Fossils in the Flinders - June 1, 2012

After our second night in the Flinders, we packed up and left the campground.  On our way out we passed a group of adorable baby emus.  Instead of getting off the road like their dad, they all plopped down in a circle and started eating whatever was on the road.

This day was about finding some interesting fossils for Ryan.  Unfortunately, Ryan just asked the visitor centre "So, where are the fossils?" Not realizing that there were super-cool ones (that he wanted to see), and some less-cool ones (where the guy told us to go).  None the wiser, off we went 40km north of the campsite in pursuit of fossils.  As Ryan figured out the discrepancy while looking at his newly-bought geological map of the area, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

When we arrived at the Geologic Trail, Ryan confirmed his suspicions that the Ediacaran fossils  were 7km past the point our campervan was able to go.  We decided to drive as far as we could, and tossed up the idea of walking the rest of the way.  On the way though, we passed lots of really fun things.  First, we saw two massive wedge-tailed eagles just off the side of the road.  I've never seen brown ones before (the ones at work are much older and therefore black), and I've never gotten so close.

Next, Ryan gave us a geology lesson and took us on a field trip through a river bed.  I will definitely fail that exam since I was too busy taking pictures.

On that field trip we also found some golden orb spiders and a massive flock of cockatoos, so there was a little something for everyone.

Finally we made it to the end of our road at an obstacle called "Slippery Dip".  As you can imagine, we really weren't eager to take our campervan up and over it since it had been raining (though I swear it looked worse in person).

We pulled over to assess the situation, and I noticed a middle-aged guy checking out the nearby cliffs.  He was super scruffy, but had a hand lens (geology tool) around his neck.  I went up to him, and the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Anything interesting over there?

Him: Nah, nothing special.

Me: Are you a geologist?

Him: No, just interested in that stuff.

Me: Neat.  We're travelling with a geologist.  Are you going to see the fossils?

Him: Yeah

Me: We were hoping to, but I don't think we'll get this beast (point to van) over Slippery Dip.

Him: No, maybe not.

Me: Are you going there and back, or driving the loop?

Him: The loop.

Me: We were gonna walk it, but it's starting to rain now.

Him: How far is it?

Me: Only about 7km.

Him: Let me go talk to my wife, maybe we can give you a ride and drop you back here after.

Me: Oh wow, that's awfully nice of you!

Yeah...I did that.  Meanwhile, the rest of the gang got out of the campervan and walked over to me.  I quickly explained what was going on as the guy came back and said "Oh, I didn't realize there were 4 of you…."  Ryan ran over and quickly told him that we didn't need a ride, but thanks for the offer.  Ryan doesn't get mad at me often, but boy was he mad at me for this!  I guess that's where Wasylyks and Pippys are different.  I thought the guy would have loved to take a geologist with him to explain the fossils!  I certainly didn't care if I went, but Ryan was way to embarrassed and taken by surprise to go.  Oh well!

Since that didn't really work out, we went to see the stromatolites instead.  Once Ryan explained them, they were kind of interesting.  Turns out there are still some living in Shark Bay, Western Australia, so I'm sure we'll go see them before we move back to Canada.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I could care less about geology stuff, but boy do I get to see some beautiful places because of it!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.  We stopped in Hawker for some traditional Aussie meat pies and sauce (a.k.a. ketchup), then made our way to Burra to find a campsite for the night.  It was dark when we got there, and when we pulled in, a sketchy guy left his drum fire to come and talk to us.  I was freaking out, but Ryan told me to roll down my window anyways.  Turns out he just wanted to tell us there weren't any powered sites left, so then we promptly left.  Thank goodness!

We drove an extra hour to get to the Clare campsite, ordered some pizza from a chicken shop, bought some treats from the grocery store while we were waiting, and had a delightful evening of board games and wine.  This is the life!