I spent the last few days taking advantage of the sunny mornings before I left for Alpana Station near Blinman, to go on a 13 day camel trek in the Northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia with Suzanne and some of her Heysen Trail friends.
This fine weather did not last for long. The weather turned story, and I ended up exploring the wild-seas amongst the coastal granite rocks between Petrel Cove and Kings Beach.
I had damaged my left thigh when my right foot slipped on the rocks whilst I was on a training walk with cameras and day pack for the camel trek. This happened along the Waitpinga Cliffs section of the Heysen Trail when I was clambering over the rocks to toughen my feet.
That was the end of the training walks. I could only hobble on a poodlewalk along the Heritage Trail, and I basically ended up standing in the one spot and photographing the wild-seas.
These days in mid-June were stormy ones: rain, strong south westerly winds, high tides, and big waves that crashed over the coastal granite rocks. It was impossible for me to walk amongst the rocks because of the coupling of high tide and big waves.
So by the time I left Adelaide for the camel trek I was very underdone in terms of walking fitness. With a damaged thigh I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to walk the 13 days from near Arkaroola to Mt Hopeless.