Day 37: Huppatz Hut to Smith Hill Camp Site 29.46km

Not much to say about today really. Except Huppatz Hut is a tin hut and it got cold. At one stage during the night my arm touched the wall and I woke up and the arm was near frozen. Suffice to say the morning was frosty. I even saw some poo on the ground with frost on it.

The walk was pleasant enough through the farmlands and you can see when a property owner changes and doesn't want us pesky walkers to walk the fence as the trail just takes a detour up the hill jumps a fence then you walk a lumpy trail whilst looking down the valley at a lovely level walk.

I eventually came to Tothill Gap and to be fair at this point I was more on the western side and didn't completely pass to the eastern side. Hower 2 or 3 kilometres further on you climb up and over the range to the eastern side at Niblett Gap. Then is a 5 kilometre walk down a gravel road where you then climb up and over the range to the western side at Webb Gap.

Then its 8-10 kilometres of road and paddock before climbing the range to go east again at Smith gap where I stopped for the night in the tent. It was positively balmy weather that night as I was on top of the range and I reckon it didn't drop below 3 or 4 degrees.

Day 36: Worlds End to Huppatz Hut 21.05km

A fairly simple day to get across to the Tothill Ranges. A quick walk down the Burra River. All dry and I got away before the 4wd brigade and then a walk up the Worlds End Highway again. Worlds End was a name locals gave the place as it was considered the last place you could settle before the country became too dry.

The Burra River at this point had permanent water. There was a township and school and the remains of a suspension bridge across the river is still there that provided safe passage to the children going to school when the river was flowing. When people pass me I wonder what they think when looking at a lunatic walking along when its zero degrees with a slight wind. From the highway the trail turns west again along a dirt road then eventually through to some farm tracks and creek walking.

Whilst there is a Hopkins Creek Conservation Park we walk past the farm land that has been set aside as a conservation zone by the owners and it is privately managed by donations and government grants. I mean it looks like scrub country but at least its giving some habitat back to the native animals. Considering since I've started this walk I have either been on private property thats is a working farm or parks that were working farms. There is not much of SA that I have seen that hasn't been touched by the European settler. The bits that might be untouched maybe some of the creeks that I wandered through in the Flinders. But even there you can see the effect goats and rabbits have had.

After the conservation area it is back into farmland to climb up and over the Tothill Range to Huppatz Hut. The Huppatz family own a lot of the land that I will walk across over the next couple of days. Apparently Tothill Range is named after Charles Tothill who leased the local land from 1843 for several years. Its interesting in SA that the European settler and explorers are well celebrated and recognised.

I will come to curse this Tothill range as the days progress as I cross it east West then west east up to 5 times.

Day 35: Burra to Worlds End Camp Site 23.35km

Got up and went into town as I needed to drop off some stuff and have some breakfast. The earliest cafe opens at 8am and I wanted to see the hardware store but they didn't open till 8.30am. Country hours can slow you up a bit. But it wasn't going to be a difficult walk with a lot of it on a country road so I had a couple of poached eggs and left Burra about 8.45am.

Got chased out of town by some mongrel dog that continually tried to sneak behind me to get a bite. In the end I turned and used my walking sticks to how him I could beat the shit out of him and he decided I might not be worth it. Then onto the inevitable station track through sheep paddocks and down onto Worlds End Highway. A walk along the highway until another sheep paddock then a long long gravel road. The only consolation is the pace is quicker and I got to the water tank come camp fairly early. The wind was blowing and of course there is no shelter at the camp but I can understand why they have it here as there is a free camp site down he bottom of the paddock at Burra Gorge and if the water tank was there it would be empty. So I trudged the 800 metres or so to the relative protection in the Burra Gorge camp.

Later in the afternoon a large group of 4WD's rolled up and surrounded the spot I was camped at. They were from Geelong , all young, ie no older than 25 and all on there way to Uluru to climb the rock before the closing around mid September. Apparently it is very busy out there as everyone is doing the same. I've been to the rock a couple of times, never had the inclination to climb it though. One year we were lucky to be there when a storm went through and I have videos of the waterfalls coming off the rock. The group were very quiet going to bed early as they wanted to be at Coober Pedy the next day. I was surprised the music they put on whilst they sat around the campfire was crap that I listen to. All 70 and 80's stuff like Australian Crawl, Divinyls, Cold Chisel. I didn't have to put earphones in to drown out some crap by Billie Eilish at least. Can't wait to get home to Isabelle's music.

Day 33 and 34 Burra

Because I had moved a little faster than planned I had the ability to stay in Burra for two whole days. I was able to wash up and resupply and also had a tour of the tourists spots around town. I hired a key the tourist bureau which cost $30 and it lets you get into some of the spots at your leisure.

Being on foot I had to walk the 11 kilometres that the trail covered but I did enjoy the day and having eaten a whole large pizza the night before I needed the exercise. 

The photos show some of the spots I visited.

Because Burra was a mining area and most of the miners were Cornish Miners that came out when the mines in Wales started closing the area has a big focus on Cornish stuff. The architecture of the mines and even the houses which were built used typical Cornish design.

Every Cafe sells Cornish Pasties which I don't like anyway and the streets have Welsh names. I found LLanelli St and both my Grandmothers were born in Llanelli. I was wondering whether the streets are pronounced in English or Welsh. Llanelli sounds more like a throat clearing in Welsh.

Pleasant days and I was hoping for some of the aches and pains to dissipate. Only 5 days next bit to Tanunda.