that it was water pumped out from the mine and should just get soaked back into the dam. Being such clear and clean fresh water, we all jumped in for a quick wash and a back massage from the pressure before heading home.Well worth the bruises and the excruciating rash that I’m sure I got from the Spinifex that covered my legs the next day. I’d just recovered from the last lot too damn it. Thank goodness for Cortizone.
No comments:
Post a Comment