We certainly saw some interesting wildlife on our Camel Trek journey to outback South Australia, starting at our stopover at Nanny and Gramps' place.
Whenever the car stopped, Max would climb up the nearest structure.
We camped along the way.
When you get to the Flinders Ranges there are these beautiful stone and brick buildings in ruins all over the place. Apparently the european settlers were fooled by a few good weather years in the 1840s into thinking that this would be good farmland. They abandoned their homes when the weather went back to its usual pattern. The boys wanted to stop at all of them and climb them.
Our trek was on the property of Beltana Station, which covers millions of square acres of outback.
When we first sighted the camels, we couldn't believe how big they were. And so obedient. Usually.
We slept under the stars in swags, in our sleeping bags, and in our clothes, with our coats on top of us. One morning there was ice on the swag.
Max with a Shingleback lizard. This is the South Australian version of the blue tongue lizard. And yes, it did have a blue tongue.
This is called a Jacky.
The tracks of an unknown lizard, which led to its lair.
A Bearded Dragon.
You weren't allowed to ride the camels, unless you were a family member of the camels.
Every day we had to remove prickles from the camels' fur before we put their saddles on.
These handprints are over 5000 years old. Russell (The Camelman) estimated the number of white people to have seen these hand prints would be "between bugger-all and stuff-all".
There were lots of grasshoppers around, and I don't think any two were alike.
The whole experience in the red desert really seemed to make a man of Max, as you can see by the moustache.
The End.
